CHAPTER 21.18 CHILD EMPLOYMENT
INTRODUCTION
21.18.1 The Child Employment Survey was conducted in June 2006. Data were collected about children aged 5 to 14 years who had worked in the 12 months to June 2006. The survey collected information on the number of children working, their occupation and their patterns of work (e.g. whether children worked in school holidays or school terms, the hours they worked, the time of day they worked).
21.18.2 This section describes only those aspects of the methodology that are unique to this survey, and should be used in conjunction with the overview part of this chapter which outlines the survey methodology used in supplementary surveys.
SURVEY OUTPUT
21.18.3 Data from the survey were published in Child Employment, Australia (cat. no. 6211.0).
21.18.4 Data from the survey relate to children aged 5 to 14 years. The main population of interest is children aged 5 to 14 years who worked at some time in the 12 months to June 2006. Estimates are produced on an original basis only (i.e. not seasonally adjusted) and include:
Socio-demographic information
- Sex; age group;
- state or territory of usual residence;
- area of usual residence;
- country of birth of child;
- year of arrival in Australia;
- country of birth of parents;
- year of arrival in Australia of parent(s); and
- labour force status of parent(s).
Children's working arrangements
- whether child worked in the last 12 months;
- working status in all jobs; working pattern in all jobs;
- usual hours worked per week in main job during school terms/school holidays;
- usual hours worked per week in all jobs during school terms/school holidays;
- usual days worked per week in all jobs during school terms/school holidays;
- whether worked Monday-Friday, Saturday-Sunday or both during school terms/school holidays;
- usual number of days worked per week in all jobs during school terms/school holidays;
- whether usually worked day-time or night-time in all jobs;
- occupation of main job during school terms/school holidays;
- number of weeks worked during the last 12 months in all jobs; and
- mode of travel to and from work; and all reasons/main reason for working.
SCOPE
21.18.5 The scope of the survey was restricted to children aged 5 to 14 years. Information about each child was collected from a parent or guardian who was resident in the same household. The standard scope restrictions for supplementary surveys outlined in the overview part of
Chapter 21 also apply to the Child Employment Survey.
DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS
EMPLOYMENT
21.18.6 The definition of employment used in the Child Employment Survey was adapted from the definition used in the Labour Force Survey. Employment occurred when a child worked for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job, business, or on a farm, or worked without pay in a family business or farm at some time in the last 12 months, and included:
- paid work for an employer;
- paid work in a family business or on a farm;
- unpaid work in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers);
- work carried out for non-household members (e.g. neighbourhood car washing, lawn mowing) for payment;
- street vending;
- busking;
- work done for payment in kind (e.g. if the child receives goods rather than cash as payment for work done); and
- paid work for non-profit organisations.
The following types of work were excluded from the definition of employment:
- all household work undertaken for their household;
- unpaid work experience (eg. done as part of the child's schooling);
- unpaid probationary periods; and
- unpaid work done for charities and non-profit organisations.
OCCUPATION
21.18.7 Occupation for the Child Employment Survey was coded according to the most detailed level (6 digit, or occupation level) of the
Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), First Edition 2006 (cat. no. 1220.0). Output from the survey were presented using different levels of the ANZSCO classification. This alternative classification has been used to present more useful categories for the population because the occupations in which children tend to work differ from those in which adults tend to work.
| Classification used for output purposes | ANZSCO Code |
| Technicians and Trades Workers | 3 |
| Community and Personal Service Workers | 4 |
| Carers and Aides | 42 |
| Other Community and Personal Service Workers | 4 (remainder) |
| Clerical and Administrative Workers | 5 |
| Sales Workers | 6 |
| Labourers | 8 |
| Cleaners and Laundry Workers | 81 |
| Farm, Forestry and Garden Workers | 84 |
| Food Preparation Assistants | 85 |
| Leaflet or Newspaper Deliverer | 899915 |
| Other Labourers | 8 (remainder) |
| Other (a) | 1, 2 and 7 |
(a) Includes occupations in ANZSCO categories 1, 2 and 7, namely 'Managers', 'Professionals' and 'Machinery Operators and Drivers'.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
21.18.8 Personal interviews with a parent or guardian in the child's household were used to collect information for the survey. A mixture of face-to-face and telephone interviewing was used. The number of completed interviews for the survey was 9,564.
FURTHER INFORMATION
21.18.9 For further details contact the Labour Market Statistics Section in Canberra on (02) 6252 7206 or email
labour.statistics@abs.gov.au.
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