NATIONAL INDIGENOUS REFORM AGREEMENT (NIRA) INDICATORS

The National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) is an Intergovernmental Agreement endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments. Also known as the 'Closing the Gap' agenda, this is a partnership between all levels of government to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to achieve the target of closing the gap in outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people. Progress towards the Closing the Gap targets is measured by a set of indicators known as the Closing the Gap or NIRA indicators.

The ABS Census of Population and Housing is the primary data source for NIRA Indicators 'Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent' and 'Proportion of Indigenous 20 to 64 year olds with or working towards post school qualification AQF Certificate III or above'. It is also a supplementary data source for the NIRA 'Level of workforce participation' indicators.

The ABS provides data for these indicators to the Productivity Commission for the NIRA Performance Information report. Including these indicators in the 2016 Census TableBuilder 'Employment, Income and Education' Basic and 'Counting Persons, Place of Work' Pro Microdata products enables users to analyse them in combination with other Census data topics. They are also complicated to derive and are in demand from a wide range of data users.

The following NIRA indicators are available:

• Level of workforce participation - Proportion of the population who are in the labour force ('Labour Force Participation Flag')
• Level of workforce participation - Proportion of population employed ('Employment Flag')
• Level of workforce participation - Proportion of the labour force who are unemployed ('Unemployment Flag')
• Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent ('Attainment of Year 12 or Certificate II or higher')
• Proportion with or working towards post school qualification in AQF Certificate III or above ('Attainment of Certificate III or higher or Working Towards a Non-School Qualification')

To accompany the NIRA level of workforce participation indicators a 'Survey Comparison Flag' data item has been included in the set. If this flag is included in a table it will apply a filter to approximate a population that is comparable with in-scope survey populations that are also used to measure progress against NIRA level of workforce participation indicators.

An additional data item 'Attainment of Year 12 or Certificate III or higher' has also been included. This indicator is used in the Report on Government Services indicator BA.12 'Proportion of 20-24 year olds who have completed year 12 (or equivalent) or Certificate III level or above'.

See the 'Data usage' section for further information on using these indicators.


NIRA INDICATORS IN TABLEBUILDER

(i) NIRA Indicator 14: Level of workforce participation - Proportion of the population who are in the labour force

LFFP	Labour Force Participation Flag
	Flag indicates whether or not a person is participating in the labour force as derived from Census Labour Force Status (LFSP). This allows calculation of the proportion of the population that is in the labour force as used in National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) Indicator 14 - Level of workforce participation.
Applicable to:	All persons aged 15 years and over
Categories	1 Participates in the Labour Force 2 Not in the Labour Force @ Not applicable - Exclude from table
Number of categories	3
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
	Persons whose labour force status was not stated Persons under 15 years of age Overseas visitors

(ii) NIRA Indicator 14: Level of workforce participation - Proportion of the population who are employed

EMFP	Employment Flag
	Flag derives custom employment status categories from Census Labour Force Status (LFSP) to aid calculation of the proportion of the population that is employed, as used in National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) Indicator 14 - Level of workforce participation.
Applicable to:	All persons aged 15 years and over
Categories	1 Employed 2 Unemployed or Not in the Labour Force @ Not applicable - Exclude from table
Number of categories	3
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
	Persons whose labour force status was not stated Persons under 15 years of age Overseas visitors

(iii) NIRA Indicator 14: Level of workforce participation - Proportion of the population who are unemployed

UEFP	Unemployment Flag
	Flag derives custom employment status categories from Census Labour Force Status (LFSP) to aid calculation of the proportion of the labour force that is unemployed, as used in National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) Indicator 14 - Level of workforce participation.
Applicable to:	All persons aged 15 years and over
Categories	1 Unemployed 2 Employed @ Not applicable - Exclude from table
Number of categories	3
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
	Persons whose labour force status was not stated or not in the labour force Persons under 15 years of age Overseas visitors

(iv) Level of Workforce Participation Survey Comparison Flag

SVFP	Level of Workforce Participation Survey Comparison Flag
	Using this flag approximates a population that is comparable with in-scope survey populations that are used to calculate measures for the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) Indicator 14 - Level of workforce participation. This is intended for use with the NIRA level of workforce participation indicators. Persons out of scope of the survey population include persons living in non-private dwellings, temporary visitors, overseas visitors, members of the permanent defence forces and foreign government representatives.
Applicable to:	All persons aged 15 years and over
Categories	1 In scope of NIRA level of workforce participation survey comparison population @ Not applicable - Exclude from table
Number of categories	2
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
	Persons living in non-private dwellings or temporary visitors to a dwelling Members of the permanent defence forces or members of foreign representations Persons under 15 years of age Overseas visitors

(v) NIRA Indicator 12: Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate II or higher

For further information on how this data item is derived, please see the 'Specifications for NIRA education indicators' spreadsheet in the Downloads tab.

YR12C2P	Attainment of Year 12 or Certificate II or higher
	Flag indicates a person's attainment of educational qualifications of Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate II or higher, as derived from Census measures of Highest Year of School Completed (HSCP) and Non-School Qualifications: Level of Education (QALLP). This allows calculation of the proportion of the population that has attained the relevant qualifications, as used in National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) Indicator 12 - Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent.
Applicable to:	All persons aged 15 years and over
Categories	1 Attained Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate II or higher 2 Has not attained Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate II or higher @ Not applicable - Exclude from table
Number of categories	3
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
	Persons without Year 12 attainment whose non-school qualification: level of education was not stated or inadequately described Persons who did not state their highest year of school completed and who had not completed a non-school qualification: level of education at Certificate II or higher Persons who did not state their highest year of school completed and whose non-school qualification: level of education was not stated or inadequately described Persons under 15 years of age Overseas visitors

(vi) RoGS Indicator BA.12: Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate III or higher

For further information on how this data item is derived, please see the Specifications for NIRA education indicators' spreadsheet in the Downloads tab.

YR12C3P	Attainment of Year 12 or Certificate III or higher
	Flag indicates a person's attainment of educational qualifications of Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate III or higher, as derived from Census measures of Highest Year of School Completed (HSCP) and Non-School Qualifications: Level of Education (QALLP). This allows calculation of the proportion of the population that has attained the relevant qualifications, as used in the Report on Government Services (RoGS) Indicator BA.12 - Proportion of 20-24 year olds who have completed Year 12 (or equivalent) or Certificate III level or higher.
Applicable to:	All persons aged 15 years and over
Categories	1 Attained Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate III or higher 2 Has not attained Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate III or higher @ Not applicable - Exclude from table
Number of categories	3
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
	Persons without Year 12 attainment whose non-school qualification: level of education was not stated or inadequately described Persons who did not state their highest year of school completed and who had not completed a non-school qualification: level of education at Certificate III or higher Persons who did not state their highest year of school completed and whose non-school qualification: level of education was not stated or inadequately described Persons under 15 years of age Overseas visitors

(vii) NIRA Indicator 15: Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate III or higher

For further information on how this data item is derived, please see the 'Specifications for NIRA education indicators' spreadsheet in the Downloads tab.

C3SP	Attainment of Certificate III or higher or Working Towards a Non-School Qualification
	Flag indicates whether a person has attained a Certificate III or higher or is currently studying a non-school qualification, as derived from Census measures of Non-School Qualifications: Level of Education (QALLP) and Type of Educational Attainment Attending (TYPP). This allows calculation of the proportion of the population that has attained the relevant qualifications or is studying for a non-school qualification, as used in National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) Indicator 15 - Proportion of Indigenous 20-64 year olds with or working towards post school qualification in Certificate III or above.
Applicable to:	All persons aged 15 years and over
Categories	1 Attained Certificate III or higher or studying for a non-school qualification 2 Has not attained Certificate III or higher and is not studying for a non-school qualification @ Not applicable - Exclude from table
Number of categories	3
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
	Persons whose non-school qualification: level of education was not stated or inadequately described and who were not currently studying a non-school qualification Persons who had not completed a non-school qualification: level of education at Certificate III or higher and whose type of educational institution currently attending was not stated Persons whose non-school qualification: level of education was not stated or inadequately described and whose type of educational institution currently attending was not stated Persons under 15 years of age Overseas visitors

DATA USAGE

Users of these indicators wishing to recreate the data provided in the 2016-17 NIRA Performance Information report will need to exclude the 'Not applicable - Exclude from table' category from their table. They will also need to include the level of geography required in tables produced.

They will need to include additional data items like Indigenous status (INGP). For example, to extract data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, users will need to group together INGP categories 3,4 and 5.

Users will also need to include the relevant age group (AGEP) in their table for each indicator as shown in Table 1, and if they wish to produce a level of workforce participation survey comparison population table, they will need to add the Survey Comparison Flag.


Table 1: Guide to using of Age and Survey Comparison data items to produce NIRA indicators

Indicator	Include Age Group
Level of workforce participation - Proportion of the population who are in the labour force	15-64 years
Level of workforce participation - Proportion of population employed	15-64 years
Level of workforce participation - Proportion of the labour force who are unemployed	15-64 years
Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate II or above	20-24 years
Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent or Certificate III or above	20-24 years
Proportion with or working towards post school qualification in AQF Certificate III or above	20-64 years
Indicator	Include Survey Comparison Flag
Level of workforce participation Census population tables	✘
Level of workforce participation survey comparison population tables	✔

There could be minor differences between ABS data produced for the NIRA Performance Information report and data produced in TableBuilder. This is because Census datasets in TableBuilder have additional confidentiality applied through perturbation, which might result in marginal differences in Census counts from other data released by the ABS. For further information on perturbation, see the Census of Population and Housing - QuickStats, Community Profiles and DataPacks User Guide, Australia, 2016 (cat no. 2916.0).

Users are advised that labour force status in the Census of Population and Housing is determined from four simple questions. While these questions to seek to measure concepts related to employment, unemployment and being outside of the labour force, there are a number of differences between what is collected in the Census and what is collected in the ABS Labour Force Survey. For more information see 'The 2016 Census and the Labour Force Survey' page under 'Conceptual information' in this publication.


FURTHER INFORMATION

For more information on these indicators see the National Indigenous Reform Agreement Performance data and the Report on Government Services websites.

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