4102.0 - Australian Social Trends, 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 03/06/2003   
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Contents >> Work >> Data sources and definitions

Data sources and definitions


Data sourceIndicators using this source

ABS Labour Force Survey.National (1-11, 13-21, 25-30, 35-46, 49-50, 53-56); State (1-11, 13-21, 25-30, 35-46, 49-50, 53-56)
ABS Labour Force Survey and Australian Demographics Statistics (ABS cat. no. 3101.0).National (12); State (12)
Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, Australia, August 2002 (ABS cat. no. 6310.0).National (22-24, 31); State (22-24, 31)
Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, May 2002 (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).National (33-34); State (33-34)
Industrial Disputes, Australia, December 2002 (ABS cat. no. 6321.0).National (32); State (32)
Labour Mobility, Australia, February 2002 (ABS cat. no. 6209.0).National (47); State (47)
Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia, September 2002 (ABS cat. no. 6220.0).National (51-52); State (51-52)
Retrenchment and Redundancy, Australia, July 2001 (ABS cat. no. 6266.0).National (48); State (48)



Average hours worked per week
    aggregate hours worked, including overtime, by full-time/part-time employed during the survey reference week divided by the number of full-time/part-time employed. The hours are those actually worked and are not necessarily the hours paid for.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Discouraged jobseekers
    persons who were marginally attached to the labour force, wanted to work and who were available to start work within four weeks but whose main reason for not actively seeking work was that they believed they would not find a job for any of the following reasons:
    • considered too old or too young by employers;
    • difficulties with language or ethnic background;
    • lacked necessary schooling, training, skills or experience;
    • no jobs in their locality or line of work; or
    • they considered that there were no jobs available at all.
    Reference: Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6220.0).

Employed
    persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:
    • worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind, in a job or business or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers); or
    • worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers); or
    • were employees who had a job but were not at work; or
    • were employers or own account workers who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Employee
    a person who works for a public or private employer and receives remuneration in wages, salary, a retainer fee by 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.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Employees without leave entitlements
    employees who were not entitled to either paid holiday leave or sick leave in their main job.
    Reference: Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6310.0).

Employer
    a person who operates his or her own unincorporated economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade, and hires one or more employees.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Extended labour force underutilisation rate
    the unemployed, plus the underemployed, plus two groups of persons marginally attached to the labour force:
    1. persons actively looking for work, who were not available to start work in the reference week, but were available to start work within four weeks; and
    2. discouraged jobseekers;
    as a percentage of the labour force augmented by (i) and (ii).
    Reference: Information paper: Measures of Labour Underutilisation (ABS cat. no. 6296.0).

Full-time employed
    persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and others who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Industrial dispute
    a withdrawal from work by a group of employees, or a refusal by an employer or a number of employers to permit some or all of their employees to work, each withdrawal or refusal being made in order to enforce or resist a demand, or to express a grievance.
    Reference: Industrial Disputes, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6321.0).

Labour force
    for any group, persons who were employed or unemployed, as defined.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Labour force underutilisation rate
    the unemployed plus the underemployed, as a percentage of the labour force.
    Reference: Information paper: Measures of Labour Underutilisation (ABS cat. no. 6296.0).

Long-term unemployed
    persons unemployed for a period of 52 weeks or longer.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Manufacturing industries
    consists of the manufacturing division of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), a detailed description of which appears in ANZSIC, 1993 (ABS cat. no. 1292.0).
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Marginally attached
    persons aged 15-69 years who were not in the labour force, wanted to work and; were actively looking for work but were not available to start; or were not actively looking for work, but were available to start work or would have been if child care was available.
    Reference: Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6220.0).

Median age
    the age at which half the given population is older and half is younger.
    Reference: Population by Age and Sex, Australian States and Territories (ABS cat. no. 3201.0).

Median duration of unemployment
    the duration which divides unemployed persons into two equal groups, one comprising persons whose duration of unemployment is above the median and the other, persons whose duration is below it.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Occupation
    a collection of jobs which are sufficiently similar in their main tasks to be grouped together for the purposes of classification. The Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) Second Edition, which is used for the classification of occupations, applies skill level and skill specialisation as major criteria.

    Skill level is measured by: formal education and training, and previous experience usually required for entry into an occupation. ASCO Second Edition assigns each of the nine major groups in the classification to one of five ranked skill levels.

    Skill Level 1 comprises the major groups, Managers and administrators, and Professionals; Skill Level 2 - Associate professionals; Skill Level 3 - Tradespersons and related workers and Advanced clerical and service workers; Skill Level 4 - Intermediate production and transport workers, and Intermediate clerical sales and service workers; and Skill Level 5 - Elementary clerical, sales and service workers, and Labourers and related workers.
    Reference: ASCO - Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second edition (ABS cat. no. 1220.0).

Own account worker
    a person who operates his or her own unincorporated economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade, and hires no employees. (This category was formerly entitled self-employed).
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Participation rate
    for any group, the labour force expressed as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over in the same group.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Part-time employed
    persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and who did so during the survey reference week.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Pay set by collective agreements
    employees who had the main part of their wages or salaries set by registered or unregistered collective agreements or enterprise awards.
    Reference: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).

Pay set by individual agreements
    employees who had the main part of their wages or salaries set by individual agreements. This group mainly consists of employees whose pay is set by an individual common law contract, employees receiving overaward payments by individual agreement, and working proprietors of incorporated enterprises who set their own rate of pay.
    Reference: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).

Persons employed part-time who prefer more hours
    persons employed part-time who indicated they would prefer to work more hours.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Proportion of the total population in work
    the number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the total population.

Retrenchment rate
    total persons retrenched during the 12 month period before the survey, as a percentage of all people who had been employed at some time over the same period.
    Persons retrenched are those who ceased their last job because they were either:
    • employees who were laid off, including no work available, retrenched, made redundant, employer went out of business or dismissed; or
    • self employed persons whose business closed down for economic reasons, including 'went broke', liquidated, no work, or no supply or demand.
    Reference: Labour Mobility, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6209.0).

Service industries
    the combination of the following divisions of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), ANZSIC 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0): Wholesale trade; Retail trade; Accommodation, cafes and restaurants; Transport and storage; Communication services; Finance and insurance; Property and business services; Government administration and defence; Education; Health and community services; Cultural and recreational services; and Personal and other services.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Trade union members
    employees with membership in an organisation consisting predominantly of employees, the principal activities of which include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members, in conjunction with their main job.
    Reference: Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6310.0).

Underemployed
    underemployed persons are employed persons who worked less than 35 hours during the reference week, who wanted to work additional hours and were available to work additional hours within the next four weeks.
    Reference: Underemployed Workers, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6265.0).

Unemployed
    persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week, and:
    • were available for work in the reference week; or
    • were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week, and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Unemployed looking for full-time work
    unemployed persons who actively looked for full-time work and were either available for work in the reference week or were not available for work in the reference week because they were waiting to start a new full-time job.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Unemployment rate
    for any group, the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force in the same group.
    Reference: Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6203.0).

Working days lost
    total working days lost by employees directly or indirectly involved in industrial disputes.
    Reference: Industrial Disputes, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6321.0).


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