Glossary

Actual hours worked

The hours actually worked during the reference week, not necessarily hours paid for.

Adult employees

Average Weekly Earnings. Adult employees are those employees 21 years of age or over and those employees who, although under 21 years of age, are paid at the full
adult rate for their occupation.

Aggregate monthly hours worked

Aggregate monthly hours worked measures the total number of actual hours worked by employed persons in a calendar month. It differs from the actual hours worked estimates (and the usual hours worked estimates) since these refer only to the hours worked in the reference week.
Actual and usual hours worked cannot be aggregated across time to produce either quarterly or annual estimates as they relate to only a single week in the month. In contrast, aggregate monthly hours worked estimates are a true monthly measure, and may be aggregated across time to produce both quarterly and annual estimates.

Attending full-time education

Persons aged 15–24 years who were enrolled full-time at secondary school, high school, Technical and Further Education (TAFE) college, university, or other educational institution in the reference week.

Average weekly earnings

Average weekly earnings represent average gross (before tax) earnings of employees and do not relate to average award rates nor to the earnings of the 'average person'. Estimates of average weekly earnings are derived by dividing estimates of weekly total earnings by estimates of number of employees.

Average weekly hours worked

The average total number of hours a group of employed persons has actually worked during the reference week, not necessarily hours paid for.

Civilian population aged 15 years and over

All usual residents of Australia aged 15 years and over except members of the permanent defence forces, certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments customarily excluded from census and estimated population counts, overseas residents in Australia, and members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia.

Couple families

A couple family exists if any two people, both of whom must be 15 years of age or over, have formed a couple relationship. This is defined as two people usually residing in the same household who share a social, economic and emotional bond usually associated with marriage and who consider their relationship to be a marriage or marriage-like union. It is identified by the characterisation of the relationship by a respondent using terms such as 'husband', 'wife', 'spouse', 'de facto', 'partner' etc.

Dependants

All family members under 15 years, and all children aged 15–24 years attending full-time education (except those who have a partner or child of their own usually resident in the household).

Discouraged jobseekers

Persons with marginal attachment to the labour force who wanted to work and were available to start work within the next four weeks but whose main reason for not actively looking for work was that they believed they would not find a job for any of the following reasons:

• considered to be too young by employers;
• considered to be too old by employers;
• lacked necessary schooling, training, skills or experience;
• difficulties because of language or ethnic background;
• no jobs in their locality or line of work;
• no jobs available at all; and
• no jobs in suitable hours.

Duration of unemployment

Duration of unemployment is the period of time from when an unemployed person began looking for work, until the end of the reference week; or the period of time since an unemployed person last worked in any job for two weeks or more, until the end of the reference week; whichever was the shorter period.
Prior to April 2001, duration of unemployment was defined in the Labour Force Survey as the period of time from when an unemployed person began looking for work, until the end of the reference week; or the period of time since an unemployed person last worked full-time for two weeks or more, until the end of the reference week; whichever was the shorter period.

Employed

Employed persons include 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.

Employed full-time

See full-time employed.

Employed part-time

See part-time employed.

Employee

Labour Force Survey and other household surveys. A person who works for a public or private employer and receives remuneration in wages, salary, a retainer fee from their employer while working on a commission basis, tips, piece rates, or payment in kind, or a person who operates their own incorporated enterprise with or without hiring employees.

Employer surveys. Employees are wage and salary earners who received pay for any part of the reference period.

Employee job

Wage Price Index (WPI). A job for which the occupant receives remuneration in wages, salary, payment in kind, or piece rates. All employee jobs in all employing organisations are in scope of the WPI, except the following:

• those excluded from all ABS labour employer surveys
• 'non-maintainable' jobs (i.e. jobs that are expected to be occupied for less than six months of a year)
• jobs for which wages and salaries are not determined by the Australian labour market (e.g. most employees of Community Development Employment Programs, jobs where the remuneration is set in a foreign country).

Employer

Labour Force Survey and other household surveys. A person who operates their own unincorporated economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade, and hires one or more employees.

Employer surveys. A business with one or more employees.

Employment to population ratio

For any group, the number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the civilian population in the same group.

Extended labour force underutilisation rate

The unemployed, plus the underemployed, plus two groups of marginally attached to the labour force:

1. persons actively looking for work, not available to start work in the reference week, but available to start work within four weeks; and
2. discouraged jobseekers

as a percentage of the labour force augmented by i and ii.

For more information, see datacube 'Table 5. Extended Labour Force Underutilisation Rate' and the Technical Report 'Extended Labour Force Underutilisation Rate' in the July 2009 issue of this publication.

Family

Two or more persons, one of whom is at least 15 years of age, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering; and who are usually resident in the same household. The basis of a family is formed by identifying the presence of a couple relationship, lone parent-child relationship or other blood relationship. Some households will, therefore, contain more than one family.

Former workers

Unemployed persons who have previously worked for two weeks or more but not in the last two years.

Full-time educational attendance

Persons aged 15–19 who, during the reference week, were enrolled full-time at secondary or high schools, and those aged 15–24 who, during the reference week, were enrolled full-time at a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) college, university, or other tertiary educational institution.

Full-time employed

Household surveys. Persons employed full-time are those 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.

Full-time employees

Employer surveys. Full-time employees are permanent, fixed term and casual employees who normally work the agreed or award hours for a full-time employee in their occupation and received pay for any part of the reference period. If agreed or award hours do not apply, employees are regarded as full-time if they ordinarily work 35 hours or more per week.

Household

A group of one or more persons in a private dwelling who consider themselves to be separate from other persons (if any) in the dwelling, and who make regular provision to take meals separately from other persons, i.e. at different times or in different rooms. Lodgers who receive accommodation but no meals are treated as separate households. Boarders who receive both accommodation and meals are not treated as separate households. A household may consist of any number of families and non-family members.

Industrial dispute

An industrial dispute is defined as a state of disagreement over an issue or group of issues between an employer and its employees, which results in employees ceasing work. Industrial disputes comprise strikes, which are a withdrawal from work by a group of employees; and lockouts, which are a refusal by an employer or group of employers to permit some or all of their employees to work.

Industry

An industry is a group of businesses or organisations that perform similar sets of activities in terms of the production of goods and services. Industry is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat.no.1292.0). The industry assigned to an employed person is the industry of the organisation in which the person's main job is located. Unemployed persons who had worked for two weeks or more in the last two years are classified according to the industry of their most recent job.

Job vacancy

A job vacancy is an employee job available for immediate filling on the survey reference date and for which recruitment action has been taken. Recruitment action includes efforts to fill vacancies by advertising, by factory notices, by notifying public or private employment agencies or trade unions and by contacting, interviewing or selecting applicants already registered with the enterprise or organisation. Excluded are vacancies:

• for jobs which became vacant on the survey date and were filled that same day;
• for jobs of less than one day's duration;
• to be filled by persons already hired, or by promotion or transfer of existing employees;
• to be filled by employees returning from paid or unpaid leave or after industrial dispute(s);
• not available for immediate filling on the survey reference date;
• for work to be carried out by contractors;
• for which no recruitment action has been taken;
• where a person has been appointed but has not yet commenced duty;
• to be filled by staff from contract labour agencies; and
• for jobs available only to persons already employed by the enterprise or organisation.

Labour force

The labour force is the labour supply available for the production of economic goods and services in a given period, and is the most widely used measure of the economically active population. Persons in the labour force are classified as either employed or unemployed according to their activities during the reference period by using a specific set of priority rules.

Labour force status

A classification of the civilian population aged 15 years and over into employed, unemployed or not in the labour force, as defined. The definitions conform closely to the international standard definitions adopted by the International Conferences of Labour Statisticians.

Labour force underutilisation rate

The unemployed plus the underemployed, as a percentage of the labour force.

Long-term unemployed

Persons unemployed for 12 months or more. See duration of unemployment for details of the calculation of duration of unemployment.

Long-term unemployment rate

The number of long-term unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force.

Marginal attachment to the labour force

Persons who were not in the labour force in the reference week, wanted to work, and:

• were actively looking for work but did not meet the availability criteria to be classified as unemployed; or
• were not actively looking for work but were available to start work within four weeks or could start work within four weeks if child care were available.

The criteria for determining those in the labour force are based on activity (i.e. working or looking for work) and availability to start work during the reference week. The criteria associated with marginal attachment to the labour force, in particular the concepts of wanting to work and reasons for not actively looking for work, are more subjective. Hence, the measurement against these criteria is affected by the respondent's own interpretation of the concepts used. An individual respondent's interpretation may be affected by their work aspirations, as well as family, economic and other commitments.

Not determined

Families estimates from the Labour Force Survey include families where one or more adult members have an unknown labour force status. This 'not determined' category comprises families where one or both spouses (or lone parent or family reference persons) did not fully complete the questionnaire, were away from their usual residence for six weeks or more, or were permanent members of the Australian defence forces (out of scope for the Labour Force Survey).

Not in the labour force

Persons who were not classified as employed or unemployed.

Occupation

An occupation is a collection of jobs that are sufficiently similar in their main tasks to be grouped together for the purposes of classification. Occupation is classified according to the ANZSCO Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition, Revision 1 (cat.no.1220.0). The occupation assigned to an employed person relates to the person's main job. Unemployed persons who had worked for two weeks or more in the last two years are classified according to the occupation of their most recent job.

One-parent family

A family consisting of a lone parent with at least one dependent or non-dependent child (regardless of age) who is also usually resident in the household.

Original series

Estimates produced directly from the survey data, before seasonal adjustment or trend estimation take place.

Other family

Related individuals residing in the same household who do not form a couple or parent-child relationship with any other person in the household and are not attached to a couple or one parent family in the household. If two brothers, for example, are living together and neither is a spouse, a lone parent or a child, then they are classified as 'other family'.

Own-account worker

People who operate their own unincorporated economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade, and hires no employees.

Owner managers of incorporated enterprises

People who work in their own incorporated enterprise, that is, a business entity which is registered as a separate legal entity to its members or owners (also known as a limited liability company). These people are classified as employees under 'status in employment'. Technically they are employees, however, they are similar in characteristics to owner managers of unincorporated enterprises.

Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises

People who work in their own unincorporated enterprise, that is, a business entity in which the owner and the business are legally inseparable, so that the owner is liable for any business debts that are incurred. Includes those engaged independently in a profession or trade. These people are classified as employers under 'status in employment' if their business has employees, or own account workers if they do not.

Participation rate

The labour force participation rate for any group within the population is the labour force component of that group, expressed as a percentage of the population in that group.

Part-time employed

Household surveys. Persons employed part-time are those employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and either did so during the reference week, or were not at work in the reference week.

Status in employment

Employed persons classified by whether they were employees, employers, own account workers or contributing family workers.

Total earnings

See weekly total earnings.

Total hourly rates of pay index excluding bonuses

Wage Price Index. This index measures quarterly change in a weighted combination of ordinary time and overtime hourly rates of pay. See Labour Price Index, Australia (cat.no.6345.0) for more information.

Trend series

A smoothed seasonally adjusted series of estimates. See Explanatory Notes for more detail.

Underemployed workers

Underemployed workers are employed persons who want, and are available for, more hours of work than they currently have. They comprise:

• persons employed part-time who want to work more hours and are available to start work with more hours, either in the reference week or in the four weeks subsequent to the survey; and
• persons employed full-time 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 full-time in the reference week and would have been available to do so.

Underemployment rate

The number of underemployed workers expressed as a percentage of the labour force.

Unemployed

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.

Unemployed looking for first full-time job

Unemployed persons looking for full-time work who had never worked full-time for two weeks or more.

Unemployed looking for first job

Unemployed persons who had never worked for two weeks or more.

Unemployed looking for full-time work

Unemployed persons who:

• actively looked for full-time work, or
• were waiting to start a new full-time job.

Unemployed looking for part-time work

Unemployed persons who:

• actively looked for part-time work only, or
• were waiting to start a new part-time job.

Unemployment rate

The number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force.

Unemployment to population ratio

For any group, the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 and over in the same group.

Usual hours worked

The hours usually worked per week by an employed person.

Wage and salary earners

See employee.

Weekly total earnings

Weekly total earnings of employees is equal to weekly ordinary time earnings plus weekly overtime earnings.