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CHAPTER 22.1. BARRIERS AND INCENTIVES TO LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION


INTRODUCTION

22.1.1 The Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation topic was first conducted in 2004–05 as part of the Multi-Purpose Household Survey (MPHS), which is a supplement to the monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS). This topic is included in the MPHS every two years.

22.1.2 The survey topic collects information about people aged 18 years and over who are either not employed or who usually work less than 35 hours a week. The survey provides information on characteristics of people who are not participating, or not participating fully, in the labour force and the factors that influence people to join or leave the labour force.

22.1.3 This section describes only those aspects of the methodology that were unique to this survey topic and should therefore be read in conjunction with the overview part of this chapter (Chapter 22), which outlines the survey methodology used in the MPHS.


SURVEY OUTPUT

22.1.4 Data from the survey are published in Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Australia (cat. no. 6239.0). Microdata are available in a Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) or Table Builder - see Technical Manual: Multipurpose Household Survey, Expanded CURF, Australia (cat. no. 4100.0) and Microdata: Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Retirement and Retirement Intentions (cat. no. 6238.0.55.001). Other estimates are available on request.

22.1.5 Data from the survey relate to people aged 18 years and over. The main populations of interest are people who are not employed (i.e. either unemployed or not in the labour force), and people who usually work less than 35 hours a week in all jobs. Estimates are produced on an original basis only (i.e. not seasonally adjusted) and the core content, which is collected each cycle, includes:

Socio-demographic information
Sex; age; marital status; relationship in household; age of youngest child; whether household has children aged under 15 years; state or territory of usual residence; country of birth and period of arrival in Australia; level of highest educational attainment; weekly gross income; sources of income; partner's weekly gross income; household income; and partner's labour force status.

People who usually work 0–34 hours per week in all jobs
Hours usually worked in all jobs; status in employment; hours usually worked in main job; satisfaction of hours worked; satisfaction of current work arrangements; occupation; industry; duration of current main job; details of last job; reason for ceasing last full-time job; unpaid activities when not working; whether prefers to work more hours than usually works; preferred number of hours; all reasons for not wanting to work more hours; main childcare reason for not wanting more hours; whether looking for more hours; whether looking for part-time or full-time work; all reasons for not looking for more hours; main reason for not looking for more hours; main reason not available for more hours; and difficulties finding more hours.

Unemployed people
Duration of current period of unemployment; unpaid activities; difficulties finding work; whether has ever had a full-time job; whether previous work was full-time or part-time; time since last job; employment type of last job; occupation and industry of last job; and reason for ceasing last job.

People who aren't in the labour force
Whether would like a paid job; whether would prefer to work full-time or part-time; preferred length/tenure of job; whether would accept a short-term/temporary job; whether available to start work in the reference week; time until available to start work; main reason not available to start work; main child care reason not available to start work; main child care reason not looking for work; main childcare reason for not wanting work; all/main reasons for not wanting to work; whether looking for work; and difficulties finding work.

• incentives to join or increase participation in the labour force (work related, skill related, financial, childcare related, caring related and other incentives);
• lowest gross wage per hour respondents would work for;
• whether respondents would return to work if important conditions were available; and
• self assessed health status.

2004–05
Initial survey conducted (August 2004 to June 2005).
The scope of the survey includes people working less than 16 hours.
Availability was not determined for those people who usually worked 0 to 15 hours per week and preferred to work more hours but had not done anything in the four weeks prior to the reference week to obtain more hours of work. Availability for this group was imputed, based on information collected in the quarter months of the LFS, rather than being directly collected.

2006–07
Data on availability was collected in all months for people who usually worked 0–15 hours per week and preferred to work more hours but had not done anything in the four weeks prior to the reference week to obtain more hours of work. This data was imputed for the 2004-05 survey.
For the data items 'all/main reason for not wanting work/more hours', the response category 'caring for children/pregnancy/home duties' was split.
For the data items 'all/main reasons for not wanting work/more hours' the category 'no need/retired from full-time work (for now)' was expanded to 'no need/satisfied with current arrangements/retired from full-time work (for now)'.
Questions about 'last worked full-time' were changed to 'last worked in a job of 35 hours or more'.
For the items 'all reasons/main reason not looking for work/more hours', the category 'no need/satisfied with current arrangements/retired from full-time work (for now)' was added, based on detail collected about 'other' type responses.
For the data item 'preferred number of hours', the actual number of hours was collected for persons not in the labour force who said they would prefer 'full-time hours'.
The following data items were added: Main reason not wanting work/more hours; Main childcare reason not looking for work/more hours; Age of youngest child; Partner's labour force status; and Partner's full-time or part-time status in employment.

2008–09
The following new incentives to join/increase participation in the labour force data items were added: work related incentives; financial incentives; childcare related incentives; caring incentives; other incentives; lowest gross wage per hour that respondent would work for; whether respondent would return to work if important conditions were available. The purpose of these items was to inform on the types of incentives to encourage people to increase their participation.
The data items 'self assessed health status' and 'all reasons not available to start work/more hours' were also added.

2010–11
Questions on incentives to join or increase participation in the labour force and self assessed health that were included in the 2008–09 survey, were excluded for this cycle.

2012–13
The scope of the survey was expanded to include all employed people who were working less than 35 hours. For previous surveys, only employed people who worked less than 16 hours were included in the survey. Incentives to join/increase participation in the labour force was included in 2012–13 survey. This module was last collected in the 2008–09 survey. Unemployed people were asked incentives questions for the first time. Self-assessed health status, whether had private health insurance cover and housing tenure items were included in the 2012–13 survey. These items were last collected in the 2008-09 survey. The following new items were added: satisfaction of hours worked; satisfaction of current work arrangements; main childcare reason for not wanting work/more hours; and long term health conditions. Microdata were not released for the 2012–13 survey.