Today, the minimum wage has increased by 25c from $12.75 to $13 an hour. For young people who are still being trained for the job, their pay has increased by 20c from $10.20 to $10.40.

At $13 an hour, this comes to $520 for a 40-hour week. The median hourly rate for all workers, including people on a salary, is $20 an hour. Usually professional people like teachers and lawyers receive a salary which is a yearly amount. It may be paid every two weeks. A median is an average where half the people receive more and half the people receive less.

The age group which has the highest weekly pay is between 35 and 39 years of age. The median for this age group is $777 a week – ($900 for men and $657 for women).

The median household income is $1,236 a week. This includes government benefits like “Working for Families”.

These figures are for the June quarter last year, collected by the Department of Statistics. If you are interested, you can find these figures on the Stats website.

Questions

What is the difference between median and mean? Why does the Stats Dept prefer the median?

Who earns the minimum wage?

Why do men earn more than women?