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
This collection presents information about the labour force status and other characteristics of families. The information is based on data collected in the national monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS).
TIMELINESS
The Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families is based on data collected from the June Labour Force Survey each year.
ACCURACY
The Labour Force Survey is based on a sample of private dwellings (approximately 26,000 houses, flats etc) and non-private dwellings, such as hotels and motels. The sample covers about 0.32% of the Australian civilian population aged 15 years or over. The Labour Force Survey is designed primarily to provide estimates of key labour force statistics for the whole of Australia and, secondarily, for each state and territory.
Annual family estimates are produced from the data collected in the June Labour Force Survey, but do not include people interviewed in non-private dwellings and those who were visitors to private dwellings. Those included in the estimates covered 84% of the survey sample for 2017.
Two types of error are possible in an estimate based on a sample survey: non-sampling error and sampling error.
Non-sampling error arises from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. Every effort is made to minimise reporting error by the careful design of questionnaires, intensive training and supervision of interviewers, and efficient data processing procedures. Non-sampling error also arises because information cannot be obtained from all persons selected in the survey.
Sampling error occurs because a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed. One measure of the likely difference resulting from not including all dwellings in the survey is given by the standard error. There are about two chances in three (66%) that a sample estimate will differ by less than one standard error from the figure that would have been obtained if all dwellings had been included in the survey, and about 19 chances in 20 (95%) that the difference will be less than two standard errors.
Standard errors are discussed further in Technical Note - Data Quality. The standard error of annual family estimates may be calculated by using the spreadsheet contained in Labour Force Survey Standard Errors, Data Cube, Feb 2014 (cat. no. 6298.0.55.001).
COHERENCE
The ABS has been producing the Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families since November 1974. While seeking to provide a high degree of consistency and comparability over time by minimising changes to the survey, sound survey practice requires careful and continuing maintenance and development to maintain the integrity of the data and the efficiency of the collection.
From October 2008, the method of producing family estimates from the Labour Force Survey was improved to include the following:
- an expanded scope to include households containing permanent members of the Australian defence forces that are usually excluded from labour force estimates;
- an increased range of families in the LFS sample contributing to the family estimates; and
- improvements to the weighting method by utilising independent population benchmarks (of persons and households), ensuring the estimates more closely reflect the Australian population.
The Labour Force Survey and Labour Force, Australia: Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families (Cat. No. 6224.0.55.001) estimates are calculated in such a way as to sum to the independent estimates of the civilian population aged 15 years and over (population benchmarks). These population benchmarks are updated quarterly based on Estimated Resident Population (ERP) data. Generally, revisions are made to population benchmarks for the LFS following the final rebasing of population estimates to the latest five-yearly Census of Population and Housing, or when the need arises. For all years in this release, estimates have been compiled using population benchmarks based on the results of the 2011 Census. These benchmarks have been revised to include the ERP data as at May 2017.
Changes to the LFS population benchmarks impact primarily on the magnitude of the Labour Force Survey 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).
INTERPRETABILITY
The Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families release contains a summary of findings (
Australian Families,
Couple Families,
One Parent Families,
Jobless Families, and
Dependants aged 15 to 24 years) to aid interpretation of the results of the survey.
Explanatory notes, a
technical note, a
glossary and an explanation of the terms 'family' and 'dependant' (in
What is a Family?) are also included to further aid in the interpretation of the results. Details of the methodology and concepts used are also provided in a separate
Information Paper: Improvements to Family Estimates from the Labour Force Survey, 2008 (cat. no. 6224.0.55.002).
DATA ACCESS
The main products from this collection are an Excel spreadsheet summary (available in downloads) that are released electronically via the ABS website. Additional data may be available on request.
For users who wish to undertake a more detailed analysis of the data, the survey microdata is released through a TableBuilder product. For more details, refer to
Microdata, Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families, Australia (cat. no. 6224.0.00.001).
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or via email to
client.services@abs.gov.au.
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