Assignment: Wage patterns of Australian workers

Wages vary across gender, age, education, height, and many other characteristics of individuals. You will get a dataset (unique to each student), which contains a sample of 1,601 Australian workers aged between 18 and 64 in 2013 (see Table 1 for the definitions of the variables). You are asked to write a report describing and analysing the patterns of wages of a sample of Australian workers.

Table 1. Definitions of variables

In the report, you should address the following questions (where you need to calculate and discuss/interpret/comment on the numbers):

1. For the whole sample, and for male and female workers separately, calculate the means, the medians, and the standard deviations of the following variables: age, wage, and height. You also need to make a table to show the percentages of workers in each state and each education level.
   • Present the results in tables and interpret these results (e.g., what is the wage of a typical Australian worker in your sample, what is the proportion of workers who received tertiary education, etc.).
   • In your sample, what are the average weekly wages of male and female workers, respectively? Are they very different? Which are the main contributing factors behind this difference?

2. Distribution of weekly wage
   • Draw a histogram of wages and interpret the distribution. Based on this distribution, what is the range of the wage of the middle 50 percent of workers in your sample? How many percent of workers are within two standard deviations around the mean wage?
   • Draw a chart of average weekly wages by state. On average, in which state do people have the highest and lowest weekly wages, respectively?
   • Group the individuals into 5-year age groups, for example, <=20, 21-25, 26-30, 31-35… . Using a chart of your choice, describe the age pattern of wages. Which age group earns the most? Do you find any apparent age pattern? Does this pattern potentially impact the results of the weekly wage?

3. Wage and education

Using a chart (or table) of your choice, describe and interpret the relationship between workers' education attainment and their wages in the sample.

4. Wage and height

Researchers often find that individuals' wages and height are associated and suspect that this association may reflect factors such as self-esteem, social dominance, and discrimination.

Distribution of height

• Estimate the ranges of height in which most (95%) male and female workers are. (The answer should be based on the shape of the distribution and numerical measures.)
• What is the correlation coefficient of wage and height for the whole sample? Do you find positive correlations between the two variables? Calculate the correlation coefficient separately for male and female workers. Do you find any difference from that compared to the overall sample? If there is a big difference, what do you think is the reason behind this?

5. Hourly wage and education (This question is for the postgraduate students of Unit 11405 only).

Weekly earnings depend upon both an hourly wage and hours worked. To see a clear relationship between labour market outcome and education, researchers often prefer the measure of hourly wage.

• Create a new variable using the information of weekly wage and weekly hours worked per week.
• Repeat Question 3 using this new variable and compare your results. Explain the most significant difference.

Data

The data are in Excel format. Each student should download the data set under his/her student ID. For example, if a student has the student ID of u1234567, this student must use the data titled '1234567.xlsx' for the assignment. Please note that the student is responsible for downloading the correct data set. Reports based on the wrong data set will get a 0 mark.

 Requirements

This is an individual assignment. Any potential academic misconduct will be reported to the Associate Dean of Education in the Faculty of Business, Government and Law for investigation.

Format and submission of assignments:

• The assignment should be a report of less than 1,500 words in length (including tables, graphs, and references). Please note that mark will be reduced if the limit is exceeded.
• All tables and charts should be presented professionally. (numbered/indexed, meaningful titles, labels of axes, data labels, source of data, etc.).
• Final answers should be rounded to two digits after the decimal points.
• The assignment should be submitted through Canvas in the format of word or pdf files. NO Excel file is required.

General guidance for the assignment: 

Assessment of the assignment will take account of the following:

1.  Presentation - The report should be well presented with a clear bibliography and well-labelled diagrams and graphs (10% of marks).
2.  Style - The report should be well written. Marks will be deducted for spelling mistakes, poor sentence and paragraph construction (10% of marks).
3.  Sources - Students should consult a range of relevant source materials and acknowledge any source (10% of marks).
4.  Structure - The theme and argument of the report should be developed in a logical manner. The report should include an introduction setting out the issues to be discussed in the body of the report and a conclusion summarising the argument (20% of marks).
5.  Content - Marks will be allocated for the processes you use in dealing with the information and accuracy of your responses, your ability to address the issues, present arguments for a suggested solution, plus describe any limitations and assumptions in your analysis. (50% of marks).

Extensions and late penalty

Students must apply for an extension BEFORE the due date if they have a legitimate reason and produce acceptable evidence. Only the acceptable reasons listed in the UC extension request form will be assessed. You can find the extension request form in your MyUC portal.

Please see the unit outline for late penalties. Students who do not submit the assignment within the designated period and do not have a granted extension will be given a fail grade of NC (did not complete all assessment items).