Providing data on developments in coverage, wage increases and conditions of employment included in federal enterprise agreements.
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The Workplace Agreements Database (WAD) is maintained and operated by DEWR, and is the only one of its kind in Australia. The database contains wage information for all federal enterprise agreements since the introduction of enterprise bargaining in October 1991, and conditions information for all federal enterprise agreements approved since 1 January 1997.
There are over 180,000 agreements in the database. An average of 6,000 agreements are added each year, and around 200 data items are recorded for each agreement.
The information collected about each agreement has changed over time to keep pace with changes to employment conditions in Australian workplaces over the past two decades.
The WAD framework document outlines what information is currently collected about each agreement.
This includes general details, such as:
• Workplace Sector (public or private)
• Workplace Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) division and subdivision
• Agreement Duration
• Number of employees covered
• State or Territories covered
• Unions covered
• Awards covered
The database also records details about conditions of employment contained within enterprise agreements, such as:
• Individual flexibility arrangements
• Redundancy provisions
• Superannuation
• Leave entitlements
• Training
• Penalty rate provisions
• Flexibility arrangements
• Productivity provisions
Accessing WAD data
WAD data is available in a variety of formats for research and analysis purposes. Below is a list of different ways to access and use WAD data.
Published data
The Trends in Federal Bargaining report provides data each quarter on recent developments in enterprise bargaining. The report has been published quarterly since the establishment of the Fair Work Act in 2009. A historical dataset is published quarterly alongside the Trends in Federal Bargaining report. Both the report and dataset are available on the Trends report website.
Earlier editions of the Trends report are also available on the website, going back to the September quarter 2019. To request reports prior to this time email ebtrends@dewr.gov.au.
Full Workplace Agreements Dataset
The full Workplace Agreements Dataset is available to approved users for research purposes. The complete dataset allows approved users to conduct their own analytical research into workplace agreement matters.
To request access the full Workplace Agreements Database dataset, fill out the request form and email it to ebtrends@dewr.gov.au.
Data is available from 1991 to the end of the quarter that was most recently published as part of the Trends in Federal Bargaining report.
The conditions collected about each agreement is reviewed annually so not all conditions data fields will span the full time series of the database. The full database is available in CSV format only.
Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment (BLADE)
A subset of historical data from the Workplace Agreements Database is available as a module in the BLADE integrated data asset.
More information about BLADE and how to access it is available on the ABS website.
Customised data extracts
If you only need specific information from the dataset, we may be able to create a custom dataset for you.
Custom data extracts are provided in Excel (.xlsx) format by default, but can be provided in CSV format if requested.
Please complete the custom data request form and email it to ebtrends@dewr.gov.au.
Join our mailing list
To keep up to date with the latest news and upcoming publications associated with the Workplace Agreements Database, join the workplace agreements data mailing list, by contacting ebtrends@dewr.gov.au.