Accumulation phase

A person accumulates superannuation balances over a period of time in order to support their future retirement. Accounts accumulate from a mix of personal and employer contributions, and investment earnings. Accounts are considered to accumulate even if contributions are not currently being made to them, or if there are negative investment returns.

For some people, it is possible to accumulate benefits, as well as to draw on superannuation, at the same point in time.

Adult employees

Employees who are 21 years of age or over, and employees under 21 years old who are paid at the full adult rate for their occupation.

Average earnings (mean)

The amount obtained by dividing the total earnings of a group (e.g. full-time employees) by the number of employees in that group.

Average hours worked per week
Average hours worked per week are based on the average of actual hours worked across the financial year (e.g. 2010-11), collected in the reference week each month over 12 months of the Labour Force Survey. The time includes all paid and unpaid overtime but excludes hours paid for but not worked during the reference period due to leave (e.g. annual, sick or maternity leave) or for any other reason (e.g. public holidays, meal breaks, time spent on travel to and from work). For more information the concepts and definitions used in Australian labour statistics refer to Labour Force Survey Standard Products and Data Item Guide, Dec 2009 (Cat. no. 6103.0) and Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Apr 2007 (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001).

Caring for children

When care is provided by any person aged 15 years or over to:

• his/her own child(ren) aged under 15 years living with them
• his/her own child(ren) aged under 15 years who do not usually live with them
• a child other than his/her own child aged under 15 years of age.

Cash earnings

Remuneration paid to employees on a regular and frequent basis (quarterly or more frequently) for time worked or work done and for time not worked, such as recreation and other types of leave. Cash earnings (inclusive of amounts salary sacrificed) are gross amounts, that is, before tax and other items (e.g. superannuation) are deducted.

Cash flow problems

When financial activities of the household are constrained by shortage of money. The specific financial activities could be: went without meals; could not afford to heat home; could not pay electricity, gas or telephone bills on time etc.Child

A person of any age who is a natural, adopted, step, or foster son or daughter of a couple or lone parent, usually resident in the same household. A child is also any individual under 15 years of age, usually resident in the household, who forms a parent-child relationship with another member in the household. This includes otherwise related children and unrelated children under 15 years of age. In these cases in order to be classified as a child, the person can have no child or partner of their own usually resident in the household.

Commonwealth Rent Assistance

Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) is a non-taxable income supplement paid through Centrelink to individuals and families who rent in the private rental market. It is only paid to recipients of another government benefit or pension, and is paid in conjunction with that other benefit.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

A general measure of price inflation for the household sector in Australia. Specifically, it provides a measure of changes, over time, in the cost of a constant basket of goods and services acquired by the capital city households in Australia.

Contributing family worker

A person who works without pay, in an economic enterprise operated by a relative.

Dependent children

All persons aged under 15 years; and people aged 15–24 years who are full-time students, have a parent in the household and do not have a partner or child of their own in the household.

Employed

Employed persons include all 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 and were:
  • away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week; or
  • away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week; or
  • away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement; or
  • on strike or locked out; or
  • on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job; or
• were employers or own account workers, who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Employed full-time

Persons employed full time are those employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.

Employed part-time

Persons employed part time are those employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and either did so during the reference week, or were not at work in the reference week.

Employee

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 their own incorporated enterprise with or without hiring employees.

Employees with paid leave entitlements

Employees excluding owner managers of incorporated enterprises (OMIEs) who are entitled to either paid sick leave or paid holiday leave (or both).

Employees without paid leave entitlements

Employees, excluding owner managers of incorporated business (OMIEs), who are not entitled to either paid sick leave or paid holiday leave, or did not know whether they are entitled to paid holiday leave or sick leave.

Employment to population ratio

For any group, the number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the civilian population in the same group.

Equivalised disposable household income

Disposable household income (income after taxes are deducted) adjusted using an equivalence scale. For a lone person household it is equal to disposable household income. For a household comprising more than one person, it is an indicator of the disposable household income that would need to be received by a lone person household to enjoy the same level of economic well-being 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.

Family composition of household

Classifies households into three broad groupings based on the number of families present (one family, multiple family and non-family). One family households are further disaggregated according to the type of family (such as couple family or one parent family) and according to whether or not dependent children are present. Non-family households are disaggregated into lone person households and group households.

Full-time employed

See Employed full-time.

Government pension/allowance

Income support payments from government to people under social security and related government programs. Included are pensions and allowances received by aged, disabled, unemployed and sick people, families and children, veterans and their survivors, and study allowances for students. Payments made by overseas governments as well as the Australian government are included.

Household

A person living alone or a group of related or unrelated people who usually live in the same dwelling.

Income

Any accruing cash receipts that are of a regular and recurring nature including money received from:

• wages and salaries (from an employer or own incorporated enterprise), including income provided as part of a salary sacrifice arrangement
• profit/loss from own unincorporated business (including partnerships)
• investment income (interest, rent, dividends)
• government pensions and allowances
• superannuation payments
• other private cash transfers (e.g. regular workers' compensation, child support and other transfers from other households).
  

Gross income is the sum of income from all these sources before income tax or the Medicare levy are deducted.
Industry

An industry is a group of businesses or organisations that undertake similar economic activities to produce goods and services.

In this domain: Economic Security, industry is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0).

In the domain Democracy, Governance and Citizenship, industry is classified according to 'Global Industry Coding System' (GICS) as used by Equal opportunity for Women Agency (EOWA).

Labour force

The labour force is the labour supply available for the production of economic goods and services in a given period, and is the most widely used measure of the economically active population. Persons in the labour force are classified as either employed or unemployed according to their activities during the reference week by using a specific set of priority rules.

Labour force participation rate

The labour force participation rate for any group within the population is the labour force component of that group, expressed as a percentage of the population in that group.

Labour force status

Labour force status is a classification of the civilian population aged 15 years and over into the 'labour force' (those employed or unemployed) or into 'not in the labour force', as defined. The definitions conform closely to the international standard definitions adopted by the International Conferences of Labour Statisticians.

Lone parent

A person who has no spouse or partner present in the household but who forms a parent-child relationship with at least one dependent or non-dependent child usually resident in the household.

Lone person

A person who makes provision for their food and other essentials for living, without combining with any other person to form part of a multi-person household. They may live in a dwelling on their own or share a dwelling with another individual or family.

Low income households

For the purpose of this domain, low income households are defined as those containing the 40% of people in the lowest two quintiles of equivalised disposable household income.

Main source of income

The source of income from which the most positive income is received. If total income is nil or negative the principal source is undefined. As there can be several possible sources, the main source may account for less than 50% of total income.Managerial employees

Employees who have strategic responsibilities in the conduct or operations of the organisation and/or are in charge of a significant number of employees. These employees usually do not have an entitlement to paid overtime. Includes professionally qualified staff who primarily perform managerial tasks in conjunction with utilising their professional skills. Owner managers of incorporated enterprises are regarded as managerial employees.

Median earnings

The amount of earnings which divides employees into two groups containing equal numbers of employees, one half with earnings below the median and the other half with earnings above the median.

Non-managerial employees

Employees who are not managerial employees (as defined above) including non-managerial professionals and some employees with supervisory responsibilities.

Not in the labour force

Persons not in the labour force are those people who, during the reference week, were not in the categories 'employed' or 'unemployed'. They include people who were keeping house (unpaid), retired, voluntarily inactive, permanently unable to work, in gaol, trainee teachers, members of contemplative religious orders, and persons whose only activity during the reference week was jury service or unpaid voluntary work for a charitable organisation.

Occupation

An occupation is a collection of jobs that are sufficiently similar in their title and tasks, skill level and skill specialisation which are grouped together for the purposes of classification. In this domain, occupation is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), 2006 (cat. no. 1220.0).

Ordinary time cash earnings

Payments for award, standard or agreed hours of work, including allowances, penalty payments, payments by measured result and regular bonuses. Salary sacrifice amounts are included. Excluded are non-cash components of salary packages, overtime payments, and payments not related to the survey reference period, such as retrospective pay, pay in advance, leave loadings, and severance pay and termination and redundancy payments

Other landlord type

Where the household pays rent to the owner/manager of a caravan park, an employer (including a government authority), a housing cooperative, a community or church group, or any other body not included elsewhere.
Other tenure type

A unit (i.e. household, income unit or person, where applicable) which is not an owner (with or without a mortgage) or a renter. Includes rent free, life tenure, rent/buy and shared equity schemes.

Overtime earnings

Payment for hours worked in excess of award, standard or agreed hours of work.

Own account workers

People who operate their own unincorporated economic enterprise or are engaged independently in a profession or trade, and hired no employees.

Owner (of dwelling)
A household in which at least one household member owns the dwelling in which the household members usually reside. Owners are divided into two categories: owners without a mortgage, and owners with a mortgage. If there is any outstanding mortgage or loan secured against the dwelling the household is an owner with a mortgage. If there is no mortgage or loan secured against the dwelling the household is an owner without a mortgage.

Owner managers of incorporated enterprises (OMIEs)

People who work in their own incorporated enterprise, that is, a business entity which is registered as a separate legal entity to its members or owners (also known as a limited liability company). These people are classified as employees under 'status in employment'. Technically they are employees, however they are similar in characteristics to owner managers of unincorporated enterprises.

Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises (OMUEs)

People who operate their own unincorporated enterprise, that is, a business entity in which the owner and the business are legally inseparable, so that the owner is liable for any business debts that are incurred. Includes those engaged independently in a trade or profession. These people are classified as employers under 'status in employment' if their business has employees, or own account workers if they do not.

Participation rate

See Labour force participation rate for this domain: Economic Security.

Participation rate in the Education domain refers to 'Education Participation' rate.

Part-time employed

See Employed part-time.

Part-time workers

See Employed part-time.Private renter

A unit (i.e. household, income unit or person, where applicable) paying rent to a landlord who is a real estate agent, a parent or other relative not in the same household or another person not in the same household.

Property

All residential and non-residential properties owned by persons in the household, excluding properties owned by the respondent's business.

Public renter

A household paying rent to a state or territory housing authority or trust.

Quintiles

Groupings that result from ranking all households or people in the population in ascending order according to some characteristic, such as their household income, and then dividing the population into five equal groups, each comprising 20% of the estimated population.

Rate

A number of series under the Economic Security domain are referred to as a 'rate'. In this context, a rate is simply a proportion (%) of a larger population, but expressed as a 'rate' for historical reasons. For example, the unemployment rate is simply the number of people who are unemployed, expressed as a proportion (%) of all people in the labour force.

Relationship in household

The relationship of people who live in the same household.

Rental stress

For the purpose of this domain, a household is considered to be in rental stress if its rental costs exceed 30 per cent of its gross income.

Renter

A household that pays rent to reside in the dwelling.

Retired from labour force

People who had previously worked for two weeks or more, were not in the labour force and who did not intend to look for, or take up, paid work in the future. Salary sacrifice

An arrangement under which an employee agrees contractually to forgo part of the remuneration, which the employee would otherwise receive as wages and salaries, in return for the employer or someone associated with the employer providing benefits of a similar value (Australian Taxation Office).

Superannuation

A long-term savings arrangement that operates primarily with a superannuation fund in order to support future retirement.

Superannuation balance

The total amount of superannuation a person has accrued in their superannuation funds which are in the accumulation phase. In Survey of Employment Arrangements, Retirement and Supannuation (SEARS, 2007), the total superannuation balance was obtained by adding the total account balance of accumulation account/s and total withdrawal or resignation benefit of defined benefit account/s or hybrid account/s for the three main superannuation accounts.

Superannuation coverage

A person is considered to have superannuation coverage if they have:

• superannuation accounts in the accumulation phase
• superannuation accounts from which they are currently drawing benefits, such as receiving a pension or annuity, or
• received a superannuation lump sum within the past 4 years.

Superannuation pension or annuity

A pension or annuity from a superannuation account or retirement saving account (RSA) and eligible for tax concessions. The payment must be made at least annually and must be within limits set by legislation.

Tenure type

The nature of a household's legal right to occupy the dwelling in which the household members usually reside. Tenure is determined according to whether the household owns the dwelling outright, owns the dwelling but has a mortgage or loan secured against it, is paying rent to live in the dwelling or has some other arrangement to occupy the dwelling.

Total cash earnings

Total cash earnings of employees is equal to ordinary time earnings plus overtime earnings.Underemployed workers

Underemployed workers are employed persons who want, and are available for, more hours of work than they currently have. They comprise:

• persons employed part time who want to work more hours and are available to start work with more hours, either in the reference week or in the four weeks subsequent to the survey
• persons employed full time who worked part-time hours in the reference week for economic reasons (such as being stood down or insufficient work being available). It is assumed that these people wanted to work full time in the reference week and would have been available to do so.

Underemployment rate

The number of underemployed workers expressed as a percentage of the labour force.

Underutilisation rate

This is the sum of the number of persons unemployed and the number of persons in underemployment, expressed as a proportion of the labour force. See 'Unemployed' and 'Underemployed workers'.

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.

Unemployment rate

The number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force.

Work

Work is an effort (physical or mental) or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something.

In this domain work refers to only economic activities conducted as part of paid employment. The concept of employment is based on the principle that a person must have been engaged in some economic activity (work) over a short reference period. These economic activities (work) are undertaken for remuneration or salary in the production of goods or services. The Education domain also uses this definition.

The Work and Family Balance domain uses a broader definition of work and includes both paid and unpaid work. Paid work includes activities undertaken for remuneration or salary in the production of goods and services, and unpaid work is primarily household or community work undertaken without pay that could be replaced by market goods and services.