6359.0 - Forms of Employment, Australia, November 2013 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/05/2014  Final
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APPENDIX 4 FORTHCOMING CHANGES TO ABS LABOUR FORCE AND SUPPLEMENTARY SURVEYS


INTRODUCTION

From July 2014 the ABS is improving the content of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and labour supplementary surveys. The improvements will result in:

  • the key measures of underemployment and labour underutilisation released monthly rather than quarterly;
  • more information released monthly and quarterly;
  • a less fragmented labour supplementary survey program; and
  • datasets with interrelated topics combined to better enable analysis of key labour market linkages between groups and topics.

The improved program has three key components:
  • the monthly and quarterly LFS with expanded content collected from July and August, 2014, respectively;
  • the Characteristics of Employment (CoE) supplementary survey to be conducted annually each August from 2014; and
  • the Participation, Job Search and Labour Mobility supplementary survey to be conducted annually each February from 2015.

These improvements were previously outlined in July 2012 in the Information Paper: Outcomes of the Labour Household Surveys Content Review (cat. no. 6107.0), but details of the key components are summarised below.


MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY LABOUR FORCE SURVEY

The improvements to the content of the LFS will result in more information being available with key measures released more frequently. They will also improve the conceptual robustness and relevance of the survey and better enable the identification of critical labour market linkages.

The main improvements being made to the LFS are summarised below:
  • increased frequency of underemployment and labour underutilisation rates, from quarterly to monthly;
  • new items introduced into the LFS
      • monthly educational attainment;
      • quarterly volume measures of labour underutilisation;
      • quarterly leave entitlements;
      • quarterly employment by public and private sector; and
      • quarterly retrenchments.
  • more detailed duration with current employer/business for those with their employer for one year or more;
  • conceptual improvements
      • consolidating key elements of the Employment Type classification into a revised Status in Employment classification, to provide a single labour market relevant classification that will be used in outputs of the ABS' household survey program;
      • refinement to the collection of full-time and part-time job search; and
      • making the LFS gross flows data more representative of the full sample.

To allow analysis of new data items before they are first published, new monthly data items will be assessed for at least six months, and new quarterly items for at least three quarters, before being published.


CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPLOYMENT (COE) SUPPLEMENTARY SURVEY

The new CoE supplementary survey will integrate key elements of the Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership (EEBTUM) survey and the Forms of Employment (FOE) survey (including Working Time Arrangements and Labour Hire modules).

The supplementary survey will describe the key features of people's employment and inform users on the following labour market issues:
  • earnings - in main job and second job;
  • employment arrangements;
  • independent contracting;
  • fixed-term employment;
  • trade union membership;
  • labour hire;
  • working patterns;
  • job stability;
  • job flexibility; and
  • overwork.

Including this data in a single survey will enable analysis of the key elements of people's employment and related outcomes. While the EEBTUM and FOE surveys have each collected information describing people's employment, each only provided a partial picture of people's employment and related outcomes. As the CoE survey will be conducted as a supplement to the labour force survey in August each year, the items collected each quarter in the LFS will be included on the dataset and incorporated in survey output where appropriate.

With additional content added to the monthly and quarterly LFS it has been necessary to reduce the content in CoE compared to the previous labour supplementary survey program. Data items with a relatively lower priority compared to others will cease being collected in the labour supplementary survey program. These items are outlined in Table 3 within this appendix. Many of these items will be collected in the Work, Life and Family Survey, which is planned to next be conducted in 2019.

To minimise respondent burden and enable the planned content to fit within the available resources for the survey, the CoE supplementary survey will comprise a core annual component and two biennial components included on a rotating basis. This approach also reflects that some data items do not change significantly from year to year.

The core component will contain information on earnings (weekly and hourly earnings in main job and second job), fixed term employment and independent contracting. The first of the two biennial components will contain information on trade union membership, labour hire, job stability and more detail on independent contracting. The second of the two biennial components will contain information on overwork, job flexibility and working patterns. The data items to be collected in the LFS and CoE are outlined in Tables 1 and 2 respectively within this appendix.


DATA ITEMS

Table 1

The data items to be collected in the LFS from July 2014 are outlined below:

DATA ITEMS TO BE COLLECTED IN THE LABOUR FORCE SURVEY

Data items

Labour force survey, monthly items - collected from July 2014
All persons
Age
1
Sex
2
Social marital status
3
State or territory of usual residence
4
Region (SA4) of usual residence
5
Country of birth
6
Period since arrival
7
Relationship in household  
8
Number of dependents aged 15 to 24 years
9
Number of dependents aged 0 to 24 years
10
Educational attendance
11
Current study
12
Level of highest educational attainment
13
Level of highest non-school qualification
14
Highest year of school completed
15
Main field of highest educational attainment
16
Main field of highest non-school qualification
17
Labour force status - current month
18
Labour force status - previous month
19
Employed persons
Status in employment in main job
20
Whether held more than one job
21
Number of jobs or businesses held last week (held concurrently)
22
Main reason for absence from work
23
Hours actually worked in main job
24
Hours actually worked in all jobs
25
Hours usually worked in main job
26
Hours usually worked in all jobs
27
Full-time or part-time status in all jobs
28
Full-time or part-time status in main job
29
Underemployment status
30
Reason worked less hours than usual
31
Whether preferred to work more hours than usual
32
Whether available to start work with more hours
33
Whether prefer and available for more full-time or part-time hours
34
Unemployed persons
Duration of job search
35
Full-time or part-time status of unemployment
36
Steps taken to find work
37
Persons not in the labour force
Not in the labour force status
38
Time until available to start work (if actively looking for work)
39
Derived measures
Employment to population ratio
40
Labour force participation rate
41
Unemployment rate
42
Underemployment rate
43
Labour force underutilisation rate
44
Aggregate monthly hours worked
45
Labour force survey, quarterly items - collected from August 2014
All persons
Whether ceased any job in the previous 3 months
46
Reasons ceased working in each job or business in the previous 3 months
47
Whether retrenched from any job in the previous 3 months
48
Employed persons
Continuous duration with current employer/business
49
Expected future duration with current employer/business
50
Reason expected future duration with current employer/business < 1 year
51
Sector of main job
52
Occupation of main job
53
Industry of main job
54
Preferred total number of weekly hours
55
Preferred number of extra weekly hours
56
Employees
Whether entitled to paid holiday leave
57
Whether entitled to paid sick leave
58
Whether had paid leave entitlements
59
Unemployed persons
Preferred number of hours of work
60
Industry of last job (if less than 2 years ago)
61
Occupation of last job (if less than 2 years ago)
62
Reason for leaving last job (if less than 2 years ago)
63
Derived measures
Retrenchment rate
64
Volume unemployment rate
65
Volume underemployment rate
66
Volume labour underutilisation rate
67




Table 2

In addition to the regular monthly and quarterly LFS items, the data items to be collected in the CoE survey are outlined below:

DATA ITEMS TO BE COLLECTED IN CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPLOYMENT

Data items

Characteristics of employment August 2014
Annual core items
Earnings
Weekly earnings in main job
1
Weekly earnings in second job
2
Weekly earnings in all jobs
3
Hours paid for in main job
4
Hours paid for in second job
5
Hours paid for in all jobs
6
Hourly earnings in main job
7
Hourly earnings in second job
8
Hourly earnings in all jobs
9
Frequency of pay in main job
10
Employment arrangements
Employment arrangements in main job
11
Status in employment of second job
12
Whether an independent contractor in main job
13
Fixed-term employment
Whether employment had a set completion date/event
14
Whether worked on a fixed term basis in main job
15
Length of fixed term contract
16
Time until set completion date/event
17
Biennial items
Trade union membership
Trade union membership
18
Length of current trade union membership
19
Trade union member history
20
Independent contracting
Whether has more than one active contract
21
Whether usually able to work on more than one active contract
22
Whether able to sub-contract own work
23
Whether has authority over own working procedures
24
Labour hire
Whether paid by an employment agency/labour hire firm, outsource company
25
Whether currently registered with an employment agency/labour hire firm
26
Whether registered with a labour hire firm/employment agency in the last 12 months
27
Whether found current job/assignment through employment agency or labour hire firm
28
Job stability
Whether earnings varied from one pay period to the next
29
Whether guaranteed a minimum number of hours each week
30
Whether usually works the same number of hours each week
31
Whether considered main job to be casual
32
Characteristics of employment August 2015
Annual core items
Earnings
Weekly earnings in main job
1
Weekly earnings in second job
2
Weekly earnings in all jobs
3
Hours paid for in main job
4
Hours paid for in second job
5
Hours paid for in all jobs
6
Hourly earnings in main job
7
Hourly earnings in second job
8
Hourly earnings in all jobs
9
Frequency of pay in main job
10
Employment arrangements
Employment arrangements in main job
11
Status in employment of second job
12
Whether an independent contractor in main job
13
Fixed-term employment
Whether employment had a set completion date/event
14
Whether worked on a fixed term basis in main job
15
Length of fixed term contract
16
Time until set completion date/event
17
Biennial items
Overwork
Whether would prefer to work less hours (in all jobs)
33
Number of hours would prefer to work (in all jobs)
34
Job flexibility
Whether had agreement with employer to work flexible hours
35
Whether usually worked at home in main job
36
Main reason for working at home in main job
37
Working patterns
Whether usually works shift work
38
Type of shift usually worked
39
Whether usually works extra hours or overtime
40
Whether usually required to be on-call or standby
41
Days of the week on which person usually works (all jobs)
42
Number of days a week that person usually does some work (all jobs)
43
Whether usually works weekdays and/or weekends (all jobs)
44




Table 3

With additional content added to the monthly and quarterly LFS it has been necessary to reduce the content in CoE compared to the previous labour supplementary survey program. Data items with a relatively lower priority compared to others will cease being collected in the labour supplementary survey program. These items are outlined below. Many of these items will be collected in the Work, Life and Family Survey, which is planned to next be conducted in 2019.

Data items no longer collected in labour supplementary surveys

Data items

Employee Earnings Benefits and Trade Union Membership items (annual)
Whether received casual loading as part of pay in main job
1
Whether paid a set amount or by the hour
2
Whether paid at the full adult rate
3
Whether salary sacrificed to superannuation in last pay period
4
Whether salary sacrificed to superannuation in last 12 months
5
Whether able to choose when holidays are taken in main job
6
Whether entitled to paid long service leave in main job
7
Whether entitled to paid maternity/paternity leave in main job
8
Type of paid leave entitlement in main job
9
Number of paid leave entitlements in main job
10
Duration since previously a trade union member
11
Size of location in main job
12
Whether current employer made superannuation contributions on behalf of employee in main job
13
Employment type in main job (redundant with revision to Status in Employment classification)
14
Forms of employment items (annual)
Form of employment in main job (Independent Contractors identified in COE annually)
15
Employment type in main job (redundant with revision to Status in Employment classification)
16
Number of employees in main job
17
Whether expects contract/employment to be renewed
18
Whether entitled to paid maternity/paternity leave in main job
19
Whether entitled to paid long service leave in main job
20
Whether current contract prevents similar work for another client
21
Main reason unable to subcontract own work
22
Who has authority over own working procedures
23
Whether responsible for arranging own workers' compensation
24
Whether responsible for arranging own liability insurance
25
Whether responsible for arranging own superannuation contributions
26
Whether had a say in start/finish times
27
Forms of employment; Working time arrangements module items (3 yearly)
Whether had any say in the days in which worked
28
Whether received casual loading as part of pay
29
Whether had a say in start/finish times
30
Whether able to choose to work extra hours to take time off
31
Whether able to choose when holidays are taken
32
How far in advance work schedule was known
33
How compensated for overtime / extra hours worked
34
Hours usually worked in a shift in main job
35
Whether usually worked any hours between 7pm and 7am in all jobs
36
Forms of employment; Labour hire module items (3 yearly)
Whether still registered with the same agency, firm or company
37
Number of work assignments through labour hire form/employment agency in the last 12 months
38
Whether usually had continuous/ongoing work from a labour hire firm/employment agency
39
All reasons for using a labour hire firm/employment agency
40
Main reason for using a labour hire firm/employment agency
41
Forms of employment; Locations of work module items (6 yearly)
All locations of work in main job
42
Main location of work in main job
43
Number of locations of work in main job
44
State or territory of workplace in main job
45
Region of workplace in main job
46
Whether had an arrangement with employer to work at home in main job
47
Hours actually worked from home in main job
48
Hours usually worked from home in main job
49
Use of information technology at home in main job
50
Occupation of second job
51
Industry of second job
52
All locations of work in second job
53
Main location of work in second job
54
Number of locations of work in second job
55
Whether usually worked at home in second job
56
Whether worked at home in second job
57
Whether had an arrangement with employer to work at home in second job
58
Hours actually worked in second job
59
Hours actually worked at home in second job
60
Hours usually worked at home in second job
61
Main reason for working at home in second job
62
Whether entitled to paid holiday leave in second job
63
Whether entitled to paid sick leave in second job
64
Whether had paid leave entitlements in second job
65
Use of information technology at home in second job
66
Occupation in job worked at home
67
Industry in job worked at home
68
Status in employment in job worked at home
69
Whether worked at home in main or second job
70
Whether had an arrangement with employer to work at home in main or second job
71
Hours actually worked at home in main and second job
72
Use of information technology at home in main or second job
73