| ABS | Australian Bureau of Statistics |
| ABSCQ | Australian Bureau of Statistics Classification of Qualifications |
| ACT | Australian Capital Territory |
| ALLS | Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey |
| ANZSCO | Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations |
| ANZSIC | Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification |
| ASCED | Australian Standard Classification of Education |
| ASCL | Australian Standard Classification of Languages |
| ASGS | Australian Statistical Geography Standard |
| CD | Collection Districts |
| CD-ROM | compact disc read-only memory |
| COAG | Council of Australian Governments |
| CURF | confidentialised unit record file |
| DEEWR | Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations |
| ERP | Estimated Resident Population |
| ETS | Educational Testing Service |
| ICT | Information and Communication Technology |
| ISCED | International Standard Classification of Education |
| ISIC | International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities |
| ISCO | International Standard Classification of Occupations |
| ISO | International Organization for Standardization |
| Lit | Literacy |
| n.f.d. | not further defined |
| NSW | New South Wales |
| Num | Numeracy |
| NT | Northern Territory |
| OECD | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
| PIAAC | Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies |
| PSTRE | Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments |
| Qld | Queensland |
| RADL | Remote Access Data Laboratory |
| RP | response probability |
| RSE | relative standard error |
| SA | South Australia |
| SACC | Standard Australian Classification of Countries |
| SAL | Survey of Aspects of Literacy |
| SE | standard error |
| Tas. | Tasmania |
| USA | United States of America |
| VET | vocational education and training |
| Vic. | Victoria |
| WA | Western Australia |