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QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.



RELEVANCE

The Underemployed Workers Survey collects a range of information about the characteristics of underemployed workers aged 15 years and over. These include the number of hours usually worked, number of preferred hours, steps taken to find work with more hours, and difficulties in finding work with more hours.

Underemployed workers are employed people who would prefer and are available for more hours of work than they currently have. They comprise:

• Part-time workers who want and are available for, more hours of work than they currently have, either in the reference week or in the four weeks subsequent to the survey
  
• Full-time workers who worked part-time hours during the reference week for economic reasons (such as being stood down or insufficient work available). It is assumed that these people would prefer to work full-time in the reference week and would have been available to do so.

• Prior to September 1994, part-time workers who would prefer more hours of work were asked whether they were available to start work with more hours within the subsequent four weeks. From September 1994, an additional question was added to determine their availability to start work with more hours during the reference week. This question was added to the survey so that estimates of underemployment could be more easily aligned with the then current International Labour Organization (ILO) recommendations on underemployment.

• As part of the 2001 LFS questionnaire redesign, people who were on short-term unpaid leave initiated by the employer, are now classified as employed. This approach is consistent with ILO recommendations on formal job attachment. Analysis of data from the LFS shows that many of these people usually worked part-time, and that a number of these had a preference to work more hours. However, overall, these people contribute only marginally to the change in part-time workers who would prefer more hours.

• From July 2004, a change was made to the category 'considered too young or too old by employers' for the items 'all difficulties in finding work with more hours' and 'main difficulty in finding work with more hours'. The category has been split into 'considered too young by employers' and 'considered too old by employers'.

• In September 2008 there was a substantial increase in the number of part-time workers who preferred more hours and underemployed workers. This was due to a change in the question being asked of part-time workers. From September 2008, part-time workers were asked "Would you prefer to work more hours than you usually work?". In previous surveys part-time workers were asked "Would you prefer a job in which you worked more hours a week?". The question was altered to be consistent with the LFS and is now a broader and more inclusive of people's situations as it relates to a preference for more hours of work. This change contributed to an additional 115,800 people who were classified as part-time workers who preferred more hours and an additional 131,500 people who were classified as underemployed workers in 2008. Users need to exercise care when comparing the number of part-time workers who preferred more hours and underemployed workers from 2008 onwards with previous releases because of this break in series.

• Revisions are made to population benchmarks for the Labour Force Survey (LFS) following the final rebasing of population estimates to the latest five-yearly Census of Population and Housing, or when the need arises. From February 2009 labour force estimates have been compiled during population benchmarks based on the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. Revisions were applied to the LFS population benchmarks in the July 2010, November 2012 and April 2013 issues to take into account the latest available population estimates. The latest revision presented in the April 2013 issue is reflected in the estimates presented in the 2013 publication. Note the revisions do not involve any changes to the data collected in the Labour Force Survey. Changes to the LFS population benchmarks impact primarily on the magnitude of the labour force estimates (i.e. employment and unemployment) that are directly related to the underlying size of the population. For more details on population benchmarks, see the Explanatory Notes in Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), and for details about revisions made, see the article in the April 2013 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) and the article in the November 2012 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).
  
• From December 2012, the ABS is progressively introducing online data collection to the LFS. For September 2013 online data collection was offered to 56% of the Labour Force sample. Of the households responding to the Underemployed Workers Survey, approximately 14% submitted their data online. For more information see the article in the April 2013 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).
  
• The September 2013 Underemployed Workers survey is fully based on the new sample introduced after the 2011 Census of Population and Housing. For more information see the article in the May 2013 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).

• Australian Labour Market Statistics (cat. no. 6105.0) - refer to articles and analysis for past articles.
• Australian Social Trends (cat. no. 4102.0)
• Year Book, Australia (cat. no. 1301.0) - refer to the 'Labour' chapter.