Australian Public Sector Remuneration Report 2017

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Foreword

The Australian Public Service (APS) Remuneration Report 2017 presents a summary of remuneration paid to APS employees under the Public Service Act 1999 as at 31 December 2017. The report provides APS agencies data that informs their remuneration practices.

This annual report builds on several years of trend information and serves as an important public record for the APS.

John Lloyd Signature Image
John Lloyd PSM
Australian Public Service Commissioner
June 2018

APS remuneration at a glance 2017

2017 Remuneration increases

The first figure provides remuneration increases between 2016 and 2017 for Base Salary, TRP and TR across all employees, SES employees and Non-SES employees.

Percentage change in weighted median base salary 2013–2017

Percentage change in weighted median base salary 2013–2017

Gender pay gap trends

Gender pay gap trends

Average salary by gender

The next figure is an infographic displaying the average salary by gender. Men across the APS earn an average of $94,428 and Women earn an average of $86,529. This equates to a gender pay gap of 8.4%.

Super membership trends

Super membership trends

Super fund membership

This figure is a stacked bar chart comparing Superannuation fund membership between 2013 and 2017. Categories similar to the previous figure have been used: CSS, PSS, PSSap and Other funds.

Executive summary

Key findings in 2017 included:

  • Since 2016, median weighted* Base Salaries increased by 2.5%. This includes increases of 2.6% for SES and 2.5% for non-SES employees.
  • The gender pay gap was 8.4%, improving from 8.6% in 2016 and 9.6% in 2013.
  • On a level by level basis, there were only small differences between male and female Base Salaries. The largest gap was 2% at the SES 1 level.
  • Almost half of employees, or 47%, are enrolled in the Public Sector Superannuation Accumulation Plan (PSSap).
  • Just over 18,000 employees received performance bonuses, down by 6% from 2016.
  • The number of SES employees who received bonuses has decreased steadily over the past five years.

Influences on the 2017 results:

  • Large agencies have a substantial impact on remuneration. For example, the Department of Human Services, the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Defence make up approximately 57% of the APS workforce and are therefore influential on median figures.
  • During 2017, there were 39 successful enterprise agreement ballots, including ballots covering the Department of Human Services, Australian Taxation Office and the Department of Defence.
  • This follows on from 38 successful ballots in 2016.
  • Most enterprise agreements that commenced in 2017 offered 3% front-loaded general wage increases.
  • The majority of employees covered within this report are at APS classifications, and 57% are between the APS 4 and APS 6 levels. This has a large influence on median values. In contrast, SES employees account for less than 2% of employees and therefore have a much smaller impact on overall findings.

* For the purposes of comparison between SES and non-SES employees, medians are adjusted to account for the number of employees at each level. these are referred to throughout the report as 'weighted medians'.

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