On average, workers in these industries were paid between $1,219 and $1,314 per week while those in the mining industry remained on the highest incomes earning on average, at $2,656 per week for full-time workers, followed by those in information media and telecommunications, at $2,178, and financial and insurance services ($2,116).
The data showed that the average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults rose 2.1 per cent to $1,748 in November 2021 ($37 over the year).
Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said following relatively large fluctuations in average earnings during the pandemic, the 2.1 per cent change in average earnings over 2021 was more consistent with underlying wage growth from the Wage Price Index released on Thursday (24 February), at 2.3 per cent.
The latest data is for mid-November, which was after the labour market had recovered from most of the delta period impacts and before the emergence of the omicron variant.
“The six-monthly increase of 0.6 per cent, between May and November 2021, followed a larger increase of 1.5 per cent before that, highlighting the extent of compositional changes in employment and hours through the second half of 2021,” Mr Jarvis said.
“Throughout 2021, full-time jobs were still progressively returning or reverting back to full-time hours in some lower paying industries, like Accommodation and food services.
“There was also some upward pressure on average full-time earnings from higher paying industries over the last six months, including in Construction, Information media and telecommunications, and Financial and insurance services.”
The average weekly wage for women actually rose more than that for men over the past six months, increasing by 1 per cent to $1,591, while men only had a 0.5 per cent rise to $1,846.
“The gap in the headline measures of average weekly full-time earnings for women and men narrowed from 14.2 per cent in May 2021 to 13.8 per cent in November 2021. The only time it was lower than this was in November 2020,” Mr Jarvis said.
“The gap in average full-time earnings was highest in the Professional, scientific & technical services industry and lowest in the group of industries that make up ‘Other services’.”
This latest gender earnings data follows last month’s release of hourly earnings data, which showed men earned more than women in all occupation groups, with the gap ranging between 10 and 19 per cent.
Average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time workers continued to be highest in the ACT ($1,981) and Western Australia ($1,896) and remained lowest in Tasmania ($1,542) and South Australia ($1,591).
