According to the 2021 Census, a worker needs make $3,000 per week, or nearly $156,000 per year, to be among the million wealthiest persons in the nation.
That amount is significantly more than the $805 weekly or $41,860 annual middle income for the country.
On Census night in August of last year, 13 million individuals were employed, which meant that one in every 13 employees or self-employed persons made at least $3,000 per week.
The wealthiest income earners in Australia accounted up 7.9% of the labor force but 5.9% of the 17.48 million persons who reported generating an income in the Census. They derived their wealth through wages or investments.
Australia had a total population of 25,422,788 individuals, including children, the old, and welfare recipients. More than half of them were unemployed.
According to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average weekly income in the nation was between $1,000 and $1,249. This meant that 1,866,801 persons made between $52,000 and $64,948 annually, placing them in the top half of the pay bracket.
Middle-income workers were among the 1,680,606 individuals earning $800 to $999 a week or $41,600 to $51,948 a year, with the median pay level of $41,860 falling into this category.
Comparatively, the minimum yearly pay is $40,175, with a further 5.2% Fair Work Commission rise beginning on July 1. The minimum weekly wage is $772.60.
Approximately the same amount, 1,669,570, had no income at all on Census night in August of the previous year.
146,805 persons, a far lesser amount, had a negative weekly income.
The wealthy category includes 1,029,073 Australians who make at least $3,000 per week or $156,000 per year.
In the case of persons making between $90,000 and $180,000 and more than $180,000, they would be subject to the top two tax brackets.
The census was collected in August of last year, when Sydney and Melbourne people were subjected to protracted lockdowns.
In order to pay their costs, many employees in the hotel and service industries had to rely on government assistance.
Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Philip Lowe anticipates that in 2022, inflation will reach seven percent for the first time since 1990.
Real earnings for the majority of workers will be reduced as a result of pay levels failing to keep up with the current consumer price index, which is at 5.1%, the highest level since 2001.
Retail sales increased by 0.9% in May, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth. A record $34.2 billion was spent in stores and online in April.
Many Australians’ salaries were boosted by government assistance last year, but that was expected to change in 2022 as interest rates climbed, according to CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman.
how wealthy YOU are now
‘Household incomes have also been bolstered by massive fiscal and monetary support, including record-low interest rates and job subsidies,’ he said.
‘The impact of higher inflation and interest rates will eventually weigh on household discretionary spending in the second half of 2022.’
Richest part of Australia
The Australian Capital Territory covering Canberra has the highest median weekly household income of $2,373, the Census data showed.
There, a couple who earn less than $123,000 a year between them would be considered among the poorer half.
Public servants in the national capital and their spouses typically have a middle combined pay of $123,396.
This is well above the national median of $90,792 with Australians typically living in a home where $1,746 poured into the bank every week in August last year.
The Northern Territory, where most of the population lives in Darwin, is next with a middle household income of $107,172, based on a median weekly pay of $2,061.
They are even richer than residents of NSW, where $95,108 is the middle annual combined income, based on a typical combined weekly pay of $1,829.
The premier state is even wealthier than mining rich Western Australia where $94,380 is the middle household salary and $1,815 is the median weekly income.
Victoria is fourth on the list with a median household income of $91,468 a year or $1,759 a week.
Australia’s provincial states had typical pay levels below the national middle of $90,792 or $1,746 a week.
Queensland’s median annual household income was $87,100, or $1,675 a week.
South Australia was near the bottom of the league table with yearly income of $75,660 based on median household pay of $1,455.
Tasmania came last a middle household income of just $70,616 or just $1,358 a week.
Across Australia, the median pay for individuals was $805, or $41,860.
This was only marginally above the minimum wage of $772.60 a week or $40,175 a year.
But it also represented a huge $143 or 21.6 per cent increase compared with the 2016 Census.
The ACT had the highest personal median income of $1,203 a week, or $62,556 a year.
Tasmania was last on $701 a week, or just $36,556 annually which is well below the minimum wage.
The wage rankings didn’t reflect the population changes.
Queensland last year had the strongest population growth of 1.42 per cent, followed by Western Australia (1.12 per cent), Tasmania (0.76 per cent), South Australia (0.54 per cent), the ACT (0.42 per cent), NSW (0.14 per cent) and the Northern Territory (0.07 per cent).
But the population declined in Victoria by 0.05 per cent as Melbourne became Australia’s most locked down city in the world.
The ACT had the highest personal median income of $1,203 a week, or $62,556 a year.
Tasmania was last on $701 a week, or just $36,556 annually which is well below the minimum wage.
The wage rankings didn’t reflect the population changes.
Queensland last year had the strongest population growth of 1.42 per cent, followed by Western Australia (1.12 per cent), Tasmania (0.76 per cent), South Australia (0.54 per cent), the ACT (0.42 per cent), NSW (0.14 per cent) and the Northern Territory (0.07 per cent).
But the population declined in Victoria by 0.05 per cent as Melbourne became Australia’s most locked down city in the world.