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Employee earnings

Latest release

Weekly earnings of employees, including distribution of earnings and hourly earnings, by State, Occupation, Industry and Qualifications

Reference period
August 2024

Key statistics

In August 2024:

  • Median employee earnings in main job was $1,396 per week, up $96 (7.4%) since August 2023.
  • Median hourly earnings in main job was $40.00 per hour, up $0.30 since August 2023.

Statistics from the Characteristics of Employment survey are also published in three other topic-based releases:

Median weekly earnings in main job
Aug-24Aug-23Aug-19Aug-23 to Aug-24 (% change)
Employees
Males$1,577$1,500$1,2805.1%
Females$1,200$1,150$9504.3%
Persons$1,396$1,300$1,1007.4%
Full-time employees
Males$1,789$1,700$1,4735.2%
Females$1,598$1,500$1,2506.5%
Persons$1,700$1,600$1,3756.3%

Earnings guide

To learn more about the earnings data collected by the ABS, refer to our Guide to labour statistics. It provides summary information on labour market topics including Earnings data.  

Weekly earnings

In August 2024, median weekly earnings for employees was $1,396, up $96 from $1,300 in August 2023. Median weekly earnings has increased at a faster rate for women than men over the past 5 years, in part because the proportion of women working full-time has increased.

Hourly earnings

In August 2024, the median hourly earnings for employees was $40.00, up from $39.70 in August 2023. For men, the median hourly earnings rose 90 cents to $41.70 in August 2024, while for women the median hourly earnings rose 50 cents to $38.90.

Median hourly earnings in main job
Aug-24Aug-23Aug-19Aug-23 to Aug-24 (% change)
Males$41.70$40.80$34.302.2%
Females$38.90$38.40$31.301.4%
Persons$40.00$39.70$32.500.7%

Distribution of earnings

In August 2024:

  • 25% of employees earned less than $895 per week in their main job (25th percentile).
  • 50% of employees earned less than $1,396 (50th percentile/median).
  • 75% of employees earned less than $2,052 (75th percentile).
  • 90% of employees earned less than $3,038 (90th percentile).

Earnings for all percentiles increased. The largest increase was seen in the 25th percentile, increasing by 9.1% since August 2023. The percentile with the lowest growth was the bottom 75th percentile, increasing 3.3% since August 2023. 

Distribution of weekly earnings in main job
Aug-24Aug-23Aug-19Aug-23 to Aug-24 (% change)
10th Percentile$440$412$3506.8%
25th Percentile$895$820$7009.1%
50th Percentile$1,396$1,300$1,1007.4%
75th Percentile$2,052$1,987$1,6573.3%
90th Percentile$3,038$2,846$2,4196.7%

Note: In August 2020 there was a larger number of people than usual earning around $750 per week, which was the amount of the JobKeeper wage subsidy.

States and territories

The state or territory with the highest median weekly earnings in August 2024 was the Australian Capital Territory at $1,688 per week, followed by the Northern Territory and Western Australia (both $1,500). The lowest were Tasmania ($1,208 per week), South Australia ($1,250) and Queensland ($1,350). 

Of the state capital cities, Perth had the highest median weekly earnings ($1,500 per week), followed by Melbourne ($1,450) and Sydney ($1,416). 

Outside the capital cities, the highest median weekly earnings were in regional Western Australia ($1,442 per week), and the lowest was regional South Australia ($1,100).

Occupation

In August 2024, the occupation groups with highest median weekly earnings were Managers ($2,100 per week) and Professionals ($1,827). The lowest were Sales workers ($714) and Labourers ($900).

Managers and Professionals also had the highest hourly rates ($56.20 and $53.90), while Sales workers and Labourers had the lowest hourly rates (both $30.00). The gap between the median hourly rates for occupation groups is smaller than for the total weekly earnings measure, partly due to the difference in hours typically worked for each occupation.

1. Data is coded to ANZSCO ver 1.2. For more information on Occupations and Skill level, refer to ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations

The sub-major occupation groups with the highest median weekly earnings in August 2024 were:

  • Chief Executives, General Managers and Legislators - $2,669.
  • Specialist Managers - $2,400.
  • ICT Professionals - $2,284.

The sub-major groups with the lowest median weekly earnings in August 2024 were:

  • Food Preparation Assistants - $368.
  • Sales Support Workers - $600.
  • Sales Assistants and Salespersons - $600.
  • Hospitality Workers - $600.

Between 2019 and 2024, the sub-major group with the highest average growth in median weekly earnings was Sports and Personal Service Workers (7.6% p.a.). 

Industry

In August 2024, the industries with the highest median weekly earnings were:

  • Mining ($2,593 per week, up from $2,400 in August 2023).
  • Electricity, gas, water and waste services ($1,895, down from $1,900).
  • Professional, scientific and technical services ($1,841, up from $1,730).

The industries with the lowest median weekly earnings were:

  • Accommodation and food services ($650 per week, up from $640 in August 2023).
  • Retail trade ($893, up from $876).
  • Arts and recreation services ($1,000, up from $908).

1. For more information on Industries, refer to Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)

Educational qualifications

In August 2024, median weekly earners were highest amongst employees with a postgraduate degree ($1,925 per week), and were lowest for those without non-school qualifications ($1,000).

1. For more information on educational attainment, refer to Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED)

Multiple job-holders

The best source of data on the incidence of multiple job-holding, and the characteristics of multiple-job-holders, is the quarterly Multiple job-holders release.

In August 2024, there were 427,000 employees who were multiple job holders. Of those who received employee earnings in both their main and second jobs:

  • median weekly earnings from their main job was $1,000 per week
  • median weekly earnings from their second job was $324 per week

In comparison, median weekly earnings for single job-holders was $1,400 per week.

Of the 3.8 million people who earned less than $1000 per week in their main job, 7.1% (268,200) had a second job. For people who earned $1000 or more per week, 4.1% had a second job.

Data downloads

Employee earnings

Data files

Microdata and TableBuilder

August 2024 Characteristics of Employment data will be released in Tablebuilder and microdata in ABS DataLab (as a supplementary file for the Longitudinal Labour Force (LLFS) microdata) on 19 December 2024. For more information, refer to Microdata and TableBuilder: Characteristics of Employment.

Previous catalogue number

This release uses ABS catalogue number 6337.0.

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