THE online shopping boom has delivered a healthy pay rise to postal and transport workers, official figures show.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, the industry whose average weekly wage rose the most in the last 12 months was transport, postal and warehousing at 9.7 per cent.

This was followed by wholesale trade at 8.9 per cent and mining at 7.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, health care and social assistance workers’ pay fell by 1.2 per cent and arts and recreation services wages were unchanged.

See below for a full list of pay rises and leave your comment.



AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the strength of online sales has boosted postal and warehousing activity, and the transport sector of the economy has been doing reasonably well.

“And this sector might have had a slower run for several years, but then might have had a catch up,” Mr Oliver said.

Mr Oliver said that mining is sitting near to top of the list as expected.

“If a lot of high paid workers work in that industry it boosts the growth,” he said.

Mr Oliver said wages for health care and social workers were surprisingly weak.

“Workers in that sector have been squeezed over many years as a result of budget cut-backs and so on,” he said.

“The surprise is that it’s so weak that it’s gone backwards.”

The figures also show the top-earning profession is mining, with an average weekly wage of $2272.30, followed by professional, scientific and technical services on $1622.80 and financial and insurance services on $1591.90.

The sector with the lowest weekly earnings is accommodation and food service on $955.90.

The figures also show average weekly earnings for full-time adults rose 0.4 per cent in the three months to May.

Full-time adult ordinary time earnings – which exclude overtime, redundancy and other benefits - were $1351.20 for the quarter.

The wage gap between men and women is widening rather than closing, as the fluro vest becomes the work clothes of choice for a new generation chasing the big bucks.

The average male worker earns more than $13,000 extra per year more than his female counterpart.

Despite efforts to close the gender divide, the average female weekly wage rose by only 3.3 per cent to $821 in the past year compared with male pay packet, which went up 3.9 per cent to $1285.

The disparity is being driven by the huge lift in wages in the more male-dominated sectors such as mining and construction.

Pay rise by industry

Transport, Postal and Warehousing - 9.7 per cent

Wholesale Trade - 8.9 per cent

Mining - 7.1 per cent

Education and Training - 4.6 per cent

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services - 4.2 per cent

Public Administration and Safety - 4.1 per cent

Financial and Insurance Services - 3.5 per cent

Retail Trade - 3.1 per cent

Accommodation and Food Services - 2.8 per cent

Information Media and Telecommunications - 2.5 per cent

Construction - 2.2 per cent

Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services - 1.9 per cent

Administrative and Support Services - 1.3 per cent

Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services - 1.1 per cent

Manufacturing - 0.35 per cent

Arts and Recreation Services – no change

Health Care and Social Assistance – down by 1.2 per cent



Full-time adult ordinary time earnings by industry