1350.0 - Australian Economic Indicators, 1993
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 22/09/1993
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1993 Feature Article - Major ABS Classifications
All independent countries are identified in the classification. Other `country' units are identified if they are considered to be significant in terms of the major purposes for which the classification has been developed. For further information: Australian Standard Classification of Countries for Social Statistics (ASCCSS) (cat. no. 1269.0). ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATIONS Industry Classifications ANZSIC Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification The ANZSIC has been produced by the ABS and the New Zealand Department of Statistics for use in the collection and publication of statistics in the two countries. It replaces the Australian Standard Industrial Classification (ASIC) and the New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (NZSIC). The ANZSIC is the standard to be applied in both countries for the production and analysis of official industry statistics. Users in both countries have been widely consulted in the development of the ANZSIC to ensure that it adequately reflects the structure of Australian and New Zealand industry, and services user requirements for industry statistics. It was released in 1993 and will be implemented progressively in most relevant annual and sub-annual ABS collections in 1993-94. The general notion of an industry is that of a group of businesses which do similar things. Industries represented in the ANZSIC are somewhat more qualified in order to address a range of statistical and cost considerations. The ANZSIC industry classes are designed to:
The ANZSIC employs a 4-level hierarchical structure consisting of divisions (at the broadest level), subdivisions, groups and classes (at the finest level). The following industry divisions are represented at the broadest level of the classification: Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Mining Manufacturing Electricity, Gas and Water Supply Construction Wholesale Trade Retail Trade Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants Transport and Storage Communication Services Finance and Insurance Property and Business Services Government Administration and Defence Education Health and Community Services Cultural and Recreational Services Personal and Other Services For further information: Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) (cat. no. 1292.0) and associated products currently under development, including an article to be published soon in Australian Economic Indicators. Commodity Classifications ASCC Australian Standard Commodity Classification The Australian Standard Commodity Classification is used to classify commodities (i.e. goods and services) produced by industries. The ASCC, as developed to date, covers only transportable goods produced by the agriculture, mining and manufacturing industries. The ASCC is aimed at improving:
The ultimate purpose of the ASCC is to facilitate the use of commodity statistics by governments and private organisations in, for example, the analysis of market shares; the relationship between employment, industry structure and tariff provisions; studies of import competition and replacement; and the conduct of trade and tariff negotiations. By formally presenting production commodity items in a complete classification, and by showing the links to the underlying international standard classifications and the Australian Standard Industrial Classification (ASIC), the 1989-90 ASCC provides users and suppliers of ABS commodity data with a reference to the definitional basis of the commodities concerned. The next edition of the ASCC, due for release in 1994, will cover all goods and services and provide links to ANZSIC. Negotiations with the New Zealand Department of Statistics may result in the production of a classification of all goods and services for both countries. For further information: Australian Standard Commodity Classification (Revised) - Transportable Goods (cat. no. 1254.0) 1989-90. HS Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System On 1 January 1988, Australia adopted a new international classification system, the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HCDCS) for describing goods involved in international trade. The HCDCS, or Harmonised System (HS) for short, forms the basis for administering Australia's imports and exports and for the collection and presentation of foreign trade statistics. All import and export transactions are reported to the Australian Customs Service (ACS) according to the following two classifications, which are extensions of the HS:
The HS has been developed to:
As a signatory to the Harmonised System Convention, Australia is obliged to collect and publish trade statistics classified by the HS, with the exception of confidential data. There is provision to extend the HS to meet the specific needs of local data users where they require finer level data. For further information: Australian Harmonised Export Commodity Classification (AHECC) (cat. no. 1233.0), and Australian Harmonised Export Commodity Classification Microfiche (cat. no. 1235.0). SITC Standard International Trade Classification Related to the HS is the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC), which was developed by the United Nations Statistical Office, primarily for economic analysis purposes. As such, it groups commodities to provide aggregates for classes of goods such as foods, raw materials, chemicals, machinery, etc. The hierarchy of the HS, on the other hand, is oriented more towards the requirements of customs administration activity. The third revision of the SITC, known as SITC (Rev 3), was developed to keep the SITC in step with the HS, and was introduced with the HS on 1 January 1988. SITC (Rev 3) is used by the ABS for the dissemination of broad level import and export statistics. Categories in the SITC (Rev 3) are composed of one or more whole HS items, thereby permitting the direct reclassification of data collected according to the HS. The SITC is also used in structuring categories of domestically produced goods as detailed in the Australian Standard Commodity Classification (ASCC). For further information: Australian Harmonised Export Commodity Classification (AHECC) (cat. no. 1233.0), and Australian Harmonised Export Commodity Classification Microfiche (cat. no. 1235.0). ATFCC Australian Transport Freight Commodity Classification The Australian Transport Freight Commodity Classification (ATFCC) and the Australian Pack Classification (APC) (described below) are related classifications and are often used in conjunction with each other. Both classifications were jointly developed by the Department of Transport and the Australian Bureau of Statistics in consultation with other interested bodies. The Australian Transport Freight Commodity Classification is a commodity classification which provides a systematic arrangement of goods which are judged to be important in terms of their impact on Australia's transport network which includes transportation by sea, rail, road, air and pipeline. It has been devised to facilitate standardised classification of goods carried by these modes of transport to and from Australia and within Australia. Because of the importance of the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) in relation to the recording of the movement of goods via sea and air (both by overseas and coastal traffic), both the ASCC and the ATFCC are based fundamentally on that classification. Whereas the ASCC is structured broadly according to the 3-digit level of the SITC (Rev 3), the ATFCC is structured broadly according to the 2-digit level of the SITC. At this broad level of aggregation, it would be possible to compare commodities produced, imported and exported, with the movement of these commodities by various transport modes. This classification may be used in conjunction with other classifications (such as origin, destination and routes of consignment, pack type of cargo defined for example by the Australian Pack Classification, freight handling methods, freight and wharfage charges) and has been designed with these uses in mind. The classification is designed to facilitate the use of commodity data by organisations involved in transportation planning and in the design, control and monitoring of the operations of transport facilities. APC Australian Pack Classification The Australian Pack Classification (APC) is used to classify units of freight transported by any transport mode, or moved through any port, depot or freight terminal. The APC categorises freight in terms of its most immediately discernible units (e.g. freight in bulk, containers, etc), insofar as they have implications for handling, transportation, and administration. This classification is therefore aimed towards the operations side of the transport industry, where the provision of transport and handling equipment and the levying of freight charges is not related to individual commodities, but on a unit load basis. For further information: Australian Transport Freight Commodity Classification (ATFCC) and Australian Pack Classification (APC) (cat. no. 1210.0). Australian Transport Freight Commodity Classification (ATFCC) on floppy disk (cat. no. 1256.0). Institutional Classifications SISCA Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia The Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA) is used to classify institutional units, i.e. enterprises and households, by broad economic sector in national accounts and related statistics. The main purpose of the classification in national accounts statistics is to classify transactors of the national income and outlay account and the national capital account into sectors according to differences in their financial role and behaviour. This is done to facilitate the provision and analysis of sectoral statistics on the sources and uses of disposable incomes and capital funds. The classification is also used in other statistical series for such purposes as:
The classification is based primarily on the institutional sectors recommended by the UN in "A System of National Accounts". The Sectors and Subsectors of the SISCA are:
The SISCA is currently being reviewed in the light of changes made to the economic units model used by the ABS, changes to the SNA, and user requirements. For further information: Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA) (cat. no. 1218.0) (1987) ; and Classification Manual for Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 1217.0). Government Finance Classifications CMGFS Classifications Manual for Government Finance Statistics, Australia The classifications contained in the Classifications Manual for Government Finance Statistics, Australia (CMGFS) are applied to enterprise units of the non-financial public sector and their transactions. The non-financial public sector consists of general government enterprises such as Commonwealth and State government departments as well as public trading enterprises such as TELECOM and electricity operations of State and local governments. The statistical unit used in government finance statistics is the enterprise. Each government department, statutory authority and local government authority is generally treated as a separate enterprise. In some cases, however (notably local government authorities), these units have been `split' to form more than one unit where the original unit engages in a mixture of trading and general government activities. The CMGFS contains two types of classifications - `transactor unit' or enterprise level classifications and `transaction' level classifications. The main classifications applied to enterprise units are:
The principal classifications applied to transactions data are the Economic Transactions Framework (ETF), the Taxes, Fees and Fines Classification (TFFC) and the Government Purpose Classification (GPC). This brief overview will only outline these three major classifications:
Further information: Classification Manual for Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 1217.0) (1989). SOCIAL CLASSIFICATIONS Occupation Classifications ASCO Australian Standard Classification of Occupations The Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) is a skill based classification of occupations developed in Australia as a national standard for the production and analysis of labour force statistics, human resources management, education planning, the listing of job applicants and vacancies, the provision of occupational information and for vocational guidance. The purpose of ASCO is:
The individual unit of classification is typically a job, which is defined as the set of tasks performed by a given worker in a given establishment. An occupation is then defined as a set of jobs with identical sets of tasks. In the real world, every job is a little different. In practice, an occupation is a collection of jobs sufficiently similar in their main tasks to be grouped together for classification purposes. The structure of the ASCO is based on kind of work and defined in terms of two broad criteria - skill level and skill specialisation. As a result of recent widespread change in the labour market such as multi-skilling and award restructuring, it has become necessary to revise the current structure of ASCO (First Edition). A joint project team comprising staff from the ABS and DEET, has been established to conduct a review of ASCO (First Edition) with the aim of providing a revised edition for use over the ten year period from 1996 to 2005. For further information: A detailed explanation of all ASCO products is provided in the information paper ASCO - Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (cat. no. 1221.0). Education Classifications ABSCQ Australian Bureau of Statistics Classification of Qualifications The Australian Bureau of Statistics Classification of Qualifications (ABSCQ) was designed for use in the collection and presentation of data on qualifications held by the population. For the purposes of the ABSCQ, an 'educational qualification' is considered to be an award for attainment as a result of formal learning, from an accredited post-school institution. Qualifications can be classified according to the following elements:
Level of attainment is a function of the quality and quantity of learning necessary to obtain that qualification. Field of study refers to the subject matter taught in the course of study leading to the award of a particular qualification. The ABSCQ was first used in the 1991 Census of Population and Housing, and is now being progressively introduced into other ABS collections. For further information: Details about the ABSCQ, including related publications, can be found in Information Paper: Australian Bureau of Statistics Classification of Qualifications - ABSCQ (cat. no. 1263.0). Health Classifications ICD International Classification of Diseases The World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is used by the ABS for the collection, compilation and publication of disease and injury statistics. The ICD is revised approximately every ten years. The ninth revision is currently in use, and was adopted from 1979. The tenth revision is expected to be available by 1 January 1995. The ICD enables classification of diseases and injury at fine levels of detail. The ICD is used by the ABS principally in classifying causes of death. It is also applied to occupational health and safety data for occupational diseases and occupational injuries. Other ABS uses have included disease/injury coding for hospital morbidity collections and health surveys. For mortality coding, the concept of the underlying cause of death is used, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has defined as the disease or injury which initiated the train of events leading directly to death. Accidental and violent deaths are classified according to the external cause, that is, to the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury rather than to the nature of the injury. For further information: International Classification of Diseases 1975 Revision Volume 1, World Health Organization; International Classification of Diseases 1975 Revision Volume 2 Alphabetical Index, World Health Organization These classifications can be obtained from the Australian Government Publishing Service. Crime Classifications ANCO Australian National Classification of Offences The Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO) has been developed by the ABS for use in the preparation of statistics by crime and justice agencies in all Australian States and Territories. The purpose of the ANCO is to provide a framework for classifying offences for statistical purposes, which is able to be applied at various levels of detail by police, courts, legal aid, correction and other agencies involved in crime and justice. Offences are defined in legislation and in documents of the relevant agency and therefore no attempt is made in the classification to define the elements or circumstance which constitute an offence. In all cases the offence as described in source documents is the offence to be classified. The main factors taken into consideration in developing the classification were:
For further information: Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO) (cat. no. 1234.0). Core Social and Labour Variables A number of standard classifications for core variables in social and labour statistics are currently being developed and will be presented in the following publications:
OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS Research Classifications ASRC Australian Standard Research Classification The ASRC is the collective name given to a set of three related classifications developed for use in the measurement and analysis of research and experimental development (R&D) undertaken in Australia, both in the public and private sectors. It aims to facilitate the comparison of R&D data between sectors of the Australian economy (e.g. general government, private non-profit organisations, business enterprises and educational institutions). The three classifications are:
To support international comparisons, the definition, scope and classification of R&D activities have been largely devised in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys of Research and Experimental Development, "Frascati Manual", fifth revision, 1992. For further Information: Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC) (cat. no. 1297.0). Other Principal Classifications An article of this nature cannot cover the full range of classifications used by the ABS. As mentioned in the introduction, only major ABS classifications have been described. Some other principal classifications which may be of interest to users of ABS statistics are presented in the table below. TABLE 1. OTHER PRINCIPAL CLASSIFICATIONS USED BY THE ABS
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