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 25 July 2020
Released
11/08/2020
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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 25 July 2020:

 

  • Payroll jobs decreased by 4.5%
  • Total wages decreased by 4.8%
  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.

Key COVID-19 dates leading up to the week ending 25 July 2020:
 

  • 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
  • 1 July: Stay at Home restrictions commence for selected Melbourne postcodes
  • 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
  • 21 July: Prime Minister announces changes to and extension of JobKeeper program
     

Key COVID-19 dates after the week ending 25 July 2020:
 

  • 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 6.7% and Tasmania decreased by 5.8%
  • Total wages : Western Australia decreased by 6.9% and Tasmania decreased by 5.9%
     

Table 1 - Percentage change by states and territories

 Payroll jobsTotal wages
 Change between 11 July and 25 July (a)Change between 14 March and 25 JulyChange between 11 July and 25 July (a)Change between 14 March and 25 July
NSW0.2%-4.1%-0.4%-4.8%
Vic.-1.2%-6.7%-2.3%-5.0%
Qld0.6%-3.4%0.2%-3.6%
SA0.5%-4.2%0.1%-3.7%
WA-0.1%-2.0%0.2%-6.9%
Tas.0.3%-5.8%-0.5%-5.9%
NT-0.5%-3.1%-0.4%-3.9%
ACT-0.8%-4.5%-3.3%-3.6%
Australia-0.1%-4.5%-0.8%-4.8%

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 4.8% and those worked by females decreased by 4.4%
  • Total wages : Payments to males decreased by 6.9% and payments to females decreased by 2.0%
     

Table 2 - Percentage change by sex

 Payroll jobsTotal wages
 Change between 11 July and 25 July (a)Change between 14 March and 25 JulyChange between 11 July and 25 July (a)Change between 14 March and 25 July
Males0.0%-4.8%-0.8%-6.9%
Females-0.3%-4.4%-0.7%-2.0%
All persons-0.1%-4.5%-0.8%-4.8%

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 10.8% and those worked by people aged 20-29 decreased by 7.2%
  • Total wages : Payments to people aged under 20 increased by 17.7% and payments to people aged 60-69 decreased by 6.5%
     

Table 3 - Percentage change by age group (a)

 Payroll jobsTotal wages
 Change between 11 July and 25 July (a)Change between 14 March and 25 JulyChange between 11 July and 25 July (a)Change between 14 March and 25 July
Aged under 201.4%-0.7%-1.4%17.7%
20-29 year olds-0.5%-7.2%-0.8%-1.6%
30-39 year olds-0.1%-3.5%-0.5%-4.1%
40-49 year olds0.3%-2.4%-0.5%-6.3%
50-59 year olds0.3%-2.5%-0.6%-6.2%
60-69 year olds-0.1%-5.4%-1.4%-6.5%
Aged 70 years and over-0.9%-10.8%-3.1%-5.8%
All persons-0.1%-4.5%-0.8%-4.8%

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 17.9% and Arts and recreation services decreased by 15.1%
  • Total wages : Mining decreased by 19.9% and Accommodation and food services decreased by 14.5%
     

Table 4 - Percentage change by Industry

 Payroll jobsTotal wages
 Change between 11 July and 25 July (a)Change between 14 March and 25 JulyChange between 11 July and 25 July (a)Change between 14 March and 25 July
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing-2.9%-10.1%-3.2%-8.4%
Mining0.8%0.2%1.4%-19.9%
Manufacturing0.9%-3.3%0.0%-8.5%
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services-1.3%0.8%-1.1%-0.7%
Construction-1.2%-5.8%-2.0%-7.8%
Wholesale Trade0.7%-3.2%0.1%-7.7%
Retail Trade0.4%-2.7%-1.6%-2.9%
Accommodation and Food Services-0.3%-17.9%-1.8%-14.5%
Transport, Postal and Warehousing1.7%-4.9%0.3%-11.1%
Information Media and Telecommunications0.4%-6.9%1.8%-7.0%
Financial and Insurance Services0.8%2.1%-1.8%-8.0%
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services-0.2%-8.1%-1.0%-8.7%
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services0.1%-3.7%0.2%1.3%
Administrative and Support Services-0.9%-7.2%-1.2%-5.1%
Public Administration and Safety0.3%1.7%-1.1%-1.3%
Education and Training-0.1%-5.5%-0.6%-2.3%
Health Care and Social Assistance-0.9%-0.3%-1.0%2.2%
Arts and Recreation Services-0.4%-15.1%-2.2%-9.1%
Other Services-1.4%-6.7%-1.3%-0.7%
All Industries-0.1%-4.5%-0.8%-4.8%

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.
 

Statistical Area 4 (SA4) - Payroll jobs

Payroll jobs by Statistical Area 4 (SA4) estimates will be updated through to the week ending 8 August as part of the release on Wednesday 26 August 2020.

The time series estimates up to the week ending 11 July 2020 (as released on 15 July) 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).

Industry sub-division - Payroll jobs

Payroll jobs by Industry sub-division estimates through to the week ending 25 July 2020 were added to this release on Wednesday 12 August 2020.

The time series estimates up to the week ending 25 July 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).

Table 5 - Percentage change in payroll jobs by Industry and sub-division (a)

Data downloads

I-note

Table 1: National spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [83.29 KB]

Table 2: State and territory spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [358.87 KB]

Table 3: Industry spotlight

Data files
Download xlsx [644.73 KB]

Table 4: Payroll jobs and wages indexes

Payroll jobs index by Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) and Payroll jobs index by Industry Subdivision which were previously included in this data cube are now released separately in Table 5.

Data files
Download xlsx [2.21 MB]

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

Payroll jobs index by Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) and Payroll jobs index by Industry Subdivision which were previously included in Table 4 are now released separately in this data cube.

Data files
Download xlsx [541.81 KB]

History of changes

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Methodology

Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia methodology, Week ending 25 July 2020

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