6333.0 - Characteristics of Employment, Australia, August 2014 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/10/2015  First Issue
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APPENDIX STATUS OF EMPLOYMENT

STATUS OF EMPLOYMENT AND POPULATION CONCORDANCE

Previously in labour statistics two main employment classifications were used: Status of employment and Employment type. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) used the Status of employment classification for its standard output, while the labour supplementary surveys (and other social surveys) predominantly used the Employment type classification. Status of employment was necessary in the context of national accounting and the measurement of income, as 'compensation of employees' (the largest component of gross domestic product) is based on the System of National Accounts definition of 'employee'. However, it did not provide the most useful representation for analysis of the labour market.

The Employment type classification was considered preferable for most labour market analysis. Unlike Status of employment, Employment type aimed to capture the fundamental nature of employment, that was, whether a person worked for an employer or operated their own business, regardless of the legal status of that business. This meant that in the Status of employment classification, people who operated their own incorporated enterprise (owner managers of incorporate enterprises (OMIEs)) were included in the Employees category, whereas in Employment type, this group was identified separately.

To overcome the complexities, and potential misinterpretation or comparison of data, the ABS has revised the Status of employment classification so that it provides a single labour market relevant classification that can meet all uses. This was achieved by removing OMIEs from the Employees category and having them separately identified. As a result, the Employment type classification is no longer required.

While the Status of employment classification is different, there will effectively be no break in LFS or supplementary survey series as the categories will be conceptually consistent and able to be aggregated or disaggregated to match the previous version of the Status of Employment classification and the Employment type classification. For more information, see Information Paper: Outcomes of the Labour Households Surveys Content Review, Australia, 2012 (cat. no. 6107.0) (page 2).

The following table shows the changes to Status of employment and Employment type:

Pre July 2014
Status of employmentEmployment type equivalent
Employees
=
Employees + Owner managers of incorporated enterprises (OMIEs)
Own account workers
=
Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises (OMUEs) without employees
Owner managers
=
Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises (OMUEs) with employees
Contributing family workers
=
Contributing family workers
Employment type
Employees (excluding OMIEs)
With paid leave entitlements
Without paid leave entitlements
Owner managers of incorporated enterprises (OMIEs)
With employees
Without employees
Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises (OMUEs)
With employees
Without employees
Contributing family workers
Post June 2014
Status of employment
Employees
With paid leave entitlements
Without paid leave entitlements
Owner managers of incorporated enterprises (OMIEs)
With employees
Without employees
Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises (OMUEs)
With employees
Without employees
Contributing family workers
Employment Type
No longer applicable


POPULATION CONCORDANCE WITH PREVIOUS SURVEYS

This release combines the key elements from the Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership survey (EEBTUM), Forms of Employment survey (FOE) and Working Time Arrangements survey (WTA) to provide a comprehensive and coherent dataset on characteristics of people's employment.

Caution should be exercised when comparing the estimates from this release with previous surveys as some population groups are conceptually different.

The following table provides a concordance of populations groups used in this release with population groups from previous surveys:

Population Concordance
Populations
COE 2014FOE 2011/13EEBTUM 2013WTA 2012
Employed PersonsPopulation 1Population 1 (a)
...
...
Employees in main jobPopulation 2
...
Population 7Population 2
Employees and Owner Managers of Incorporated Enterprises
(OMIEs) in main job		Population 3
...
Population 1Population 1
Owner Managers of Incorporated Enterprises (OMIEs) in main jobPopulation 4
...
Population 8
...
Owner Managers of Unincorporated Enterprises (OMUEs)
in main job		Population 5
...
...
...
Employed persons who preferred to work more hours than usually workedPopulation 6
...
...
...
Trade union members in their main jobPopulation 7 (c)
...
Population 5
...
Trade union membersPopulation 8 (c)
...
Population 6
...
Independent contractorsPopulation 9Population 5 (a)
...
...
Persons who found their job through a labour hire firm/employment agencyPopulation 10Population 7 (b)
...
...
Multiple job holdersPopulation 11
...
...
Population 4
Employees in second jobPopulation 12
...
...
...
Employees and Owner Managers of Incorporated Enterprises
(OMIEs) in second job		Population 13
...
...
...
Employees
...
Population 2 (a)
...
...
Employees with paid leave entitlements
...
Population 3 (a)
...
...
Employees without paid leave entitlements
...
Population 4 (a)
...
...
Other business operators
...
Population 6 (a)
...
...
Full-time employees in main job
...
...
Population 2
...
Employees in main job who were full-time workers
...
...
Population 3
...
Employees who worked as an employee in their second job in the reference week
...
...
Population 4
...
Employees in main job who were part-time workers
...
...
Population 9
...
Employees who were single job holders
...
...
...
Population 3
(a) FOE 2013
(b) FOE 2011
(c) From 2014 this population group includes OMUEs