IRSAD
The Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD) summarises information about the economic and social conditions of people and households within an area, including both relative advantage and disadvantage measures.
A low score indicates relatively greater disadvantage and a lack of advantage in general. For example, an area could have a low score if there are:
- many households with low incomes, or many people in unskilled occupations, AND
- few households with high incomes, or few people in skilled occupations.
A
high score indicates a relative lack of disadvantage and greater advantage in general. For example, an area may have a high score if there are:
- many households with high incomes, or many people in skilled occupations, AND
- few households with low incomes, or few people in unskilled occupations.
This index is recommended in situations where the user:
- wants a general measure of advantage and disadvantage in their particular analysis
- is not looking at only disadvantage and lack of disadvantage
- wants advantage to offset disadvantage in their analysis.
For example, IRSAD may be applicable when a user:
- believes the topic being analysed is likely to be affected by both advantage and disadvantage.
IRSAD is not recommended if the user:
- is only interested in disadvantage
- is using the index in an analysis with information that has already been included in the index, such as suburbs with a high proportion of dwellings paying high levels of rent.
IRSAD variables
The variables used in the index are listed in this section.
The following variables are considered to be indicators of disadvantage. INC_LOW is the strongest indicator of disadvantage in the index.
- INC_LOW: % People with stated annual household equivalised income between $1 and $25,999 (approx. 1st and 2nd deciles)
- NOYR12ORHIGHER: % People aged 15 years and over whose highest level of education is Year 11 or lower. Includes Certificate I and II
- OCC_LABOUR: % Employed people classified as 'labourers'
- NONET: % Occupied private dwellings with no internet connection
- CHILDJOBLESS: % Families with children under 15 years of age who live with jobless parents
- DISABILITYU70: % People aged under 70 who have a long–term health condition or disability and need assistance with core activities
- UNEMPLOYED: % People (in the labour force) unemployed
- ONEPARENT: % One parent families with dependent offspring only
- LOWRENT: % Occupied private dwellings paying rent less than $215 per week (excluding $0 per week)
- OCC_DRIVERS: % Employed people classified as Machinery Operators and Drivers
- SEPDIVORCED: % People aged 15 and over who are separated or divorced
- OCC_SERVICE_L: % Employed people classified as Low Skill Community and Personal Service Workers
- CERTIFICATE: % People aged 15 years and over whose highest level of educational attainment is a certificate III or IV qualification
- NOEDU: % People aged 15 years and over who have no educational attainment
- NOCAR: % Occupied private dwellings with no cars
- OVERCROWD: % Occupied private dwellings requiring one or more extra bedrooms (based on Canadian National Occupancy Standard)
- OCC_SALES_L: % Employed people classified as Low Skill Sales
The following variables are considered to be indicators of advantage. INC_HIGH is the strongest indicator of advantage in the index.
- INC_HIGH: % People with stated annual household equivalised income greater than $78,000 (approx 9th and 10th deciles)
- HIGHMORTGAGE: % Occupied private dwellings paying mortgage greater than $2,800 per month
- OCC_PROF: % Employed people classified as Professionals
- DIPLOMA: % People aged 15 years and over whose highest level of education attainment is a diploma qualification
- OCC_MANAGER: % employed people classified as Managers
- HIGHRENT: % Occupied private dwellings paying rent greater than $470 per week
- HIGHBED: % Occupied private dwellings with four or more bedrooms
- ATUNI: % People aged 15 years and over at university or other tertiary institution
Excluded variables
The following variable was initially considered for the index, but was excluded due to being highly correlated with other variables.
- DEGREE: % People aged 15 years and over whose highest level of educational attainment is a bachelor degree or higher qualification
The following variables were initially considered for the index, but were excluded when the analysis showed that they were weak indicators of relative disadvantage in this data. For more information, please refer to Chapter 4.3 in the SEIFA 2016 Technical Paper, which is available from the Downloads tab.
- FEWBED: % Occupied private dwellings with one or no bedrooms
- OWNING: % Occupied private dwellings owning dwelling without a mortgage
- ENGLISHPOOR: % People who do not speak English well
- SPAREBED: % Occupied private dwellings with one or no bedrooms
- HIGHCAR: % Occupied private dwellings with three or more cars
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