ABOUT THE SURVEY
Overview of the survey
The Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) collects detailed information about persons aged 15 years and over who are residents in private dwellings in urban and rural areas of Australia (excluding Very remote areas). Questions are asked about income, net worth and characteristics of people and households. The survey provides detailed information about: demographic and socio-economic characteristics, including education and labour force status; income amounts and sources; assets and liabilities; housing characteristics, including tenure, dwelling type and housing costs; and child care use and costs.
The SIH is currently conducted every 2 years. It is integrated with the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) whenever the HES is run (currently every 6 years). The SIH and HES were last integrated in 2009–10. The 2015–16 joint HES and SIH was in the field at the time of this publication release.
The 2013–14 SIH surveyed a sample of Australian dwellings between July 2013 and June 2014. In 2013–14, dwellings were selected through a stratified, multistage cluster design from the private dwelling framework of the ABS Population Survey Master Sample. Selections were distributed across a twelve month enumeration period so that the survey results represent changing income patterns across the year.
Information was collected from all persons aged 15 years and over in selected households. Computer assisted interviewing was used to conduct household and individual interviews. Information from 14,162 households was included in the final estimates.
Changes in the 2013–14 SIH
The 2013–14 SIH content was largely consistent with the 2011–12 SIH. Some changes were made in questions, definitions and methodology. Key changes to the SIH in the 2013–14 cycle include:
- The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2011 has been used for sample selection, weighting and output. At the sub-state level, this required a break in the time series. 2013–14 SIH included the Greater Capital City Statistical Area Index. The Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) was used in previous surveys
- The 2009–10 SIH sample introduced an extra 4,200 households outside of capital cities. The change was maintained for the 2011–12 and 2013–14 cycles
- 2013–14 SIH includes extra housing information last collected in 2007–08
- An item identifying carers has been added
- A new model of imputed rent has been designed and implemented
- Data on the new Dad and Partner Pay subsidy has been collected
- Selected social transfers in kind variables have been modelled
- The fully responding sample size decreased from 2011–12 to 2013–14 SIH (14,569 and 14,162 households respectively). The decrease had little impact on the key estimates, due to an increased sample loss and slightly lower response rates
- Additional information about lump sum amounts drawn from superannuation
- Previously, franking credits were partly modelled and were added to disposable income. In 2013–14 SIH, franking credits were modelled for all income from dividends, then added to gross income
The data item list is available from the Downloads tab for comparisons with previous SIH CURFs and changes to specific data items.
User guide
For more information, users of the microdata may refer to the
Survey of Income and Housing, User Guide, Australia, 2013–14 (cat. no. 6553.0). The SIH User Guide includes includes information about the purpose of the survey, the concepts and contents, and the methods and procedures used to collect the data and derive the estimates.
The remaining sections in this product provide information that is specifically relevant to using microdata release files.
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