Australia
Title of the survey:
Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Organization responsible for the survey:
Planning and conduct of the survey:
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Analysis and publication of the results:
ABS.
Topics covered:
Persons currently economically active, employed and unemployed, hours of work, full-time/part-time status, job tenure, duration of unemployment, industry, occupation, status in employment. Sex, age, birthplace. Partial measure of time-related underemployment.
Topics covered by annual or less frequent supplements to the LFS include: persons currently in time-related underemployment; working arrangements; multiple jobholding; career experience; education and training experience; migrants; persons employed at home; retirement; job search experience; retrenchment and redundancy; persons currently inactive (outside the labour force: including the marginally attached and discouraged jobseekers).
Coverage of the survey:
Geographical:
Excludes Jervis Bay Territory and External Territories.
Population groups:
Australian usually resident civilian population of age 15 years and above.
Availability of estimates from other sources for the excluded areas/groups:
National Population Census.
Groups covered by the survey but excluded from the published results:
None.
Periodicity:
Conduct of the survey:
Monthly.
Publication of results:
Monthly.
Reference periods:
Employment:
One week.
Seeking work:
The last four weeks.
Availability for work:
The reference week.
Concepts and definitions:
Employment:
All persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:
- worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job or business, or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers); or
- worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers); or
- were employees, who had a job, but were not at work and were:
- away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week; or
- away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week; or
- away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement; or
- on strike or locked out; or
- on workers’ compensation and expected to return to their job; or
- were employers or own account workers, who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.
Unemployment:
Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:
- had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week; and
- were available for work in the reference week; or
- were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.
Underemployment:
Time-related underemployment:
Employed persons who want, and are available for, more hours of work than they currently have.
They comprise:
- full-time workers who worked part-time hours in the reference week for economic reasons (such as being stood down or insufficient work being available). It is assumed that these people wanted to work fulltime and would have been available to do so in the reference week; and
- part-time workers (usually work less than 35 hours a week and did so in the reference week) who want to work more hours, and are available to start work with more hours in the reference week.
It is possible to distinguish between persons who have actively looked for work and those who have not.
This quarterly measure of time-related underemployment does not include part-time workers who want to work additional hours and who would be available to start work within the four weeks subsequent to the survey. The full measure of time-related underemployment is available from the results of the annual Survey of Underemployed Workers.
Inadequate employment situations:
No information provided.
Hours of work:
"Actual hours worked" include both paid and unpaid hours worked. Actual hours worked in all jobs (and in main job) are collected. Full-time or part-time status is based on the number of hours worked. Full-time workers are defined as employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week. The total number of hours usually worked (in all jobs) are also collected.
Employment-related income:
Income from paid employment:
Estimates of employee earnings (average weekly earnings per employee) are available from an annual supplement survey: Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership Survey. Earnings measures in ABS household surveys relate to gross cash earnings received from either the main job or all jobs during the reference period and are not adjusted to exclude irregular bonuses, retrospective pay or pay in advance. The ABS does not produce estimates of employment-related income as defined in the international guidelines. However, data are collected on the broader measure of income (income from various sources) in a number of household collections including: Survey of Income and Housing Costs, Household Expenditure Survey and Census of Population and Housing.
Income from self-employment:
No information provided.
Informal sector:
Not applicable.
Usual activity:
No information provided.
Classifications:
Branch of economic activity (industry):
Title of the classification:
Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 1993.
Population groups classified by industry:
Employed and unemployed persons (industry of last job for the unemployed).
Number of groups used for coding:
158.
Links to ISIC:
ISIC-Rev.3.
Occupation:
Title of the classification:
Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second edition.
Population groups classified by occupation:
Employed and unemployed persons (occupation of last job for the unemployed).
Number of groups used for coding:
340.
Links to ISCO:
ISCO-88 (the different treatment of armed forces has no practical consequences as they are not included in the LFS).
Status in employment:
Title of the classification:
Employment Status.
Population groups classified by status in employment:
Employed persons.
Groups used for classification:
Employees; employers; own-account workers and contributing family workers (4 groups).
Links to ICSE:
ICSE-1993.
Education:
Title of the classification:
National classification, no title given.
Population groups classified by education:
All persons, in annual supplement.
Groups used for classification:
No information provided.
Links to ISCED:
ISCED-1976 and ISCED-1997.
Sample size and design:
Ultimate sampling unit:
Dwellings.
Sample size (ultimate sampling units):
33,000 (monthly).
Overall sampling fraction:
0.005.
Sample frame:
Deeply stratified multistage area frame. List frame of private dwellings in primary selection units (PSUs) based on the collection districts (CDs) used in the Australian Population Census.
Updating of the sample:
Every five years on the basis of results from Population Census.
Rotation:
Scheme:
Households in sample for 8 consecutive months. 1/8th of the sample is rotated out each month, and a new sample is introduced.
Percentage of units remaining in the sample for two consecutive survey rounds:
7/8ths common dwelling sample between consecutive surveys.
Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:
No information provided.
Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:
Eight months.
Field work:
Type of interview:
Pen-and-paper; face-to-face in first interview, thereafter by phone if acceptable to respondent.
Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:
No information provided.
Duration of field work:
Total:
2 weeks.
Per sample area:
No information provided.
Survey organization:
Permanent.
Number of field staff:
Approximately 600 interviewers.
Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:
No.
Estimation and adjustments:
Total non-response rate:
3.5 percent.
Adjustment for total non-response:
Yes, by weighting against population benchmarks.
Imputation for item non-response:
No, these questionnaires are excluded.
Adjustment for areas/population not covered:
Yes, for armed forces: on basis of administrative count to estimate total labour force.
Adjustment for undercoverage:
Yes, as for total non-response.
Adjustment for overcoverage:
Yes, as for total non-response.
Adjustment for seasonal variations:
Yes, for employment and unemployment by sex and main age groups, industry division (employed persons), long-term unemployed. Using X11-ARIMA variant, with annual review of seasonal adjustment factors.
History of the survey:
Title and date of the first survey:
Labour Force Survey, February 1964.
Significant changes or revisions:
August 1966: included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. May 1976: definition of unemployment revised to incorporate active job search and availability to start work in the reference week. February 1978: changed from quarterly to monthly survey. October 1982: changed basis for population benchmarks. April 1986: included in employment contributing family workers working less than 15 hours. August 1996: started introduction of telephone interviewing. April 2001: introduction of revised questionnaire and definitions. Persons absent from work on short-term unpaid leave initiated by the employer classed as employed (previously unemployed); persons without work, actively seeking work but unavailable to start work in reference week due to temporary illness classed as inactive (previously unemployed); contributing family workers away from work classed as either unemployed or inactive (previously employed).
Documentation and dissemination:
Documentation:
Survey results:
Labour force Australia - Preliminary (Cat. no. 6202.0).
Survey methodology:
Labour Statistics: Concepts Sources and Methods 2001 (Cat. No. 6102.0); Information Paper: Implementing the Redesigned Labour Force Survey Questionnaire (Cat. No. 6295.0); Information Paper: Questionnaire Used in the Labour Force Survey (Cat. No. 6232.0); Information Paper: Labour Force Survey Sample Design (Cat. No. 6269.0).
Dissemination:
Time needed for initial release of survey results:
Within two weeks after month of reference week.
Advance information of public about date of initial release:
Yes.
Availability of unpublished data upon request:
Yes.
Availability of data in machine-readable form:
Yes.
Website:
http://www.abs.gov.au/.