The C Series Index (or C Series) was a

consumer price index A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistica ...

constructed by the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...

in 1921 (back calculated to 1914) and discontinued in 1961. It was notable for its role in centralised wage bargaining in Australia, and for the indexation of working class wages over an extended period of time.

Adoption

Australia's Bureau of Statistics maintained an A Series Index of prices from 1912, back calculated to 1901, the date of

Australian Federation The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...

. As a result of the 1920 Royal Inquiry into the Basic Wage the ABS developed the C Series Index of different price bundles. The importance of statistical price series was caused by the Australian

basic wage A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labor ...

, a conception of minimal requirements for a family of four or five, based on a single male unskilled wage earner, as given in the

Harvester Judgement ''Ex parte H.V. McKay'',''Ex parte H.V. McKay'(1907) 2 CAR 1 commonly referred to as the ''Harvester case'', is a landmark Australian labour law decision of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. The case arose under the ''Exc ...

. The basic wage was a common component of almost all Australian workers' wages (supplemented in most cases by a

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paid for advanced skills by

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), and due to inflation the judgement required periodic updating to account for inflation.Australian Bureau of Statistics, "History of retail/consumer price indexes in Australia" In Year Book Australia, 2005 (ABS 1301.0), Canberra, ACT: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005.

Adoption as a wage setting device

Despite being crafted as a result of a Royal Commission into basic wages, the C Series was only adopted by the courts as a basic wage adjusting measure in 1934 by the

Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration was an Australian court that operated from 1904 to 1956 with jurisdiction to hear and arbitrate interstate industrial disputes, and to make awards. It also had the judicial functions of in ...

. Wages were then adjusted by the C Series by the Court until 1953 when

indexation Indexation is a technique to adjust income payments by means of a price index, in order to maintain the purchasing power of the public after inflation, while deindexation is the unwinding of indexation. Overview From a macroeconomics standpoin ...

was discontinued. After indexation of wages based on the C Series was discontinued, trade unions and employee associations maintained demands for C Series wage indexation or wage indexation in general into the late 1960s.

Coverage

The C Series Index covered, "food and groceries, house rents (4 and 5-roomed houses), clothing, household drapery, household utensils, fuel, lighting, urban transport fares, smoking and some miscellaneous items."

Emendation and discontinuance

The C Series was emended in 1936 to reflect changed living requirements. Notably, in the post war environment, the C Series was not adjusted until its discontinuance.

Notes

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Bibliography

*Australian Bureau of Statistics, "History of retail/consumer price indexes in Australia" In Year Book Australia, 2005 (ABS 1301.0), Canberra, ACT: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005. Economic history of Australia Price indices