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 2011 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, Second Edition, 2008 (cat. no. 4902.0). Overseas visitors are not included.
TIMELINESS
The Census and Statistics Act 1905 requires the Australian Statistician to conduct a Census on a regular basis; since 1961 a Census has been held every 5 years. The 2011 Census is the 16th national Census for Australia and was held on 9 August 2011.
For the 2011 Census, first release data was available on the ABS Website on 21 June 2012, and second release data (including occupation and industry of main job) on 30 October 2012.
The Employment in Culture publication is released approximately two 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 2011 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 questions. 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.
The Data Quality Statements state that the non-response rate for Occupation in 2011 was 0.8%, while the non-response rate for Industry of Employment was 1.1%. There has been little change in the overall proportion of persons whose industry of employment was coded to "Inadequately Described", which for 2011 comprised 1.24% of the data (decreasing from 1.25% in 2006).
COHERENCE
The occupations and industries that are considered 'cultural' are classified according to the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications, Second Edition, 2008 (cat. no. 4902.0).
For the Census, occupations were classified to the most detailed (six-digit) level of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition, Revision 1. Industry of employment data were coded according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification, 2006 (Revision 1.0).
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 2011 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
Quality Declaration 
Print Page
Print All