4102.0 - Australian Social Trends, 1997
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/06/1997
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Definitions and references
Age pensioners - people receiving full or partial age pension excluding associated wife's or carer's pension. Men 65 years and over and women 60.5 years and over may be eligible to receive the age pension.
Aged - men 65 and over and women 60 and over.
Consumer price index - 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.
Disability support pensioners
Disposable income - gross income less personal income tax (including the Medicare levy).
Employees - all wage and salary earners who received pay for any part of the reference period.
Equivalent income - disposable income adjusted, using simplified Henderson equivalence scales, to allow comparison between different types of income units. The scales reflect assumptions about how different characteristics e.g. size and composition, relate to the amount of income different types of income units need to achieve an equivalent standard of living.
Female/male ratio of mean total full-time adult earnings
Full-time employees - employees who usually work 35 hours or more a week, or the agreed hours of a full-time employee.
GDP (gross domestic product) - an aggregate measure of the value of economic production in a year. This series uses GDP(A) or average GDP.
GDP spent on income support - special appropriations under the Social Security Act for income support as a proportion of GDP.
Gini coefficient - an index for measuring inequality of income distribution. The index, always between 0 and 1, is low for populations with relatively equal income distributions and high for populations with relatively unequal income distributions.
Gross income - cash receipts, that are of a regular and recurring nature, before tax or any other deductions are made.
Gross State product - a similar measure to GDP but based on State income estimates.
Household disposable income - household income (as measured in the Australian National Accounts) less income tax and other direct taxes, fees, fines etc charged by the government, consumer debt interest and transfers overseas.
Income unit - One person, or group of related persons within a household, whose command over income is assumed to be shared. Income sharing is considered to take place between married (registered or de facto) couples, and between parents and dependent children.
Main income source from government payments - government pensions or allowances form the largest component of usual income.
Managerial employees - adult managerial, executive and professional employees who are in charge of a significant number of employees or have significant responsibilities in the conduct or operations of the organisation and who may not receive payment for overtime.
Mean total weekly earnings
Mean weekly ordinary time earnings of full-time non-managerial adults
Median weekly income - the level of weekly income at which half the income units have higher incomes and half have lower incomes.
Ordinary time - employee's agreed hours of work including annual leave, paid sick leave and long service leave.
Real household disposable income - household disposable income (as measured in the Australian National Accounts) adjusted for change in prices.
Share of gross/equivalent income going to top/bottom quintile - share of gross/equivalent income received by the 20% of income units with the highest/lowest incomes.
Sole parent pensioners - recipients of the sole parent pension. In 1989, the supporting parent benefit and A class widow pensions were combined to form the sole parent pension. Figures prior to 1989 include these two pensions.
Unemployment allowees - the number of recipients of unemployment benefit prior to 1991 and of Job Search allowance, Newstart allowance and Youth Training allowance since then.
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