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 main purpose of this survey was to collect information on persons who were born overseas, arrived in Australia after 1997, were aged 15 years and over on arrival, and had either obtained permanent Australian resident status prior to or after arrival, or were temporary residents who planned to stay in Australia for 12 months or more. Persons who were Australian citizens prior to their arrival in Australia, were born in New Zealand or have New Zealand citizenship were excluded from the survey. 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), job characteristics (before coming to Australia to live and since arriving in Australia), 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 most recent arrival to live in Australia and as at November 2007).
TIMELINESS
The Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Migrants Survey was first conducted in 1984 and triennially there after up to 1999. It was collected again in 2004 and the latest survey was in 2007. The name of the survey was also changed in 2007 to Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Recent Migrants Survey, to better reflect the scope of the survey. Data from the survey are released approximately six months after the completion of enumeration.
ACCURACY
The number of completed interviews (after taking into account scope and coverage exclusions) for the Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Recent Migrants Survey was 53,402, of which 2,530 were recent migrants. This sample was achieved by obtaining a response rate of 95% from about 29,000 selected private dwellings and special dwelling units. The exclusion of people living in very remote parts of Australia has only a minor impact on aggregate estimates, except for the Northern Territory where these people account for around 23% of the population.
The Labour Force Survey is designed primarily to provide estimates of key statistics for the whole of Australia and, secondarily, for each state and territory.
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 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 nineteen chances in twenty that the difference will be less than two standard errors.
COHERENCE
The ABS has previously conducted a survey of recent migrants in 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2004. While the ABS seeks to maximise consistency and comparability over time by minimising changes to the survey; sound survey practice requires ongoing development to maintain the integrity of the data. There were a number of changes to the survey between 2004 and 2007. In 2004 migrants who had arrived in the previous 20 years were included in the survey. In 2007 only migrants who had arrived in the previous 10 years were included. There were also new and reworded questions in the 2007 survey. This means results from these surveys are not comparable. For a more detailed discussion on the differences between surveys see the Explanatory Notes.
Data were compared to non-ABS sources of information available. Comparisons conducted by the ABS showed that the data from this survey are not comparable with other available sources due to differences in definitions, scope and collection methods.
INTERPRETABILITY
The Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Recent Migrants publication contains detailed Explanatory Notes, Technical Notes and a Glossary that provide information on the terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with these statistics.
ACCESSIBILITY
In addition to the PDF publication, the tables and associated RSEs are available in spreadsheet form on the website.
Data are also available on request. Note that detailed data can be subject to high relative standard errors and, in some cases may result in data being confidentialised.
An expanded confidentialised unit record file will be produced for this survey and is expected to be released in June 2008.
For further information about these or related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Centre on 1300 135 070.
Quality Declaration 
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