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Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia

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Experimental weekly estimates on the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on employee jobs and wages, sourced from Single Touch Payroll data

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Reference period
Week ending 27 June 2020
Released
14/07/2020
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Key statistics

Between the week ending 14 March 2020 (the week Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case) and the week ending 27 June 2020:

  • Payroll jobs decreased by 5.7%
  • Total wages paid decreased by 3.2%

Key findings

  1. Wages data are more sensitive to period-to-period changes in reporting than jobs data and are therefore subject to greater revisions over time. They are also subject to a greater degree of seasonality, including the potential impacts of end of financial year reporting. Please refer to the Methodology for further information.


Key COVID-19 dates:

  • 22 March: Prime Minister announces Stage 2 lock down changes, which are progressively implemented
  • 30 March: Prime Minister announces JobKeeper program
  • 8 May: Initial payroll deadline for the JobKeeper program
  • 8 May: Prime Minister announces RoadMap to a COVIDSafe Australia

Jobs and wages by state and territory

Since the week ending 14 March 2020 (the week Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case) the largest changes were:

  • Payroll jobs: Victoria decreased by 6.6% and the Australian Capital Territory decreased by 6.3%
  • Total wages: Western Australia decreased by 5.4% and New South Wales decreased by 4.1%
     

Table 1 - Percentage changes by states and territories (a)

 Change in payroll jobs between 20 June and 27 JuneChange in payroll jobs between 14 March and 27 JuneChange in total wages between 20 June and 27 JuneChange in total wages between 14 March and 27 June
NSW-0.3%-5.0%-1.0%-4.1%
Vic.-1.3%-6.6%-0.5%-2.5%
Qld-0.5%-5.2%-0.1%-1.2%
SA-0.6%-5.5%-0.6%-2.9%
WA-3.0%-6.2%-1.6%-5.4%
Tas.0.6%-5.9%-0.3%-3.6%
NT-2.5%-5.7%-1.4%-1.1%
ACT-1.2%-6.3%-1.1%-2.7%
Australia-1.0%-5.7%-0.7%-3.2%

a. Wages data are more sensitive to period-to-period changes in reporting than jobs data and are therefore subject to greater revisions over time. They are also subject to a greater degree of seasonality, including the potential impacts of end of financial year reporting. Please refer to the Methodology for further information.

Jobs and wages by sex

Since the week ending 14 March 2020 (the week Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case):

  • Payroll jobs: Those worked by females decreased by 6.0% and those worked by males decreased by 5.4%
  • Total wages: Payments to males decreased by 5.2% and payments to females decreased by 0.2%
     

Table 2 - Changes by sex (a)

 Change in payroll jobs between 20 June and 27 JuneChange in payroll jobs between 14 March and 27 JuneChange in total wages between 20 June and 27 JuneChange in total wages between 14 March and 27 June
Males-0.7%-5.4%-0.5%-5.2%
Females-1.4%-6.0%-1.1%-0.2%
All persons-1.0%-5.7%-0.7%-3.2%

a. Wages data are more sensitive to period-to-period changes in reporting than jobs data and are therefore subject to greater revisions over time. They are also subject to a greater degree of seasonality, including the potential impacts of end of financial year reporting. Please refer to the Methodology for further information.
 

Jobs and wages by age group

Since the week ending 14 March 2020 (the week Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case), the largest changes were:

  • Payroll jobs: Those worked by people aged 70 and over decreased by 8.7% and those worked by people aged 20-29 decreased by 8.6%
  • Total wages: Payments to people aged under 20 increased by 11.6% and payments to people aged 40-49 decreased by 4.6%
     

Table 3 - Changes by age group (a)

 Change in payroll jobs between 20 June and 27 JuneChange in payroll jobs between 14 March and 27 JuneChange in total wages between 20 June and 27 JuneChange in total wages between 14 March and 27 June
Aged under 202.8%-5.2%-0.5%11.6%
20-29 year olds-0.6%-8.6%-0.9%-3.3%
30-39 year olds-1.4%-5.0%-0.8%-3.9%
40-49 year olds-1.3%-3.9%-0.6%-4.6%
50-59 year olds-1.4%-3.9%-0.7%-3.1%
60-69 year olds-1.6%-5.8%-0.6%-1.6%
70 years and over-1.0%-8.7%0.0%2.8%
All persons-1.0%-5.7%-0.7%-3.2%

a. Wages data are more sensitive to period-to-period changes in reporting than jobs data and are therefore subject to greater revisions over time. They are also subject to a greater degree of seasonality, including the potential impacts of end of financial year reporting. Please refer to the Methodology for further information.

Jobs and wages by Industry

Since the week ending 14 March 2020 (the week Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case) the largest changes were:

  • Payroll jobs: Accommodation and Food Services decreased by 21.2% and Arts and Recreation Services decreased by 18.1%
  • Total wages : Accommodation and Food Services decreased by 17.9% and Mining decreased by 16.7%
     

Table 4 - Changes by Industry (a)

 Change in payroll jobs between 20 June and 27 JuneChange in payroll jobs between 14 March and 27 JuneChange in total wages between 20 June and 27 JuneChange in total wages between 14 March and 27 June
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing-0.4%-6.0%-1.9%0.0%
Mining0.6%-4.1%0.5%-16.7%
Manufacturing-0.3%-4.4%0.9%-4.4%
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services0.5%1.4%-0.4%1.8%
Construction0.1%-3.9%0.7%-2.1%
Wholesale Trade0.3%-4.1%2.0%-5.8%
Retail Trade0.3%-3.3%-3.3%-2.7%
Accommodation and Food Services0.4%-21.2%0.0%-17.9%
Transport, Postal and Warehousing-1.9%-6.1%-0.4%-7.2%
Information Media and Telecommunications0.1%-7.1%1.9%-0.1%
Financial and Insurance Services0.4%0.9%-0.4%-7.2%
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services-0.2%-7.7%-0.7%-6.9%
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services0.0%-3.9%-1.0%-2.7%
Administrative and Support Services-2.1%-6.9%-5.1%-6.9%
Public Administration and Safety-0.3%-0.9%-1.3%-1.1%
Education and Training0.0%-4.3%-1.1%3.9%
Health Care and Social Assistance (b)-5.3%-5.2%0.0%3.8%
Arts and Recreation Services1.8%-18.1%0.2%-6.2%
Other Services-0.8%-6.3%-4.7%3.3%
All Industries-1.0%-5.7%-0.7%-3.2%

a. Wages data are more sensitive to period-to-period changes in reporting than jobs data and are therefore subject to greater revisions over time. They are also subject to a greater degree of seasonality, including the potential impacts of end of financial year reporting. Please refer to the Methodology for further information.
b. The Healthcare and social assistance industry wages estimates in June may be subject to larger than usual revision in subsequent releases. Please refer to the Data Limitations and Related Revisions section of the Methodology for further information.
 

Jobs by Statistical Area 4 (SA4)

Jobs by Statistical Area 4 (SA4) estimates will be updated through to the week ending 11 July as part of the release on Tuesday 28 July.

Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) time series estimates for the week ending 14 March 2020 through to the week ending 30 May 2020 (as released on 16 June 2020) are available below. The time series estimates are presented as index values and can be accessed via Table 4 in the Data downloads section.

A Jobs by SA4 - Interactive Map is also available. The map shows change in payroll jobs between the week ending 14 March 2020 (the week Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case) and the week ending 30 May 2020.

Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) regions are specifically designed to reflect labour markets within each state and territory within population limits. In regional areas, SA4s tend to have lower populations (100,000 to 300,000), while in metropolitan areas, SA4s tend to have larger populations (300,000 to 500,000).

For more information, see the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 – Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001).

Table 5 - Change in payroll jobs by region (a)

Jobs by Industry sub-division

Jobs by Industry sub-division estimates updated through to the week ending 27 June 2020 added to this release on Wednesday 15 July 2020.

The time series estimates for the week ending 14 March 2020 to the week ending 27 June 2020 are available via Table 4 in the Data downloads section, presented as index values.

The sub-division level is the second broadest grouping of industries within the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification. Industry sub-divisions are built up from the industry groups which, in turn, are built up from industry classes.

For more, information see the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (cat. no. 1292.0).

Table 6 - Changes by Industry and sub-division (a)

Data downloads

I-note

Table 1: National spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [82.93 KB]

Table 2: State and territory spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [354.67 KB]

Table 3: Industry spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [636.54 KB]

Table 4: Payroll jobs and wages indices

Data files
Download xlsx [2.56 MB]

History of changes

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Methodology

Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia methodology, Week ending 27 June 2020

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