6541.0.30.001 - Microdata: Income and Housing, Australia, 2011-12 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/10/2013   
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This document was added or updated on 06/02/2014.

alt="" USING THE CURF


About the CURFs
Contents of the CURFs
SIH Basic CURF File Contents
SIH Expanded CURF File Contents
Notes on Specific Data Items
Reliability of Estimates

ABOUT THE CURFs

The 2011–12 SIH Basic and Expanded CURFs contain 4 separate record level files which are described, along with information about record level identifiers, in the File Structure document on the Summary tab. Subject to the limitations of sample size, the data classifications used, and the conditions of use, it is possible to interrogate the data, produce tabulations and undertake statistical analyses to individual specifications.

The 2011–12 CURFs contain unit records relating to almost all of the survey respondents. The data are released under the Census and Statistics Act 1905, which has provision for the release of data in the form of unit records where the information is not likely to enable the identification of a particular person or organisation. Accordingly, there are no names or addresses of survey respondents on the CURFs and other steps, including the following list of actions, have been taken to protect the confidentiality of respondents:

    • For the Basic CURF, persons were removed from households with seven or more persons to reduce them to a maximum household size of six. For the Expanded CURF, persons were removed from households with nine or more persons to reduce them to a maximum household size of eight. This was done across a variety of ages and in ways that minimised the impact on family and relationship coding of other people in the household. This also resulted in the deletion of several whole income units, mainly comprising a single person record only.
    • The level of detail for many data items has been reduced (e.g. state of usual residence of the ACT and the NT have been combined as ACT/NT for the Basic CURF, but shown individually for the Expanded CURF; area of usual residence for the ACT and NT has not been made available on the CURFs).
    • Most income items, and some wealth, expenditure and loan data have been perturbed.
    • Some variables have had values ranged, collapsed or topcoded.
    • Changes have been made to some records to protect against identification. Amendments have been made to household level variables and/or person level variables such as geography, age, educational qualifications, industry and/or occupation.

As a consequence, aggregated data obtained from the CURFs are slightly different to that published in Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 6523.0), Household Wealth and Wealth Distribution, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 6554.0) and Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 4130.0). Information about comparisons of published estimates and estimates produced from the CURFs for key items and populations is available through the Reconciliation of the CURF Data document on the Summary tab.

Steps to confidentialise the datasets made available on the CURFs are undertaken in such a way as to ensure the integrity of the datasets and optimise the content, while maintaining the confidentiality of respondents. Intending purchasers should ensure that the data they require at the level of detail they require are available on the CURFs; data obtained in the survey but not contained on the CURFs may be available in tabulated form on request. The Data Item List document in the Summary tab contains information about the list of data items and categories on the SIH 2011–12 Basic and Expanded CURFs which is available as a datacube from the Downloads tab.

CONTENTS OF THE CURFs

This section provides details of the files included on each of the Basic and Expanded CURFs.

SIH BASIC CURF FILE CONTENTS

    The SIH Basic CURF distributed on CD–ROM or via the RADL contains the following files:

Raw data:

    These files contain the raw confidentialised survey data in hierarchical comma delimited ASCII text format.

    SIH11B.CSV contains all levels data

    SIH11BH.CSV contains the Household level data

    SIH11BI.CSV contains the Income unit level data

    SIH11BP.CSV contains the Person level data

    SIH11BL.CSV contains the Loans level data


SAS files:

    These files contain the data for the CURF in SAS for Windows format.

    SIH11BH.sas7bdat contains the Household level data

    SIH11BI.sas7bdat contains the Income unit level data

    SIH11BP.sas7bdat contains the Person level data

    SIH11BL.sas7bdat contains the Loans level data


SPSS files:

    These files contain the data for the CURF in SPSS for Windows format.

    SIH11BH.SAV contains the Household level data

    SIH11BI.SAV contains the Income unit level data

    SIH11BP.SAV contains the Person level data

    SIH11BL.SAV contains the Loans level data


STATA files:

    These files contain the data for the CURF in STATA format.

    SIH11BH.DTA contains the Household level data

    SIH11BI.DTA contains the Income unit level data

    SIH11BP.DTA contains the Person level data

    SIH11BL.DTA contains the Loans level data


Information files:

    FORMATS.sas7bcat is a SAS library containing formats

    SIH11B.SAS contains a SAS program to run the SAS formats

    IMPORTANT INFORMATION.PDF describes the file contents of the CURF and information on using the CURF

    COPYRITE1.BAT describes Copyright obligations for CURF users

    RESPONSIBLE ACCESS TO CURFs.PDF is an acrobat file explaining CURF users' role and obligations when using confidentialised data


Frequency files:

    The following plain text format files contain documentation about data item code values and category labels at each level, with weighted and unweighted frequencies for each value.

    FREQUENCIES_SIH11BH.TXT contains documentation of the Household level data

    FREQUENCIES_SIH11BI.TXT contains documentation of the Income Unit level data

    FREQUENCIES_SIH11BP.TXT contains documentation of the Person level data

    FREQUENCIES_SIH11BL.TXT contains documentation of the Loans level data


SIH EXPANDED CURF FILE CONTENTS

    The SIH Expanded CURF can only be accessed via the RADL or the ABSDL, and contains the following files:

Main files:

    SIH11EH.sas7bdat contains the file of Household level data in SAS for Windows format

    SIH11EI.sas7bdat contains the file of Income unit level data in SAS for Windows format

    SIH11EP.sas7bdat contains the file of Person level data in SAS for Windows format

    SIH11EL.sas7bdat contains the file of Loans level data in SAS for Windows format

    SIH11EH.SAV contains the file of Household level data in SPSS format

    SIH11EI.SAV contains the file of Income unit level data in SPSS format

    SIH11EP.SAV contains the file of Person level data in SPSS format

    SIH11EL.SAV contains the file of Loans level data in SPSS format

    SIH11EH.DTA contains the file of Household level data in STATA format

    SIH11EI.DTA contains the file of Income unit level data in STATA format

    SIH11EP.DTA contains the file of Person level data in STATA format

    SIH11EL.DTA contains the file of Loans level data in STATA format


Information files:

    FORMATS.sas7bcat is a SAS library containing formats.

Frequency files:

    The following plain text format files contain documentation about data item code values and category labels at each level, with weighted and unweighted frequencies for each value.

    FREQUENCIES_SIH11EH.TXT contains documentation of the Household level data

    FREQUENCIES_SIH11EI.TXT contains documentation of the Income Unit level data

    FREQUENCIES_SIH11EP.TXT contains documentation of the Person level data

    FREQUENCIES_SIH11EL.TXT contains documentation of the Loans level data


NOTES ON SPECIFIC DATA ITEMS

The data items included on the CURFs, and the categories within the data items, differ between the Basic and Expanded CURFs. The Expanded CURFs contain more variables than the Basic CURFs as well as more detailed data for selected variables. The data item list also shows the differences between the 2011–12 Basic and Expanded CURFs. Many of the differences result from the difference in the maximum household size permitted on the Basic and Expanded CURFs.

A complete list of the data items available on each record level for the CURFs, including relevant population and classification details, is available from the Downloads tab.

Many of the data items included on the CURFs are self–explanatory. The Glossary provides links to terms and definitions for most of the survey's data items. However, some items require further explanation.

Identifiers

There are several identifiers on records at each level of the file.

Each household has a unique random identifier. This identifier appears on the household level (ABSHID), and is repeated on the income unit, person, expenditure and loans level records relating to that household.

Each family within the household is numbered sequentially. Non family members, single person households and persons in group households have a sequential "family number" commencing at 50. Family number (ABSFID) appears on the income unit level and the person level. The combination of household and family number uniquely identifies a family.

A family has one or more income units and each income unit within the family is numbered sequentially. Income unit number (ABSIID) appears on the income unit level and the person level. The combination of household, family and income unit number uniquely identifies an income unit.

An income unit has one or more persons and each person within the income unit is numbered sequentially. Person number (ABSPID) appears on the person level. The combination of household, family, income unit and person number uniquely identifies a person.

A household may have one or more loans and each loan within the household is numbered sequentially. Loan number (ABSLID) appears on the loans level. The combination of a household and loan number uniquely identifies a loan.

Geographic items

To enable CURF users greater flexibility in their analyses, the ABS has included two Socio-economic Indexes For Area (SEIFA) and several sub-state geography items on the Expanded 2011–12 CURFs. Conditions are placed on the use of these items. Tables showing multiple data items, cross-tabulated by more than one sub-state geography at a time, are not permitted due to the detailed information about small geographic regions that could be presented. However, simple cross-tabulations of population counts by sub-state geographic data items may be useful for clients in order to determine which geography item to include in their primary analysis, and such output is permitted.

Income items

The person level records contain detailed information on income by source. The income unit and household level records contain information at a broader level. If detailed information is required for income analyses at the income unit or household level, this can be calculated by aggregating the person level information for each income unit or household. Income is recorded on both a 'current' and a 'previous financial year' basis. For more information about current and previous financial year income, see Part 1.2 'Current, annual and weekly income' in Survey of Income and Housing, User Guide, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 6553.0) .

Where possible, supplementary items have been included on the file which replicate the content of the items that have been included on previous issues of the SIH CURFs. The SIH files include two income aggregates, "Total current weekly income from all sources" and "Total current weekly income from all sources (2005–06 basis)".

'Total current weekly income from all sources'

The publications relating to the 2011–12 SIH use this measure of income. It is consistent with the measure of income used in 2007–08 and 2009–10.

The component items of "Total current weekly income from all sources" are:

      • Current weekly cash employee income from main job (incl. salary sacrifice and bonuses)
        • Total current weekly employee income (incl. overtime,salary sacrifice, bonuses and STRP)
          • Current weekly cash employee income from main job (incl. salary sacrifice)
          • Total current weekly non cash benefits from employer (non–salary sacrifice)
          • Current weekly employee cash income from bonuses
          • Expected current weekly paid overtime this financial year
        • Current weekly employee income from second job
        • Current weekly income from paid–out unused leave
        • Current weekly income from redundancy pay
        • Other wage and salary income – reported as other sources
      • Current weekly cash income from own unincorporated business (reported)
      • Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances
        • Current weekly income from Austudy/Abstudy
        • Current weekly income from age pension
        • Current weekly income from carer allowance
        • Current weekly income from carer payment
        • Current weekly income from carer supplement
        • Current weekly income from clean energy advance
        • Current weekly income from disability pension, (DVA)
        • Current weekly income from disability support pension
        • Current weekly income from education tax refund
        • Current weekly income from family tax benefits (modelled)
        • Current weekly income from Baby Bonus
        • Current weekly income from Paid Parental Leave
        • Current weekly income from Newstart allowance
        • Current weekly income from other government pensions and allowances
        • Current weekly income from overseas pensions and benefits
        • Current weekly income from parenting payment
        • Current weekly income from partner allowance
        • Current weekly income from service pension (DVA)
        • Current weekly income from sickness allowance
        • Current weekly income from special benefit
        • Current weekly income from utilities allowance
        • Current weekly income from war widow's pension (DVA)
        • Current weekly income from widow allowance
        • Current weekly income from wife pension
        • Current weekly income from youth allowance
        • Current weekly income from pension supplement
        • Current weekly income from seniors supplement
      • Total current weekly income from investments (incl. silent partner income, shares/trusts net of expenses)
        • Current weekly income from financial institution account interest (excl offset accounts) (reported)
        • Current weekly income from interest on debentures and bonds (reported)
        • Current weekly income from interest on loans to persons not in this household (reported)
        • Current weekly income from non–residential property (reported)
        • Current weekly income from residential property (reported)
        • Current weekly income from royalties (reported)
        • Current weekly income as beneficiary of a trust (excl. public unit trusts and employment income)
        • Current weekly income as silent partner
        • Current weekly income from other financial investments (reported)
        • Current weekly income from dividends from own incorporated businesses and trusts (reported)
        • Current weekly income from offset accounts
        • Current weekly net income from public unit trusts
        • Current weekly net income from dividends from shares
      • Total current weekly income from other sources (incl. workers' compensation lump sums)
        • Total current weekly income from other regular sources
          • Current weekly income from accident compensation and sickness insurance
          • Current weekly income from child support/maintenance
          • Current weekly income from family members not living in the household
          • Current weekly income from regular workers' compensation
          • Current weekly income from scholarships
          • Current weekly income from superannuation/annuity/private pension
          • Current weekly income from regular sources n.e.c
        • Current weekly income from workers' compensation lump sum.

'Total current weekly income from all sources (2005-06 basis)'

This measure of income is comparable to that used in the publications relating to the 2005–06 survey however, there are some differences related to changes and improvements in the collection of information about sources of income that were introduced in 2007–08. The differences are the use of improved reported income from trusts and the inclusion of a broader measure of income from family members outside the household instead of restriction to regular, cash income from persons outside the household.

The component items of "Total current weekly income from all sources (2005–06 basis)" in 2011–12 are:

      • Total current weekly employee cash income (incl. salary sacrifice)
        • Current weekly cash employee income from main job (incl. salary sacrifice)
        • Current weekly employee income from second job
        • Other wage and salary income – reported as other sources
      • Current weekly cash income from own unincorporated business (reported)
      • Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis)
        • Current weekly income from Austudy/Abstudy
        • Current weekly income from age pension
        • Current weekly income from carer allowance
        • Current weekly income from carer payment
        • Current weekly income from carer supplement
        • Current weekly income from clean energy advance
        • Current weekly income from disability pension (DVA)
        • Current weekly income from disability support pension
        • Current weekly income from education tax refund
        • Current weekly income from family tax benefits (modelled) – (2005–06 basis)
        • Current weekly income from Baby Bonus
        • Current weekly income from Paid Parental Leave
        • Current weekly income from Newstart allowance
        • Current weekly income from other government pensions and allowances
        • Current weekly income from overseas pensions and benefits
        • Current weekly income from parenting payment
        • Current weekly income from partner allowance
        • Current weekly income from service pension (DVA)
        • Current weekly income from sickness allowance
        • Current weekly income from special benefit
        • Current weekly income from utilities allowance
        • Current weekly income from war widow's pension
        • Current weekly income from widow allowance
        • Current weekly income from wife pension
        • Current weekly income from youth allowance
        • Current weekly income from pension supplement
        • Current weekly income from seniors supplement
      • Total current weekly income from investments (reported)
        • Current weekly income from dividends (reported)
        • Current weekly income from financial institution account interest (excl offset accounts) (reported)
        • Current weekly income from offset accounts
        • Current weekly income from interest on debentures and bonds (reported)
        • Current weekly income from interest on loans to persons not in this household (reported)
        • Current weekly income from non–residential property (reported)
        • Current weekly income from residential property (reported)
        • Current weekly income from royalties (reported)
        • Current weekly income from public unit trusts
        • Current weekly income as beneficiary of a trust (excl. public unit trusts and employment income)
        • Current weekly income as silent partner
        • Current weekly income from other financial investments (reported)
      • Total current weekly income from other regular sources
        • Current weekly income from accident compensation and sickness insurance
        • Current weekly income from child support/maintenance
        • Current weekly income from family members not living in the household
        • Current weekly income from regular workers' compensation
        • Current weekly income from scholarships
        • Current weekly income from superannuation/annuity/private pension
        • Current weekly income from regular sources n.e.c.

2005–06 Basis Income Data Amendments
An error was identified after release for the data item "Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis)" which inadvertently omits "Current weekly income from disability support pension". This item is used in calculation of a number of other items. The following items are affected and require re–deriving before use:

Person Level
  • Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) ( ITGCDBCP6)
  • Total current weekly income from all sources (2005–06 basis) (INCTSCP)
  • Main source of current income (2005–06 basis) (PSRCSCP)

Household Level
  • Current weekly HH income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCH6)
  • Total current weekly HH income from all sources (2005–06 basis) (INCTSCH)
  • Current weekly HH disposable income (2005–06 basis) (DISPSCH)
  • Main source of current HH income (2005–06 basis) (PSRCSCH)
  • Current weekly equivalised HH disposable income (2005–06 basis) (EQDSPSCH)

..Income Unit Level
  • Current weekly IU income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCU6)
  • Total current weekly IU income from all sources (2005–06 basis) (INCTSCU)
  • Main source of current IU income (2005–06 basis) (PSRCSCU)

These items can be re–derived using existing variables on the dataset as per the instructions below. All derivations must be derived in the order presented for the correction to be applied. Example SAS code can be obtained upon request by contacting Microdata Access Strategies.

Person Level

Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCP6)

Sum of:
  • Current weekly income from age pension (IAGECP)
  • Current weekly income from Austudy/Abstudy (IAUSTCP)
  • Current weekly income from Baby Bonus payment (IMATCP)
  • Current weekly income from carer allowance (ICAREACP)
  • Current weekly income from carer payment (ICAREPCP)
  • Current weekly income from carer supplement (ICARESCP)
  • Current weekly income from clean energy advance (ICEACP)
  • Current weekly income from disability pension (DVA) (IDISBCP)
  • Current weekly income from disability support pension (IDSUPPCP)
  • Current weekly income from education tax refund (ISKBCP)
  • Current weekly income from family tax benefits (modelled) (2005–06 basis) (IFTBCP6)
  • Current weekly income from newstart allowance (INEWLSCP)
  • Current weekly income from other government pensions and allowances (IOTHPCP)
  • Current weekly income from overseas pensions and benefits (IOSEASCP)
  • Current weekly income from parenting payment (IPARENCP)
  • Current weekly income from partner allowance (IPARTNCP)
  • Current weekly income from Paid Parental Leave payment (IPPLCP)
  • Current weekly income from pension supplement (IPSUPCP)
  • Current weekly income from senior supplement (ISSUPCP)
  • Current weekly income from service pension (DVA) (ISERVCP)
  • Current weekly income from sickness allowance (ISICKCP)
  • Current weekly income from special benefit (ISPECCP)
  • Current weekly income from utilities allowance (IUTILCP)
  • Current weekly income from war widows pension (DVA) (IWARWCP)
  • Current weekly income from widow allowance (IWIDOWCP)
  • Current weekly income from wife pension (IWIFECP)
  • Current weekly income from youth allowance (IYOUTHCP)

Total current weekly income from all sources (2005–06 basis) (INCTSCP)

Sum of:
  • Total current weekly employee income (incl salary sacrifice) (IWSSUCP)
  • Total current weekly income from investments (reported) (INVESTCP)
  • Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCP6)
  • Total current weekly income from other regular sources (ITREGCP)
  • Current weekly cash income from own unincorporated business (reported) (IOBTCP).

Main source of current income (2005–06 basis) (PSRCSCP)

If “Total current weekly income from all sources (2005–06 basis)” is equal to or less than zero then assign “0. Zero or negative income”. Otherwise “Main source of current income (2005–06 basis)” is assigned from maximum value of the following:
  • Total current weekly employee income (incl salary sacrifice) (IWSSUCP) code to '1. Wage and salary'.
  • Current weekly cash income from own unincorporated business (reported) (IOBTCP) code to “2. Own unincorporated business income”.
  • Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCP6) code to “3. Government pensions and allowances”.
  • Total current weekly income from investments (reported) (INVESTCP) + Total current weekly income from other regular sources (ITREGCP) code to “4. Other income“.

If there are two sources of income with equal maximum value, the main source of income is determined by the order of the classifications as listed on the Data Item List. For example, if 'Wages and Salaries' is equal to 'Government pensions and allowances', then Main source of current income (2005–06 basis) is “1. Wage and salary“.

Current weekly disposable income (2005–06 basis)

This Item is required for the deviation of “Current weekly equivalised HH disposable income (2005–06 basis)” (EQDSPSCH) at the household level.
  • Total current weekly income from all sources (2005–06 basis) (INCTSCP) subtract Imputed current weekly tax payable (2005–06 basis) (ITAXCP)

Household Level

Current weekly HH income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCH6)
  • Sum of all person “Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis)” within household.

Total current weekly HH income from all sources (2005–06 basis) (INCTSCH)
  • Sum of all person “Total current weekly income from all sources (2005–06 basis)” within household.

Current weekly HH disposable income (2005–06 basis) (DISPSCH)
  • Sum of all person “Current weekly disposable income (2005–06 basis)” within household.

Main source of current HH income (2005–06 basis) (PSRCSCH)

If “Total current weekly HH income from all sources (2005–06 basis)” is equal to or less than zero then assign "0. Zero or negative income". Otherwise “Main source of current HH income (2005–06 basis)” is assigned from maximum value of the following:
  • Current weekly HH employee income (2005–06 basis) (IWSSUCH) code to ‘1. Wage and salary’.
  • Current weekly HH income from own unincorporated business (IOBTCH) code to ‘2. Own unincorporated business income’.
  • Current weekly HH income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCH6) code to “3. Government pensions and allowances”.
  • Current weekly HH income from investments (2005–06 basis)” (INVESTCH) + Current weekly HH income from superannuation/annuity/private pension (ISUPERCH) + Current weekly HH income from other regular sources (excluding superannuation) (OTHSRCH) code to “4. Other income”.

If there are two sources of income with equal maximum value, the main source of income is determined by the order of the classifications as listed on the Data Item List.

Current weekly equivalised HH disposable income (2005–06 basis) (EQDSPSCH)
  • Current weekly HH disposable income (2005–06 basis) (DISPCH) divided by HH equivalising factor (EQUIVH)

Income Unit Level

Current weekly IU income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCU6)
  • Sum of all person Total current weekly income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) within income unit.

Total current weekly IU income from all sources (2005–06 basis) (INCTSCU)
  • Sum of all person Total current weekly income from all sources (2005–06 basis) within income unit.

Main source of current IU income (2005–06 basis) (PSRCSCU)

If Total current weekly IU income from all sources (2005–06 basis) is equal to or less than zero then assign “0. Zero or negative income”. Otherwise Main source of current IU income (2005–06 basis) is assigned from maximum value of the following:
  • Current weekly IU employee income (2005–06 basis) (IWSSUCU) code to “1. Wage and salary”.
  • Current weekly IU income from own unincorporated business (IOBTCU) code to “2. Own unincorporated business income”.
  • Current weekly IU income from government pensions and allowances (2005–06 basis) (ITGCBCU6) code to “3. Government pensions and allowances”.
  • Current weekly IU income from investments (2005–06 basis) (INVESTCU) + Current weekly IU income from superannuation/annuity/private pension (ISUPERCU) + Current weekly IU income from other regular sources (excluding superannuation) (OTHSRCU) code to “4. Other income”.

If there are two sources of income with equal maximum value, the main source of income is determined by the order of the classifications as listed on the Data Item List.
Previous financial year exclusion flag

The previous financial year exclusion flag at the person level (FINSCOPE) has a value of 1 for females whose family situation changed since 1 July 2010 (by moving in with a new partner, separating from a partner or becoming widowed) and for persons who arrived in Australia during 2011–12. At the income unit level a value of 1 in the previous financial year exclusion flag (FINSCOPU) indicates income units where the reference person or spouse has FINSCOPE=1. At the household level the previous financial year exclusion flag (FINSCOPH) indicates households where the reference person or spouse of one of the income units in the household has FINSCOPE=1. Users wishing to analyse previous financial year income data may wish to exclude such persons from their analysis (by limiting their analysis to records where FINSCOPE=2).

Assets and liabilities

The 2011–12 survey collected information on a comprehensive range of household assets and liabilities to enable analysis of net worth and its components across households. Similar data was collected for 2003–04, 2005–06 and 2009–10.

Housing costs

Weekly housing costs included on previous SIH CURFs and used in the publication Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 4130.0) is labelled on the 2011–12 CURFs as "Weekly housing costs (SIHC basis)" and has the field name HCOSTSH. The component items are:
      • Weekly rent payments (WKRENTCH), where Tenure type = renter
      • Weekly general and water rates payments (RATESCH), where Tenure type = owner
      • Weekly general rates payments (RATESGCH)
      • Weekly water rates payments (RATESWCH)
      • Weekly combined rates payments (RATESCCH)
      • Weekly mortgage repayments to purchase/build (TRPAY1CH), where Tenure type = owner with mortgage
      • Weekly mortgage repayments for alterations/additions (TRPAY2CH), where Tenure type = owner with mortgage
      • Weekly repayments on unsecured loans for housing purposes (TRPAY4CH), where Tenure type = owner with mortgage.

Note that the mortgage and loan repayments in the items listed above are allocated according to the main purpose of the loan. For example, if a loan was taken out primarily to buy a dwelling, but part of it was used to purchase a car, the entire repayment amount is included in housing costs.
In the 2011–12 publications, housing costs have continued to be measured using HCOSTSH, in order to provide comparability with earlier issues.

However, in SIH surveys since 2003–04, extra information on housing costs has been collected.
      • Where a payment has been refunded by a business or someone outside the household, the amount of the refund was collected.
      • Where a loan had multiple purposes, details of all purposes were collected, so repayments can be allocated to each purpose in accordance with the percentage split of the original loan amount by purpose
      • Loan repayments were able to be split into an interest component and a component representing repayment of principal. It could be argued that housing costs should only include the interest component – the portion of loan repayments that represents repayment of principal is a form of saving and possibly should not be regarded as part of housing costs.
      • Information on body corporate payments was collected.
      • Information on housing costs was collected from all tenure types. For example payments for water were collected from renters as well as owners.

An alternative series of housing cost items has been included on the CURFs in addition to the housing cost items traditionally included on SIH CURFs. The new item "Weekly housing costs (after refunds, interest only, incl. body corp, loans prorated by purpose, no tenure adjustment)" has the field name HCOSTS2H and has the following components:
      • Weekly rent payments with refunds deducted (WKRENTRF)
      • Weekly body corporate payments (BCORPCH)
      • Weekly body corporate payments with refunds deducted (BCORPRCH)
      • Weekly general and water rates payments with refunds deducted (RATESRCH)
      • Weekly general rates payments with refunds deducted (RATERGCH)
      • Weekly water rates payments with refunds deducted (RATERWCH)
      • Weekly combined rates payments with refunds deducted (RATERCCH)
      • Weekly mortgage repayments to purchase/build (interest component with refunds deducted) (TINT1CH)
      • Weekly repayments on unsecured loans for housing purposes (interest component with refunds deducted) (TINT4CH).

Note that the items TINT1CH and TINT4CH all only include the proportion of the loan used for that purpose.
A number of other related items are included on the CURF:
      • TOWE1CH, TOWE2CH, TOWE3ACH and TOWE4CH record the amount owing on mortgages/loans, allocated according to their main purpose
      • TOWE1C2, TOWE2C2, TOWE3AC2 and TOWE4C2 record the amount owing on mortgages/loans, allocated according to the proportion of loan used for each purpose
      • TRPAY1RF, TRPAY2RF, TRPAY3ARF and TRPAY4RF record loan/mortgage repayments, allocated according to the proportion of loan used for each purpose.

Imputed rent

The SIH CURFs include estimates of imputed rent for owner–occupied dwellings. The imputation has also been applied to other housing tenures in order to value the in–kind benefit conferred to households paying subsidised rent or households occupying their dwelling rent free. Including imputed rent as part of household income and expenditure conceptually treats owner–occupiers as if they were renting their home from themselves, thus simultaneously incurring rental expenditure and earning rental income. Inclusion of imputed rent estimates in income measures is in accord with international standards for household income statistics, and provides a broader picture of the economic well-being of owner-occupier households and their social and economic circumstances relative to other households.

The imputed rent estimates have been included on the SIH CURFs. Two household level variables are included, 'Weekly gross imputed rent' and 'Weekly HH income from net imputed rent'. Gross imputed rent is the market value of the rental equivalent, and has been estimated using hedonic regression. Net imputed rent for owner occupiers has been derived by subtracting the housing costs normally paid by landlords (i.e. rates, mortgage interest, insurance, repairs and maintenance) from gross imputed rent. Income totals incorporating the imputed rent estimates have not been included. Users wishing to analyse the effect of imputed rent on income should add net imputed rent to household income. When analysing household expenditure, gross imputed rent should be added and any housing costs normally paid by a landlord should be deducted. For further information refer to Part 1.12 'Imputed rent estimates' in Survey of Income and Housing, User Guide, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 6553.0).

Social transfers in kind

The SIH CURFs include estimates of social transfers in kind at the household level. Social transfers in kind consist of goods and services provided free or at subsidised prices by the government. Information reported in the SIH was used as the basis for allocating government social transfers in kind to households based on the composition of households and the characteristics of their members. The value of government social transfers in kind for education, health, housing, social security and welfare, and electricity concessions and rebates (indirect benefits) is added to disposable income to derive disposable income plus social transfers in kind. Final income is equal to disposable income plus social transfers in kind less taxes on production. For further information refer to Appendix 4 'Social transfers in kind' in Survey of Income and Housing, User Guide, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 6553.0).

Imputation flags

Imputation flags exist for each module in the questionnaire, rather than for specific data items. A value of 1 (partially imputed) indicates that at least one question in that module was imputed. Referring to the contents of the questionnaire module can provide an indication of whether particular data items may have included imputed data. The number of flags with a value of 1 for a particular record provides an indication of the extent of imputation in that record. A value of 2 (fully imputed) indicates that a person record has been fully imputed. In households where one or more people did not respond, person records were imputed if the non–responding persons was not a 'significant person'.

Payments to non household members

The financial resources available to certain persons can be affected by regular payments that they may make to provide support for persons outside the household. Information on payments for child support, alimony to former spouse, and payments to family members not in the household have been included on the CURFs.

Multiple response data items

The child care topic contains a number of multiple response data items on the 2011–12 CURFs. In these instances respondents were able to select one or more response categories, and the output data items are multi–response in nature. This section describes these items and provides some information on how to use them.

On the Basic and Expanded CURFs, the data items are:

Income unit

      • 'Types of formal child care income unit used in the last 4 weeks' (TYPFCIUA–TYPFCIUF)
      • 'Types of informal child care income unit used in the last 4 weeks' (TYICIUA–TYICIUH)

Person level
      • 'All reasons lack of child care prevents parent from working' (UNMET07A–UNMET07J)

These items capture multiple responses where a person provides more than one type of child care. The first response is captured in the first, or 'A', position (e.g. TYPFCIUA), and additional responses are in the second and then third and higher, or 'B' and 'C' and higher, positions (e.g. TYPFCIUB, TYPFCIUC). If only one response is possible, for example 'none of the above' then this response may also appear in the 'A' position. If a data item does not apply (e.g. an income unit does not use child care) then a value of 9 or 99 for 'Not applicable' will appear in the first position (e.g. TYPFCIUA). The 'Null response' (value of 0 or 00) is a default code and should be ignored. All of these categories should be used in analysis. For specific information on the number of item repeats and the category labels and values refer to the data item list available from the Downloads tab.

RELIABILITY OF ESTIMATES

Use of weights

As the survey was conducted on a sample of private households in Australia, it is important to take account of the method of sample selection when deriving estimates from the CURF. This is particularly important as a person's chance of selection in the survey varied depending on the state or territory in which the person lived. If these chances of selection are not accounted for, by use of appropriate weights, the results will be biased.

Each household, income unit, person and loan record contains a weight. This weight indicates how many population units are represented by the sample unit.

Weights for each member of the household are the same as the weight for the household itself. Information for sampled households can be multiplied by the weights to produce estimates for the whole population. For further information on the weighting process, refer to Part 2.6 'Benchmarks and weighting of survey results' in Survey of Income and Housing, User Guide, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 6553.0).

If estimates of population sub groups are to be derived from the CURF, it is essential that they are calculated by adding the weights of persons/households in each category and not just by counting the number in each category. If each person's/household's weight were to be ignored when analysing the data to draw inferences about the population, then no account would be taken of a person's/household's chance of selection or of different response rates across population groups, with the result that the estimates produced could be seriously biased. The application of weights ensures that estimates will conform to an independently estimated distribution of the population by age, by sex, etc. rather than to the distributions within the sample itself.

It should be noted that as a result of some of the changes made to protect confidentiality on the CURF, estimates of benchmarked items produced from the CURF may not equal the benchmarked values. For further information refer to the'Reconciliation of the CURF data' document in this product.

Relative sampling error

Two types of error are possible in an estimate based on a sample survey: non sampling error and sampling error. For further information on non–sampling and sampling error refer to Part 2.8 'Reliability of Estimates' in Survey of Income and Housing, User Guide, Australia, 2011–12 (cat. no. 6553.0).

Each record on the CURF contains 60 'replicate weights' in addition to the 'main weight'. These replicate weights can be used to derive estimates of standard error.

The basic idea behind the replication approach is to select subsamples repeatedly (60 times) from the whole sample. For each of these subsamples the statistic of interest is calculated. The variance of the full sample statistic is then estimated using the variability among the replicate statistics calculated from the subsamples. As well as enabling variances of estimates to be calculated relatively simply, replicate weights also enable unit record analyses such as chi–square tests and logistic regression to be conducted which take into account the complex sample design.

There are various ways of creating replicate subsamples from the full sample. The replicate weights produced for the 2011–12 SIH have been created using a group jack knife method of replication. The formulae for calculating the SE and RSE of an estimate using this method are:


Equation: s e open brackets y close brackets equals the square root of open brackets 59 divided by 60 close brackets sigma over g open brackets y derivative g in brackets minus y close brackets squared

where

g = 1,..,60 (the no. of replicate groups)

y(g) = weighted estimate, having applied the weights for replicate group g

y = weighted estimate from the full sample.

RSE(y) = SE(y)/y * 100%.

It is not clear that the jack knife method will provide good estimates for the variance of quantile boundaries such as the median, (see Rao, J.N.K., Wu, C.F.J., and Yue, K., (1992) for some recent work on resampling methods for complex surveys: Survey Methodology, vol. 18, pp. 209–217). An indirect approach (known as the Woodruff method) is available for estimating the variance of a quantile based on replicate weights (see Sarndal, Swenson and Wretman: Model Assisted Survey Sampling, Springer–Verlag, 1992).

To enable CURF users to check that they are using the replicate weights correctly, RSEs for selected key items have been calculated from the SIH Expanded CURF, and are presented as part of the sample tabulations available from the Downloads tab. The RSEs for estimates other than medians have been calculated using the group jack knife method, and RSEs for the medians have been calculated using the Woodruff method.