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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 payroll jobs and wages, sourced from Single Touch Payroll data

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Reference period
Week ending 8 August 2020
Released
25/08/2020
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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 8 August 2020:
 

  • Payroll jobs decreased by 4.9%
  • Total wages decreased by 6.2%
  1. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. For more information, please see the Data Limitations and Related Revisions technical note. Weekly change data are available in the Data downloads section.

High level analysis suggests that there were approximately 520 000 fewer payroll jobs in STP-enabled businesses on 8 August 2020 than on 14 March 2020.

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 July: Stay at Home restrictions commence for metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire
  • 12 July: Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package ceased
  • 20 July: Altered eligibility for JobKeeper payments for child care providers in place
  • 5 August: Stage 4 restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne and stage 3 restrictions in regional Victoria commence

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 7.8% and the Australian Capital Territory decreased by 5.5%
  • Total wages : Western Australia decreased by 7.7% and Victoria decreased by 6.7%
     

Table 1 - Percentage change by states and territories

 Payroll jobsTotal wages
 Change between 25 July and 8 August (a)Change between 14 March and 8 AugustChange between 25 July and 8 August (a)Change between 14 March and 8 August
NSW-0.4%-4.4%0.3%-6.4%
Vic.-1.6%-7.8%-1.7%-6.7%
Qld-0.9%-3.7%-1.2%-5.2%
SA-0.2%-3.8%0.1%-4.1%
WA-0.1%-2.0%-0.2%-7.7%
Tas.0.2%-5.0%0.6%-4.5%
NT0.3%-2.6%1.6%-3.3%
ACT-1.5%-5.5%-0.4%-3.9%
Australia-0.8%-4.9%-0.6%-6.2%

a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. For more information, please see the Data Limitations and Related Revisions technical note. Weekly change data are available in the Data downloads section.

Sex and age group

Sex

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 males decreased by 5.3% and those worked by females decreased by 4.7%
  • Total wages : Payments to males decreased by 8.7% and payments to females decreased by 2.7%
     

Table 2 - Percentage change by sex

 Payroll jobsTotal wages
 Change between 25 July and 8 August (a)Change between 14 March and 8 AugustChange between 25 July and 8 August (a)Change between 14 March and 8 August
Males-0.9%-5.3%-1.2%-8.7%
Females-0.6%-4.7%0.3%-2.7%
All persons-0.8%-4.9%-0.6%-6.2%

a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. For more information, please see the Data Limitations and Related Revisions technical note. Weekly change data are available in the Data downloads section.
 

  1. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs. For more information, please see the Data Limitations and Related Revisions technical note. Weekly change data are available in the Data downloads section.

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 11.5% and those worked by people aged 20-29 decreased by 7.2%
  • Total wages : Payments to people aged under 20 increased by 19.6%
     

Table 3 - Percentage change by age group (a)

 Payroll jobsTotal wages
 Change between 25 July and 8 August (a)Change between 14 March and 8 AugustChange between 25 July and 8 August (a)Change between 14 March and 8 August
Aged under 201.4%-0.1%1.7%19.6%
20-29 year olds-0.6%-7.2%0.2%-2.1%
30-39 year olds-0.8%-4.0%-0.5%-6.1%
40-49 year olds-0.6%-3.0%-0.6%-7.8%
50-59 year olds-0.4%-2.9%-0.4%-7.4%
60-69 year olds-0.6%-5.9%-0.5%-7.5%
Aged 70 years and over-1.7%-11.5%-2.6%-7.8%
All persons-0.8%-4.9%-0.6%-6.2%

a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. For more information, please see the Data Limitations and Related Revisions technical note. Weekly change data are available in the Data downloads section.

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 18.0% and Arts and recreation services decreased by 15.3%
  • Total wages : Mining decreased by 21.2% and Accommodation and food services decreased by 12.7%
     

Table 4 - Percentage change by Industry

 Payroll jobsTotal wages
 Change between 25 July and 8 August (a)Change between 14 March and 8 AugustChange between 25 July and 8 August (a)Change between 14 March and 8 August
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing-3.9%-11.0%-2.9%-9.0%
Mining (b)-0.5%-1.3%2.2%-21.2%
Manufacturing-0.5%-3.7%-1.0%-9.8%
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services1.0%3.3%0.1%1.5%
Construction-2.3%-6.1%-3.2%-9.1%
Wholesale Trade-1.3%-4.8%-0.6%-10.9%
Retail Trade0.8%-3.2%2.2%-1.7%
Accommodation and Food Services-0.8%-18.0%1.3%-12.7%
Transport, Postal and Warehousing0.6%-4.8%1.1%-10.2%
Information Media and Telecommunications-2.3%-9.1%2.6%-5.5%
Financial and Insurance Services-1.0%0.6%-1.4%-9.2%
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services-1.8%-9.3%-4.1%-11.4%
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services-2.4%-4.8%-4.1%-7.3%
Administrative and Support Services-2.5%-8.3%-2.3%-6.3%
Public Administration and Safety-0.2%1.8%0.0%-1.3%
Education and Training2.4%-4.1%2.9%-0.7%
Health Care and Social Assistance-0.9%-0.2%0.2%1.6%
Arts and Recreation Services-1.4%-15.3%0.3%-9.7%
Other Services-2.3%-7.1%-1.2%-1.4%
All Industries-0.8%-4.9%-0.6%-6.2%

a. Care should be exercised when focusing on the most recent movements in payroll jobs and wages. Weekly change data are available in the Data downloads section.
b. The Mining industry wages estimates in March may include annual bonuses. Please refer to the seasonality section of the Data Limitations and Related Revisions technical note for further information.
 

Statistical Area 4 (SA4) - Payroll jobs

Payroll jobs by Statistical Area 4 (SA4) estimates updated through to the week ending 8 August were added to this release on Wednesday 26 August 2020.

The time series estimates up to the week ending 8 August 2020 are available via Table 5 in the Data downloads section, presented as index values.

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 - Percentage change in payroll jobs by region

Industry sub-division - Payroll jobs

Payroll jobs by Industry sub-division estimates updated through to the week ending 22 August 2020 as part of the release on Wednesday 9 September 2020.

The time series estimates up to the week ending 25 July 2020 (as updated on 12 August 2020) are available via Table 5 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).

Jobs by Statistical Area 4 (SA4) - Interactive map

To view the jobs by Statistical Area 4 (SA4) - Interactive map, click here

This map uses data contained in Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia, Week ending 8 August 2020.

How to use

  • Search: the magnifying glass icon opens the search function. It is set to look for locations such as addresses, suburbs and postcodes contained within an SA4.
  • Reference week: the date slider can be used to select a particular week of interest, or see changes over time.
  • Data: on the map, an SA4 can be selected to view the underlying data. Data for all SA4s can be in Table 4, available via the Data downloads section.
  • If the maps do not load successfully, please try refreshing this page.
     

More information

Secondary jobs around 30 per cent of total payroll job losses

This article updates information released on 16 June 2020, related to multiple job holdings.

Any job or jobs held concurrently by an employed person, other than their main job (based on income) are called secondary jobs.

The ABS estimates that the number of payroll jobs in the week ending 8 August was 4.9% lower than the week ending 14 March 2020 (the week Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case). Over the same period, payroll jobs considered main jobs decreased by 3.6% and secondary jobs decreased by 25.7%.

The declining proportion of secondary jobs over the COVID-19 period is shown in Table 1. These data provide insight into the potential job retention dynamics of JobKeeper, which only covers a single job for an eligible employee, supporting main jobs to a greater extent than secondary jobs.

Additional analysis of STP data suggests that secondary jobs(1) account for around 30% of all payroll jobs lost between the week ending 14 March 2020 and 8 August 2020.

Table 6 - Main and secondary jobs as a proportion of total payroll jobs

 week ending 14 March (a)week ending 8 August
Main jobs94.1%95.4%
Secondary jobs5.9%4.6%
Total100.0%100.0%

a. These proportions reflect updates to underlying time series data since the previous release of multiple job holdings information.
 

Relationship with other labour statistics

The number of payroll jobs is not the same as the number of employed people in Labour Force statistics for a range of reasons, one of which is multiple job holding. Each payroll job is counted separately in Single Touch Payroll data. Analysis of secondary job holdings as observed through STP data provide important insights into how these data may relate to person based measures in Labour Force statistics.

Prior to the COVID-19 period, the Australian Labour Account showed that around 6% of employed people worked multiple jobs at the same time. As of March quarter 2020, the Labour Account showed that around 93.2% of jobs in the labour market were ‘main jobs’ and around 6.8% of jobs were ‘secondary jobs’ (i.e. other jobs worked concurrently by multiple job holders). These statistics will be updated in the June quarter 2020 release on the 9 September 2020.

Footnote

Data downloads

I-note

Table 1: National spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [83.58 KB]

Table 2: State and territory spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [362.56 KB]

Table 3: Industry spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [649.77 KB]

Table 4: Payroll jobs and wages indexes

Data files
Download xlsx [1.76 MB]

Table 5: Statistical Area 4 and Industry subdivision - Payroll jobs indexes

Data files
Download xlsx [517.2 KB]

History of changes

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Methodology

Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia methodology, Week ending 8 August 2020

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