4363.0.55.001 - Australian Health Survey: Users' Guide, 2011-13

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/06/2013

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Contents >> Population characteristics >> Labour force characteristics

LABOUR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS

Definition

This section looks at a variety of items related to labour force status.

Persons were classified as either employed, unemployed or not in the labour force based on criteria relating to whether the person had a job in the week prior to interview, whether those who did not have a job were actively seeking work, and whether those actively seeking work were available to start work.

Employed persons were those aged 15 years and over who reported that in the preceding week they had worked in a job, business or farm, or who had a job but were absent during that week. Excludes people who usually work less than 1 hour, or who have unpaid volunteer work arrangements, or were away from work due to workers compensation and were not, or did not know if, they were returning to work for their employer.
Unemployed persons were those aged 15 years and over who were not employed in the reference week (or who fall into an exclusion category for employed) and actively looked for work some time during the previous four weeks and were available to start, or waiting to start within the following four weeks.
Persons not in the labour force were those aged 15 and over who were not employed or unemployed, as defined.

For the majority of employment related items, data relate to the respondent's main job. For respondents who had more than one job at the time of the interview, main job was defined as the paid job in which they usually worked the most hours.

Population

Information was collected for all persons aged 15 years and over in the NHS and NNPAS.

Methodology

Information was collected using the short-form version of the questions used in the ABS Monthly Labour Force Survey.

Labour force status

Using the detailed definitions identified above, the labour force status item is categorised as:

employed full-time (if usually work 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs))
employed part-time (if usually worked one hour to less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs))
unemployed looking for full-time work (actively seeking full-time work in last 4 weeks)
unemployed looking for part-time work (actively seeking part-time work only in last 4 weeks)
not in the labour force.

Status in employment

This item refers to a respondent's position in relation to the main employment (job) in the enterprise in which they work and is determined by the following criteria:

whether a person works for a public or private employer and receives remuneration (employee)
whether a person operates their own economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade, and hires one or more employees (employer)
whether a person operates their own economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade and hires no employees (Own Account Worker)
whether a person works in an economic enterprise operated by a relative without remuneration (Contributing Family Worker).

Working arrangements

This item refers to the working or payment arrangements of the respondent in their current main job. Data are recorded as reported by respondents against the following categories:

unpaid voluntary work
contractor/sub-contractor
own business/partnership
commission only
commission with retainer
family business without pay
payment in kind
paid by piece/item produced
wage/salary earner
other.

The output data item does not include unpaid voluntary work, as people who respond to this category are not considered employed.

Occupation

For this survey, occupations have been classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), First Edition, Revision 1, 2009 (cat. no. 1221.0). An occupation is a collection of jobs that are sufficiently similar in their title and tasks, skill level and skill specialisation, which have been grouped together for the purposes of classification. An occupation code was assigned, based on the description of the type of work performed by the respondent in their main job.

The major groups of occupations according to ANZSCO are:

managers
professionals
technicians and trades workers
community and personal service workers
clerical and administrative workers
sales workers
machinery operators and drivers
labourers.

For most output purposes, occupation is classified to these eight major groups or to sub-major group level (see Appendix 3: ABS Standard Classifications of this Users' Guide).

Industry of employment

For this survey, industry of main job was office coded to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (Revision 1.0) (cat. no.1292.0) based on the description provided by the respondent of the business or activity carried out by their business/employer, and the name of the business/employer. Industry was classified to the 3 digit Group level of the ANZSIC, and details can be made available at this level on request, although for many groups observations in the survey are relatively few, and therefore the reliability of that data would be significantly reduced.
For most output purposes, industry is classified to the following divisions:

agriculture, forestry and fishing
mining
manufacturing
electricity, gas, water and waste services
construction
wholesale trade
retail trade
accommodation and food services
transport, postal and warehousing
information media and telecommunications
financial and insurance services
rental, hiring and real estate services
professional, scientific and technical services
administrative and support services
public administration and safety
education and training
health care and social assistance
arts and recreational services
other services.

For more details on ABS standard classifications used in the AHS, see Appendix 3: ABS Standard Classifications of this Users' Guide.

Industry sector

This item was coded for respondents who were wage and salary earners or owners of a limited liability company in their main job, and refers to the sector (public or private) in which their business/employer operates.

The public sector includes all government entities including local, state and federal government departments, non-market non-profit institutions that are controlled and mainly financed by government, and corporations and quasi-corporations that are controlled by government.
The private sector includes all institutions that employ people who are not controlled by government.

Hours worked

Refers to reported hours usually worked (in all jobs) per week by persons currently employed. Hours in single units are recorded and are available for output. Standard groupings of hours are:

1-15 hours
16-24 hours
25-34 hours
35-39 hours
40 hours
41-48 hours
49 hours or more.

For NHS the continuous variable is a 2-digit item. For NNPAS this is a 3-digit item. The difference is due to different length restrictions for responses in the surveys. The combined sample file (the core) has been restricted to 2-digit to reflect the NHS collection methodology, with NNPAS respondents top-coded at 99.

Type of shift work

Recorded for employed persons who reported doing any shift work in their main job, in the 4 weeks prior to interview. Categories available are:

rotating shift with periodic changes
regular evening, night or graveyard shift
regular morning shift
regular afternoon shift
irregular shift
split shift (2 distinct periods per day)
on call
other.

Reason absent from work

For employed respondents who identified that they were not at work in the week prior to interview, the reason they were absent was asked. Categories available are:

holiday/flextime/study/personal reasons
own illness or injury/sick leave
no work available/not enough work
standard work arrangements/shift work
on strike/locked out/industrial dispute
stood down
bad weather/plant breakdown
other.

Duration of unemployment

Derived for persons classified as unemployed at the time of the survey.

To collect data for the items related to duration of unemployment respondents were asked to provide the date they began looking for work, and date they last worked in a job of 35 hours or more. The format of the date was dependent on how long ago this date was and some date components were standardised as follows:

less than 2 years, the exact date (day/month/year) was requested
2 to less than 5 years, the month/year were requested and day was standardised to the 1^st of the month
5 years or more, the year was requested and day/month was standardised to the 1^st June.

Duration of unemployment refers to the period from the time a person began looking for work or was stood down, to the date of interview. For persons who began looking for work while still employed, the item refers to the period from the time the person last worked full-time for two weeks or more until the date of interview. The item is a continuous variable, measured in completed weeks.

For standard output, periods are grouped as follows:

less than 4 weeks
4 to less than 8 weeks
8 to less than 13 weeks
13 to less than 26 weeks
26 to less than 52 weeks
52 weeks or more.

Long-term unemployment is defined as unemployment for a period of 52 weeks or more.

Information on 'Time since last worked full-time' is also available separately for persons classified as unemployed.

Defence Force Service

Respondents in the NHS were asked whether they had ever served in the Australian Defence Force and were classified as:

Interpretation

Points to be considered in interpreting for this topic include the following:

Information about employment was obtained about persons aged 15 years and over using a short-form version of the questions used in the ABS Monthly Labour Force Survey. Use of the reduced set of questions may have resulted in small differences in classification of labour force status and full-time/part-time employment, compared with the results that would have been derived had the full standard question module be used.
Due to the collection methodology for dates, data for time since last worked full-time and duration of unemployment should be used with care when using the continuous variables and reporting on timeframes greater than 2 years.

Comparability with 2007-08

Labour force characteristics is considered comparable between the 2007-08 NHS and 2011-12 surveys.

Defence force service is a new item added to the 2011-12 NHS.