Tasmanian workers’ relatively low wages have been confirmed in another report, and the answer might rest with the P-word.
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As in productivity.
Tasmanian employees averaged total weekly cash earnings of $1092.30 in May last year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Tuesday.
The national average was $1288.70, or nearly 200 a week more.
The ACT topped the table with $1517.20, while South Australian earnings were also relatively low at $1153.40.
Economist Saul Eslake pointed to a Tasmanian productivity gap in his fourth Tasmania Report, released late last year.
“One of the main reasons why hourly compensation rates are lower in Tasmania than in other states and territories is because labour productivity (production of goods and services per hour worked) is more than 22 per cent below the national average,” Mr Eslake wrote.
“ … the only way in which the gap between average labour incomes in Tasmania and the rest of Australia can be sustainably narrowed is by lifting the productivity of Tasmanian workers relative to those in other states and territories.”
He said industries which were more productive than average employed fewer than 11 per cent of Tasmanian workers, and more than 16 per cent nationally.
Also, he said, a majority of Tasmanian workers were in industries less productive than they were nationally.
”There should be more scope for improving the level of labour productivity in those Tasmanian industries where it is currently below the corresponding national averages,” he said.
“The most effective way of achieving that is likely to be obtained by raising levels of educational attainment of new entrants to the Tasmanian workforce and, where possible, those already in the workforce , given the strong correlation between educational attainment and productivity.”
Nationally, there were big pay gaps between types of workers and between industries.
Managers ($60.40 per hour) and professionals ($54 per hour) had the highest average earnings.
The lowest earners, on average, were sales workers ($28.50) and labourers ($29.50).
Mining was the highest paying industry ($60.60) and accommodation and food services ($25.90) the lowest.