FEATURE RELEASES
Recent ABS Publications
Measures of Australia's Progress, 2010 (cat. no. 1370.0)
The latest edition of Measures of Australia's Progress (MAP) was released on 15 September 2010. MAP contains a range of information that should help Australians to answer the question 'Is life in Australia getting better?'.
MAP presents reliable, easy to understand information that describes how Australia is progressing across a range of social, economic and environmental measures. Topics covered include health, education and training, work, crime, income, housing and biodiversity.
This edition of MAP also presents a feature article on the Future directions in measuring Australia's progress and an interactive blog where you can provide feedback and contribute to the discussion on MAP.
Australian Social Trends, Sep 2010 (cat. no. 4102.0)
Australian Social Trends draws together a wide range of statistics from the ABS and other official sources to provide a picture of Australian society and how it is changing over time.
The latest edition, released on 29 September 2010, features six articles.
Holidaying abroad
There were a record 6.8 million short-term departures by Australians in 2009-10, equivalent to 31 trips for every 100 Australians.
New Zealanders in Australia
There were 529,200 New Zealand-born people living in Australia in 2009, up by 89% over the last two decades. In 2006, it was estimated that for every 100 New Zealanders living in New Zealand, there were 15 living in Australia.
Parental divorce or death during childhood
Compared with people whose parents did not divorce or separate, those who did were less likely to finish school, more likely to enter a de facto relationship at a younger age, and of those who married, they were less likely to remain married.
The city and the bush: Indigenous wellbeing across Remoteness Areas
While there have been improvements in a range of indicators for Indigenous Australians in recent years, such as school completion rates and employment, inequalities remain evident between Remoteness Areas.
Older people and the labour market
Just over one-third of all people aged 55 years and over (or 1.9 million people) were in the labour force in 2009-10, with this participation rate increasing strongly over the past decade.
Australian workers: Educational and workplace training
The labour force is becoming increasingly skilled with 66% of workers aged 15-64 years having a non-school qualification in 2009, up from 59% in 2001. One third of people aged 25-34 had a bachelor degree or higher, making this group the most qualified.
Census Data Enhancement Project: An Update, Oct 2010 (cat. no. 2062.0)
The Census Data Enhancement (CDE) project is a major project involving integrating unit record data from the Census of Population and Housing with other ABS and non-ABS datasets to create new datasets for statistical and research purposes.
The project delivers a number of significant benefits, including the improved availability of information to support good government policy making, program evaluation and service delivery and an improved and expanded range of official statistics.
This publication provides an update on the CDE project for the 2011 Census of Population and Housing.
A guide for using statistics for evidence based policy, 2010 (cat. no. 1500.0)
There is an increasing emphasis within Australia, and internationally, on the importance of using good statistical information when making policy decisions. In response to this, the ABS has developed the 'Guide for Using Statistics for Evidence Based Policy'. The guide provides useful information about how statistics can be used to make informed policy decisions and includes information on
- What is evidence based decision making?
- How good statistics can enhance the decision making process
- Using statistics for making evidence based decisions
- Data awareness
- Understanding statistical concepts
- Analysing and evaluating statistical information
- Communicating statistical findings
- Evaluating policy outcomes
This is a useful resource for policy and decision makers and aims to increase the use of appropriate statistics in the decision making process. For further information about the publication or statistical literacy activities, please email
statistical.literacy@abs.gov.au.
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