2901.0 - Census Dictionary, 2001

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/04/2001

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Contents >> Short Definitions and Classifications >> Occupation (OCCP) - Characteristics

Occupation

Description
Image of Question
Classification
Quality Statement

Description

Occupation is collected in the Census for all employed people aged 15 years and over. Two questions are used in the Census. The first of these asks for occupation title (in main job held in the week prior to Census Night). The second asks for the main tasks usually performed by the person in their occupation. Collecting both occupation title and task information ensures more accurate coding of occupations. More Detailed Description

Image of Question

Classification

Applicable to: Employed persons

1 Managers and Administrators

2 Professionals

3 Associate Professionals

4 Tradespersons and Related Workers

5 Advanced Clerical and Service Workers

6 Intermediate Clerical, Sales and Service Workers

7 Intermediate Production and Transport Workers

8 Elementary Clerical, Sales and Service Workers

9 Labourers and Related Workers

0998 Inadequately described
&&&&    Not stated
@@@@    Not applicable
VVVV    Overseas visitor

Total number of categories:

one digit level    9
two digit level    35
three digit level    81
four digit level    445

Not applicable (@@@@) category comprises:

Unemployed persons, looking for either full-time or part-time work
Persons not in the labour force
Persons with Labour Force Status/Status in Employment (LFSP) Not Stated
Persons aged under 15 years

More Detailed Description

Quality Statement

Each stage of the Census is subject to stringent quality assurance measures. However, in a Census there are recognised sources of error which may survive in the data produced. Some of these are overcome or 'repaired' by careful processing procedures and quality management of the processing itself. The effect of those that remain is generally slight, although it may be more important for small groups in the population. The main kinds of error to keep in mind are:

Partial non-response - in some cases where an answer was not provided to a question an answer was imputed or derived (often from other information on the form). In other cases a 'not stated' code was allocated.

Processing error - while such errors can occur in any processing system, quality management is used to continuously improve the quality of processed data, and to identify and correct data of unacceptable quality.

Random adjustment - cells containing small values are randomly adjusted to avoid releasing information about particular individuals, families or households. The effect of random adjustment is statistically insignificant.

Respondent error - processing procedures cannot detect or repair all errors made by persons in completing the form, therefore some may remain in final data.

Undercount - although the Census aims to count each person once, there are some people who are missed and others who are counted more than once. A post enumeration survey is conducted soon after the Census to measure the undercount.

Want more information on Data Quality?

A series of Census Working Papers have been produced to assess and report on various aspects of 2001 Census data quality. More Information