CENSUS

Some new 2006 Census products have just been released, and more are coming soon. These include:

Community Profiles: Working Population Profile (1st issue)
Census Tables on the Working Population
released 29 February 2008

The Working Population Profile contains 22 tables of key Census characteristics of employed persons. The tables provide a range of data, including how many people work full-time or part-time, their incomes, which industries they work in, which industries have people working long hours, which occupations utilise the Internet, and how people travel to work. For further information see the Place of Work Factsheet.

Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)
full suite due to be released 26 March 2008

This is a product developed especially for those interested in the assessment of the welfare of Australian communities. The ABS has developed indexes to allow ranking of regions/areas, providing a method of determining the level of social and economic well-being in that region. Examples of variables used are income, education, occupation and housing conditions.

The full release of the four Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) (cat. no. 2033.0.55.001) and a detailed technical paper (cat. no. 2039.0.55.001) will be published on 26 March 2008. However, due to strong demand for access to the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD), the ABS released a preliminary version of the IRSD data and a preliminary Information Paper (cat. no. 2039.0) on 18 February 2008.

The ABS advises users, especially those with no prior experience of SEIFA indices, to wait for the full release with the accompanying documentation and manual.

Social Atlas series (cat. no. 2030.0) due to be released 17 March 2008

One of the most popular Census products from 2001, the Social Atlas series consists of a separate publication for each state and territory. Each Atlas presents colour maps that highlight key characteristics of the population in each capital city and selected regional areas.

The maps depict social, economic and housing characteristics based on data collected in the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. This information shows the diversity that exists across Australia's cities and regional centres.

The maps are easy to interpret as the distribution of the data are represented by different colours and shading. Brief commentary explaining the main features and characteristics also accompany each map.

To provide some consistency between atlases, each publication includes a common set of maps for the capital city areas covering topics such as population, cultural diversity, education, labour force, income, families, households and dwellings. Also, each Social Atlas includes additional maps that highlight any unique attributes pertaining to the particular capital city. A smaller selection of maps are included for the selected regional centres and these vary from Atlas to Atlas.

Other new publications:
A number of other publications utilising 2006 Census data have also been recently released. These include:
Employment in Culture, Australia, 2006 (cat no. 6273.0) released 27 February 2008
Perspectives on Migrants, 2007 (cat no. 3416.0) released 25 February 2008

Keep up-to-date with the latest Census developments and releases by subscribing to Census Users emails. To subscribe: email census.users@abs.gov.au and type 'add to Census email' in the subject field. You can opt out at any time.