Wage Price Index (WPI) YoY tracks the headline wage series for Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics compiles it quarterly from private and public employers. It started in the September quarter of 1997. The headline measure is total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, which include commissions.
It covers about 3,300 employers and 20,000 matched jobs priced quarterly, against 3,000 and 18,000 earlier. Employers report the same jobs for five years or more, with yearly refreshes for December quarters. Jobs span full-time, part-time, permanent, casual, managerial and non-managerial work. Farm and defence jobs sit outside scope.
Holding quality and hours fixed, it is not average earnings or take-home pay, excluding superannuation, payroll tax and workers compensation. Levels cannot be compared across states, sectors or industries; only movements can. Only the indexes excluding bonuses are pure price indexes.