6266.0 - Retrenchment and Redundancy, Australia, Jul 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 02/08/2002   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

Active steps taken to find work

Steps taken during the current period of unemployment:

  • writing, telephoning or applying in person to an employer for work;
  • answering a newspaper advertisement for a job;
  • checking Centrelink touchscreens;
  • checking factory noticeboards;
  • registering with Centrelink for job search assistance;
  • contacting an employment agency;
  • advertising or tendering for work;
  • contacting friends or relatives; and
  • searching internet sites.

All difficulties in finding work

All difficulties in finding work experienced during the current period of unemployment.

Bachelor degree or above

Bachelor degree or above includes qualifications at the Post graduate degree level, Master degree level, Graduate diploma and Graduate certificate level and Bachelor degree level.

Centrelink

Centrelink is a statutory authority responsible for delivering a range of Commonwealth Government services, including the registration of persons for job search assistance and income support.

Changed industry

Whether industry, at major group level, reported for a person's job from which retrenched was different to their current job, as classified by the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0).

Changed occupation

Whether occupation, at major group level, reported for a person's job from which retrenched was different to their current job, as classified by ASCO-Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second Edition (cat. no. 1220.0).

Duration of current period of unemployment

The elapsed period to the end of the reference week since a person began looking for work, or since a person last worked for two weeks or more, whichever is the shorter. Brief periods of work (of less than two weeks) since the person began looking for work are disregarded.

Duration in job from which retrenched or made redundant

The uninterrupted period of time the person spent in the job prior to retrenchment or redundancy.

Employed

Persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:
  • worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind, in a job or business or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers); or
  • worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers); or
  • were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
  • away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week; or
  • away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week; or
  • away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement; or
  • on strike or locked out; or
  • on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job; or
  • were employers or own account workers who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Mean duration (of current period of unemployment)

The duration obtained by dividing the aggregate number of weeks a group has been unemployed by the number of persons in that group.

Industry

All occurrences of industry in this publication refer to Division, as classified by the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0).

Labour force status

A classification of the civilian population aged 15 years and over into employed, unemployed or not in the labour force. See entries under each separate classification.

Leave entitlements

The entitlement of employees to either paid holiday leave or paid sick leave in their job.

Level of highest educational attainment

Highest educational attainment identifies the highest achievement a person has attained in any area of study. It is defined as the highest educational attainment a person has achieved, and is not a measurement of relative importance of different fields of study. Higher levels of education are typically characterised by the greater significance of theoretical learning and greater complexity of factual and practical learning. It is derived from a person's highest year of school completed and level of highest non-school educational qualification. See Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0) and Education and Work, Australia (cat. no. 6227.0).

Looking for full-time work

Unemployed persons who:
  • actively looked for full-time work and were available for work in the reference week; or
  • actively looked for full-time work and were not available for work in the reference week because they were waiting to start a new full-time job.

Looking for part-time work

Persons who:
  • actively looked for part-time work and were available for work in the reference week; or
  • actively looked for part-time work and were not available for work in the reference week because they were waiting to start a new part-time job.

Main difficulty in finding work

The main difficulty experienced during the current period of unemployment.

Main English-speaking countries

Comprises the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, South Africa, the United States of America and New Zealand.

Not in the labour force

Persons who were not in the categories employed or unemployed as defined.

Number of offers of employment

The number of separate offers of employment received during the current period of unemployment.

Occupation

Occurrences of occupation in this publication refer to Major Group, classified according to ASCO-Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second Edition (cat. no. 1220.0).

Retrenched or made redundant

For the purposes of this survey, those who indicated they had been retrenched or made redundant were combined due to difficulties in separating the two concepts. Throughout this publication, the terms retrenched and retrenchment are used and should be taken to mean those who were retrenched or made redundant in the three years prior to July 2001.

Respondents to the survey were firstly asked whether they had any job at all since July 1998. If they responded that they had a job during this period, they were then asked whether they had been retrenched, made redundant or accepted any redundancy packages from any job since July 1998. If respondents were unsure whether or not they had been retrenched, made redundant or accepted a redundancy package, interviewers were instructed to include persons if they:
  • had some inducement or pressure applied to them to accept a redundancy package; or
  • were retrenched or the business they were working for closed down due to financial difficulties (not including their own business or family business); or
  • were dismissed from their job for any other reason, including age and own ill health or injury.

Interviewers further instructed respondents that they should be excluded if they:
  • had been given notice of retrenchment or redundancy but were still working; or
  • had not had contracts renewed (e.g. teachers who were employed on a contract basis which was not renewed once expired; construction industry workers whose contracts expired upon completion of a project or any other time).

Only persons who were employees are included in the retrenched population.

For the purpose of this publication, those persons retrenched or made redundant in the survey reference week were excluded from the retrenched population.

Only details of a respondent's most recent retrenchment or redundancy were recorded, provided that retrenchment/redundancy occurred during the three year reference period.

Sector of job

Is used to classify a respondent’s employer as a public or private enterprise. The public sector includes local government authorities, government departments, agencies and authorities created by, or reporting to, the Commonwealth Parliament and State Parliaments.

Unemployed

Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:
  • had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and:
  • were available for work in the reference week; or
  • were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week, and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.