HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE
PURPOSE
To collect information on the expenditure, income and characteristics of households resident in private dwellings throughout Australia. Several of the items of expenditure recorded are related to culture and leisure.
DESCRIPTION
The Household Expenditure Survey (HES) collects detailed information about the expenditure, income and household characteristics of a sample of households (6,957 households in the 2003-04 collection) resident in private dwellings throughout Australia. Expenditure information for both expenditure common to all household members (e.g., health service payments) and irregular or infrequent expenditure (e.g., household appliances and holidays overseas) is collected during a personal interview with varying recall periods used for the different items. All other expenditure is captured from diaries in which survey participants record all their expenditure over a two-week period. By this means, average weekly expenditure on over 600 goods and services is obtained. Collection of data for this survey is spread over a one-year period in order to reduce seasonality effects. Note that although occupation and industry are coded to 4- and 3-digit level respectively, the data are not reliable at that level of detail because of the sample size.
GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE
Australia
FREQUENCY OF COLLECTION
Five yearly
DATA ITEMS
Expenditure items
The Household Expenditure Classification (HEC) was developed for use in coding and disseminating data from the 1998-99 HES. The HEC has a five-level hierarchical structure, ranging from the 17 major groups, each represented by a two-digit code, to the 609 base groups, each represented by a ten-digit code. The HEC major groups are:
Current housing costs
Domestic fuel and power
Food and non-alcoholic beverages
Alcoholic beverages
Tobacco products
Clothing and footwear
Household furnishings and equipment
Household services and operation
Medical care and health expenses
Transport
Recreation
Personal care
Miscellaneous goods and services
Income tax
Mortgage repayments - principal
Other capital housing costs
Superannuation and life insurance
Recreation group expenditure items
The HEC major group ‘Recreation’ has four sub-major groups:
Recreational and educational equipment
Recreational and educational services (excluding holiday expenses)
Holidays
Animal expenses
Beyond these sub-major groups are over 200 finer level expenditure items related to culture and leisure, including gambling.
Culture and recreation expenditure items in other major groups
Other expenditure items which may be of interest to culture and leisure data users include:
Meals in restaurants, hotels, clubs and related organisations
Beer for consumption on licensed premises (also wine, spirits and other alcoholic beverages)
Sports and leisure footwear (men’s, women’s, children’s and infants', not further defined)
Swimming pool chemicals
Purchase of caravan
Geographic area of households
Australia, States and Territories
Section of State (major urban, other urban, bounded locality, rural balance)
Broad geographical area (capital city, other urban, rural)
Statistical local area
Index of relative socioeconomic disadvantage - decile - Australia and State
Geographic area of persons
Australia, States and Territories
Household characteristics
Information collected about the household includes:
Dwelling details (including type of structure, number of bedrooms, tenure type and landlord type)
Household structure
Household family composition
Life cycle stage in the household
Number of families and income units in the household
Number of employed and unemployed persons in the household
Number of persons studying
Financial stress
Number of persons in the household with a disability or health condition
Number of health care cards in the household
Loans in the household (including number, lenders, purposes, amounts, duration)
Government payments
Other sources of income
Demographic characteristics of person
Information collected about diary respondents includes:
Age
Sex
Country of birth
Year of arrival in Australia
Family type
Socioeconomic characteristics of person
Includes categories such as:
Labour force status (employed, unemployed, not in the labour force)
Status in employment (employee, employer, own account worker, contributing family worker)
Occupation (coded to 4-digit ASCO level. See ASCO codes related to culture and leisure for more details.)
Industry (coded to 3-digit ANZSIC level. See ANZSIC codes related to culture and leisure for more details.)
Usual hours worked by person in all jobs
Duration of unemployment
Whether currently studying
Highest education qualification attained
HISTORICAL DATA
The most recent Household Expenditure Survey was conducted in 2003-04. Previous surveys were conducted in 1974-75, 1975-76, 1984, 1988-89, 1993-94 and 1998-99. Data for 1974-75 were collected from households in capital cities only (excluding Darwin). Data for subsequent surveys were collected from households in capital city, other urban and rural areas. The first two surveys collected information on fewer goods and services than those from 1984 and subsequent surveys. Further information about comparability between surveys can be found in Part 4 of Household Expenditure Survey and Survey of Income and Housing: User Guide, 2003-04 (Cat. no. 6503.0).
DISSEMINATION
Publications
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Summary of Results, 2003-04, Cat. no. 6530.0, ABS, Canberra. Price $29.00. Also available for 1984, 1988-89, 1993-94 and 1998-99.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, Household Expenditure Survey and Survey of Income and Housing: User Guide, 2003-04 Cat. no. 6503.0, ABS, Canberra. Price $11.00.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2000, Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Detailed Expenditure Items, 1998-99, Cat. no. 6535.0, ABS, Canberra. Price $24.00. Also available for 1984, 1988-89 and 1993-94.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2000, Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: User Guide, 1998-99, Cat. no. 6527.0, ABS, Canberra. Price $30.00. Also available for 1984, 1988-89 and 1993-94.
Cultural Ministers Council Statistics Working Group 2002, Australians' expenditure on culture, 1998-99, CMC SWG, Canberra. Available free of charge under 'Statistical information' on the CMC SWG web site at <http://www.dcita.gov.au/swg>.
Standing Committee on Recreation and Sport 2005, Household Expenditure on Sports and Physical Recreation, Australia, 2003-04. Available free of charge on the SCORS Research Group web site at http://www.ausport.gov.au/information.
Standing Committee on Recreation and Sport 2003, Household Expenditure on Sports, Physical Recreation and Other Leisure, Australia, 1998-99. Available free of charge on the SCORS Research Group web site at http://www.ausport.gov.au/information.
Other
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Detailed Expenditure Items, 2003-04, Data cube, Cat. no. 6535.0.55.001. Free of charge.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001, Household Expenditure Survey, Australia, 1998-99 (2nd edn), Confidentialised Unit Record File on CD-ROM, Cat. no. 6544.0.30.001. Price $1,320.
National Sport and Recreation Industry Database and Directory (NSRIDD).
CONTACT
In the first instance, refer to To obtain data or further information in the Introduction to this directory.
Manager
Living Conditions Section
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Locked Bag 10
BELCONNEN ACT 2616
Telephone: Canberra 02 6252 6174
Facsimile: Canberra 02 6252 6870
Email: client.services@abs.gov.au
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