EXPLANATORY NOTES

SCOPE

1 This publication presents key characteristics of persons in Australia who worked in a cultural occupation or industry for their main job in the week before the 2006 Census of Population and Housing.

2 The Census counts every person who spent Census night (8 August 2006) in Australia, excluding foreign diplomats and their families. This includes Australian residents in Antarctica and people in the territories of Jervis Bay, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island. The other Australian External Territories, Norfolk Island and minor islands such as Heard and McDonald Islands, are outside the scope of the Australian Census.

3 Although overseas visitors in Australia on Census night were included in the Census count, this publication excludes them in all tabulations.


DATA LIMITATIONS

4 Each stage of the Census is subject to stringent quality assurance procedures to ensure data of the highest quality. However, in a Census there are potential sources of error such as undercounting, respondent error and processing error.

5 Random adjustment of the data is considered to be the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of confidential Census data. When the technique is applied, small random adjustments are made which allow the maximum amount of detailed Census data possible to be released without breaching confidentiality. These adjustments result in small introduced random errors.

6 The column and row totals in individual tables are derived after the random adjustment process has been applied, and consequently may include random error. Thus, comparisons between table totals may show some minor discrepancies.

7 Care should be taken when interpreting cells with small numbers, since randomisation, as well as possible respondent and processing errors, have a greater impact on small cells than on larger cells. Further, some small cells have been randomly altered to zero. Caution should be exercised in deducing that there are no people having these particular characteristics.


EMPLOYED PERSONS

8 Employed persons are those aged 15 years and over, who in the week prior to the Census:

• worked for payment or profit, or as an unpaid helper in a family business;
• had a job from which they were on holidays or paid leave; or
• were on strike or temporarily stood down.

9 Persons who worked in a voluntary capacity are not classified as employed persons.

10 If a person had more than one job in the week prior to the Census, then 'main job' refers to the job in which the person usually worked the most hours.


CULTURAL OCCUPATION

11 In the 2006 Census, occupations were classified to the most detailed (six-digit) level of both the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second Edition and the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition, 2006 (cat. no. 1220.0). If a Census response lacked adequate information for it to be coded to the six-digit occupation level, it was coded to a 'not further defined' category (e.g. Designers and illustrators n.f.d.) with zeroes in the fifth and sixth digit positions of the ASCO or ANZSCO code.

12 Cultural occupations were selected on the basis of inclusion in the Occupation Classification in the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (ACLC) (cat. no. 4902.0).


CULTURAL INDUSTRY

13 In the Census, industry was coded according to both the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat.no. 1292.0.15.001) and the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0).

14 Due to a change in the way the industry data were coded from the 1996 Census to the 2001 Census, caution should be exercised when making comparisons between these years, particularly if there has been a large increase or decrease recorded for a particular industry.

15 Cultural industries were chosen by selecting ANZSIC codes with major concordance to the Industry Classification of the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (ACLC) (cat. no. 4902.0). ACLC industry codes are generally much finer than the ANZSIC codes used by the Census. In some cases, the ANZSIC codes associated with the cultural industries in the ACLC also contain non-cultural industries. A decision about whether to include or exclude each has been made on the basis of the contribution of cultural and non-cultural industries to that code. Consequently, some ANZSIC industries have been included in this publication even though a minority of their activity was not cultural. Also, some ACLC industries have been excluded from this publication because the appropriate ANZSIC industry code comprised predominantly non-cultural activity.


BIRTHPLACE

16 For persons born overseas, the group of main English speaking countries comprises the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, United States of America and South Africa. The remaining countries in the classification (excluding Australia) comprise the 'non main English speaking countries' for this publication.


INDIGENOUS STATUS

17 A person is defined to be of Indigenous origin if he or she identifies himself or herself as of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.


GROSS WEEKLY INCOME

18 For the 2006 Census, each person aged 15 years and over was asked to indicate the range within which their gross income from all sources lies (rather than their exact income).

19 Gross income includes wages, salaries, overtime, business or farm income (less operating expenses), rents received, dividends, interest, superannuation, maintenance (child support), workers' compensation, and government pensions and allowances (including all payments for family assistance, labour market assistance, youth and student support, and support for the aged, carers and people with a disability).


MEDIAN INCOME

20 The median income is the mid value which divides a group of reported incomes into two, with half the observations falling below it and half above it. Persons who did not state their incomes were omitted from the calculation of the median.


HOURS WORKED

21 This variable records the number of hours worked in all jobs held during the week before Census Night, by employed people aged 15 years and over. This excludes any time off but includes any overtime or extra time worked.


GENERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

22 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.


REFERENCES

23 Terms and concepts used in this publication are explained in more detail in the following:

• Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (ACLC) ( cat. no. 4902.0)
• Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 ( cat. no. 1292.0)
• ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition, 2006 ( cat. no. 1220.0)
• Census Dictionary, 2006 ( cat. no. 2901.0)

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

24 Other ABS publications containing culture employment data include:

Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, Australia (cat. no. 6281.0)
Television Services, Australia (cat. no. 8559.0)
Museums, Australia (cat. no. 8560.0)
Public Libraries, Australia (cat. no. 8561.0)
Video Hire Industry, Australia (cat. no. 8562.0)
Botanic Gardens, Australia (cat. no. 8563.0)
Commercial Art Galleries, Australia (cat. no. 8651.0)
Motion Picture Exhibition, Australia (cat. no. 8654.0)
Film and Video Production and Distribution, Australia (cat. no. 8679.0)
Performing Arts Industry, Australia (cat. no. 8697.0)