The ABS today released Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) data for May, which recorded sluggish 1.4% annual growth:
Key statistics
Estimates for average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults (seasonally adjusted):
Increased by 1.4% to $1,737.10 annually to May 2021.
Males: $1,996.60 (public), and $1,807.40 (private).
Females: $1,781.60 (public), and $1,490.70 (private).
AWE growth was stronger across the public sector:
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And stronger for males than females:
Bjorn Jarvis, head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, said AWE growth has returned to ‘normal’ pre-COVID levels:
”In May 2020 we saw a major compositional shock in the labour market, with low paid jobs particularly affected by both job losses and government support. This led to a larger than usual increase in average weekly earnings at that time, which translated into a decline in average earnings in November 2020, as low paid jobs returned.”
“Since then, between November 2020 and May 2021, average weekly full-time earnings increased by 1.5 per cent ($26), which was similar to the increases we saw before the pandemic, including a 1.8 per cent increase ($29) in May 2019 and a 1.4 per cent increase ($24) in November 2019.”
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
