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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 The statistics presented in this publication were compiled from data collected in the Multi-Purpose Household Survey (MPHS) that was conducted throughout Australia in the 2006-07 financial year as a supplement to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS). The MPHS was designed to provide statistics annually for a small number of labour, social and economic topics. The topics collected in 2006-07 were:

• Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Australia (cat. no. 6239.0)
• Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia (cat. no. 6238.0)
• Adult Learning, Australia (cat. no. 4229.0)
• Household Use of Information Technology, Australia (cat. no. 8146.0)
• Family Characteristics, Australia (cat. no. 4442.0)

3 The publication Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) contains information about survey design, sample redesign, scope, coverage and population benchmarks relevant to the monthly LFS, which also apply to the MPHS. It also contains definitions of demographic and labour force characteristics, and information about telephone interviewing which are relevant to both the monthly LFS and the MPHS.

CONCEPTS SOURCES AND METHODS

4 The conceptual framework used in Australia's LFS aligns closely with the standards and guidelines set out in Resolutions of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians. Descriptions of the underlying concepts and structure of Australia's labour force statistics, and the sources and methods used in compiling these estimates, are presented in Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001) which is available on the ABS website <www.abs.gov.au> (Methods, Classifications, Concepts & Standards).

COLLECTION METHODOLOGY

5 ABS interviewers conducted personal interviews by either telephone or at selected dwellings during the 2006-07 financial year, excluding the months of August and September 2006. Each month a sample of dwellings were selected for the MPHS from the responding households in the LFS. In these dwellings, after the LFS had been fully completed for each person, a usual resident aged 15 years and over was selected at random and asked the additional MPHS questions in a personal interview. Information was collected using Computer Assisted Interviewing (CAI), whereby responses are recorded directly onto an electronic questionnaire in a notebook computer.

SCOPE

6 The scope of the LFS is restricted to people aged 15 years and over and excludes the following people:

• members of the permanent defence forces
• certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from census and population estimates
• overseas residents in Australia
• members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants).

• people living in private dwellings in very remote parts of Australia
• people living in non-private dwellings such as hotels, university residences, students at boarding schools, patients in hospitals, residents of homes (e.g. retirement homes, homes for people with disabilities), and inmates of prisons.

9 The 2006-07 MPHS was conducted in both urban and rural areas in all states and territories, but excluded people living in very remote parts of Australia overall. The exclusion of these people is expected to have only a minor impact on any aggregate estimates that are produced for individual states and territories, except for the Northern Territory where such people account for around 23% of the population.

COVERAGE

10 In the LFS, coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling and hence has only one chance of selection in the survey. See Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) for more details.

SAMPLE SIZE

11 The initial sample for the MPHS 2006-07 consisted of approximately 19,800 private dwelling households. Of the 17,040 private dwelling households that remained in the survey after sample loss (e.g. households with LFS non-response, no residents in scope for the LFS, vacant or derelict dwellings and dwellings under construction), approximately 83% were fully responding to the MPHS. The number of completed interviews obtained from these private dwelling households (after taking into account scope, coverage and subsampling exclusions) was 5,947 for the Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation survey.

ESTIMATION METHODS

12 Weighting is the process of adjusting results from a sample survey to infer results for the total in scope population. To do this, a 'weight' is allocated to each sample unit, which, for the MPHS, can either be a person or a household. The weight is a value which indicates how many population units are represented by the sample unit. The first step in calculating weights for each unit is to assign an initial weight, which is the inverse of the probability of being selected in the survey. The initial weights are then calibrated to align with independent estimates of the population of interest, referred to as 'benchmarks'. Weights are calibrated against population benchmarks to ensure that the survey estimates conform to the independently estimated distribution of the population rather than the distribution within the sample itself.

13 The survey was benchmarked to the estimated civilian population aged 15 years and over living in private dwellings in each state and territory, excluding the scope exclusions listed under Explanatory Notes 6 to 8. The process of weighting ensures that the survey estimates conform to person benchmarks by state, part of state, age and sex, and to household benchmarks by state, part of state and household composition. These benchmarks are produced from estimates of the resident population derived independently of the survey.

RELIABILITY OF THE ESTIMATES

14 Estimates in this publication are subject to sampling and non-sampling errors:

• Sampling error is the difference between the published estimate and the value that would have been produced if all dwellings had been included in the survey. For more information see the Technical Note.
• Non-sampling errors are inaccuracies that occur because of imperfections in reporting by respondents and interviewers and errors made in coding and processing data. These inaccuracies may occur in any enumeration, whether it be a full count or a sample. Every effort is made to reduce the non-sampling error to a minimum by careful design of questionnaires, intensive training and supervision of interviewers and effective processing procedures.

16 From 2006, occupation data are classified according to ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition, 2006 (cat.no. 1220.0). This new classification replaces ASCO - Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second Edition, 1997 (cat. no. 1220.0). Data classified according to ASCO can be obtained on request.

17 Also from 2006, industry data are classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0). This new classification replaces the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0). Data classified according to ANZSIC 1993 can be obtained on request.

18 Educational attainment data are classified according to the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) (cat. no. 1272.0).

COMPARABILITY WITH MONTHLY LFS STATISTICS

19 Due to differences in the scope and sample size of the MPHS and that of the LFS, the estimation procedure may lead to some variations between labour force estimates from this survey and those from the LFS.

PREVIOUS SURVEYS

20 The Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation survey was last conducted in the 2004-05 financial year. Results of this survey were published in:

• Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Australia, August 2004 to June 2005 (cat. no. 6239.0)

• Data on availability was collected in the non-quarter months for people who usually worked 0-15 hours per week and preferred to work more hours but had not done anything in the four weeks prior to the reference week to obtain more hours of work. This data was imputed in the 2004-05 survey (see paragraph 18 'Availability not determined' in the Explanatory Notes in the 2004-05 issue). Comparative data for 2004-05 and 2006-07 are presented in Table 1.
• For the data items 'all/main reason for not wanting work/more hours', the response category 'caring for children/pregnancy/home duties' was split in order to separate 'caring for children' reasons. The categories can be combined in order to compare with 2004-05 data.
• For the data items 'all/main reasons for not wanting work/more hours' the category 'no need/retired from full-time work (for now)' was expanded to 'no need/satisfied with current arrangements/retired from full-time work (for now)' in 2006-07. This has had minimal impact as this is where respondents who 'were happy with current arrangements' would have been categorised in 2004-05.
• Questions that asked about 'last worked full time' were changed to ' when you last worked in a job of 35 hours or more'. This change has had minimal impact on output.
• More detail was collected for 'other' type responses for the items 'all reasons/main reason not looking for work/more hours', given that 'other' was the biggest category in 2004-05. This resulted in the inclusion of an additional category 'no need/satisfied with current arrangements/retired from full-time work (for now)' in 2006-07.
• For the data item 'preferred number of hours', the actual number of hours was collected for persons not in the labour force who said they would prefer 'full-time hours' in 2006-07. In 2004-05, the preferred hours for this group was set to 35 hours. This was expected to increase average preferred hours slightly, however data on preferred hours in 2006-07 are comparable to 2004-05 data.
• The following data items were added in 2006-07:
  • Main reason not wanting work/more hours;
  • Main child-care reason not looking for work/more hours;
  • Age of youngest child;
  • Partner's labour force status; and
  • Partner's full-time or part-time status in employment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

23 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated: without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Spreadsheets

24 An electronic version of the tables released in this publication is available on the ABS web site in spreadsheets (cat. no. 6239.0). The spreadsheets present the tables and the related RSEs for each publication table.

Unit record file

25 An expanded Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) will be released in early 2008 from the 2006-07 MPHS subject to the approval of the Australian Statistician. This CURF will be accessible only through the RADL. The CURF will be available in SAS, STATA and SPSS format. A full range of up-to-date information about the availability of ABS CURFs and about applying for access to CURFs is available via the ABS website <www.abs.gov.au> (see Services We Provide - CURF Microdata). Inquiries to the ABS CURF Management Unit should be e-mailed to <curf.management@abs.gov.au>, or telephone (02) 6252 7714.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

26 ABS publications which may also be of interest include:

• Australian Labour Market Statistics (cat. no. 6105.0)
• Job Search Experience, Australia (cat. no. 6222.0)
• Underemployed Workers, Australia (cat. no. 6265.0)
• Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6220.0)
• Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0)
• Employment Arrangements and Superannuation, Australia (cat. no. 6361.0)
• Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001)
• Household Use of Information Technology, Australia (cat. no. 8146.0)