• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

CENSUS DATA ENHANCEMENT


The 2011 Population Census has now concluded and work has commenced in the National Migrant Statistics Unit (NMSU) on the 2011 Census Data Enhancement (CDE) project. This project will use probabilistic linking techniques to match data from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's (DIAC) Settlement Database (SDB) for those migrants who have settled permanently in Australia from 1 January 2000 through to Census night 2011 (9th August). This project follows on from the 2006 Census Data Enhancement initiative.

As was the case for the 2006 linkage projects, there will be stringent safeguards in place to ensure the privacy, confidentiality and security of all information. This includes the functional separation of data files, regular audit checks of access to CDE files, as well as the usual confidentiality provisions that the ABS employs for all of its data.

There have been a number of quality improvements implemented for this project which we believe will ensure that the quality of the 2011 linkage outcome is significantly improved compared to the results gained from the 2006 linkage.

Outputs produced from the 2006 Census Data Enhancement project

Following the 2006 Census of Population and Housing the ABS conducted several quality studies as part of the Census Data Enhancement project. The Migrants Quality Study was conducted to assess the feasibility of linking the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s Settlement Database (SDB) to the Statistical Longitudinal Census Dataset (SLCD), without the use of name and address as linking variables. The results of this study were released in a research paper: Assessing the Quality of Linking Migrant Settlement Records to Census Data (cat. no. 1351.0.55.027) on 27 August 2009. This paper provides some background to the Migrants Quality Study, a brief description of the linking process, a thorough evaluation of the quality of the linked data, and then associated discussion about the usefulness of the linked data.

Two articles providing results from statistical studies using the Statistical Longitudinal Census Dataset (SLCD) were released in the June 2010 edition of Perspectives on Migrants (cat. no. 3416.0).

Settlement Outcomes for Humanitarian Program Migrants - Experimental Estimates from the Migrants Statistical Study
This article explores various aspects of Humanitarian migrants including: selected demographic characteristics (e.g. age, country of birth, religious affiliation, family composition, English proficiency), Australian citizenship status, education, employment, occupation, income and volunteer work.

Economic Outcomes of Skilled Program Migrants - Experimental Estimates from the Migrants Statistical Study
This article explores various aspects of Skilled migrants including: labour force status, characteristics of employed migrants, English proficiency, income, year of arrival and volunteer work.