25 October, 2017
The ‘Trends in Federal Enterprise Bargaining’ report for April-June 2017 was released by the Department of Employment on Friday.
This data is a valuable tool for benchmarking during any enterprise agreement negotiations you have coming up.
The latest report reveals that:
- Across the country, the Northern Territory recorded the highest average annual wage increase (AAWI) with 3.7% for the quarter, compared to Western Australia again with the lowest at 2.0%.
- The transport, postal and warehousing industries and the administrative and support services industries both had the largest drop in AAWI this quarter (0.6%).
- As a general trend, wage growth continues to slide across both the private and public sectors when comparing enterprise agreements approved during the June quarter with both the last quarter (March 2017) and the same quarter last year (June 2016).
Table 7 of the report is particularly useful, showing the AAWI by industry for enterprise agreements approved during the June 2017 quarter.
- For the manufacturing industry, the average annual wage increase was 2.4% – representing no change from the previous quarter.
- For the mining industry, the average annual wage increase was 2.3% – 0.9% up from the previous quarter.
- For the construction industry, the average annual wage increase was 3.7% – 0.5% down from the previous quarter.
- For the electricity, gas, water and waste services industries, the average annual wage increase was 3.2% – 0.3% down from the previous quarter.
- For the retail industry, the average annual wage increase was 2.4% – representing no change from the previous quarter.
- For the transport, postal and warehousing industries, the average annual wage increase was 2.1% – 0.6% down from the previous quarter.
- For the administrative and support services industries, the average annual wage increase was 2.1% – 0.6% down from the previous quarter.
- For the financial and insurance services industries, the average annual wage increase was 3.2% – up 0.9% from the previous quarter.
- For the information, media and telecommunications services industries, the average annual wage increase was 2.6% – up 0.5% from the previous quarter.
For further information, please contact:
Miles Bastick, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
miles.bastick@hsf.com
