The Average Australian’s Weekly Wage Rises

Post by Sharat on November 20, 2009 · Under Australian Economy, Business News · Comment

The weekly wage for the average full time Australian worker is $1200 according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which was released on Thursday.

The average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE) for a full time Australian worker increased by 0.9 per cent during the quarter ending August, representing an annual seasonally adjusted increase of 5.2 per cent.

Private sector AWOTE increased by 0.9 per cent to stand at $1178.80 and represents a seasonally adjusted annual increase of 4.9 per cent. Whilst the public sector AWOTE increased by 1 per cent to $1277.60 for the same period, representing a seasonally adjusted annual increase of 5.8 per cent.

Despite Australians making more money, they also happen to be working more for the extra cash.

The average full time Australian worker does 70 minutes of unpaid overtime daily, according to research from the Australian institute. The means that the average Australian worker puts in 33 eight hours days in unpaid overtime during the year, or six and a half working weeks annually in unpaid overtime.

“While Australians might have a reputation for taking ‘sickies’ and ‘smokos’, the evidence suggests otherwise,” the institutes executive director Richard Denniss said when releasing the research on Wednesday.

Over the last ten years, Australians have developed a reputation for working the longest hours in the developed world, despite other developed countries seeking to lower the number of working hours.

“The amount of unpaid overtime worked in Australia is the equivalent of 1.16 million full-time jobs. In an economy where unemployment is rising, overwork is an obvious area for government to address” Dr Denniss said.

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