The ABS today released its Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia series, which revealed that payroll jobs were tracking 4.3% below their pre-Covid peak, whereas total wages were tracking 5.2% lower:
However, the ABS cautions that this series is subject to high levels of seasonality:
The movement in the Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages series observed between late November 2020 and early January 2021, is consistent with labour market seasonality at year-end. Estimates may also be affected by modified business reporting of STP data over this period. The underlying movement at year-end in both payroll jobs and wages, will be somewhat hidden by these effects until ‘normal’ business reporting resumes.
