LABOUR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS

Definition

This section looks at a variety of items related to labour force status.

Persons were classified as either employed, unemployed or not in the labour force based on criteria relating to whether the person had a job in the week prior to the interview, whether those who did not have a job were actively seeking work, and whether those actively seeking work were available to start work.

• Employed persons were those aged 15 years and over who reported that in the preceding week they had worked in a job, business or farm, or who had a job but were absent during that week. Excludes people who usually work less than 1 hour, or who have unpaid volunteer work arrangements, or were away from work due to workers compensation and were not, or did not know if, they were returning to work for their employer.
• Unemployed persons were those aged 15 years and over who were not employed in the reference week (or who fall into an exclusion category for employed) and actively looked for work some time during the previous four weeks and were available to start, or waiting to start within the following four weeks.
• Persons not in the labour force were those aged 15 and over who were not employed or unemployed, as defined.

For the majority of employment related items, data relates to the respondent's main job. For respondents who had more than one job at the time of the interview, the main job was defined as the paid job in which they usually worked the most hours.

In remote areas, respondents were asked specific questions relating to whether they were on a Community Development Employment Project (CDEP). Those on a CDEP were asked both the employed and unemployed questions in order to allow flexibility in output. For more information see Labour force status and Community Development Employment Project in the Methodology section below.

Population

Information was collected for all persons aged 15 years and over in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NATSINPAS).

Methodology

Information was collected using the short-form version of the questions used in the ABS Monthly Labour Force Survey.

Labour force status

Using the detailed definitions identified above, the labour force status item is categorised as:

• employed full-time (if usually work 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs))
• employed part-time (if usually worked one hour to less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs))
• unemployed looking for full-time work (actively seeking full-time work in last 4 weeks)
• unemployed looking for part-time work (actively seeking part-time work only in last 4 weeks)
• not in the labour force.

Note that there are two versions of labour force status available. The two versions are based on whether or not respondents on a CDEP (specifically collected for respondents in remote areas) are considered to be employed.

The first version ‘Labour force, full-time/part-time status’ considered a CDEP to be employed. This is consistent with current thinking and is the data item that is comparable with other surveys.

The second version ‘Labour force status – CDEP defined as not employed’ is as described, CDEP is not considered to be employed. For this item, respondents in non-remote areas maintain their original labour force status. Respondents in remote areas who identified they were on a CDEP were treated in two ways. Respondents who identified that they had more than one job were still considered to be employed, however their part-time/full-time status could not be determined as a result of hours usually worked incorporating all jobs (and so number of hours in non-CDEP jobs cannot be determined). Respondents who identified they were only on a CDEP were then allocated to an unemployed or not in the labour force category based on their responses to the unemployment questions (for 2012-13, respondents on a CDEP were asked all employed and unemployed questions in order to allow this re-allocation to occur).

Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) – Remote only

CDEP is a remote program which allows Indigenous communities to exchange unemployment benefits for opportunities to work or train in activities which are managed by a local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander organisation.

To support identified data needs on CDEP, respondents in remote areas who had a job in the week prior to interview were asked if they were on CDEP. Those that identified they were asked whether they had registered for CDEP before October 2009, whether they were paid a wage or salary for CDEP and who provided this wage, and for those people who identified they had more than one job whether their main job (i.e. the job in which they worked the most hours) was part of CDEP. Respondents on a CDEP were then also asked the unemployment questions (to allow the Labour force status calculations identified above).

Status in employment – Non-remote only

This item refers to a respondent's position in relation to the main employment (job) in the enterprise in which they work and is determined by the following criteria:

• whether a person works for a public or private employer and receives remuneration (employee)
• whether a person operates their own economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade, and hires one or more employees (employer)
• whether a person operates their own economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade and hires no employees (Own Account Worker)
• whether a person works in an economic enterprise operated by a relative without remuneration (Contributing Family Worker).

Working arrangements - Non-remote only

This item refers to the working or payment arrangements of the respondent in their current main job. Data are recorded as reported by respondents against the following categories:

• unpaid voluntary work
• contractor/sub-contractor
• own business/partnership
• commission only
• commission with retainer
• family business without pay
• payment in kind
• paid by piece/item produced
• wage/salary earner
• other.
  

The output data item does not include unpaid voluntary work, as people who respond to this category are not considered employed.

Occupation

For this survey, occupations have been classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), First Edition, Revision 1, 2009 (cat. no. 1221.0). An occupation is a collection of jobs that are sufficiently similar in their title and tasks, skill level and skill specialisation, which have been grouped together for the purposes of classification. An occupation code was assigned, based on the description of the type of work performed by the respondent in their main job.

The major groups of occupations according to ANZSCO are:

• managers
• professionals
• technicians and trades workers
• community and personal service workers
• clerical and administrative workers
• sales workers
• machinery operators and drivers
• labourers.

For most output purposes, occupation is classified to these eight major groups or to sub-major group level (see Appendix 3: ABS Standard Classifications of this Users' Guide).

Industry of employment

For this survey, industry of main job was office coded to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (Revision 1.0) (cat. no.1292.0) based on the description provided by the respondent of the business or activity carried out by their business/employer, and the name of the business/employer. Industry was classified to the 3 digit Group level of the ANZSIC, and details can be made available at this level on request, although for many groups observations in the survey are relatively few, and therefore the reliability of that data would be significantly reduced.

For most output purposes, industry is classified to the following divisions:

• agriculture, forestry and fishing
• mining
• manufacturing
• electricity, gas, water and waste services
• construction
• wholesale trade
• retail trade
• accommodation and food services
• transport, postal and warehousing
• information media and telecommunications
• financial and insurance services
• rental, hiring and real estate services
• professional, scientific and technical services
• administrative and support services
• public administration and safety
• education and training
• health care and social assistance
• arts and recreational services
• other services.

For more details on ABS standard classifications used in the AATSIHS, see Appendix 3: ABS Standard Classifications of this Users' Guide.

Industry sector

This item was coded for respondents who were wage and salary earners or owners of a limited liability company in their main job, and refers to the sector (public or private) in which their business/employer operates.

• The public sector includes all government entities including local, state and federal government departments, non-market non-profit institutions that are controlled and mainly financed by government, and corporations and quasi-corporations that are controlled by government.
• The private sector includes all institutions that employ people who are not controlled by government.

Hours worked

Refers to reported hours usually worked (in all jobs) per week by persons currently employed. Hours in single units are recorded and are available for output. Standard groupings of hours are:

• 1-15 hours
• 16-24 hours
• 25-34 hours
• 35-39 hours
• 40 hours
• 41-48 hours
• 49 hours or more.

Type of shift work - Non-remote only

Recorded for employed persons who reported doing any shift work in their main job, in the 4 weeks prior to interview. Categories available are:

• rotating shift with periodic changes
• regular evening, night or graveyard shift
• regular morning shift
• regular afternoon shift
• irregular shift
• split shift (2 distinct periods per day)
• on call
• other.

Reason absent from work - Non-remote only

For employed respondents who identified that they were not at work in the week prior to interview, the reason they were absent was asked. Categories available are:

• holiday/flextime/study/personal reasons
• own illness or injury/sick leave
• no work available/not enough work
• standard work arrangements/shift work
• on strike/locked out/industrial dispute
• stood down
• bad weather/plant breakdown
• other.

Duration of unemployment

Derived for persons classified as unemployed at the time of the survey.

To collect data for the items related to duration of unemployment, non-remote respondents were asked to provide the date they began looking for work, and date they last worked in a job of 35 hours or more. The format of the date was dependent on how long ago this date was and some date components were standardised as follows:

• less than 2 years, the exact date (day/month/year) was requested
• 2 to less than 5 years, the month/year were requested and day was standardised to the 1^st of the month
• 5 years or more, the year was requested and day/month was standardised to the 1^st June.

Duration of unemployment refers to the period from the time a person began looking for work or was stood down, to the date of interview. For persons who began looking for work while still employed, the item refers to the period from the time the person last worked full-time for two weeks or more until the date of interview. The item is a continuous variable, measured in completed weeks.

For standard output, periods are grouped as follows:

• less than 4 weeks
• 4 to less than 8 weeks
• 8 to less than 13 weeks
• 13 to less than 26 weeks
• 26 to less than 52 weeks
• 52 weeks or more.

Long-term unemployment is defined as unemployment for a period of 52 weeks or more.

Information on 'Time since last worked full-time' is also available separately for persons classified as unemployed.

The remote population was not asked for the dates that they began looking for work or last worked for 35 hours or more, instead those persons who were unemployed were asked how many full weeks or years they had been looking for work or last worked 35 hours or more. Remote persons are only included in the grouped category data item, not the continuous item, because those that had been unemployed for one year or more were only asked how many full years they had been unemployed for, not full weeks.

Data items

Data items and related output categories for this topic will be available in Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.

Interpretation

Points to be considered in interpreting this topic include the following:

• Information about employment was obtained about persons aged 15 years and over using a short-form version of the questions used in the ABS Monthly Labour Force Survey. Use of the reduced set of questions may have resulted in small differences in classification of labour force status and full-time/part-time employment, compared with the results that would have been derived had the full standard question module be used.
• The remote population was asked a different version of the employment questionnaire, with some simplified wording, several questions removed, and some questions relating to the Community Development Employment Project (CDEP). When asked about whether any work was done in the last week, CDEP was also specifically referenced in the wording for the remote population. For more information, the full questionnaire for non-remote and remote populations is available on the Downloads tab of this Users' guide.
• Due to the collection methodology for dates, non-remote data for time since last worked full-time and duration of unemployment should be used with care when using the continuous variables and reporting on time frames greater than 2 years. Caution should also be expressed in comparing the remote and non-remote populations for these data items due to the difference in collection methodology.

Comparability with 2004-05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS)

In 2004-05, persons who identified as usually working 0 hours were classified as being employed part-time, while in subsequent surveys including the 2012-13 NATSIHS, such responses were coded as being unemployed/not in the labour force. However, due to the small number of such responses usually encountered, this is unlikely to make a significant difference in figures and the data are still considered to be comparable. Additional labour force status questions used in 2012-13, related to whether a respondent away from work on compensation in the last week would be returning to work, are unlikely to make a significant difference to the data.

Comparability with 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS)

Labour force characteristics is considered to be comparable between the 2008 NATSISS and the 2012-13 NATSIHS. Additional labour force status questions used in 2012-13, related to whether a respondent away from work on compensation in the last week would be returning to work, are unlikely to make a significant difference to the data.

Comparability with 2011-12 Australian Health Survey (AHS)

Labour force characteristics is considered to be comparable between the 2011-12 AHS and the 2012-13 AATSIHS.

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