GLOSSARY

Actively looking for work People who were taking active steps to find work. Active steps comprise: registering with a Job Network employment agency; contacting an employment agency; contacting prospective employers; answering a newspaper advertisement for a job; checking factory noticeboards; advertising or tendering for work; and contacting friends or relatives.

Balance of Victoria

The Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) divides Victoria into two Major Statistical Regions (MSRs). The Melbourne MSR equates with the Capital City Statistical Division, and the balance of Victoria MSR contains the remainder of the State. For further information refer to Australian Standard Geographical Classification (cat. no. 1216.0).

Dependent child

A dependent child is a person who is either a child under 15 years of age, or a dependent student (see Dependent student below). To be regarded as a child the person can have no identified partner or child of his/her own usually resident in the household. Dependent student This refers to a natural, adopted, step, or foster child who is 15-24 years of age and who attends a secondary or tertiary educational institution as a full-time student and for whom there is no identified partner or child of his/her own usually resident in the same household.

Employed (a)

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 fewer 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. (a) Standard ABS Labour Force definition

Employee (a)

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. (a) Standard ABS Labour Force definition

Employees, or persons not in the labour force on long-term unpaid leave

For 2010 Workforce Participation and Workplace Flexibility Survey purposes, 'Employees, or persons not in the labour force on long-term unpaid leave' are defined as:

• A person aged 18 years and over 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 is away from work for four weeks or more, up to the end of the reference week, and is not paid or expected to be paid for any part of the four weeks up to the end of the reference week.

Equivalised annual household income

Gross annual household income as defined and adjusted using an equivalence scale to facilitate comparisons between households of different size and composition.

Flexi time

Arrangement whereby an employee can take time off work that must be made up at a later date or that has already been accrued by working extra hours (also known as time off in lieu).

Flexible work arrangements

Can include job sharing, telecommuting (working from home), cap on overtime, opportunity to negotiate part time work for full time employees, time in lieu, rostered days off, self rostering, staggered start and finish times, and/or gradual retirement.

Full-time workers

Employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working fewer than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.
Household

A household is one or more persons, at least one of whom is 15 years and over, usually resident in the same private dwelling.

Industry

Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0).

Job

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) First Edition, Revision 1 defines a job as a set of tasks performed by one individual. An occupation is a collection of jobs that are sufficiently similar in their main tasks to be grouped together for the classification.

Labour force For any group, persons who were employed or unemployed, as defined.

Last job

The last job in which employment ceased during the reference period.

Long-term leave

Away from work for four weeks or more, up to the end of the reference week.

Long-term unpaid leave

'Long term leave' as defined and not paid or expected to be paid for any part of the four weeks up to the end of the reference week.

Marginal attachment to the labour force People who were not in the labour force in the reference week, wanted to work and: were actively looking for work but did not meet the availability criteria to be classified as unemployed; or were not actively looking for work but were available to start work within four weeks. The criteria for determining those in the labour force are based on activity (i.e. working or looking for work) and availability to start work during the reference week. The criteria associated with marginal attachment to the labour force, in particular the concepts of wanting to work and reasons for not actively looking for work, are more subjective. Hence, the measurement against these criteria is affected by the respondent’s own interpretation of the concepts used. An individual respondent’s interpretation may be affected by their work aspirations, as well as family, economic and other commitments.

Not employed

People who were either 'unemployed and looking for work' or 'not in the labour force' as defined.

Not in the labour force

People who were not in the categories ‘employed’ or ‘unemployed’ as defined.

Occupation

Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) 2006 (cat. no. 1220.0)

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.

Part-time workers

Employed persons who usually worked fewer than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and did so during the reference week, or were not at work during the reference week.

Persons not in the labour force, not including persons on long-term unpaid leave

For 2010 Workforce Participation and Workplace Flexibility Survey purposes, 'Persons not in the labour force, not including persons on long-term unpaid leave' are defined as people who were not in the categories 'employees, or persons not in the labour-force on
long-term unpaid leave' or 'unemployed', as defined.
Private Sector

Includes private businesses and any non-government organisations.

Public Sector

Public sector comprises local government authorities and all government departments and agencies created by, or reporting to, the Commonwealth, or State/Territory Parliaments.

Sector

Classifies employed people according to whether they work for a public or private sector employer as defined.

Special Dwellings

Special dwellings are establishments which provide predominantly short-term accommodation for communal or group living and often provide common eating facilities. They include hotels, motels, hostels, hospitals, religious institutions providing accommodation, educational institutions providing accommodation, prisons, boarding houses, short-stay caravan parks, and may include some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that are not on the Indigenous Communities Framework. For more information see Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Apr 2007 (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001).

Unemployed

People 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.

Work arrangements

Refers to the amount of hours worked, when these hours are worked and where those hours are worked.

Workforce

For 2010 Workforce Participation and Workplace Flexibility Survey purposes, the 'workforce' includes:

Employed persons as defined, excluding:

• persons aged 15 to less than 18 years
• employers and own account workers

Includes persons on long-term unpaid leave, as defined.

Work-life balance

Relates to the extent that employees are able to balance the demands of their work with family and social commitments.

Workplace

For 2010 Workforce Participation and Workplace Flexibility Survey purposes, the 'workplace' refers to the place at which employees, or persons not in the labour force on long-term unpaid leave carry out work for their employer.