6102.0.55.001 - Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Apr 2007
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/04/2007
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CHAPTER 21.10. PERSONS NOT IN THE LABOUR FORCE
21.10.5 Estimates are produced on an original basis only (i.e. not seasonally adjusted or trend) and include: Socio-demographic information Sex; age; marital status; relationship in household; state or territory of usual residence; country of birth; year of arrival in Australia; and full-time study status. Persons not in the labour force
SCOPE 21.10.7 The scope of this survey is restricted to persons aged 15 years and over. The standard scope restrictions for supplementary surveys outlined in the overview part of Chapter 21 also apply to this survey. DATA COMPARABILITY OVER TIME 21.10.8 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. Changes affecting the Labour Force Survey may also affect this survey. Such changes are outlined in Chapter 20 and are not repeated here. 1975 Initial survey conducted (November) - preliminary data published in Persons Not In the Labour Force, Preliminary (ref. no. 6.54) and final data in Persons Not In the Labour Force (ref. no. 6.59). Survey scope - persons aged 15-64. 1977 Survey conducted (May). Catalogue numbers replaced reference numbers - cat. no. 6219.0 (preliminary data) and cat. no. 6220.0 (final data). 1979 Biannual collection commenced (March and September), some definitional changes. 1980 Change to definition of persons wanting a job - broadened to include persons available to start work within 4 weeks from the end of the reference week but not actively looking for work. Preliminary publication discontinued. 1983 Concept of marginal attachment to the labour force introduced. Improvements made to measure of discouraged job seekers. Survey scope changed - persons aged 15 years and over. 1988 Survey scope changed - persons aged 15-69. Annual collection commenced (September). 1994 Standard Data Service replaced publication format (cat. no. changed to 6220.0.40.001). Sample reduced to seven-eighths of Labour Force Survey sample. 1996 Publication format replaced Standard Data Service (cat. no. changed to 6220.0). 1997 Persons living in remote and sparsely settled parts of Australia excluded from scope of survey. 2001 The introduction of the redesigned Labour Force Survey (in April 2001) allowed the identification of a new population group 'People permanently not intending to work'. These people were not asked questions about wanting to work and looking for work. As such these people were classified as 'Did not want to work' (without marginal attachment). 2005 The scope of the survey was expanded to include all persons aged 15 years and over. 2006 Estimates of the number of people who were not in the labour force because they were caring for children include people whose youngest child was aged 12 years and under. Previously questions relating to the care of children were only asked of people with children aged 11 years and under. 2007 Those 'permanently not intending to work' were further classified as either 'wanting to work' and 'did not want to work'. As a result of this change there has been a break in time series. For the data items 'All reasons for not actively looking for work', 'Main reason for not actively looking for work', and 'Main reason not available to start work within four weeks' the response category 'own ill health, physical disability or pregnancy' was changed to three separate categories; 'own short-term illness or injury', 'own long-term health condition or disability' and 'pregnancy'. For the data items 'Reason for ceasing last job', and 'Main activity when not in the labour force' the response categories 'own ill-health or injury' and 'own disability or handicap' were changed to 'own short-term illness or injury' and 'own long-term health condition or disability' respectively to ensure consistency within the survey resulting in a break in series. A new data item was collected: 'All reasons not available to start work within four weeks'. 2008 For the data item 'Main activity when not in the labour force' the category 'Home duties or caring for children' was split into 'Home duties' and 'Caring for children'. 2009 For the response categories 'All reasons for not actively looking for work' and 'Main reason for not actively looking for work' a new data item 'Believes ill-health or disability discourages employers' was collected. For the population group 'Discouraged job seekers' the response categories 'Believes no jobs in suitable hours' and 'Believes ill-health or disability discourages employers' were included resulting in a break in series. A new data item: 'Preferred number of hours' was collected. The data item 'Full-time or part-time preference' was determined using this information based on the number of hours a respondent preferred to work each week. Both data items were collected for people who intend to enter the labour force in the next 12 months, resulting in a break in series. FURTHER INFORMATION 21.10.9 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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