GLOSSARY


IN THIS SECTION

Actively looking for work Civilian population aged 15 years and over Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme Contributing family worker Employed Employment to population ratio Indigenous Labour force Labour force status Major cities Not in labour force Participation rate Population benchmark Population value Relative Standard Error (RSE) Regional areas Remote areas Standard Error (SE) Unemployed Unemployment rate

Actively looking for work

Includes writing, telephoning or applying in person to an employer for work; answering an advertisement for a job; checking factory notice boards or the touch screens at Centrelink offices; being registered with Centrelink as a jobseeker; checking or registering with any other employment agency; advertising or tendering for work; and contacting friends or relatives.
Civilian population aged 15 years and over

All usual residents of Australia aged 15 years and over except members of the permanent defence forces, certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments customarily excluded from the census and estimated population counts, overseas residents in Australia, and members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia.
Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme

The CDEP scheme enables participants (usually members of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities) to exchange unemployment benefits for opportunities to undertake work and training in activities which are managed by a local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community organisation. Participants in the program are therefore classified as employed.

In July 2009, the CDEP scheme was discontinued in non-remote communities where the economy is well-established. In remote communities, CDEP will continue to operate but new participants are no longer classified as employed, and the program will be phased out in July 2011.
Contributing family worker

A person who works without pay, in an economic enterprise operated by a relative.
Employed

Persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:

• worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job or business, or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers); or

• worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers); or

• were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:

• away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week; or


• away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week; or


• away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement; or


• on strike or locked out; or


• on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job; or


• were employers or own account workers, who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Employment to population ratio

For any group, the number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over in the same group.
Indigenous

Refers to people who identified themselves, or were identified by another household member, as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.
Labour force

For any group, persons who were employed or unemployed, as defined.
Labour force status

A classification of the civilian population aged 15 years and over into employed, unemployed or not in the labour force, as defined. The definitions conform closely to the international standard definitions adopted by the International Conferences of Labour Statisticians.
Major cities

Major cities is a geographical category in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Remoteness Structure. These categories are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) which measures the remoteness of a point based on the physical road distance to the nearest Urban Centre. For more information on the ASGC, see Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), July 2009 (cat. no. 1216.0). See also Regional and Remote areas.
Not in labour force

Persons who were not in the categories employed or unemployed, as defined.
Participation rate

For any group, the labour force expressed as a percentage of the civilian population in the same group.
Population benchmark

Labour Force Survey estimates of persons employed, unemployed and not in the labour force are calculated in such a way as to add up to an independently estimated distribution of the usually resident civilian population aged 15 years and over. The independent population estimates (benchmarks) for the Indigenous population are based on the low series population projections found in Experimental Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 1991 to 2021 (cat. no. 3238.0).
Population value

The value that would be obtained if the whole population were enumerated under the same procedures as used in the sample survey.
Relative Standard Error (RSE)

The relative standard error is the standard error expressed as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers, and is useful when comparing the variability of estimates of different sizes.
Regional areas

Comprises the ‘Inner Regional’ and ‘Outer Regional’ categories of the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Remoteness Structure. These categories are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) which measures the remoteness of a point based on the physical road distance to the nearest Urban Centre. For more information on the ASGC, see Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), July 2009 (cat. no. 1216.0). See also Major cities and Remote areas.
Remote areas

Comprises the ‘Remote’ and ‘Very Remote’ categories of the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Remoteness Structure. These categories are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) which measures the remoteness of a point based on the physical road distance to the nearest Urban Centre. For more information on the ASGC, see Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), July 2009 (cat. no. 1216.0). See also Major cities and Regional areas.
Standard Error (SE)

A measure of the variation among the estimates from all possible samples, and thus a measure of the precision with which an estimate from a particular sample approximates the average result of all possible samples. The units of the standard error are the same as the variable of interest.
Unemployed

Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:

• had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week; or

• were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

Unemployment rate

For any group, the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force in the same group.