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 Locations of Work (LOW) survey provides information about employed people, aged 15 years and over, who were at work in either their main or second job during the reference week. Further details are collected about their locations of work and the number of locations at which they worked and the working arrangements of people who worked at home. The survey also presents information about the use of information technology, leave entitlements, main reason for working at home and hours worked at home which can be cross-classified by characteristics such as, industry and occupation and demographic characteristics.
TIMELINESS
The LOW survey is collected irregularly as a supplement to the monthly Labour Force Survey. Results from this survey are released approximately six months after the completion of enumeration (ie. during May) in the publication Locations of Work (cat. no. 6275.0). The Locations of Work Survey is expected to be conducted again in November 2014.
ACCURACY
Estimates from the Locations of Work Survey, including those presented in the publication, are subject to sampling and non-sampling errors.
The Locations of Work Survey was designed primarily to provide estimates at the Australia level. Broad estimates are available for State or territory of usual residence and State capital city/Balance of state/territory though users should exercise caution when using estimates at this level because of the presence of high sampling errors.
From November 2008, there has been a reduction in the LFS sample size when compared to November 2007. This is due to an 11% sample reduction that was implemented from November 2007 to June 2008 based on the 2006 sample design, and an additional 24% sample reduction implemented in July 2008. Detailed information about the sample reduction is provided in Information Paper: Labour Force Survey Sample Design, Nov 2007 (Second edition) (cat. no. 6269.0).
COHERENCE
While the Labour Force Survey provides the official estimate of persons in the labour force, the Locations of Work Survey provides further information on the characteristics of these people. Summary information is also collected in the Labour Force Survey on a quarterly basis.
The ABS has been conducting the Locations of Work Survey irregularly since 2000. Key changes to the Locations of work survey since in 2000 include:
revision of population benchmarks
changes in the scope of the survey
revision of data items.
For more information on changes to the survey see Chapter 21.8 of Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001).
INTERPRETABILITY
The Locations of Work publication contains tables and a Summary of Findings to aid interpretation of the results of the survey. Detailed Explanatory Notes, Technical Note and a Glossary are also included providing information on the terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with these statistics.
Further commentary is often available through articles and data published in other ABS products, including:
Australian Labour Market Statistics (cat.no. 6105.0) - refer to Appendix 2 for past articles
Australian Social Trends (cat.no. 4102.0) - refer to the Cumulative list of articles for past articles
Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001) - Chapter 21.8 Locations of Work
ACCESSIBILITY
The main product from the survey is a PDF publication, Locations of Work, Australia (cat.no. 6275.0), released electronically via the ABS website. Additional data may be available on request. For a list of data items available see Appendix 1 of the publication. Note that detailed data can be subject to high relative standard errors, and in some cases, may result in data being confidentialised.
For further information about these or related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Centre on 1300 135 070 or contact Labour Market Section on Canberra (02) 6252 7206.
Quality Declaration 
Print Page
Print All