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Data sources and definitions

Data source		Indicators using this source
ABS Australian System of National Accounts, 2001-02.		National (34)
ABS Australian System of National Accounts, 2001-02 and ABS Estimated resident population.		National (29)
ABS Surveys of Income and Housing Costs.		National (10-28, 30-33, 35-40); State (6-34)
Australian National Accounts: State Accounts, 2001-02 (ABS cat. no. 5220.0).		State (1)
Australian System of National Accounts, 2001-02 (ABS cat. no. 5204.0).		National (1-2)
Consumer Price Index, Australia, September Quarter 2002 (ABS cat. no. 6401.0).		National (8)
Department of Family and Community Services administrative data.		National (6-7, 41-45); State (35-39)
Department of Family and Community Services administrative data and ABS Estimated resident population.		National (46); State (40)
Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).		National (3-4, 9) State (2-3, 5)
Wage Cost Index, Australia, June Quarter 2002 (ABS cat. no. 6345.0).		National (5); State (4)

employees aged 21 years and over, and those under 21 years who are paid at the full adult rate for their occupation.
Reference: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).

people receiving full or partial Age pension excluding associated Wife's or Carer's pension. The qualifying age for Age pension eligibility for men is 65 years. Between 1 July 1995 and 2012, the qualifying age for women is gradually being raised from 60 to 65 years. At 1 July 2002 the qualifying age for females was 62 years.
Reference: Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, Customers: a statistical overview.

the number of aged pension recipients as a proportion of the estimated resident population (ERP) of persons who meet the age requirements for the age pension. In the years where the age requirement for females was a number of years plus six months the ERP was prorated.

refers to one week’s earnings for the reference period attributed to award, standard or agreed hours of work. It is calculated before taxation and any other deductions have been made. Included in ordinary time earnings are agreed base rates of pay plus payment by measured result, such as bonuses and commissions. Excluded are non-cash components of salary packages, salary sacrificed, overtime payments, and payments not related to the survey reference period, such as retrospective pay, pay in advance and leave loadings. Non-managerial employees are those who are not managerial employees as defined below and includes non-managerial professionals and some employees with supervisory responsibilities.
Reference: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).

average weekly total earnings of employees including ordinary time earnings plus overtime earnings.
Reference: Average Weekly Earnings, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6302.0).

are obtained by linking together (i.e. compounding) movements in volumes, calculated using the average price of the previous financial year, and applying the compounded movements to the current price estimates of the reference year.
Reference: Australian System of National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods (ABS cat. no. 5216.0).

a measure of change over time in the retail price of a constant basket of goods and services which is representative of consumption patterns of employee households in metropolitan areas. Base year for index is 1989-90 = 100.0.
Reference: Australian Consumer Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods (ABS cat. no. 6461.0).

two people in a registered or de facto marriage, who usually live in the same household.

a household which contains a couple and no other persons.
Reference: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0).

a household which contains a couple, their dependent children, and no other persons.
Reference: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0).

children under 15 years of age; and full-time students, aged 15 to 24 years, who have a parent, guardian or other relative in the household and do not have a partner or child of their own in the household.
Reference: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0).

persons receiving a pension on the basis of an assessed physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment and on their continuing inability to work or be retrained to work 30 hours or more per week within the next two years.
Reference: Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, Customers: a statistical overview.

gross income less personal income tax (including the Medicare levy).
Reference: Income Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6523.0).

all wage and salary earners who received pay for any part of the reference period.
Reference: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).

equivalising adjusts actual income to take account of the different needs of households of different size and composition. There are economic advantages associated with living with others, because household resources, especially housing, can be shared. The equivalence scale used to obtain equivalised incomes is that used in studies by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and is referred to as the 'modified OECD scale'. The scale gives a weight of 1.0 to the first adult in the household, and for each additional adult (persons aged 15 years and over) a weight of 0.5, and or each child a weight of 0.3. For each household, the weights for household members are added together to form the household weight. The total household disposable income is then divided by the household weight and multiplied by 2.1 (the weight of a standard, 2 adult, 2 child household) to give an income that a standard household would need for a similar standard of living.
Reference: Measuring Australia’s Progress (ABS cat. no. 1370.0).

employees who usually work 35 hours or more a week, or the agreed or award hours for a full-time employee in their occupation.
Reference: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).

the maximum weekly social security benefit available to an unemployed couple with two children (one aged under 5 and one aged 5 or over but under 13). The calculation for 2002 includes unemployment benefits or each partner (currently Newstart), Family Tax benefit Part A for each child and Family Tax Benefit Part B for the family. This calculation excludes any rent assistance which may be available.
Reference: Department of Family and Community Services.

the amount paid to a single age pensioner, who passes the income and asset test for the full basic rate, excluding all allowances, indexed by CPI to the most recent year.
Reference: Department of Family and Community Services.

a measure for assessing inequality of income distribution. The measure, expressed as a ratio that is always between 0 and 1, is low for populations with relatively equal income distributions and high for populations with relatively unequal income distributions.
Reference: Income Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6523.0).

where gross household disposable income, as measured in the Australian System of National Accounts, is gross household income less income tax payable, other current taxes on income, wealth etc., consumer debt interest, interest payable by dwellings and unincorporated enterprises, social contributions for workers' compensation, net non-life insurance premiums and other current transfers payable by households. The population used is the mean resident population for the financial year.
Reference: Australian National Accounts: State Accounts (ABS cat. no. 5220.0).

cash receipts, that are of a regular and recurring nature, before tax or any other deductions are made.
Reference: Income Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6523.0).

payments from government under social security and related government programs.
Reference: Income Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6523.0).

households in the top income quintile (9th and 10th deciles) after being ranked by their equivalised income.
Reference: Measuring Australia’s Progress (ABS cat. no. 1370.0).

a group of related or unrelated people who usually live in the same dwelling and make common provision for food and other essentials of living; or a lone person who makes provision for his or her own food and other essentials of living without combining with any other person.
Reference: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0).

households whose income is such that n% of households have less or equal income and (100-n%) have more income.
Reference: Measuring Australia’s Progress (ABS cat. no. 1370.0).

the number of recipients of Unemployment Benefit prior to 1991; Job Search Allowance, Newstart Allowance and Youth Training Allowance from 1991 to 1996; Newstart Allowance and Youth Training Allowance from 1997; Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (other) from July 1998.
Reference: Department of Family and Community Services, Customers: a statistical overview.

a household which consists of only one person.
Reference: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0).

households in the 2nd and 3rd income deciles after being ranked by their equivalised income.
Reference: Measuring Australia’s Progress (ABS cat. no. 1370.0).

that source from which the most positive income is received. If total income is nil or negative the principal source is undefined.
Reference: Income Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6523.0).

managerial, executive and senior professional employees who are in charge of a significant number of employees and/or have strategic responsibilities in the conduct or operations of the organisation and who usually do not receive payment for overtime.
Reference: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).

the sum of the income of all households in a population, divided by the number of households in the population.
Reference: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0).

households in the middle income quintile (5th and 6th deciles) after being ranked by their equivalised income.
Reference: Measuring Australia’s Progress (ABS cat. no. 1370.0).

a household which contains a single person with his/her dependent child(ren), and no other persons.

the profit or loss that accrues to people as owners of, or partners in, unincorporated enterprises. Profit/loss consists of the value of the gross output of the enterprise after the deduction of operating expenses (including depreciation). Losses occur when operating expenses are greater than gross receipts.
Reference: Income Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6523.0).

when households are ranked from the lowest to the highest on the basis of some characteristic such as their household income, they can then be divided into equal sized groups. Division into 100 groups gives percentiles. The highest value of the characteristic in the tenth percentile is denoted P10. The Median of the top of the 50th percentile is denoted P50. P20, P80 and P90 denote the highest values in the 20th, 80th and 90th percentiles.
Reference: Measuring Australia’s Progress (ABS cat. no. 1370.0).

employees' agreed hours of work including annual leave, paid sick leave and long service leave taken during the reference period.
Reference: Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6306.0).

the ratio is calculated by dividing the highest value in a selected percentile by the highest value in a second percentile (see percentiles). For example, the household at the top of the 80th percentile for Australia when ranked by weekly equivalised disposable income has a weekly equivalised disposable income of $1,180. If this is divided by the weekly equivalised disposable income of the household at the top of the 20th percentile ($420), the result is 3.96.
Reference: Measuring Australia’s Progress (ABS cat. no. 1370.0).

an aggregate measure of the value of economic production in a year. The series used are GDP chain volume measures (reference year 2000-01) and GDP at current prices.
Reference: Australian System of National Accounts (ABS cat. no. 5204.0).

net expenditure on goods and services by persons, and expenditure of a current nature by private nonprofit institutions serving households. Includes personal expenditure on motor vehicles and other durable goods, the value of 'backyard' production, the payment of wages and salaries in kind and imputed rent on owner-occupied dwellings. Excludes the purchase and maintenance of dwellings by persons and capital expenditure by unincorporated businesses and nonprofit institutions. The measure is expressed in Australian dollars using chain volume measures, reference year 2000-01, and is based on the mean resident population of each financial year.
Reference: Australian System of National Accounts (ABS cat. no. 5204.0).

where real net national disposable income is a broad measure of economic wellbeing which adjusts the chain volume measure of GDP for the terms of trade effect, real net incomes from overseas (primary and secondary) and consumption of fixed capital. The population estimates use data published in the quarterly publication Australian Demographic Statistics (ABS cat. no. 3101.0) and ABS projections.
Reference: Australian System of National Accounts (ABS cat. no. 5204.0).

the person in a household who is the point of reference for family structures in that household i.e. the husband or wife in a couple household, the parent in a one-parent household, or the person in a lone-person household.
Reference: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4130.0).

lone parents receiving the 'Parenting Payment - Single'. Prior to March 1998, this was known as the 'Sole Parent Pension'.
Reference: Department of Family and Community Services, Customers: a statistical overview.

includes current transfers to persons from general government in return for which no services are rendered or goods supplied. Principal components include: scholarships; maternity, sickness and unemployment benefits; child endowments and family allowances; and widows', age, invalid and repatriation pensions.
Reference: Australian System of National Accounts (ABS cat. no. 5204.0).

measures quarterly change in combined ordinary time and overtime hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses. Bonuses are payments made to a job occupant that are in addition to regular wages and salaries and which generally relate to the job occupant’s, or the organisation’s performance. Base period for index is September 1997 = 100.0.
Reference: Wage Cost Index, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6345.0).

the gross cash income received as a return to labour from an employer or from a household's own incorporated enterprise.
Reference: Income Distribution, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6523.0).