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 Employment in Culture publication presents information about people employed in cultural occupations and/or industries as their main job held during the week prior to Census Night using data from the 2006 Census of Population and Housing.
The Australian Census of Population and Housing is the official count of population and dwellings and collects details of age, sex, and other characteristics of the population.
The Census aims to measure the number and key characteristics of people in Australia on Census Night. All people in Australia on Census Night are in scope, except foreign diplomats and their families. Visitors to Australia are counted regardless of how long they have been in the country or how long they plan to stay. Australian residents not in the country on Census Night are out of scope of the Census.
This publication provides occupation and industry data for people aged 15 years and over who are employed. The occupations and industries that are considered 'cultural' are classified according to the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications, 2008 (cat. no. 4902.0). Overseas visitors are not included in this publication as information about their industry and occupation of employment was not collected on the Census.
TIMELINESS
The Census and Statistics Act requires the Australian Statistician to conduct a Census on a regular basis; since 1961 a Census has been held every 5 years. The 2006 Census is the 15th national Census for Australia and was held on 8 August 2006.
For the 2006 Census, first release data was available on the ABS Website on 27 June 2007, and second release data (including occupation and industry of main job) on 25 October 2007.
The Employment in Culture publication is released approximately five months following the release of Census second release data.
ACCURACY
The ABS aims to produce high quality data from the Census. To achieve this, extensive effort is put into Census form design, collection procedures, and processing. There are four principle sources of error in Census data which quality management aims to reduce as much as possible; they are respondent error, processing error, partial or non-response, and undercount. For more detail see 2006 Census Dictionary entry Managing Census Quality.
The Census is self-enumerated, and respondents sometimes do not return a Census form or fail to answer every applicable question. Persons are imputed into dwellings for which no form was returned, together with some demographic characteristics for these people. These same demographic characteristics are imputed if not provided by respondents on a returned form. However, the majority of output classifications include a "Not Stated" category to record the level of non-response for that data item. Data Quality Statements are produced for each census data item and include the non-response rate for each variable and a brief outline of any known data quality problems. These can be accessed from the Census Dictionary, 2006 (cat. no. 2901.0) under 'Short Definitions and Classifications - 2006'.
The Data Quality Statements state that the non-response rate for Occupation (OCC06P) in 2006 was 0.8%, while the non-response rate for Industry of Employment (IND06P) was 1.4%. There has been an increase between 2001 and 2006 in the number of persons whose industry of employment was coded to inadequately described or unclassifiable (to 1.2% of persons). This is due mainly to a change in processing procedures for 2006, when some of the less detailed responses were coded to this category rather than attempting to find the nearest possible appropriate code.
COHERENCE
The occupations and industries that are considered 'cultural' are classified according to the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications, 2008 (cat. no. 4902.0).
For the 2006 Census, occupation data was dual coded to the new occupation classification, Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) and the old occupation classification Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) Second Edition. This gives users of occupation data the option to use either classification (ANZSCO or ASCO Second Edition) when analysing occupation data. The use of different classifications leads to a difference in the number of people classified as working in cultural occupations. Unless comparing data over time, the 2006 figure using ANZSCO should be reported.
Industry of employment data from the 2006 Census is available based on both the original and revised industry classifications i.e. Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 1993 and ANZSIC 2006. This gives users of occupation data the option to use either classification (ANZSIC 1993 or ANZSIC 2006) when analysing industry data. The use of different classifications leads to a difference in the number of people classified as working in cultural industries. Unless comparing data over time, the 2006 figure using ANZSIC 2006 should be reported.
INTERPRETABILITY
The Census provides a wealth of data about the Australian community through a suite of standard products or as data customised for individual requirements. The 2006 Census Dictionary is a comprehensive reference guide designed to assist users to determine and specify their data requirements and to understand the concepts underlying the data as well as details of classifications used and a glossary of definitions of Census terms.
A number of other resources can be accessed from the Census Reference and Information page including Data Quality Statements, Frequently Asked Questions, and Product Briefs.
ACCESSIBILITY
An extensive range of standard products are available from the Census, for details see the Census Products page or access Census Data online. If the Census information you require is not available as a standard product or service, then ABS Consultancy Services can help you with customised services to suit your needs. Contact 1300 135 070 from within Australia or +61 2 9268 4909 from overseas for all your Census and other information needs. Alternatively, please email client.services@abs.gov.au.
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