1287.0 - Standards for Cash Income Statistics, 1997  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/12/1997   
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GLOSSARY

Annual cash income
The cash income of a person, income unit, family or household measured over the reference period of a year, generally the previous financial year.

Any responsible adult
A usual resident of a household aged 18 or over who answers the interviewer's questions on behalf of all other usual residents of the household. In households where no usual resident is over the age of 17, the interviewer may administer a questionnaire to a person aged 15 to 17.

Assets
Property of a financial or non-financial nature, owned by the household or its members, and from which economic benefits may be derived by holding or use over a period of time.

Cash receipts
Money received in the form of currency, negotiable instruments such as cheques, or through electronic transfer on behalf of the recipient. For the owners of unincorporated businesses and rental property, cash receipts are defined as the profit or loss incurred in operating the business or renting the property.

Cash Income
Regular cash receipts less expenses incurred in earning that income but before deduction of income tax. For most purposes the ABS uses current usual cash income. (See separate entry.)

Cash income from own incorporated enterprise
Wages, salaries or fees paid to the owner of a limited liability (incorporated) company. See also Employee cash income.

Centrelink pensions for the aged and persons with a disability
Gross, current, usual cash receipts paid through Centrelink as retirement pensions to persons entitled to such pensions by virtue of their age or disability

Child under 15
A related or unrelated person under 15 years of age who forms a parent-child relationship with one person of at least 15 years of age usually resident in the household.

Child support
Regular cash transfers from a non-custodial parent.

Current actual cash income
The cash income actually received in a given reference period such as the most recent pay period before interview. For unincorporated business income and property income, the given reference period is usually the previous financial year.

Current usual cash income
The cash income usually received around the time of a given reference period. Where there is little variation in periodic receipts, this is usually the same as current actual cash income. Where there is significant variation from period to period, it is sometimes necessary to take an average of all receipts over a longer period. For example, cash income from employment may be averaged over the three payments before interview. For unincorporated business income and property income, the given reference period is usually the previous financial year.

Decile
A grouping derived by ranking all units in the population in ascending order according to some continuous variable such as their income and dividing the ranked population into ten equal groups, each comprising 10% of the population.

Dependent Child
A dependent child is an individual who is either a child under 15 or a dependent student, which is any child in a family under 15 years of age or aged 15-24 years, who is a full-time student. To be regarded as a child the individual can have no partner or child of his or her own usually resident in the household.
A dependent child must be attached to a nominal parent with whom she or he usually resides. This parent must be at least 15 years of age.

Dependent Student
A natural, adopted, step, or foster child who is 15-24 years of age and who attends a secondary or tertiary educational institution as a full-time student and who has no partner or child of his or her own usually resident in the same household.
The definition of a child is more restrictive for the 15-24 age group in that otherwise related and unrelated persons in this age group are excluded from family coding.

Depreciation
The reduction in value of an asset held over time, generally brought about by the use of the asset.

Disposable cash income

Gross cash income net of income tax.


Dividends
Gross cash income received from investments such as ownership of shares.

Employee
An employee is a person who works for a public or private employer and receives remuneration in wages, salary, a retainer fee from their employer while working on a commission basis, tips, piece-rates or payment in kind; or a person who operates his or her own incorporated enterprise with or without hiring employees.

Employee cash income
Gross current usual cash payments from an employer or own limited liability company, including wages or salary, tips, piece rates, penalty rates, loadings, regular bonuses, payment for time not worked (e.g. sick leave, public holidays) and directors' fees.

Equivalised household income
Total household income that has been adjusted using an equivalence scale. Equivalence scales are used to adjust the actual incomes of households in a way that enables the analysis of the relative wellbeing of people living in households of different size and composition. For example, it would be expected that a household comprising two people would normally need more income than a lone person household if all the people in the two households are to enjoy the same material standard of living. Adopting a per capita analysis would address one aspect of household size difference, but would address neither compositional difference (i.e. the number of adults compared with the number of children) nor the economies derived from living together.

When household income is adjusted according to an equivalence scale, the equivalised income can be viewed as an indicator of the economic resources available to a standardised household. For a lone person household, it is equal to income received. For a household comprising more than one person, equivalised income is an indicator of the household income that would be required by a lone person household in order to enjoy the same level of economic wellbeing as the household in question.

Family
Two or more persons, one of whom is at least 15 years of age, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering; and who are usually resident in the same household. The basis of a family is formed by identifying the presence of a couple relationship, lone parent-child relationship or other blood relationship. Some households will, therefore, contain more than one family.

Gifts from relatives
Regular and recurring cash receipts from persons related to the recipient but usually resident in another household.

Gini coefficient
A single statistic that lies between 0 and 1 and is a summary indicator of the degree of inequality. Values closer to 0 represent a lesser degree of inequality, and values closer to 1 represent greater inequality,

Government cash pensions and allowances
Gross current usual cash receipts from government agencies under income support and related programs, comprising:

  • Payments to students and the unemployed
  • Centrelink pensions for the aged and persons with a disability
  • Other government cash pensions and allowances (including those from overseas governments)

Gross cash income
Regular and recurring cash receipts before deduction of income tax. Gross Unincorporated business cash income and Rent are net of operating expenses.

Household
A group of two or more related or unrelated people who usually reside in the same dwelling, who regard themselves as a household and who make common provision for food or other essentials for living; or a person living in a dwelling who makes provision for his or her own food and other essentials for living without combining with any other person.

Household income
The sum of the incomes of all persons in a household. It includes regular receipts from employment, own business and from the lending of assets. It also includes transfer income from government, private institutions and other households but excludes intra-household transfers.

Income
Operationally defined as cash income but conceptually may include non-cash income such as regular in kind receipts.

Income unit
Two or more people who live together, are related by either a 'couple' or a 'parent/dependent child' relationship and are assumed to be pooling income and sharing consumption and savings; or, any other person who is assumed to have sole command over his or her income, consumption and savings.

Incorporated business
A business enterprise possessing a separate legal identity from its owners, limiting their liability for any action or inaction of the corporation. The outright owner of an Incorporated business is seen as an employee of that business and their remuneration is classified as Employee income.

In kind receipts
Receipts other than cash receipts (as defined), including goods and services, use of a vehicle, subsidised housing or other services.

Interest
Gross receipts accrued from deposits (including term deposits) with financial institutions; receipts (excluding principal repayments) from loans to persons in other households.

Mean income
The total income received by a group of units divided by the number of units in the group.

Median income
That level of income which divides the units in a group into two equal parts, one half having incomes above the median and the other half having incomes below the median.

Negative income
The loss incurred by an unincorporated enterprise or from rental property when the operating expenses and depreciation exceed the gross receipts.

Operating expenses
The expenses incurred in deriving income from an unincorporated enterprise or rental property, including wages and salaries paid to employees, interest paid, rent paid, indirect taxes, and repairs and maintenance.

Other cash income
Cash income derived from sources other than employment, own unincorporated business and Government cash pensions and allowances. The category includes Property cash income, Superannuation/annuities, Transfers from private organisations, Transfers from other households, Scholarships and all other regular transfer payments.

Other government cash pensions and allowances
Government cash pensions and allowances other than those included in the categories Allowances for students and the unemployed and Centrelink pensions for the aged and persons with a disability, including pensions and allowances from the Department of Veterans' Affairs and from overseas governments.

Other property cash income
Gross receipts from lending of assets other than Rent, Interest, Dividends and Royalties, etc. in the previous financial year.

Payments to students and the unemployed
Gross, usual cash receipts paid through Centrelink income support programs to persons entitled to such support by virtue of their unemployed or student status

Personal interview
A collection method where the interviewer collects information from the person to whom it pertains rather than from a reference person or spokesperson.

Principal source of cash income
That source from which a person, income unit, family or household receives the greatest amount of cash income.

Profit/loss
The net receipts of an enterprise after deducting operating expenses and the value of depreciation of assets used in production. The concept also applies to income from rental properties.

Property cash income
Receipts accruing as a result of ownership of assets. It comprises returns from financial assets (interest, dividends), from physical assets (rents) and from intellectual assets (royalties).

Quantile
A grouping derived by ranking all units in the population in ascending order according to some continuous variable such as their income and dividing the ranked population into equal groups, each comprising a given equal percentage of the population.

Question module
A set of questions designed to collect data for the measurement of a particular variable or group of related variables.

Quintile
A grouping derived by ranking all units in the population in ascending order according to some continuous variable such as their income and dividing the ranked population into five equal groups, each comprising 20% of the population.

Rental income
Profit or loss from rental properties after expenses.

Royalties
Cash payments paid to the owners of intellectual property rights in return for the right to use the intellectual property.

Scholarship
Regular payments to students other than those paid as part of a government income support program, i.e. Youth Allowance, Austudy and ABSTUDY. Includes scholarships provided by government funded educational institutions.

Sequence guide
A device used in some questionnaires to guide the interviewer (or respondent) past any question(s) that do not apply to the respondent of whom the information is being collected.

Sources of cash income
The variable that classifies units according to the sources from which their income is received.

Superannuation/annuities
Regular cash receipts from superannuation funds and other retirement investment plans.

Total cash income
The sum of amounts of cash income from wages, salary, all government pensions and allowances, interest, dividends, superannuation, profit/loss from own business or rental property, and any other regular source reported received by a unit for the applicable reference period in response to one or more questions.

Transfers
Cash receipts which are not paid as a return for labour or the use of capital. They include Government pensions and allowances and transfers from private organisations and other households.

Transfers from private organisations
Transfers from organisations other than those from government departments under income support and related programs, comprising:
  • Workers' Compensation/Accident/Sickness insurance
  • Any other transfers from private organisations.

Transfers from other households
Transfers from private individuals usually resident in households other than the recipient's, comprising:
  • Child support
  • Gifts from relatives
  • Any other transfers from other households

Unincorporated business
A business enterprise that does not possess a separate legal identity from its owners, who bear full liability for any action or inaction of the business. The outright owner(s) of an Unincorporated business (and their household(s)) are seen to receive whatever profit or loss occurs during the reference period as income.

Unincorporated business cash income
The profit or loss that accrues to owners of, or partners in, unincorporated enterprises. Profit/loss consists of the value of gross output of the enterprise after the deduction of operating expenses (including depreciation). Losses occur when operating expenses are greater than gross receipts and are treated as negative income.



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