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Definitions and references

Average hours worked per week by full-time workers

aggregated hours worked, including overtime, by full-time workers during the survey reference week divided by the number of full-time workers. The hours are those actually worked and are not necessarily the hours paid for.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

employees who were not entitled to either paid holiday leave or sick leave in their main job.
Reference: Weekly Earnings of Employees, Australia (cat. no. 6310.0). For data after 1998, Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, Australia (cat. no. 6310.0).

persons who were marginally attached to the labour force, wanted to work and who were available to start work within four weeks but whose main reason for not actively seeking work was that they believed they would not find a job for any of the following reasons:
• considered too old or too young by employers;
• difficulties with language or ethnic background;
• lacked necessary schooling, training, skills or experience;
• no jobs in their locality or line of work; or
• they considered that there were no jobs available at all.
Reference: Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6220.0).

persons aged 15 and over who, during the reference week, worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission, payment in kind in a job or business or on a farm, or worked without pay in a family business, or who had a job but were not at work. Also includes employers, own account workers or contributing family workers who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

an employee is a person who works for a public or private employer and receives remuneration in wages, salary, a retainer fee by their employer while working on a commission basis, tips, piece rates or payment in kind, or a person who operates his or her own incorporated enterprise with or without hiring employees.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

an employer is a person who operates his or her own unincorporated economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade, and hires one or more employees.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

the number of employed persons in a group expressed as a proportion of the civilian population aged 15 and over in the same group.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

unemployed persons seeking full-time work, expressed as a proportion of the civilian population aged 15 years and over in the same group.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and others who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

a withdrawal from work by a group of employees, or a refusal by an employer or a number of employers to permit some or all of their employees to work, each withdrawal or refusal being made in order to enforce or resist a demand, or to express a grievance.
Reference: Industrial Disputes, Australia (cat. no. 6322.0).

the proportion of people aged 15-69 years who had worked at some time during the previous year who were job mobile, that is, they changed their job (employer/business or locality) within the previous year.
Reference: Labour Mobility, Australia (cat. no. 6209.0).

for any group, persons who were employed or unemployed, as defined.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

persons unemployed for a period of 52 weeks or longer.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

the Manufacturing division of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0).
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

persons aged 15-69 years who were not in the labour force, wanted to work and; were actively looking for work but were not available to start; or were not actively looking for work, but were available to start work.
Reference: Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6220.0).

the age at which half the population is older and half is younger.

the duration which divides unemployed persons into two equal groups, one comprising persons whose duration of unemployment is above the median and the other, persons whose duration is below it.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

a collection of jobs which are sufficiently similar in their main tasks to be grouped together for the purposes of classification. The Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) Second Edition, which is used for the classification of occupation, applies skill level and skill specialisation as major criteria.

Skill level is measured by: formal education and training, and previous experience usually required for entry into an occupation. ASCO Second Edition assigns each of the nine major groups in the classification to one of five ranked skill levels.

Skill Level 1 comprises the major groups, managers and administrators, and professionals; Skill Level 2 - associate professionals; Skill Level 3 - tradespersons and related workers and advanced clerical and service workers; Skill Level 4 - intermediate production and transport workers; and Skill Level 5 - elementary clerical, sales and service workers and labourers and related workers.
Reference: Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second edition (cat. no. 1220.0).

a person who operates his or her own unincorporated economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade, and hires no employees. (This category was formerly entitled self-employed.)
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

for any group, the labour force expressed as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over in the same group.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week and who did so during the survey reference week.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

part-time employed workers who indicated they would prefer to work more hours.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

the public sector includes all employees of local government authorities and government departments, agencies and authorities created by, or reporting to, the Commonwealth Parliament and State and Territory Parliaments. All other employees are classified as private sector.
Reference: Wage and Salary Earners, Australia (cat. no. 6248.0).

persons aged 45 years and over, who had a full-time job at some time and who had ceased full-time labour force activity (i.e. were not working full-time, were not looking for and did not intend to work full-time at any time in the future). Unpaid voluntary work was not considered as full-time work.
Reference: Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia (cat. no. 6238.0).

the combination of the following divisions of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0): wholesale trade; retail trade; accommodation, cafes and restaurants; transport and storage; communication services; finance and insurance; property and business services; government administration and defence; education; health and community services; cultural and recreational services; and personal and other services.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

management units with fewer than 20 employees in all industries except agriculture where they have an estimated value of agricultural operations of between $22,500 and $400,000.
Reference: Small Business in Australia (cat. no. 1321.0).

age-specific labour force participation rates expressed as a percentage of the standard civilian population, to remove the effect of age and sex composition of the population. The standard population used is the 1991 Census population.

employees with membership of an organisation (or employee of professional association), the principal activities of which include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members.
Reference: Trade Union Members, Australia (cat. no. 6325.0). For data after 1998, Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, Australia (cat. no. 6310.0).

persons aged 15 and over who were not employed during the reference week, but who had actively looked for work and were available to start work
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

for any group, the number of unemployed persons is expressed as a percentage of the labour force in the same group.
Reference: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0).

total working days lost by employees owing to industrial disputes during the year
Reference: Industrial Disputes, Australia (cat. no. 6322.0).