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CHAPTER 21.14. UNDEREMPLOYED WORKERS
21.14.6 Estimates are produced on an original basis only (i.e. not seasonally adjusted) and include: Socio-demographic information Sex, age, marital status, relationship in household, state or territory of usual residence, area of usual residence, level of highest educational attainment, level of highest non-school qualification, whether qualification was obtained overseas, country of birth and period of arrival in Australia. Employment characteristics Whether fully employed, full-time/part-time status, status in employment, employment type. Underemployed workers Underemployment status, number of hours worked in the reference week, duration of current period of insufficient work, whether would move interstate if offered a suitable job, whether would move intrastate if offered a suitable job, whether would prefer to change occupation to work more hours, whether would prefer to change employer to work more hours. Part-time workers who would prefer more hours Whether looking and/or available for work with more hours, number of hours worked in the reference week, duration of current period of insufficient work, whether would move interstate if offered a suitable job, whether would move intrastate if offered a suitable job, whether would prefer to change occupation to work more hours, whether would prefer to change employer to work more hours, steps taken to find additional work with more hours in the last four weeks, whether registered with Centrelink, preferred number of extra hours, main difficulty in finding SCOPE 21.14.8 The scope of this survey is restricted to persons aged 15 years and over. The standard scope restrictions for supplementary surveys outlined in Chapter 21 also apply to this survey. DATA COMPARABILITY OVER TIME 21.14.9 In order to provide a high degree of consistency and comparability over time, changes to survey methods, survey concepts, data item definitions, frequency of collection, and analysis methods are made as infrequently as possible. Over the time the survey has been conducted there have been some changes to the scope and sample size. These changes mean that the standard errors for the survey differ over time. The effect on estimates of the change in scope is considered to have been small. Changes affecting the Labour Force Survey may also affect this survey. Such changes are outlined in Chapter 20 and are not repeated here. 21.14.10 Key survey specific changes are outlined below. 1985 Initial survey conducted (May) - data published in in Underemployed Workers, Australia (cat. no. 6265.0). 1988 Survey conducted (May). 1991 Survey conducted (May). 1994 Annual collection commenced (September). Sample restricted to no more than seven-eighths of the Labour Force Survey sample. An additional question was added to the survey to determine availability during the reference week of part-time workers who prefer more hours of work. This question was added so that estimates of underemployment could be aligned with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) recommendations on underemployment. Occupation and industry of employment data items no longer available. Standard Data Service replaced publication format (cat. no. changed to 6265.0.40.001). 1996 The following data items were added to the survey: duration of current period of insufficient work; whether would move interstate if offered a suitable job; whether would move intrastate if offered a suitable job; whether would prefer to change occupation; whether would prefer to change employer to work more hours; and main difficulty in finding work. Publication format replaced Standard Data Service (cat. no. changed to 6265.0). 1997 Persons living in remote and sparsely settled areas excluded from scope. 2001 As part of the 2001 Labour Force Survey questionnaire redesign, people who were on short-term unpaid leave initiated by the employer are now classified as employed. This approach is consistent with ILO recommendations on formal job attachment. Overall, these people contributed only marginally to the change in number of part-time workers who would prefer more hours. 2004 For the data items 'all difficulties in finding work with more hours' and 'main difficulty in finding work with more hours' the response category 'considered too young or too old by employers' was split into two separate categories: 'considered too young by employers' and 'considered too old by employers'. 2008 Changes were made to the survey question relating to preference for more hours: part-time workers were asked 'Would you prefer to work more hours than you usually work?' instead of 'Would you prefer a job in which you worked more hours a week?', to be consistent with the Labour Force Survey. The revised question resulted in an additional 131,500 people who were classified as underemployed in 2008, compared with 2007. FURTHER INFORMATION 21.14.11 For further details contact the Labour Market Statistics Section, on Canberra (02) 6252 7206 or email <labour.statistics@abs.gov.au>.
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