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INTRODUCTION
20.16.1 This survey collects information about the working time arrangements of employees. The survey was first conducted in August 1993 and has since been conducted in August 1995, August 1997 and November 2000.
20.16.2 Data from this survey are used to examine the differing working arrangements of employees, including the flexibility of working arrangements and shift work.
20.16.3 This section describes only those aspects of the methodology that are unique to this survey, and hence should be used in conjunction with the overview part of this chapter, which outlines the survey methodology used in supplementary surveys.
SURVEY OUTPUT
20.16.4 Data from the survey are published in Working Arrangements, Australia (Cat. no. 6342.0). More detailed data are available on request.
20.16.5 The main population of interest is employees (excluding those working solely for payment in kind, and those aged 15-19 who are still attending school). Estimates are produced on an original basis only (i.e. not seasonally adjusted) and include:
| Socio-demographic information | Sex, age, marital status, relationship in household, family, geographic region, birthplace and year of arrival in Australia.
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| Employees | Occupation, industry, sector, size of employees workplace, hours worked, full-time or part-time status, weekly earnings, permanent or casual status, trade union membership, standard employment benefits received (superannuation, holiday leave, sick leave, long service leave), whether start and finish times are fixed or negotiable, whether able to work extra hours in order to take time off, whether entitled to rostered days off, whether worked shift work in previous four weeks, whether works in a job-share arrangement, whether works overtime on a regular basis, whether can choose when to take paid holidays, days of the week usually works in main job, and whether had children under 12 years.
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Employees working part-time in main job
. | Reason for working part-time hours.
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Employees entitled to rostered days off
. | Whether can choose when to take a rostered day off.
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Employees who work overtime on a regular basis
. | Hours of overtime usually worked, whether most recent period of overtime was paid, and method of payment.
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Employees who worked shift work in the previous four weeks
. | Type of shift work.
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Employees who had an absence from their main job of at least three hours in the last two weeks
. | Main reason for absence, type of leave taken, and whether leave was paid.
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| Employees who had children under 12 years | Age of youngest child, whether used childcare in previous four weeks (if not used then reason for not using childcare, if used then type of childcare), and number of employees in household. |
20.16.6 Data collected in the survey are compiled according to concepts and definitions outlined in Chapter 4 (employment characteristics), Chapter 11 (earnings) and Chapter 15 (socio-demographic information, industry and sector).
SCOPE
20.16.7 The scope of this survey is restricted to persons aged 15 and over, excluding persons aged 15-19 still attending school. The standard scope restrictions for supplementary surveys outlined in the overview part of Chapter 20 also apply to this survey.
DATA COMPARABILITY OVER TIME
20.16.8 In order to provide a high degree of consistency and comparability over time, changes to survey methods, survey concepts, data item definitions, frequency of collection, and analysis methods are made as infrequently as possible. Over the time the survey has been conducted there have been some changes to the scope and sample size. These changes mean that the standard errors for the survey differ over time. The effect on estimates of the change in scope is considered to have been small. Changes affecting the Labour Force Survey may also affect this survey. Such changes are outlined in Chapter 19 and are not repeated here.
| 1993 | Biennial survey commenced - data published in Working Arrangements, Australia (Cat. no. 6342.0).
Survey scope - persons aged 15 and over.
Related data published prior to 1993 include:
- Alternative Working Arrangements, Australia (Cat. no. 6341.0). Conducted in March to May 1982 and then again in September to November 1986, this survey collected information about employees current working arrangements and preferences for changes to these arrangements;
- Working Hours Arrangements, Australia (Cat. no. 6338.0) and Working Hours Arrangements, Australia, Supplementary Tables (Cat. no. 6339.0). Conducted in February to March 1981, this survey collected information about employees current working patterns;
- Work Patterns of Employees, Australia (Ref. no. 6.70), conducted in November 1976; and
- Evening and Night Work, Australia (Cat. no. 6329.0), also conducted in November 1976.
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| 1995 | Sample restricted to no more than seven-eighths of the Labour Force Survey sample.
Persons aged 15-20 years attending school excluded from scope.
Standard Data Service replaced publication format (Cat. no. changed to 6342.0.40.001).
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| 1997 | Persons living in remote and sparsely settled areas excluded from scope.
Publication format replaced Standard Data Service (Cat. no. changed to 6342.0).
Following data items excluded:
- whether had a rostered day off in the last four weeks;
- hours worked in most recent shift; and
- number of days worked in a row in most recent period of shift work.
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| 2000 | Following data items added:
- hours worked in most recent shift;
- whether works in a job-share arrangement;
- number of days usually worked each fortnight;
- main reason usually works overtime; and
- preference to work more, less or the same number of hours usually worked.
Following data items excluded:
- size of employee's workplace;
- weekly earnings (in main job);
- superannuation coverage; and
- provision of paid long service leave.
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FURTHER INFORMATION
20.16.9 For further details contact the Assistant Director, Monthly and Multi-purpose Population Surveys Section, on Canberra (02) 6252 6660.
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