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Indicator: HS-77 Other economic indicators

Data

The following datasets are identified to populate this indicator.

• Average wage and salary income
• Disposable household income
• Household income by quintiles
• Household debt
• GDP and GDP per capita
• Household expenditure
• Income by cities and regions

Average Annual Wage and Salary Income
Metropolitan (a) and Non-metropolitan Australia – 1995-96 to 2000-01

	Income ($)						Average annual rate of increase (%)
	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	1999-00 to 2000-01	1995-96 to 2000-01
Metropolitan Australia	29 500	30 723	32 047	33 355	34 678	36 156	4.3	4.2
Non-metropolitan Australia	25 565	26 650	27 616	28 614	29 373	30 513	3.9	3.6
Total Australia	28 494	29 684	30 908	32 163	33 341	34 745	4.2	4.0
Metro/non-metro differences (%)	15.4	15.3	16.0	16.6	18.1	18.5	-	-

(a) Metropolitan Australia : Metropolitan areas in each state and territory have been defined as the Capital City Statistical Division with exceptions in New South Wales, where the Newcastle and Wollongong SSDs have also been included; Victoria, where the Greater Geelong City Part A SSD has been included; and Queensland, where the Gold Coast City Part B and Sunshine Coast SSDs have been included. For the Northern Territory, Darwin City SSD and Palmerston-East Arm SSD have been defined as metropolitan. For further details, including lists of SLAs and LGAs that make these SDs and SSDs, see Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2001 (ABS cat. no. 1216.0).
Non-metropolitan Australia : Non-metropolitan areas cover all other parts of a state or territory excluding the metropolitan areas as defined above.

Source: Australian Taxation Office Income tax data 2003, Regional Wage and Salary Earner Statistics, Australia - Electronic Publication, viewed 28 Nov 2005, http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/
b06660592430724fca2568b5007b8619/693946a5f90463adca256e00007dc856!OpenDocument

• Australian System of National Accounts (PDF - 2.5 KB) 
• Household Income and Income Distribution (PDF - 1.3 KB) 
• Recapitalising Australia's Cities (PDF - 968 KB) 
• A Tale of Two Surveys: Household Debt and Financial constraints in Australia (PDF - 180 KB) 

What the data mean

Both the Gross Domestic Product and the Gross Domestic Product per capita have continued to increase steadily over the last three decades.

The household consumption expenditure has also increased by nearly 25% between 1995/96 and 2003/04.

Twenty percent of households receiving the highest income received nearly 40% of Australia’s total disposable income in 2002/03, a pattern that has remained constant over a decade. The twenty percent of households receiving the lowest income received only around 8% of the total disposable income. These percentages had not changed much in the decade since 1994/95.

The P90/P10 Percentile ratio and the Gini coefficient, which show the spread of incomes across the population, have both increased in value between 1994/95 and 2002/03. The P90/P10 ratio was 4.00 in 2002/03, rising from 3.77 in 1994/95 and 3.66 in 1996/97. The Gini coefficient was 0.309 in 2002/03 rising from 0.302 in 1993/94 and 0.292 in 1996/97. These increases in values for these two indicators show that income inequality in Australia has increased over this period.

The distribution of wages show that there is disparity in the wages earned between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas of Australia. The increase in wages for the metro areas has been higher compared to that for non-metro areas (4.2 vs 3.6 for 1995/96 - 2000/01). The disparity has again increased during the period from 1995/96 (a metro : non-metro ratio of 15.4) to 2000/01 (ratio of 18.5).

Household debt as a percentage of disposable income has continued to increase to reach historically high levels by 2002.

Capital cities generate about two-thirds of Australia’s economic activity, with three quarters of all economic activity emanating from the 8 capital cities plus Geelong, Newcastle and Wollongong.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Human Settlements — Liveability of human settlements - Economic aspects of human settlements 

Economic well being of a settlement is one of the factors which determine the standard of living of its residents. Together with employment indicators, these economic indicators will contribute to the liveability of the human settlement.

Other indicators for this issue:

• HS-16 Measures of knowledge and skills 
• HS-24 Employment rates by population industry and region 

Further Information

• Regional Wage and Salary Earner Statistics, Australia 
• Australian System of National Accounts 
• Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia 
• A Tale of Two Surveys: Household Debt and Financial Constraints in Australia 

Source: Allen Consulting Group 2002, Recapitalising Australia's Cities: A Strategy in the National Interest, Property Council of Australia, Sydney, viewed 12 Apr 2006, http://www.allenconsult.com.au/publications/download.php?id=173&type=pdf&file=1 .

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001, Measuring Wellbeing: Frameworks for Australian Social Statistics, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

Source: Eckersley R 1998, Measuring Progress: Is Life Getting Better?, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.

Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 1976, Measuring Social Wellbeing: A Progress Report on the Development of Social Indicators, OECD, Paris.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, The Health and Welfare of Australias Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 2005, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

Source: Productivity Commission 2005, Australias Health Workforce, Productivity Commission, Canberra.

Source: Birrell B, OConnor K and Rapson V 1999, 'Explaining spatial concentrations of the poor in metropolitan Melbourne', People and Place, vol. 1, pp. 53-64.

Source: Borland J, Gregory B and Sheehan P 2001, Work Rich, Work Poor: Inequality and Economic Change in Australia, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies - Victoria University, Melbourne.