• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

Social Conditions

Objectives
The Social Conditions Program provides statistical leadership, standards development and information for a broad picture of the economic and social wellbeing of the Australian population. It provides statistics covering a range of topics including income, expenditure, wealth, housing, superannuation, families, time use, work and family balance, volunteering, homelessness and social capital.

The program provides design, development, data collection and processing service to support the Growing up in Australia Study (Longitudinal Study of Australian Children), in partnership with the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

The program’s statistics are used to support policy development, program delivery and program evaluation of key government agencies involved in social security, taxation, housing, homelessness, community and family services, and issues related to older people, children, youth, men and women.

Outputs
The program produces a range of outputs including: frameworks and standards; information development plans; statistics and associated Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs); information/ technical papers; guides and analytical articles.

The main outputs of the program are:

• from the Survey of Income and Housing, and the Household Expenditure Survey: Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 652 3.0); Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Summary of Results (ABS cat. no. 6530.0); Household Wealth and Wealth Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6554.0); Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0); Housing Mobility and Conditions, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0.55.002); and Government Benefits, Taxes and Household Income (ABS cat. no. 6537.0)
• from the Work, Life and Family Survey: Employment Arrangements, Retirement and Superannuation, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6361.0); How Australians Use Their Time (ABS cat. no. 4153.0); and Unpaid Work and the Australian Economy (ABS cat. no. 5240.0)
• from the General Social Survey: a profile of the socio-economic characteristics of Australia’s adult population with data on a range of social dimensions of the community, published in General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4159.0); and Voluntary Work, Australia, 2010 (cat. no. 44441.0)
• from the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers: Caring in the Community, Australia, 2009 (cat. no. 4436.0)
• the six monthly Gender Indicators, Australia, (cat. no. 4125.0)
• from monthly population survey components: Family Characteristics and Transitions, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4442.0), and Pregnancy and Employment Transitions, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4913.0)
• the Discussion Paper: Methodological Review of Counting the Homeless, 2006 (ABS cat. no. 2050.0.55.001) and Position paper – Methodological Review of Counting the Homeless, 2006 (cat. no. 2050.0.55.002)
• publication of Second Edition of the international statistical standard Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics in December 2011, lead by the Australian Bureau of Statistics; and
• annual information on registered marriages and divorces granted in Marriages and Divorces, Australia (ABS cat. no. 3310.0).

Developments
The main medium-term developments in the program are to:

• publish new income imputation results for the Census – due June 2012
• publish estimates from the 2011 Census on the number of people enumerated in the Census that were likely to have been homeless on Census night – due November 2012
• as chair of an OECD expert group, and significant work program contributor, lead and coordinate the development of international household wealth standards and guidelines and the development of an integrated framework for household income, consumption and wealth statistics – due December 2012
• as chair of an international task force, lead and coordinate practical guidance on measurement issues related to time use surveys – due end 2012
• as a member, contribute to the international task force on gender indicator development – due end 2012
• develop new standards for use in the 2016 Census for families and housing – due mid 2013
• develop, and publish results from: the 2012 Personal Safety Survey (due June 2013); 2012 Household Energy Consumption Survey (due September 2013); the 2011–12 and 2013-14 cycles of Survey of Income and Housing (due mid 2013 and April 2015 respectively); the 2012 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, Caring in the Community results (end 2013); the 2014 general Social Survey (due April 2015); the 2013 Work Life and Family Survey (due August 2014); and develop the 2015–16 Household Income and Expenditure Surveys
• publish an Australian framework for statistics on household income, expenditure and wealth – due May 2013.

Program Manager
Bob McColl
Assistant Statistician
Social Conditions Statistics Branch

References

Topics @ a Glance - People