2900.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Understanding the Census and Census Data, Australia , 2016  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/11/2017  First Issue
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Unpaid Domestic Work: Number of Hours (DOMP)

For each person aged 15 years and over, this variable records the number of hours spent performing unpaid domestic work. It includes work that the person did without pay, in their own home and in other places, for themselves, their family and other people in the household, in the week prior to Census night. It is applicable to all persons 15 years and over.

How this variable is created

The responses to this question are captured automatically from mark box responses on the form so the risk of processing error is minimal. In 2.5% of preprocessed data, respondents provided more than the required one response. Where more than one response was marked, the 'Yes' response with the highest number of hours was accepted over any other responses, including any 'No' response. An image of this question is provided below.

Variable history

Questions on unpaid work, including unpaid domestic work, were first asked in the 2006 Census. These questions were repeated for 2011 and 2016. No changes were made for 2016.

Non-response rate

Item non-response rates are a measure of how many people did not respond to a particular question as a proportion of the total number of people the question was applicable to. In this instance the response is left as not stated.

The majority of item non-response is attributable to the people who did not respond to the Census at all. Refer to item non-response rates for more information. The second and smaller contributor to item non-response is when people return a Census form but may not answer a particular question(s). For more information, refer to Understanding Census data quality.

The non-response rate for this variable was 8.8% (8.5% in 2011).

Data usage notes

This variable records information on unpaid work done for the person's own household, including the number of hours spent doing this work. Information on the number of hours spent was collected in ranges (see 2016 Household form image of the question) and referred to the week prior to the Census to assist recall of the amount of time spent on these activities.

Further information

A definition of Unpaid Domestic Work Number of Hours is available in the 2016 Census Dictionary.
For more information about Unpaid work, see the Glossary for Unpaid Work in the 2016 Census Dictionary.

Household form question image

Question 48 as it appeared on the 2016 Census Household paper Form:

Image: 2016 Household Paper Form - Question 48. In the last week did the person spend time doing unpaid domestic work for their household?
A text only version of the online Census Household form paper is available from the Downloads tab.