QUALITY DECLARATION


INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) are released in accordance with the conditions specified in the Statistics Determination section of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (CSA). This ensures that confidentiality is maintained whilst enabling micro level data to be released. More information on the confidentiality practices associated with CURFs can be found at the About CURF Microdata page.

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

Microdata from the Characteristics of Recent Migrants Survey are available as an Expanded CURF and in TableBuilder. The microdata contains information about a range of key indicators relating to migration characteristics and integration into the workforce for people who had arrived in Australia in the last ten years and were aged 15 years and over on arrival.

As a result of this survey being supplementary to the LFS, persons excluded from the LFS were also excluded from this survey (see Explanatory Notes of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) for standard LFS exclusions). Additional exclusions from this survey were persons born in New Zealand, persons holding New Zealand citizenship, those who held Australian citizenship prior to arrival and those intending to stay in Australia less than 12 months.

The type of information collected included socio-demographic characteristics (such as age, sex and birthplace), employment characteristics (such as labour force status, occupation and industry), educational qualifications obtained (such as level and field, both before coming to Australia to live and since arriving in Australia) and migration information (such as visa category and residency status on arrival to live in Australia and as at November 2010). New data items collected in 2010 included whether would have preferred to work longer hours in first job in Australia, main reason not actively looking for work and main language spoken on arrival.

The Australian Classification of Education (ASCED) (cat. no. 1272.0) was used to classify education. The ASCED is a national standard classification which can be applied to all sectors of the Australian education system including schools, vocational education and training and higher education. The ASCED comprises two classifications: Level of Education and Field of Education.

For more information, see Microdata: Education and Work, Australia, May 2011 (cat. no. 6250.0.25.002).


TIMELINESS

The Characteristics of Recent Migrants CURF was collected in November 2010 as a supplement to the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Initial summary results from the survey were published on 24 May 2011 in the following publication: Characteristics of Recent Migrants, Australia, Nov 2010 (cat. no. 6250.0). The CURF was released on 20 September 2011. The TableBuilder was released on 17 May 2012.


ACCURACY

The microdata contains finer levels of detail of data items than what is otherwise published in other formats, for example, in Characteristics of Recent Migrants, Australia, Nov 2010 (cat. no. 6227.0). For more information on the level of detail provided, please see the associated data item lists.

Steps to confidentialise the data made available on the CURF are taken in such a way as to maximise the usefulness of the content while maintaining the confidentiality of respondents selected in the survey. As a result it may not be possible to exactly reconcile all the statistics produced from the microdata with other published statistics. Further information about the steps taken to confidentialise the microdata is available through the following links:

CURF confidentiality
TableBuilder confidentiality


COHERENCE

Results from the previous survey on this topic were published in Characteristics of Recent Migrants, Australia, Nov 2010 (cat. no. 6250.0). Data on earlier topics can be found on the Past and Future Releases page or by contacting the Nation Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

While changes between 2004 and 2007 resulted in data not being comparable only minor development occurred for the 2010 survey. As such the 2007 and 2010 CURF survey results are comparable. For a more detailed discussion on the differences between the surveys see the Using the CURF page.

The Explanatory Notes section of Characteristics of Recent Migrants, Australia, Nov 2010 (cat. no. 6250.0) provides more detailed information on the differences between the ABS Migrant surveys over time.


INTERPRETABILITY

The information within this product should be referred to when using the microdata. It contains information including Survey methodology, File structure, Using the CURF, Using the TableBuilder, Conditions of use and Data item lists.

The Explanatory Notes section of the Characteristics of Recent Migrants, Australia, Nov 2010 (cat. no. 6250.0) includes information on survey objectives, survey methods and design, data quality and interpretation, output data items, information about the availability of results and comparability with previous surveys.


ACCESSIBILITY

Microdata products are available to approved users. Users wishing to access the microdata should read the How to apply for Microdata web page, before applying for access through MiCRO. Users should also familiarise themselves with information available via the Microdata web pages.

A full list of available microdata can be viewed via the List of Expected and available Microdata. More detail regarding types and modes of access to CURFs can be found on the CURF Access Modes and Levels of Detail web page.

CORMS 2010 can be accessed using TableBuilder. The Basic CURF can be accessed on CD-ROM, through the Remote Access Data Laboratory (RADL) and the ABS Data Laboratory (ABSDL).

Any questions regarding access to microdata can be forwarded to microdata.access@abs.gov.au or phone (02) 6252 7714.