IRSAD

The Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD) summarises information about the economic and social conditions of people and households within an area, including both relative advantage and disadvantage measures.


A low score indicates relatively greater disadvantage and a lack of advantage in general. For example, an area could have a low score if there are (among other things):
- many households with low incomes, or many people in unskilled occupations
AND
- few households with high incomes, or few people in skilled occupations

A high score indicates a relative lack of disadvantage and greater advantage in general. For example, an area may have a high score if there are (among other things):
- many households with high incomes, or many people in skilled occupations
AND
- few households with low incomes, or few people in unskilled occupations


This index is preferred in situations where the user:
- wants a general measure of advantage and disadvantage in their particular analysis
- is not looking at only disadvantage and lack of disadvantage
- wants advantage to offset any disadvantage in an area.

An example would be where a user:
- considers the issue being examined to be affected by both advantage and disadvantage
- is analysing information that is not included in the index, such as home ownership.

We do not recommend using this index if the user:
- is analysing information that has already been included in the index, such as suburbs with a high proportion of dwellings paying high levels of rent
- is only interested in disadvantage.

The variables that are included in the index can be found below. Each variable has a loading that indicates the correlation of that variable with the index. A positive loading indicates an advantaging variable where as a negative loading indicates a disadvantaging variable.

Variable	Description	Loading
INC_HIGH	% of people with stated household equivalised income greater than $52,000 per year	0.84
HIGHMORTGAGE	% of occupied private dwellings paying mortgage greater than $2,800 per month	0.70
DIPLOMA	% of people aged 15 years and over whose highest level of educational attainment is a diploma qualification	0.63
OCC_PROF	% of employed people classified as Professionals	0.62
HIGHBED	% of occupied private dwellings with four (4) or more bedrooms	0.52
OCC_MANAGER	% of employed people classified as managers	0.42
HIGHRENT	% of occupied private dwellings paying rent greater than $370 per week	0.40
SPAREBED	% of occupied private dwellings with one or more spare bedrooms	0.37
ATUNI	% of people aged 15 years and over at university or other tertiary institution	0.36
HIGHCAR	% of occupied private dwellings with three (3) or more cars	0.35
NOEDU	% of people aged 15 years and over who have no educational attainment	-0.37
OVERCROWD	% of occupied private dwellings requiring one or more extra bedrooms	-0.45
NOCAR	% of occupied private dwellings with no cars	-0.49
OCC_SERVICE_L	% of employed people classified as low skill Community and Personal Service workers	-0.51
OCC_DRIVER	% of employed people classified as Machinery Operators and Drivers	-0.57
SEP_DIVORCED	% of people aged 15 years and over who are separated or divorced	-0.57
LOWRENT	% of occupied private dwellings paying rent less than $166 per week (excluding $0 per week)	-0.67
DISABILITYU70	% of people under the age of 70 who have a long-term health condition or disability and need assistance with core activities	-0.67
UNEMPLOYED	% of people (in the labour force) who are unemployed	-0.69
ONEPARENT	% of one parent families with dependent offspring only	-0.69
OCC_LABOUR	% of employed people classified as Labourers	-0.78
CHILDJOBLESS	% of families with children under 15 years of age who live with jobless parents	-0.80
NOYEAR12ORHIGHER	% of people aged 15 years and over whose highest level of education is Year 11 or lower	-0.82
NONET	% of occupied private dwellings with no internet connection	-0.82
INC_LOW	% of people with stated household equivalised income between $1 and $20,799 per year	-0.89

Note - The loadings are closely related to the variable weights used in the construction of the index. For details, please refer to Chapter 4.1 in the Technical Paper.

The table below shows variables that were initially considered for the index, but were subsequently dropped (excluded) due to low loadings (not adding enough value to the final index). For more information, please refer to Chapter 4.3 in the Technical Paper.

Variable	Description
DIALUP	% of occupied private dwellings with a dialup internet connection
FEWBED	% occupied private dwellings with one (1) or no bedrooms
CERTIFICATE	% of people aged 15 years and over whose highest educational attainment is a certificate III or IV qualification
OWNING	% of occupied private dwellings owning dwelling without a mortgage
OCC_SALES_L	% of employed people classified as Low-Skill Sales
ENGLISHPOOR	% of people who do not speak English well

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