QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

TableBuilder files 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 TableBuilder can be found at the Survey Confidentiality 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

The Characteristics of Recent Migrants Survey (CORMS) provides a range of information about people who were born overseas, arrived in Australia after 2003, were aged 15 years and over on arrival, who had obtained permanent Australian resident status, as well as people who were temporary residents of Australia for 12 months or more. People holding New Zealand citizenship and those who held Australian citizenship before their arrival in Australia were excluded, while other people born in New Zealand were included. 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, 2013). In addition, the survey collects information regarding language spoken on arrival in Australia and proficiency in English both on arrival in Australia and as at November 2013.

Aggregated population estimates from the 2013 Characteristics of Recent Migrants Survey are available from the underlying microdata in TableBuilder.

As a result of this survey being supplementary to the Labour Force Survey (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 people living in Indigenous communities in Australia and people in non-private dwellings such as hotels, university residences, boarding schools, hospitals, retirement homes, homes for people with disabilities and prisons.

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, 2007, 2010 and the latest survey was in 2013. The name of the survey was changed in 2007 to Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Recent Migrants Survey, and again in 2010, to 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.

This is the second iteration of the Characteristics of Recent Migrants TableBuilder, the first was published based on the 2010 data and was released in May 2012.

ACCURACY

The microdata generally contains finer levels of detail for data items than what is otherwise published in other formats, for example, in Characteristics of Recent Migrants, Australia (cat. no. 6250.0). For information on the level of detail provided, please refer to the data item list in the Downloads tab.

Steps to confidentialise the data made available in TableBuilder 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 TableBuilder with other published statistics. Further information about the steps taken to confidentialise the microdata is available through the Survey Confidentiality Page.

COHERENCE

The ABS has previously conducted a survey of recent migrants in 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2007 and 2010. 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. However, from 2007 only migrants who had arrived in the previous 10 years were included. There were also new and reworded questions in the 2007 survey, with only minor development occurring for the 2010 and 2013 surveys. This means results from the surveys conducted in 2004 and earlier are not comparable with the 2007, 2010 and 2013 surveys. However, the 2007, 2010 and 2013 survey results are comparable.

INTERPRETABILITY

The information within this product is the key source for reference when using TableBuilder. Included is information about survey objectives, methodology and design, survey content, data quality and interpretation and information about the file structure of the microdata.

The Explanatory Notes section of Characteristics of Recent Migrants (cat. no. 6250.0) should also be referred to as it includes further information on survey methods and design, comparability with previous surveys and summary results.

ACCESSIBILITY

Microdata products are available to approved users. Users wishing to access TableBuilder should read the Registration basics and How to register web pages, before applying for access through the Registration page. Users should also familiarise themselves with information available via the Microdata web pages.

A full list of all available microdata can be viewed via the List of expected and available Microdata.

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

PRIVACY

The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS handles any personal information that you provide to us.