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 17 September 2022
Released
13/10/2022

Key statistics

Between the weeks ending 3 and 17 September 2022:

  • Payroll jobs, up 0.4%
  • Total wages, up 1.4%

Wages see increased seasonality around September due to the payment of periodic bonuses in multiple industries. 

Monthly change

Monthly change periods presented in this release reflect the change between the reference date (which aligns with the Labour Force reference weeks) and the four weeks prior to it. Users should note that there are five weeks of data since the reference date of the previous release (week ending 13 August 2022).

Comparisons to 2021

In mid-2021, the emergence of the COVID-19 Delta variant resulted in both short and long term lockdowns during July through September. 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.

Update to employer characteristics in November release

The next release, on 10 November 2022, will incorporate updated employer characteristics for 2022. This will result in revisions, mostly within 2022, to the level of indexes that include employer characteristics (industry, employment size and sector). Week to week movements will be largely unchanged.

Further detail is available in Upcoming changes

Factors affecting interpretation

Revisions

Change periods

National

In the fortnight to 17 September 2022:

  • Payroll jobs increased by 0.4%, compared to a decrease of 0.1% in the previous fortnight
  • Total wages paid increased by 1.4%, compared to an increase of 1.3% in the previous fortnight
Percentage change in payroll jobs and total wages
Fortnight (%)Month (%)Year (%)
Payroll jobs0.40.36.0
Total wages1.42.86.0

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.

  1. Indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020.
  2. 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

As of this release, the maps included in this section will present monthly change in payroll jobs (previously fortnightly change). 

Payroll jobs

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

In the fortnight to 17 September 2022, the largest changes in payroll jobs were:

  • Australian Capital Territory, up 0.6%
  • New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia, all up 0.5%

 

Percentage change in payroll jobs, by state and territory
Fortnight (%)Month (%)Year (%)
New South Wales0.50.410.0
Victoria0.50.49.0
Queensland0.40.11.2
South Australia0.10.10.7
Western Australia0.50.61.4
Tasmania0.20.00.8
Northern Territory0.10.11.3
Australian Capital Territory0.60.711.6
Australia0.40.36.0

Monthly percentage change in payroll jobs, by state and territory

Loading map...

This map presents the percentage change in payroll jobs in the month up to 17 September 2022, by the state and territory of the jobholder's residential address. 

Total wages

In the fortnight to 17 September 2022, the largest changes in total wages paid were:

  • New South Wales, up 4.5%
  • Western Australia, down 4.1%
Percentage change in total wages, by state and territory
Fortnight (%)Month (%)Year (%)
New South Wales4.55.38.7
Victoria0.70.56.0
Queensland1.22.83.6
South Australia1.12.64.4
Western Australia-4.11.73.8
Tasmania1.21.65.2
Northern Territory-3.60.24.8
Australian Capital Territory0.71.07.4
Australia1.42.86.0

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.

Monthly percentage change in payroll jobs, by GCCSA regions

Loading map...

This map presents the percentage change in payroll jobs in the month up to 17 September 2022, by the GCCSA region of the jobholder's residential address. 

Footnotes

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 17 September 2022, the largest changes in payroll jobs were:

  • worked by females, up 0.5%
  • worked by persons aged 15-19, up 1.7%
Percentage change in payroll jobs, by sex and age group (a)
  Fortnight (%)Month (%)Year (%)
SexMales0.1-0.20.8
Females0.50.35.2
Age group (years)15-191.70.220.1
20-290.60.410.2
30-390.30.24.2
40-490.20.23.0
50-590.20.32.6
60-690.20.95.1
70 and over0.41.88.6
All persons 0.40.36.0

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.

  1. Indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020.

Total wages

In the fortnight to 17 September 2022, the largest changes in total wages paid were:

  • worked by females, up 1.9%
  • worked by persons aged 15-19, up 2.2%
Percentage change in total wages, by sex and age group (a)
  Fortnight (%)Month (%)Year (%)
SexMales1.02.72.4
Females1.92.68.2
Age group (years)15-192.20.425.5
20-291.31.112.7
30-392.13.66.2
40-491.83.93.1
50-590.92.63.2
60-69-0.21.36.3
70 and over-1.3-0.19.6
All persons 1.42.86.0

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 17 September 2022, the largest changes in payroll jobs were:

  • Retail trade, up 1.7%
  • Professional, scientific and technical services, up 1.2%
Percentage change in payroll jobs, by industry (a)
Fortnight (%)Month (%)Year (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing0.60.9-6.6
Mining-0.1-0.34.4
Manufacturing-0.2-0.2-1.8
Electricity, gas, water and waste services0.1-0.4-0.2
Construction0.0-0.5-2.9
Wholesale trade0.4-0.11.0
Retail trade1.71.47.8
Accommodation and food services0.2-0.114.8
Transport, postal and warehousing-0.1-1.00.0
Information media and telecommunications0.3-0.37.3
Financial and insurance services0.0-0.50.7
Rental, hiring and real estate services0.0-0.21.2
Professional, scientific and technical services1.21.11.0
Administrative and support services-0.1-0.24.6
Public administration and safety0.40.72.2
Education and training1.12.08.1
Health care and social assistance0.20.12.0
Arts and recreation services0.0-1.333.1
Other services0.40.37.3
All industries0.40.36.0
  1. Some industries experience pronounced seasonality in either payroll jobs and wages or both. For more information, see Seasonality in Data variability and revisions.

  1. Industries ranked by percentage change in the latest fortnight. 

Total wages

In the fortnight to 17 September 2022, the largest changes in total wages paid were:

  • Financial and insurance services, up 26.0%
  • Mining, down 14.9%
Percentage change in total wages, by industry (a)
Fortnight (%)Month (%)Year (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing-0.30.4-3.5
Mining-14.95.05.8
Manufacturing-1.0-0.1-3.2
Electricity, gas, water and waste services5.010.8-1.4
Construction0.00.70.0
Wholesale trade-0.6-1.13.0
Retail trade11.012.011.9
Accommodation and food services0.10.930.8
Transport, postal and warehousing-0.70.8-0.9
Information media and telecommunications3.417.31.4
Financial and insurance services26.029.50.4
Rental, hiring and real estate services0.20.0-0.5
Professional, scientific and technical services-0.5-0.43.8
Administrative and support services-0.8-0.75.2
Public administration and safety-0.70.33.1
Education and training-1.7-1.86.6
Health care and social assistance1.2-0.94.4
Arts and recreation services1.00.029.2
Other services-0.50.010.6
All industries1.42.86.0
  1. 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

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 13 August 2022 and:

  • 30 July 2022, for fortnight

  • 16 July 2022, for month

  • 14 August 2021 for year

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

  • 0-19 employees, down 1.5%
Percentage change in payroll jobs by employment size, for the week ending 13 August 2022 (a)
Fortnight (%)Month (%)Year (%)
0-19 employees-1.5-1.99.4
20-199 employees-0.4-0.72.9
200 employees and over0.50.84.9
All businesses-0.3-0.35.7
  1. 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 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

Within the Methodology page, updates occurred within:

  • How data are processed: pay frequency graph in Imputation subsection

Upcoming changes

Upcoming revisions in employer characteristics

The next release, on 10 November 2022, will include an update to employer characteristics, reflecting a snapshot from the ABS Business Register as at June 2022. Information on how STP data are enhanced through combining other administrative data held by the ABS, are found in the Updating characteristics variables subsection of How data are processed

The update will improve the quality of indexes that include industry, employment size and sector. Revisions in these indexes will be primarily from the week ending 1 January 2022 forward, where some existing characteristics are refreshed and previously unknown characteristics are populated. 

Additional detail on the impacts of this change will be included in the next release on 10 November 2022.

Previous articles

Previously published articles and information of interest are linked below:

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6160.0.55.001.

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