GLOSSARY

Born in Australia

Includes persons born in Australia, Norfolk Island and Australian External Territories.

Considered job to be casual

Employees who considered their job to be casual, regardless of any entitlements that they may receive.

Continuous duration with current employer/business

The length of the current period of employment people had with their employer or in their own business. The length of time includes periods of paid leave, unpaid leave or strike.

Drawings

Drawings are where the owner of a business withdraws money from the business for their personal use, or where an employee withdraws money from their employer for their personal use.

Employed

People aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:

• worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind, in a job or business or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers); or
• worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers); or
• were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
  • away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week;
  • away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week;
  • away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement;
  • on strike or locked out;
  • on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job; or
• were employers or own account workers who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Contributing family workers in their main job were excluded from the Forms of Employment Survey.

Employees

From November 2008, the Forms of Employment Survey definition of employees differs from the definition used in the Labour Force Survey, other household surveys (including earlier FOES), and employer surveys.

• Forms of Employment Survey (from November 2008): Employees are people who work for a public or private employer and receive remuneration in wages or salary. Employees are engaged under a contract of service (an employment contract) and take directions from their employer/supervisor/manager/foreman on how the work is performed.
• Labour Force Survey and other household surveys (including FOES prior to 2008): Employees are persons who:
  • worked for a public or private employer; and
  • received remuneration in wages or salary; or are paid a retainer fee by their employer and worked on a commission basis, for tips, piece-rates or payment in kind; or
  • operated their own incorporated enterprise with or without hiring employees.
• Employer surveys: Employees are wage and salary earners who received pay for any part of the reference period.

Fixed-term contract

A contract of employment which specifies that the employment will be terminated on a particular date/event.

Form of employment

Classifies employed persons according to the following categories on the basis of their main job (that is, the job in which the most hours were usually worked):

• Employees;
  • With paid leave entitlements;
  • Without paid leave entitlements;
• Independent contractors; or
• Other business operators.

See Appendix 1 for more information.

Full-time workers in main job

Employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in their main job) and others who, although usually worked fewer than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.

Holiday leave

Provision by an employer of paid holiday, vacation or recreation leave.

Hours usually worked

The number of hours usually worked in a week.

Hours worked

The number of hours actually worked during the reference week.

Independent contractors

Independent contractors are persons who operate their own business and who are contracted to perform services for others without having the legal status of an employee, i.e. persons who are engaged by a client, rather than an employer to undertake the work. Independent contractors are engaged under a contract for services (a commercial contract), whereas employees are engaged under a contract of service (an employment contract).

Independent contractors' employment may take a variety of forms, for example, they may have a direct relationship with a client or work through an intermediary. Independent contractors may have employees, however they spend most of their time directly engaged with clients or on client tasks, rather than managing their staff. See Appendix 1 for more information.

Industry

An industry is a group of businesses or organisations that undertake similar economic activities to produce goods and services. In this publication, industry of main job refers to ANZSIC Division as classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0).

Long service leave

Provision by an employer or industry body of paid long service leave.

Main English-speaking countries

The list of main English-speaking countries provided here is not an attempt to classify countries on the basis of whether or not English is the predominant or official language of each country. It is a list of the main countries from which Australia receives, or has received, significant numbers of overseas settlers who are likely to speak English. These countries comprise the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the United States of America.

Main job

The job in which the most hours were usually worked.

Maternity/paternity leave

The provision by an employer of paid maternity/paternity leave.

Multiple job holders

Employed people who, during the reference week worked in more than one job. Only information about second job was collected. Multiple jobholders exclude those who changed employer in the reference week. People who were contributing family workers or unpaid voluntary workers in their second job were excluded from the Multiple jobholder population.

Occupation

An occupation is a collection of jobs that are sufficiently similar in their title, tasks, skill level and skill specialisation, which are grouped together for the purposes of classification. In this publication, occupation refers to Major Group as defined by the ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition, Revision 1, 2009 (cat. no. 1220.0).

Other business operators

People who operate their own business, with or without employees, but who are not operating as independent contractors. Other business operators are distinguished from independent contractors in that they tend to generate their income from managing their staff or from selling goods or services to the public, rather than providing a labour service directly to a client. Other business operators spend little time working on client tasks with most of their time spent on managing their employees and/or business. See Appendix 1 for more information.

Part-time workers in main job

Employed persons who usually worked fewer than 35 hours a week (in their main job) and who did so during the reference week.

Reference week

The week preceding the week in which the interview was conducted.

Sick leave

Provision by an employer of paid sick leave.

With paid leave entitlements

Employees who were entitled to either paid holiday leave or paid sick leave (or both) in their main job. For more information see paragraph 17 of the Explanatory Notes.

Without paid leave entitlements

Employees who were not entitled to either paid holiday leave or paid sick leave, or did not know whether they were entitled to paid holiday leave or paid sick leave in their main job. For more information, see paragraph 17 of the Explanatory Notes.

Worked on a fixed-term contract

Employees with a contract of employment which specifies that the employment will be terminated on a particular date/event.