Wages and salaries paid by employers in the retail trade industry have refused to budge in March 2024 compared to March 2023. This is despite a 2.1 per cent lift on the prior month.
The latest monthly increase in wages paid by retail employers follows a zero per cent monthly increase in February 2024, and a 4.1 per cent fall in January.
In the lead up to Christmas last year, retail wages fell 5.3 per cent in October, then lifted by 3 per cent and 1.7 per cent in November and December respectively.
Total wages and salaries paid by employers across all sectors rose 2.1 per cent month-on-month in March 2024, or $2.1 billion, with ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis confirming the total dollar amount hit $99.5 billion. This is up by 7.1 per cent from $92.9 billion in March 2023.
“This annual growth rate reflects the combined effects of changes over the year in underlying wage growth, hours worked, periodic payments like bonuses, and employment growth seen in other ABS labour statistics,” Jarvis said.
“March is a time of the year when a range of industries pay periodic bonuses, which means it’s usually a seasonal high in the financial year. This is where this monthly data, which is still relatively new and produced using Single Touch Payroll data from the Australian Taxation Office, gives us new insights.”
According to the ABS, all estimates in the latest data release are calendar-adjusted, enabling the comparisons of monthly data until there is sufficient data to produce seasonally adjusted series.
Given 2024 is a leap year, the extra day in February effectively reduces the calendar-adjusted earnings of monthly salaried employees by around 3.6 per cent as they receive the same base salary each month, regardless of the number of days.
This means, when comparing the monthly change estimates in 2024 to 2023, the January to February 2024 movement will be weaker and the February to March 2024 movement stronger.
“Until we produce seasonally adjusted figures, comparing estimates over a longer period such as a quarter can help with interpretation and provide a clearer view of underlying growth,” Jarvis said.
“In quarterly terms, total wages and salaries paid by employers saw slower growth in the March quarter 2024 of 0.5 per cent ($1.4 billion) compared to the March quarter 2023, which rose 0.8 per cent ($2.3 billion),” Mr Jarvis said.
Wages and salaries paid by employers rose in 15 of 19 industries between February and March 2024, reflecting the seasonal high in wages and salaries from periodic bonuses.
In March 2024, 20 per cent of the $2.1 billion rise was paid to employees in the Health care and social assistance industry ($415 million), which holds 14 per cent of total wages and salaries.
Around 42 per cent - or $869 million - of the rise in the month of March 2024 largely related to periodic bonuses paid within the mining, financial and insurance services and manufacturing industries.
In the year to March 2024, wages and salaries paid by employers rose in 18 of 19 industries. The largest growth, in dollar terms, was in health care and social assistance (up $1.6 billion), public administration and safety (up $716 million) professional, scientific and technical services (up $534 million), and education and training (up $534 million).
Together, these four industries account for around 40 per cent of total wages and salaries paid by employers and over half (51 per cent) of the increase in the year from March 2023 to March 2024.
These four industries also include a high proportion of public sector wages and salaries, which grew by 10.3 per cent over the year.
Wages and salaries paid by employers rose in all states and territories between February and March 2024. One third (33 per cent) of wages and salaries paid by employers were in New South Wales, which saw the largest growth in dollar terms (up $560 million) from February 2024.
Western Australia saw the largest proportional rise from February 2024 of 3.9 per cent (up $445 million). This reflected periodic bonuses paid in the mining industry, which is a large employer in the state.
New South Wales had the highest annual rise of $1.9 billion (6.2 percent), between March 2023 and March 2024.
The highest annual growth rates were in Tasmania (10.2 percent) and the Australian Capital Territory (10.1 per cent). This included the effects of wage policy changes and new enterprise agreements in Commonwealth and state public sector agencies.