NOTES
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
This publication presents information about the nature of employment arrangements in the Australian workforce. It also presents information about different types of employment which can be cross-classified by characteristics such as hours worked, industry and occupation and demographic characteristics.
The statistics in this publication were compiled from data collected in the Forms of Employment Survey, conducted throughout Australia in November 2008 as a supplement to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS). Questions were asked about employment arrangements in the main job of all employed people, except those who were contributing family workers in their main job.
CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE
The November 2008 Forms of Employment Survey was redeveloped to better capture information of independent contractors, other business operators and employees. Information was also collected of people who found their current job through a labour hire firm/employment agency.
The change has resulted in a break in series for employees and users need to exercise caution when comparing data about employees in the 2008 publication with previous releases as data about this population group have changed. For more information see Appendix 1.
The data items 'Status in employment' and 'Employment type in main job' presented in the 2007 Forms of Employment publication are no longer presented in this publication, however are available on request. These data items have been replaced with a single data item 'Form of employment in main job' in this publication.
The information presented about people who found their job through a labour hire firm/employment agency includes, 'Whether currently registered with a labour hire firm/employment agency', 'Whether still registered with the same labour hire firm/employment agency that found job', 'Number of work assignments through labour hire firm/employment agency in the last 12 months', 'Whether usually had continuous/ongoing work from a labour hire firm/employment agency', and 'All/Main reasons for using a labour hire firm/employment agency'.
NOTES ABOUT THE ESTIMATES
Sample reductions in the Labour Force survey, (see Information Paper: Labour Force Survey Sample Design, Nov 2007 (Second edition) (cat. no. 6269.0)), resulted in the Forms of Employment survey sample being approximately one-third smaller than the sample size in November 2007.
ROUNDING
As estimates have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.
INQUIRIES
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Labour Market Statistics Section on Canberra (02) 6252 7206.
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