Retrenchment and Redundancy

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    NAME OF ORGANISATION
    Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

    OVERVIEW

    The Retrenchment and Redundancy Survey collects information on the labour force status and other characteristics of persons who had been retrenched or made redundant in the three year period prior to interview.

    PURPOSE

    Results from the survey provide information on the employment consequences of structural change in the economy, and are used for policy development and planning of services to workers who have been retrenched or made redundant.

    SCOPE

    This survey is conducted as part of the Monthly Population Survey, which comprises the Labour Force Survey and, in most months, a supplementary survey topic.

    SCOPE - Labour Force Survey

    The Labour Force Survey includes all persons aged 15 and over except:

    • members of the permanent defence forces;
    • certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from census and estimated populations;
    • overseas residents in Australia; and
    • members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia.

    From July 1993 Jervis Bay Territory is also excluded from the scope of the survey. Before July 1993 it was included in estimates for the Australian Capital Territory.

    SCOPE - Retrenchment and Redundancy Survey

    Persons aged 65 and over were excluded from this survey.

    From July 1997, all supplementary surveys excluded persons in remote and sparsely settled areas of Australia. The exclusion of these persons has only a minor effect on estimates for individual States or Territories.

    COVERAGE - Labour Force Survey

    In the Labour Force Survey, coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence has only one chance of selection. The chance of a person being enumerated at two separate dwellings in the one survey is considered to be negligible.

    Persons who are away from their usual residence for six weeks or less at the time of interview are enumerated at their usual residence (relevant information may be obtained from other usual residents present at the time of the survey).

    DATA DETAIL

    Conceptual framework

    The survey presents data on the Retrenchment and Redundancy for four populations: Persons aged 18 to 64 years who had held a job in the three years prior to interview; persons aged 18 to 64 years who had been retrenched or made redundant in the three years prior to interview; persons aged 18 to 64 years who had been retrenched or made redundant in the three years prior to interview and were employed at the time of interview; and persons aged 18 to 64 years who had been retrenched or made redundant in the three years prior to interview and were unemployed at the time of interview.

    Main outputs

    Results of the Retrenchment and Redundancy Survey (ABS Cat. No. 6266.0) including data tables and analysis are released in publication format, and include the following tables:

    Persons aged 18 to 64 years employed in the three years prior to interview, total and retrenched or made redundant: State or territory of usual residence and when retrenched, by labour force status at time of interview and sex

    Persons retrenched or made redundant, selected characteristics: educational attainment, birthplace and relationship in household, by sex

    Main reason retrenched or made redundant and selected characteristics of job from which retrenched, by full-time/part-time status, permanent/casual status and sex

    Age of person, selected characteristics of job from which retrenched or made redundant and labour force status at time of interview, by sex

    Selected characteristics of current job, when retrenched and employment assistance, by age

    Changes in employment and job characteristics since retrenched, by sex

    Age and job search activities, by average duration of unemployment and sex

    Main difficulty in finding work by duration of unemployment and sex

    Characteristics of job from which retrenched, by duration of unemployment and sex

    Populations by State or Territory of usual residence

    Classifications

    Demographics: State, Area, Region, Sex, Marital Status, Relationship in Household, Period of Arrival and Age.

    Country of Birth: The Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC).

    Occupation: Australian Standard Classification of Occupations Second Edition (ASCO SE).

    Industry: Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).

    Educational attainment: Australian Bureau of Statistics Classification of Qualifications (ABSCQ) until 2001, then Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED).

    Other concepts (summary)

    For the purposes of this survey, those who indicated they had been retrenched or made redundant were combined due to difficulties in separating the two concepts. In the publication the terms 'retrenched' and retrenchment' are used and should be taken to mean those who were retrenched or made redundant in the three years prior to interview.

    Respondents to the survey were firstly asked whether they had any job at all in the last 3 years. If they responded that they had a job during that period, they were then asked whether they had been retrenched, made redundant or accepted and redundancy packages from any job they held during the previous 3 years to June.

    If respondents were unsure whether or not they had been retrenched, made redundant or accepted a redundancy package, interviewers were instructed to include persons if they:

    • had some inducement or pressure applied to them to accept a redundancy package; or
    • were retrenched or the business they were working for closed down due to financial reasons (not including their own business or family business); or
    • were dismissed from their job for any other reason, including 'age' and 'own ill-health or injury'.

    Interviewers further instructed respondents that they should be excluded in they:
    • had been given notice of retrenchment or redundancy but were still working; or
    • had not had contracts renewed; or
    • were voluntary workers.

    Only details of the respondent's most recent retrenchment or redundancy were recorded, provided that retrenchment/redundancy occurred during the reference period.

    GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
    1. National & State/Territory\1.01 Australia
    1. National & State/Territory\1.02 All States & Territories
    2. Parts of State\2.12 Other Geographic Areas\2.12.03 Part of State Metropolitan
    2. Parts of State\2.12 Other Geographic Areas\2.12.04 Part of State-Extra Metropolitan

    Comments and/or Other Regions

    Not all data available for all areas.

    COLLECTION FREQUENCY
    Other

    Frequency comments

    Irregular

    COLLECTION HISTORY

    This survey was first conducted in 1997 and again in July 2001.

    DATA AVAILABILITY
    Yes

    Data availability comments

    Publication Retrenchment and Redundancy, Australia (ABS Cat. No. 6266.0)


    DATE OF LAST UPDATE FOR THIS DOCUMENT
    19/04/2002 01:21 PM