Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia

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Payroll jobs and wages estimates, sourced from Single Touch Payroll (STP) data

Reference period

Week ending 13 August 2022

Released

8/09/2022

View all releases

Key statistics

Between the weeks ending 30 July and 13 August 2022:

Payroll jobs, down 0.4%
Total wages, down 1.4%

Wages estimates reinstated

Increased seasonality in business reporting around the end of financial year saw the temporary suspension of wages estimates in the last release. Wages estimates have been reinstated in this release, but continue to show volatility around the end of financial year period. Users should use caution when referring to wages estimates across June and July.

Comparisons to August 2021

In mid-2021, the emergence of the COVID-19 Delta variant resulted in both short and long term lockdowns during July and August. Annual change may appear higher than usual for some jurisdictions and industries due to the recovery in payroll jobs and wages from this period of downturn.

Factors affecting interpretation

These estimates are not seasonally adjusted. Seasonality can affect the interpretation of change in payroll jobs and wages, particularly between sub-annual periods. While annual comparisons can assist in understanding underlying change, they are less useful when events such as public holidays or pandemic lockdowns don't occur in the same week in both years.

In addition, when comparing the change in payroll jobs and wages between any two periods, interpretation can be complicated by variations in their composition. Payroll job indexes are compiled from over 11 million jobs and variations in the types of jobs reported can result in compositional change (which is not quantified). For example, each payroll job in each week:

is counted in the same way regardless of job status (full-time, part-time or casual), hence variations in demand for casual staff can influence week-on-week change.
represents an individual in every paid job reported via STP, hence jobholders working multiple jobs are counted more than once. While multiple jobholders account for less than 10% of all payroll jobs, they can increase the rate of change seen week-to-week (in some industries) in circumstances where they are unable to work in any of their jobs (e.g. due to illness) and are not paid when absent.

Wages can be more heavily influenced by week-to-week change in composition, as the wages index reflects movements in aggregate wages and salaries paid (unlike the ABS Wage Price Index which presents changes in the price of labour unaffected by compositional shifts in the labour force, hours worked or employee characteristics). Variability in wages indexes in this release in any given week may be due to:

changes in hours worked,
the inclusion of cyclical payments such as bonuses, commissions or lump sum payment of leave loading,
payment of penalty rates for public holidays (which may not fall on the same date each year), or
the inclusion of irregular payments such as overtime, ad hoc or one-off payments relating to employee recognition or enterprise agreement sign-on.

Compositional change can also differ at the industry or state and territory level, particularly when there are localised labour market issues.

Alternative period comparisons

The combination of seasonal effects and differences in composition can increase the volatility of week-on-week or month-on-month changes in these estimates. For these reasons, the ABS recommends using comparisons of the current month to the same month in the previous year, or 3 months prior, to understand any trends in the payroll jobs and wages estimates presented. These comparisons will likely reduce the impact of seasonal factors and compositional change, making trends easier to identify.

Revisions

Change periods

National

In the fortnight to 13 August 2022:

Payroll jobs decreased by 0.4%, compared to a decrease of 0.4% in the previous fortnight
Total wages paid decreased by 1.4%, compared to a decrease of 0.5% in the previous fortnight

Percentage change in payroll jobs and total wages
	Fortnight (%)	Month (%)	Year (%)
Payroll jobs	-0.4	-0.8	5.3
Total wages	-1.4	-1.9	7.5

Estimates of change throughout this release are calculated using un-rounded index values. They may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded index values.

Payroll jobs index (a)(b)
Week ending	Payroll jobs (pts)	Total wages (pts)
14-Aug-21	102.5	103.6
21-Aug-21	101.8	103.3
28-Aug-21	101.3	103.1
04-Sep-21	101.4	107.0
11-Sep-21	102.0	109.1
18-Sep-21	102.4	109.7
25-Sep-21	102.2	108.0
02-Oct-21	101.9	106.0
09-Oct-21	102.3	104.4
16-Oct-21	104.0	105.7
23-Oct-21	105.1	106.4
30-Oct-21	106.0	107.3
06-Nov-21	106.5	108.8
13-Nov-21	107.0	108.7
20-Nov-21	107.5	109.6
27-Nov-21	107.8	111.4
04-Dec-21	108.1	113.8
11-Dec-21	108.1	114.1
18-Dec-21	107.3	114.5
25-Dec-21	103.6	108.8
01-Jan-22	99.2	103.9
08-Jan-22	99.8	103.9
15-Jan-22	102.0	105.9
22-Jan-22	103.5	106.8
29-Jan-22	104.2	107.1
05-Feb-22	104.8	110.3
12-Feb-22	105.3	111.2
19-Feb-22	105.1	111.2
26-Feb-22	104.9	110.6
05-Mar-22	105.3	111.6
12-Mar-22	106.3	112.5
19-Mar-22	106.6	113.2
26-Mar-22	106.6	113.3
02-Apr-22	106.3	113.1
09-Apr-22	106.4	111.9
16-Apr-22	105.7	111.2
23-Apr-22	105.3	110.0
30-Apr-22	105.9	110.6
07-May-22	106.4	109.9
14-May-22	106.8	109.9
21-May-22	107.8	110.6
28-May-22	108.5	111.6
04-Jun-22	108.6	112.9
11-Jun-22	109.2	114.8
18-Jun-22	109.5	116.4
25-Jun-22	109.5	117.6
02-Jul-22	109.4	116.7
09-Jul-22	109.6	114.3
16-Jul-22	108.8	113.5
23-Jul-22	108.3	113.2
30-Jul-22	108.4	112.9
06-Aug-22	107.8	111.7
13-Aug-22	107.9	111.3

Payroll jobs index (a)(b)

["Week ending","Payroll jobs","Total wages"]

[["14-Aug-21","21-Aug-21","28-Aug-21","04-Sep-21","11-Sep-21","18-Sep-21","25-Sep-21","02-Oct-21","09-Oct-21","16-Oct-21","23-Oct-21","30-Oct-21","06-Nov-21","13-Nov-21","20-Nov-21","27-Nov-21","04-Dec-21","11-Dec-21","18-Dec-21","25-Dec-21","01-Jan-22","08-Jan-22","15-Jan-22","22-Jan-22","29-Jan-22","05-Feb-22","12-Feb-22","19-Feb-22","26-Feb-22","05-Mar-22","12-Mar-22","19-Mar-22","26-Mar-22","02-Apr-22","09-Apr-22","16-Apr-22","23-Apr-22","30-Apr-22","07-May-22","14-May-22","21-May-22","28-May-22","04-Jun-22","11-Jun-22","18-Jun-22","25-Jun-22","02-Jul-22","09-Jul-22","16-Jul-22","23-Jul-22","30-Jul-22","06-Aug-22","13-Aug-22"],[[102.5],[101.8],[101.3],[101.40000000000001],[102],[102.40000000000001],[102.2],[101.90000000000001],[102.3],[104],[105.09999999999999],[106],[106.5],[107],[107.5],[107.8],[108.09999999999999],[108.09999999999999],[107.3],[103.59999999999999],[99.200000000000003],[99.799999999999997],[102],[103.5],[104.2],[104.8],[105.3],[105.09999999999999],[104.90000000000001],[105.3],[106.3],[106.59999999999999],[106.59999999999999],[106.3],[106.40000000000001],[105.7],[105.3],[105.90000000000001],[106.40000000000001],[106.8],[107.8],[108.5],[108.59999999999999],[109.2],[109.5],[109.5],[109.40000000000001],[109.59999999999999],[108.8],[108.3],[108.40000000000001],[107.8],[107.90000000000001]],[[103.59999999999999],[103.3],[103.09999999999999],[107],[109.09999999999999],[109.7],[108],[106],[104.40000000000001],[105.7],[106.40000000000001],[107.3],[108.8],[108.7],[109.59999999999999],[111.40000000000001],[113.8],[114.09999999999999],[114.5],[108.8],[103.90000000000001],[103.90000000000001],[105.90000000000001],[106.8],[107.09999999999999],[110.3],[111.2],[111.2],[110.59999999999999],[111.59999999999999],[112.5],[113.2],[113.3],[113.09999999999999],[111.90000000000001],[111.2],[110],[110.59999999999999],[109.90000000000001],[109.90000000000001],[110.59999999999999],[111.59999999999999],[112.90000000000001],[114.8],[116.40000000000001],[117.59999999999999],[116.7],[114.3],[113.5],[113.2],[112.90000000000001],[111.7],[111.3]]]

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Indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020.
Payroll jobs and wages data during June and July see a greater variation in business payroll reporting around the end of financial year. For more information, see Variation in revisions in Data variability and revisions.

State and territory

Payroll jobs

All geographical areas in this release represent the residential address of the jobholder.

In the fortnight to 13 August 2022, the largest changes in payroll jobs were:

Tasmania, down 0.8%
New South Wales, down 0.7%
Northern Territory, up 0.7%

Fortnight percentage change in payroll jobs, by state and territory

This map presents the percentage change in payroll jobs in the fortnight up to 13 August 2022, by the state and territory of the jobholder's residential address.

- New South Wales (-0.7%)
- Victoria (-0.5%)
- Queensland (-0.2%)
- South Australia (0.0%)
- Western Australia (-0.2%)
- Tasmania (-0.8%)
- Northern Territory (0.7%)
- Australian Capital Territory (0.0%)

Percentage change in payroll jobs, by state and territory
	Fortnight (%)	Month (%)	Year (%)
New South Wales	-0.7	-1.0	10.0
Victoria	-0.5	-1.0	5.3
Queensland	-0.2	-0.9	2.3
South Australia	0.0	-0.8	1.9
Western Australia	-0.2	0.0	1.8
Tasmania	-0.8	-0.8	1.2
Northern Territory	0.7	0.0	2.0
Australian Capital Territory	0.0	-0.7	3.1
Australia	-0.4	-0.8	5.3

Total wages

In the fortnight to 13 August 2022, the largest changes in total wages paid were:

New South Wales, down 2.2%
Victoria, down 2.0%

Percentage change in total wages, by state and territory
	Fortnight (%)	Month (%)	Year (%)
New South Wales	-2.2	-2.8	10.8
Victoria	-2.0	-2.5	6.6
Queensland	-0.4	-0.9	6.6
South Australia	-0.3	-1.2	5.4
Western Australia	-0.6	-0.7	4.5
Tasmania	-0.3	-0.7	4.2
Northern Territory	1.2	-0.3	5.0
Australian Capital Territory	-1.3	-1.8	4.6
Australia	-1.4	-1.9	7.5

Sub-state - payroll jobs

Time series estimates of payroll jobs by sub-state regions (Statistical Area 4 (SA4), Statistical Area 3 (SA3) and Greater Capital City Area (GCCSA) regions) are presented as index values in Table 5 of the Data downloads.

For more information on the geography used in this release, see the Glossary.

Fortnight percentage change in payroll jobs, by GCCSA regions

This map presents the percentage change in payroll jobs in the fortnight up to 13 August 2022, by the GCCSA region of the jobholder's residential address.
- Greater Sydney (-1.1%)
- Rest of New South Wales (-0.5%)
- Greater Melbourne (-0.7%)
- Rest of Victoria (-0.5%)
- Greater Brisbane (-0.3%)
- Rest of Queensland (-0.4%)
- Greater Adelaide (-0.1%)
- Rest of South Australia (0.1%)
- Greater Perth (-0.4%)
- Rest of Western Australia (0.2%)
- Greater Hobart (-0.7)
- Rest of Tasmania (-0.9%)
- Greater Darwin (0.3%)
- Rest of Northern Territory (1.2%)
- Australian Capital Territory (0%)

The ACT only has one GCCSA region for the entire Territory.

Sex and age group

Indexes of persons aged 15-19 years old by sex can be affected by a higher proportion of records with unknown sex than other age groups. For more information, see the Update of jobholder characteristics in the historical Methods review.

Payroll jobs

In the fortnight to 13 August 2022, the largest changes in payroll jobs were:

worked by males, down 0.8%
worked by persons aged 15-19, down 1.2%

Percentage change in payroll jobs, by sex and age group (a)
		Fortnight (%)	Month (%)	Year (%)
Sex	Males	-0.8	-1.6	0.8
Sex	Females	-0.3	-0.6	4.2
Age group (years)	15-19	-1.2	-0.7	18.2
	20-29	-0.2	-0.7	8.7
	30-39	-0.5	-1.0	3.7
	40-49	-0.5	-0.8	2.5
	50-59	-0.5	-0.9	2.4
	60-69	0.0	-0.7	4.9
	70 and over	-0.1	-0.9	8.2
All persons		-0.4	-0.8	5.3

a. Persons with 'unknown' sex and age are only included in the calculation of All persons indexes. For more information, see Inclusion of unknown characteristics in How data are processed.

Payroll jobs by sex (a)
Week ending	Males (pts)	Females (pts)
14-Aug-21	102.5	102.0
21-Aug-21	102.1	101.0
28-Aug-21	101.7	100.3
04-Sep-21	101.9	100.2
11-Sep-21	102.3	100.8
18-Sep-21	102.6	101.3
25-Sep-21	102.3	101.1
02-Oct-21	101.9	100.9
09-Oct-21	102.4	101.2
16-Oct-21	103.7	103.1
23-Oct-21	104.4	104.6
30-Oct-21	105.0	105.6
06-Nov-21	105.3	106.3
13-Nov-21	105.7	106.8
20-Nov-21	106.1	107.3
27-Nov-21	106.1	107.7
04-Dec-21	106.2	108.0
11-Dec-21	106.2	107.8
18-Dec-21	105.4	106.8
25-Dec-21	101.8	103.1
01-Jan-22	97.6	98.8
08-Jan-22	98.5	98.8
15-Jan-22	101.0	100.6
22-Jan-22	102.4	101.9
29-Jan-22	103.0	102.8
05-Feb-22	103.2	103.4
12-Feb-22	103.6	104.1
19-Feb-22	103.1	104.0
26-Feb-22	102.7	104.0
05-Mar-22	102.8	104.4
12-Mar-22	103.8	105.3
19-Mar-22	104.2	105.6
26-Mar-22	104.1	105.4
02-Apr-22	103.7	105.2
09-Apr-22	103.6	105.2
16-Apr-22	103.1	104.3
23-Apr-22	102.6	103.9
30-Apr-22	102.9	104.5
07-May-22	103.0	105.3
14-May-22	103.2	105.7
21-May-22	104.1	106.7
28-May-22	104.7	107.4
04-Jun-22	104.8	107.3
11-Jun-22	105.3	107.7
18-Jun-22	105.6	107.9
25-Jun-22	105.3	108.1
02-Jul-22	105.1	107.9
09-Jul-22	105.6	107.8
16-Jul-22	104.9	106.9
23-Jul-22	104.2	106.4
30-Jul-22	104.1	106.6
06-Aug-22	103.3	106.2
13-Aug-22	103.3	106.3

Payroll jobs by sex (a)

["Week ending","Males","Females"]

[["14-Aug-21","21-Aug-21","28-Aug-21","04-Sep-21","11-Sep-21","18-Sep-21","25-Sep-21","02-Oct-21","09-Oct-21","16-Oct-21","23-Oct-21","30-Oct-21","06-Nov-21","13-Nov-21","20-Nov-21","27-Nov-21","04-Dec-21","11-Dec-21","18-Dec-21","25-Dec-21","01-Jan-22","08-Jan-22","15-Jan-22","22-Jan-22","29-Jan-22","05-Feb-22","12-Feb-22","19-Feb-22","26-Feb-22","05-Mar-22","12-Mar-22","19-Mar-22","26-Mar-22","02-Apr-22","09-Apr-22","16-Apr-22","23-Apr-22","30-Apr-22","07-May-22","14-May-22","21-May-22","28-May-22","04-Jun-22","11-Jun-22","18-Jun-22","25-Jun-22","02-Jul-22","09-Jul-22","16-Jul-22","23-Jul-22","30-Jul-22","06-Aug-22","13-Aug-22"],[[102.5],[102.09999999999999],[101.7],[101.90000000000001],[102.3],[102.59999999999999],[102.3],[101.90000000000001],[102.40000000000001],[103.7],[104.40000000000001],[105],[105.3],[105.7],[106.09999999999999],[106.09999999999999],[106.2],[106.2],[105.40000000000001],[101.8],[97.599999999999994],[98.5],[101],[102.40000000000001],[103],[103.2],[103.59999999999999],[103.09999999999999],[102.7],[102.8],[103.8],[104.2],[104.09999999999999],[103.7],[103.59999999999999],[103.09999999999999],[102.59999999999999],[102.90000000000001],[103],[103.2],[104.09999999999999],[104.7],[104.8],[105.3],[105.59999999999999],[105.3],[105.09999999999999],[105.59999999999999],[104.90000000000001],[104.2],[104.09999999999999],[103.3],[103.3]],[[102],[101],[100.3],[100.2],[100.8],[101.3],[101.09999999999999],[100.90000000000001],[101.2],[103.09999999999999],[104.59999999999999],[105.59999999999999],[106.3],[106.8],[107.3],[107.7],[108],[107.8],[106.8],[103.09999999999999],[98.799999999999997],[98.799999999999997],[100.59999999999999],[101.90000000000001],[102.8],[103.40000000000001],[104.09999999999999],[104],[104],[104.40000000000001],[105.3],[105.59999999999999],[105.40000000000001],[105.2],[105.2],[104.3],[103.90000000000001],[104.5],[105.3],[105.7],[106.7],[107.40000000000001],[107.3],[107.7],[107.90000000000001],[108.09999999999999],[107.90000000000001],[107.8],[106.90000000000001],[106.40000000000001],[106.59999999999999],[106.2],[106.3]]]

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Indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020.

Total wages

In the fortnight to 13 August 2022, the largest changes in total wages paid were:

worked by males, down 1.7%
worked by persons aged 15-19, down 2.5%

Percentage change in total wages, by sex and age group (a)
		Fortnight (%)	Month (%)	Year (%)
Sex	Males	-1.7	-2.5	4.2
Sex	Females	-1.2	-1.3	9.3
Age group (years)	15-19	-2.5	-4.1	29.0
	20-29	-1.2	-2.0	12.9
	30-39	-1.5	-2.1	6.6
	40-49	-1.4	-1.4	5.1
	50-59	-1.4	-1.7	5.5
	60-69	-1.3	-2.5	8.2
	70 and over	-2.1	-4.1	12.8
All persons		-1.4	-1.9	7.5

a. Persons with 'unknown' sex and age are only included in the calculation of All persons indexes. For more information, see Inclusion of unknown characteristics in How data are processed.

5 year age groups - Payroll jobs

Time series estimates of payroll jobs by 5 year age groups by sex are presented as index values in Table 8 of the Data downloads.

Industry

Payroll jobs

In the fortnight to 13 August 2022, the largest changes in payroll jobs were:

Other services, down 1.5%
Construction, down 1.1%

Percentage change in payroll jobs, by industry (a)
	Fortnight (%)	Month (%)	Year (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	-0.9	-3.5	-3.9
Mining	-0.8	-0.3	5.6
Manufacturing	-0.2	-1.2	-2.1
Electricity, gas, water and waste services	-0.2	-1.1	0.4
Construction	-1.1	-2.9	-1.0
Wholesale trade	-0.6	-1.2	1.5
Retail trade	-0.8	-0.7	5.1
Accommodation and food services	-0.4	-1.5	10.5
Transport, postal and warehousing	0.3	-0.3	0.0
Information media and telecommunications	-0.8	-2.0	7.0
Financial and insurance services	-0.7	-0.5	2.0
Rental, hiring and real estate services	-0.1	-1.5	2.0
Professional, scientific and technical services	-0.7	-1.4	1.7
Administrative and support services	-0.7	-0.5	5.0
Public administration and safety	0.3	-0.3	1.6
Education and training	0.6	2.3	3.5
Health care and social assistance	-0.2	-0.4	2.9
Arts and recreation services	-0.2	-0.2	25.5
Other services	-1.5	-3.1	4.6
All industries	-0.4	-0.8	5.3

Some industries experience pronounced seasonality in either payroll jobs and wages or both. For more information, see Seasonality in Data variability and revisions.

Percentage change in payroll jobs by industry (a)
	Fortnight to 31 July 2022 (%)	Fortnight to 13 August 2022 (%)
Other services	-1.6	-1.5
Construction	-1.8	-1.1
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	-2.7	-0.9
Mining	0.4	-0.8
Retail trade	0.1	-0.8
Information media and telecommunications	-1.2	-0.8
Financial and insurance services	0.2	-0.7
Professional, scientific and technical services	-0.7	-0.7
Administrative and support services	0.2	-0.7
Wholesale trade	-0.6	-0.6
Accommodation and food services	-1.2	-0.4
Manufacturing	-0.9	-0.2
Electricity, gas, water and waste services	-0.9	-0.2
Health care and social assistance	-0.3	-0.2
Arts and recreation services	0.0	-0.2
Rental, hiring and real estate services	-1.4	-0.1
Transport, postal and warehousing	-0.6	0.3
Public administration and safety	-0.5	0.3
Education and training	1.6	0.6

Percentage change in payroll jobs by industry (a)

["","Fortnight to 31 July 2022","Fortnight to 13 August 2022"]

[["Other services","Construction","Agriculture, forestry and fishing","Mining","Retail trade","Information media and telecommunications","Financial and insurance services","Professional, scientific and technical services","Administrative and support services","Wholesale trade","Accommodation and food services","Manufacturing","Electricity, gas, water and waste services","Health care and social assistance","Arts and recreation services","Rental, hiring and real estate services","Transport, postal and warehousing","Public administration and safety","Education and training"],[[-1.6000000000000001],[-1.8],[-2.7000000000000002],[0.40000000000000002],[0.10000000000000001],[-1.2],[0.20000000000000001],[-0.69999999999999996],[0.20000000000000001],[-0.59999999999999998],[-1.2],[-0.90000000000000002],[-0.90000000000000002],[-0.29999999999999999],[0],[-1.3999999999999999],[-0.59999999999999998],[-0.5],[1.6000000000000001]],[[-1.5],[-1.1000000000000001],[-0.90000000000000002],[-0.80000000000000004],[-0.80000000000000004],[-0.80000000000000004],[-0.69999999999999996],[-0.69999999999999996],[-0.69999999999999996],[-0.59999999999999998],[-0.40000000000000002],[-0.20000000000000001],[-0.20000000000000001],[-0.20000000000000001],[-0.20000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001],[0.29999999999999999],[0.29999999999999999],[0.59999999999999998]]]

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Industries ranked by percentage change in the latest fortnight.

Total wages

In the fortnight to 13 August 2022, the largest changes in total wages paid were:

Rental, hiring and real estate services, down 3.9%
Retail trade and Health care and social assistance, both down 2.8%

Percentage change in total wages, by industry (a)
	Fortnight (%)	Month (%)	Year (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	-1.1	-3.4	0.6
Mining	-1.4	-2.4	7.4
Manufacturing	-0.2	-0.9	1.9
Electricity, gas, water and waste services	0.1	-0.4	4.5
Construction	-1.3	-2.0	3.2
Wholesale trade	-2.6	-2.6	5.0
Retail trade	-2.8	-2.8	4.3
Accommodation and food services	0.1	-2.1	30.8
Transport, postal and warehousing	-1.1	-1.6	4.6
Information media and telecommunications	0.0	-0.6	0.7
Financial and insurance services	-1.6	-1.2	4.5
Rental, hiring and real estate services	-3.9	-5.9	0.8
Professional, scientific and technical services	-0.7	-3.6	5.6
Administrative and support services	-2.5	-2.7	5.7
Public administration and safety	-0.7	-1.6	3.2
Education and training	0.3	4.3	4.7
Health care and social assistance	-2.8	-3.4	7.0
Arts and recreation services	0.4	-1.1	24.3
Other services	-0.7	-2.1	11.0
All industries	-1.4	-1.9	7.5

Some industries experience pronounced seasonality in either payroll jobs and wages or both. For more information, see Seasonality in Data variability and revisions.

Industry subdivision - Payroll jobs

Time series estimates of payroll jobs by industry subdivision are presented as index values in Table 6 of the Data downloads. For more information on the industry classifications used in this release, see the Glossary.

Private sector industry - Payroll jobs

Time series estimates of payroll jobs by private sector for selected industry divisions are presented as index values in Table 9 of the Data downloads. More information on the sector classification can be found in Updating characteristics variables in How data are processed and the Glossary.

Employment size

Employment size indexes reinstated

Increased seasonality in business reporting around the end of financial year particularly impacted payroll job indexes for 0-19 employee, resulting in their temporary suspension in the last release. The 0-19 employee index have been reinstated in this release.

The ABS has previously advised caution in using the most recent periods in payroll jobs by employment size indexes, which are subject to higher than usual revisions over a longer period - particularly for small employers. These indexes are more heavily influenced by changes in reporting behaviour and reporting obligations than other indexes, affecting the interpretation of underlying change in labour market conditions. To provide more stability at the end point of these series, a month lag in the reference week is in place.

These estimates present percentage change between the weeks ending 16 July 2022 and:

2 July 2022, for fortnight
18 June 2022, for month
17 July 2021, for year

In the fortnight to 16 July 2022, the largest changes in payroll jobs were:

0-19 employees, down 2.6%

Percentage change in payroll jobs by employment size, for the week ending 16 July 2022 (a)
	Fortnight (%)	Month (%)	Year (%)
0-19 employees	-2.6	-1.6	7.7
20-199 employees	0.2	-0.3	1.7
200 employees and over	0.5	-0.2	4.6
All businesses	-0.5	-0.6	4.8

Records with 'unknown' employment size are only included in the calculation of All businesses indexes. For more information, see Revisions in sub-populations in Data variability and revisions.

Distribution of characteristics

To aid in the interpretability of payroll job estimates, the following data download contains selected distributions of jobholder and employer characteristics by state and territory.

Records with 'unknown' characteristics have been excluded from the calculation of proportions. For more information on the source, impact and proportion of unknowns, see the Updating characteristic variables and Inclusion of unknown characteristics sections of How data are processed.

Table 20: Payroll jobs - characteristics distributions

Contains selected distributions of jobholder and employer characteristics.

Data files

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Data downloads

Table 4: Payroll jobs and wages indexes

Data files

Download xlsx [4.49 MB]

Table 5: Sub-state - Payroll jobs indexes

Data files

Download xlsx [396.87 KB]

Table 6: Industry subdivision - Payroll jobs indexes

Data files

Download xlsx [103.66 KB]

Table 7: Employer characteristics - Payroll jobs index

Data files

Download xlsx [57.29 KB]

Table 8: Jobholder characteristics - Payroll jobs index

Data files

Download xlsx [66.12 KB]

Table 9: Sector - Payroll jobs index

Data files

Download xlsx [51.62 KB]

All data cubes

Data files

Download zip [3.57 MB]

Changes in this release

On this page, section updates were:

Factors affecting interpretation: additional text relating to alternative period comparisons

Within the Methodology page, updates occurred within:

How data are processed: additional text in Imputation subsection

Previously published articles and information of interest are linked below:

Characteristics spotlight: 2022 provides selected insights of payroll jobs distributions
Regional spotlight on New South Wales and Queensland provides maps of regional payroll job changes in the month to mid-March 2022
Seasonality spotlight describes the most recent seasonal changes in the labour market
Distribution of jobholder and employer characteristics provides selected distributions to aid in interpreting estimates produced from STP data
A year of COVID-19 through payroll jobs and wages statistics reviews payroll jobs and wages in the year since Australia's 100th case of COVID-19
Year-end data variability provides some context on seasonality and seasonal variation
Secondary jobs provides insight into multiple jobholders
Incorporating JobKeeper supported payments into Weekly payroll jobs and wages in Australia describes how JobKeeper payments are included

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6160.0.55.001.

Methodology

Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia methodology, Week ending 13 August 2022

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APA

Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia

APA

Key statistics

Wages estimates reinstated

Comparisons to August 2021

Factors affecting interpretation

Alternative period comparisons

Revisions

Change periods

National

State and territory

Payroll jobs

Fortnight percentage change in payroll jobs, by state and territory

Total wages

Sub-state - payroll jobs

Fortnight percentage change in payroll jobs, by GCCSA regions

Sex and age group

Payroll jobs

Total wages

5 year age groups - Payroll jobs

Industry

Payroll jobs

Total wages

Industry subdivision - Payroll jobs

Private sector industry - Payroll jobs

Employment size

Employment size indexes reinstated

Distribution of characteristics

Table 20: Payroll jobs - characteristics distributions

Data downloads

Table 4: Payroll jobs and wages indexes

Table 5: Sub-state - Payroll jobs indexes

Table 6: Industry subdivision - Payroll jobs indexes

Table 7: Employer characteristics - Payroll jobs index

Table 8: Jobholder characteristics - Payroll jobs index

Table 9: Sector - Payroll jobs index

All data cubes

Changes in this release

Previous articles

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Media releases

Fall in payroll jobs continues into August

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Microdata and TableBuilder