WHAT'S NEW AT ABS ...


WHAT'S NEW

Schools, Australia, 2008

Causes of Death, Australia, 2007

Australian Social Trends, March 2009

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Home Ownership: A snapshot, 2006

A New Look at Our Society with: A Picture of the Nation: the Statistician's Report on the 2006 Census

Education News, March 2009

Migrant Statistics News, Apr 2009

Culture and Recreation News, 2009

Methodological News, March 2009

Information Paper: Review of Interstate Migration Method, March 2009

Research Paper: Exploring Measures of Low Social Capital, March 2009

Research Paper: Reviewing the ABS' Hedonic Regression Model for Desktop Computers (Methodology Advisory Committee), November 2008

Discussion Paper: Proposed Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA), 2008

Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia, September 2008

Microdata: Employee Earnings and Hours, Expanded CURF, Australia, May 2006

Local Government and ABS, March 2009

Characteristics of Australian Exporters, 2007-08

Museums, Australia, 2007-08

Changes to the ABS Survey Program

ABS Release Information

Queensland Theme Page


SCHOOLS, AUSTRALIA, 2008

Schools, Australia 2008 (cat. no. 4221.0) was released 17 March 2009. This publication contains statistics on school, students and teaching staff involved in the provision or administration of primary and secondary education, in government and non-government schools for all Australian states and territories. Also included are derived measures of student participation, continuation, progression (new in 2008) and retention, and ratios of students to teachers. Many of the statistical tables include selected time series.

Selected results for Queensland include:

• In 2008, there were 1,713 schools in Queensland employing 57,509 teaching staff and catering for 712,434 students.
• The number of government schools in Queensland has decreased 4.1% from 1,307 in 1998 to 1,250 in 2008. Over the same period, non-government schools have increased 11% from 419 to 463.
• In 2008 there were 479,850 full-time government students in Queensland (an increase of 14% from 1998) and 226,612 full-time non-government students (an increase of 39% from 1998).
• Between 1998 and 2008 the total number of primary teacher full-time equivalents increased 34% to 27,086. Secondary teacher full-time equivalents increased 26% over the same period to 21,879. The proportion of male teacher full-time equivalents has steadily declined between 1998 and 2008, from 24% to 20% for primary teachers and from 46% to 42% for secondary teachers.

CAUSES OF DEATH, AUSTRALIA, 2007

Causes of Death, Australia, 2007 (cat. no. 3303.0) was released 18 March 2009. This publication presents statistics on the number of deaths, for year of registration by state or territory of Australia, sex, selected age groups, and causes of death classified to the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases (ICD) Version 10. Causes of death is presented in the publication in a number of different ways including: by underlying cause, leading causes and multiple causes.

In prior years, statistics on perinatal deaths have been included in this publication, however, from the 2007 reference year this data will be published in Perinatal Deaths, Australia (cat. no. 3304.0)

Selected results for Queensland include:

• There were 25,801 deaths of Queenslanders in 2007. Diseases of the circulatory system (cardiovascular disease) accounted for one third (33%) of all deaths and cancer accounted for a further 27%.
• There were 1,553 deaths due to external causes (accidents, poisoning and violence). Suicide accounted for 18% of these deaths and transport accidents contributed a further 16%.
• Between 1998 and 2007 the number of Queenslanders dying from dementia and alzheimer's disease has more than doubled (from 497 deaths in 1998 to 1,263 deaths in 2007.

AUSTRALIAN SOCIAL TRENDS, MARCH 2009

Australian Social Trends, March 2009 (cat. no. 4102.0) was released 25 March 2009 and is the first of four issues for 2009. This publication is now available quarterly after being issued annually from 1994 to 2008.

The March 2009 issue features articles about Australia's ageing population, including future population trends, retirement and superannuation. There are eight articles in all, covering these and a range of other topics such as marriage and partnering, mental health and renewable energy.

Selected results for Queensland include:

• In 2007, there were 2,089,000 males and 2,093,00 females in Queensland and the population grew by 90,500 people.
• In 2007, 91% of children aged 12-15 months and 88% of children aged 72-75 months were fully immunised.
• Private health insurance was held by 41% of Queenslanders.
• The unemployment rate in 2007 was 4.0%, the lowest rate during a steady decline from 9.2% in 1997.
• Trade union membership in Queensland has declined from 31% in 1997 to 18% in 2007.
• Real household final consumption expenditure per person rose from $18,900 in 1997 to $25,700 in 2007.
• In 2007, 74% of households had a computer and 65% had Internet access and of those with Internet access, 68% had broadband.

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER HOME OWNERSHIP: A SNAPSHOT, 2006

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Home Ownership: A snapshot, 2006 (cat. no. 4722.0.55.005) was released 25 March 2009. This publication provides information about rates of home ownership for Indigenous and other Australian households, and about the characteristics of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians according to selected tenure types.

Selected results for Queensland from the 2006 Census:

• The proportion of Indigenous households who lived in owner occupied dwellings was 33% compared with 68% of other households.
• A significant proportion of Indigenous households lived in rented accommodation (64%).

A NEW LOOK AT OUR SOCIETY WITH: A PICTURE OF THE NATION: THE STATISTICIAN'S REPORT ON THE 2006 CENSUS

A Picture of the Nation: the Statistician's Report on the 2006 Census (cat. no. 2070.0), a recently released publication of the ABS, taps into a rich vein of data collected in the 2006 Census. This report looks at Australia in an exciting new way providing a detailed insight into our nation's people and culture.

Not just your standard statistical publication, A Picture of the Nation analyses the latest Census data and identifies emerging differences and similarities between the five age-based generation groups of: Oldest (aged 80+), Lucky (60 to 79), Baby Boomers (40 to 59), Gen X and Y (20 to 39) and the iGeneration (0 to 19).

A Picture of the Nation shows that the proportion of people stating 'no religion' is higher for each successive generation, while women have closed the gap in university qualifications with more women than men in Generation X and Y attaining a Bachelor Degree or higher (28% compared with 21%).

While the report looks at generational trends, it also provides a detailed analysis of other population groups such as working mothers, migrants, empty nesters, people with a need for assistance and many more...

A Picture of the Nation also backs up something that is becoming increasingly obvious in our society which is the continual increase in the number of young adults (aged 20-29) staying at home and living with their parents, which has jumped from 24% in 1986 to 31% in 2006. The report details that this trend is associated with young people’s increasing participation in education, and the delay of partnering and parenthood.

While a larger proportion of people in their early 20s lived with parents than people in their late 20s, this latter group increased at a faster rate. In 1986, 37% of 20-24 year olds were living with at least one parent, compared with 44% in 2006. Among 25-29 year olds, 11% lived with their parents in 1986 but this increased rapidly to 17% in 2006.

For a unique look into contemporary Australian society you can't go past A Picture of the Nation, an invaluable statistical reference.

To purchase your copy of A Picture of the Nation for $25.00, phone 1300 135 070, alternatively you may download chapters free from the ABS website using this link A Picture of the Nation.



EDUCATION NEWS, MARCH 2009

Education News, March 2009 (cat. no. 1330.0) was released 26 March 2009. This newsletter highlights the latest curriculum related teaching resources, student activities and statistical tools that have been developed by ABS Education Services as well as other ABS resources that are useful for schools.

Topics discussed in this latest edition include:

• CensusAtSchool news
• Interactive age-sex population pyramids
• CensusAtSchool for the time-poor teacher
• Free teacher professional development days
• New geography classroom activities
• The Statistician's Report, analysing the 2006 Census of Population and Housing.

MIGRANT STATISTICS NEWS

Migrant Statistics News, Apr 2009 (cat no. 3413.0) was released 7 April 2009. This edition of the newsletter includes information on important changes to the Migration, Australia (cat. no. 3412.0) publication as well as a range of other news which are sure to be of interest.

Topics include:

• The release of the second edition of Migrant Data Matrices, which incorporates all data cubes from the first edition as well as new information on births and marriages, plus data from the 2006 Census, 2007 Education and Work Survey and other recent collections.
• Video Help is on its way - Keep an eye out for a soon to be released new video which will assist you in navigating through the Migrant Data Matrices.
• The upcoming release of the next edition of Perspectives on Migrants which will specifically focus on visa categories. Four articles will present information on migrant flows and characteristics by visa type.
• The Statistician's Report on the 2006 Census looks at trends that have emerged within life-cycle groups (including migrants) as well as a detailed look at generational trends.
• The new ABS/Universities Australia agreement for 2009-2011 which now permits some commercial use of materials based on CURFs or from use of Census Table Builder.

CULTURE AND RECREATION NEWS, 2009

Culture and Recreation News, 2009 (cat. no. 4147.4.55.001) was released 18 March 2009. Culture and Recreation News is the half-yearly newsletter of the National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics (NCCRS). The newsletter highlights developments in arts and cultural heritage, and sports and recreation statistics, and provides relevant information for researchers, policy makers, service providers and others with an interest in this field.

Topics covered include:

• What is Sport?
• Detailed guidelines for cultural heritage organisations on how to collect and report on 18 key industry measures.
• Perspectives on Sport which includes articles on volunteers in sport and constraints and motivators in sport and physical recreation.
• The Sports compendium which provides a statistical overview of sports and physical recreation in Australia.

METHODOLOGICAL NEWS, MARCH 2009

Methodological News, Mar 2009 (cat. no. 1504.0) was released 26 March 2009. This is a quarterly information bulletin featuring articles on developments in this area. Topics discussed include: development of measures of social capital across individuals and communities; new benchmarks for stratification of business size; updates on the ABS quality framework and use of quality declarations written specifically for web-based dissemination and research on methods of detection of anomalous results for macroediting.


INFORMATION PAPER: REVIEW OF INTERSTATE MIGRATION METHOD, MARCH 2009

Information Paper: Review of Interstate Migration Method, March 2009 (cat. no. 3106.0.55.001) was released 18 March 2009. Within Australia there is no direct quarterly measure of interstate migration. Quarterly estimates of interstate migration are modelled using Medicare change of address data. This model is reviewed and updated every five years using data from the latest Census of Population and Housing.

Changes to the model, including updated expansion factors, have been applied to interstate migration estimates for September quarter 2006 and onwards. The method described in this paper will be used for the intercensal period 2006 to 2011 and onwards until once again it is reviewed after data from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing has been finalised.

This new model includes updated expansion factors based on data from the 2006 Census and additional Medicare data used to help measure multiple movers (i.e. persons who have moved more than once during the year prior to the 2006 Census). Expansion factors are used to account for an under coverage of Medicare change of address data by various ages and sex. The new model includes the following characteristics:

• Medicare data lagged by three months (both for calculating expansion factors and for estimating progressive quarters of interstate migration);
• smoothed inputs used to produce expansion factors (i.e. Census, Medicare & multiple movers data were smoothed);
• capping applied to expansion factors (in contrast to the 2001-2006 method); and
• expansion factors applied to males aged 17 to 30 years and females aged 17 to 25 years (this differs to the age range used in both the 1996-2001 and 2001-2006 methods).

RESEARCH PAPER: EXPLORING MEASURES OF LOW SOCIAL CAPITAL, MARCH 2009

Research Paper: Exploring Measures of Low Social Capital, March 2009 (cat. no. 1351.0.55.024) was released 25 March 2009. Developing measures of social capital across individuals and communities has attracted a large amount of attention and policy interest. Social capital theory attempts to deal with relationships: relationships within and between groups of people, and across society.


RESEARCH PAPER: REVIEWING THE ABS' HEDONIC REGRESSION MODEL FOR DESKTOP COMPUTERS (METHODOLOGY ADVISORY COMMITTEE) NOVEMBER 2008

Research Paper: Reviewing the ABS' Hedonic Regression Model for Desktop Computers (Methodology Advisory Committee), November 2008 (cat. no. 1352.0.55.099) was released 25 March 2009. Price indexes for products undergoing rapid quality change such as computers, whitegoods and cars are best determined using hedonic price regression models, provided suitable source data are available. This publication discusses the hedonic price regression model currently used by the ABS to determine price indexes for computers. In 2008, a review of a part of the method used to construct the index was undertaken, to ensure that the index remains relevant, given the fast evolving nature of computer technology.

This paper first details the review of the desktop computer price index, and then discusses how the recommendations arising from the review could be extended to provide a framework for the construction of price indexes for other consumer durables.


DISCUSSION PAPER: PROPOSED STANDARD ECONOMIC SECTOR CLASSIFICATIONS OF AUSTRALIA (SESCA), 2008

Discussion Paper: Proposed Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA), 2008 (cat. no. 1218.0.55.001) was released 26 March 2009. This discussion paper outlines the proposed revisions to the Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA) (cat. no. 1218.0) which will replace the 2002 version of the same publication. SESCA will be published as the Australian Standard in June 2009. Users are invited to comment on this discussion paper by 1 May 2009.


PERSONS NOT IN THE LABOUR FORCE, AUSTRALIA, SEPTEMBER 2008

Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia, September 2008 (cat. no. 6220.0) was released 27 March 2009. This publication presents information about people aged 15 years and over who are not in the labour force: that is, neither employed nor unemployed. The data measure the potential supply of labour not reflected in employment and unemployment statistics, and measure the characteristics of that potential supply.

Selected results for Queensland include:

• In September 2008, there were just over 1.0 million people aged 15 years and over who were not in the labour force.
• The main reasons for not being in the labour force were home duties or caring for children (31%), retired or voluntarily inactive (29%), own long term health condition or disability and attending an educational institution each with 13%.

MICRODATA: EMPLOYEE EARNINGS AND HOURS, EXPANDED CURF, AUSTRALIA, MAY 2006

Microdata: Employee Earnings and Hours, Expanded CURF, Australia, May 2006 (cat no. 6306.0.55.001) was released 31 March 2009. This Expanded Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) provides information from the May 2006 Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours.

The survey is designed to provide statistics on the composition and distribution of earnings and hours of employees and whether their pay is set by award, collective agreement or individual agreement. Distribution and composition of average weekly earnings and hours of employees is classified by sex, adult/junior, full-time/part-time, managerial/non-managerial, State/Territory, sector (private/public), employer unit size and composition of earnings and hours paid for. Methods of setting pay data are also available by jurisdiction.

This expanded CURF is available via the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Remote Access Data Laboratory (RADL). The RADL is accessible for authorised users via the ABS website.

Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, Expanded CURF, Technical Manual, May 2006 (cat no. 6306.0.55.002) was released on 31 March 2009. This technical manual provides information about confidentialised unit record data from the May 2006 Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours.


LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ABS, MARCH 2009

Local Government and ABS, Mar 2009 (cat. no. 1376.0) was released 17 March 2009. This newsletter contains a range of information on ABS developments in rural and regional statistics, and information about recent releases at Local Government level or other regional levels. This issue of the newsletter contains two feature articles. Explore your Local Government Area with CDATA Online, which shows how this tool can be used to create customised tables, maps and graphs for your local government area using 2006 Census data. The second feature article, Statistician's Report on the Census, summarises this release and highlights sections of the report that may be of particular interest to local government users.


CHARACTERISTICS OF AUSTRALIAN EXPORTERS, 2007-08

Characteristics of Australian Exporters, 2007-08 (cat. no. 5368.0.55.006) was released 26 March 2009. This publication presents an analysis of the characteristics and international trading activities of Australian exporters in 2007–08.

Selected results for Queensland include:

• In 2007-08, there were 5,659 locations of exporters of Queensland goods whose main location was in Queensland and 946 locations of exporters who had a branch office in Queensland.
• The value of Queensland goods exported by exporters with an ABN in 2007-08 was $35,318m with the major contributors being Retail trade (34%), Mining (26%) and Agriculture, forestry and fishing (23%). .
• 20% of Australia's total value of goods exports came from Queensland.

MUSEUMS, AUSTRALIA, 2007-08

Museums, Australia, 2007-08 (cat. no. 8560.0) was released 27 March 2009. This publication presents results from an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey of organisations engaged in operating museums and art galleries.

Selected results for Queensland include:

• At the end of June 2008, there were 256 museum/gallery locations in Queensland, employing 959 persons.
• During the month of June 2008, 3,366 volunteers at Queensland museums/galleries worked 73,252 hours.
• Queensland museums/galleries generated $106.0m during the 2007-08 financial year, while labour costs totalled $42.2m, with total expenses reaching $86,1m.
• Admissions totalled 3,641,100 in Queensland including 1,002,300 paid admissions.
• The number of museum object/artworks totalled 2,295,300 at the end of June 2008.
• The number of special exhibitions/displays held throughout Queensland during the 2007-08 financial year totalled 1,113.

CHANGES TO THE ABS SURVEY PROGRAM

The ABS is facing a tight budget situation in 2008-09, which has led to a range of reductions in the ABS work program. The Australian Statistician, Brian Pink, has outlined a number of strategies to address the situation in the document Changes to the ABS survey program for 2008-09 on the ABS Website. Use the link to see what the implications are for the affected surveys or programs and how to get further information.



ABS RELEASE INFORMATION

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website provides the expected release details for all statistical products due for publication in the coming six months.

The web page 'Releases Scheduled for the Next Six Months' is revised on the ABS website at the beginning of each month. This six-month forecasting is intended to keep clients informed about products and when they will become available.

All ABS core statistical and other statistical publications that usually have a catalogue number will be detailed as well as prominent non-statistical publications such as the ABS Annual Report and Australian Statistics Advisory Council Annual Report.

Access 'Releases Scheduled for the Next Six Months' from the ABS Home page via 'Future Releases' or use this link.

Information on all ABS product releases can also be accessed from ABS Release Advice. This web page also provides links to Previous Releases, Releases Scheduled for the Next Six Months and Main Economic Indicator Releases.


QUEENSLAND THEME PAGE

This page provides access to Queensland statistical information including statistical releases and links to non-ABS sources. A wide range of economic and social statistics is covered.