Tourism Satellite Accounts: quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, experimental estimates methodology

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Reference period
December 2020
Released
19/03/2021

Methodology

Introduction

This release presents experimental quarterly statistics on tourism related employed persons and jobs. Information produced in this publication draws on data published in the latest available issue of the Australian Labour Account. Labour statistics in this release relate to the direct impact of tourism only. A direct impact occurs where there is a direct relationship (physical and economic) between the visitor and producer of a good or service.

Calculation of tourism labour statistics

Quarterly tourism labour statistics are derived for each tourism characteristic and connected industry based on a concordance with the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) industries, which is the classification used in Labour Account, Australia (cat. no. 6150.0.55.003). Tourism labour estimates are then calculated by applying a tourism value added industry ratio to each tourism industry. These ratios are calculated during the TSA benchmark process (2006-07, 2009-10, 2012-13 and 2016-17). More information on this process can be found in the Explanatory Notes of the 2016-17 TSA benchmark publication.


Jobs and employed person counts are stock measures and represent the number of jobs or employed persons on the last day of the quarterly reference period e.g. 31 March in the March quarters.

Australian Labour Account

The Australian Labour Account provides a conceptual framework through which existing labour market data from different sources can be confronted and integrated, with the aim of producing a coherent and consistent set of aggregate labour market statistics. It incorporates labour input aggregates (persons, jobs and hours) which describe supply and demand in the labour market, as well as labour related payments (such as income and costs). The framework covers all types of employment including employees, self-employment and contributing family workers.


The concepts and definitions underlying the Australian Labour Account are built on International Labour Organisation fundamentals, and expands them to ensure consistency with the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA). The result provides a set of core macro-economic labour market variables derived from existing data through data integration, with both an industry focus and time series dimension.


A more detailed explanation of the Australian Labour Account can be found in the Methodology section of the Labour Account publication.

Part-time/full-time and male/female tourism labour statistics

Part-time, full-time, male and female employment ratios are derived for each tourism characteristic and connected industry using ratios derived from Labour Force Survey (LFS) data (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001). These ratios are applied to the tourism labour account filled jobs and main jobs estimates for each tourism industry. The ratios from the May LFS are used to calculate June quarter tourism statistics, August LFS are used to produce September tourism statistics etc.


These estimates are not available for employed persons because people may have multiple jobs and the sum of employed persons in the Australian Labour Account across industry divisions does not equal the total number of people employed in the whole economy. See the 'Persons quadrant' section of the Australian Labour Account: Concepts, Sources and Methods 2019 for more information. As a result, aggregate male/female and full-time/part-time splits for employed persons cannot be published.

Underlying assumptions

A number of assumptions underlie the compilation of the quarterly tourism labour statistics. These include:

  • Persons employed and jobs in tourism related industries will generally provide goods and services to both visitors and non-visitors. Therefore, tourism employment can be derived by applying tourism value added industry ratios to employment estimates for each industry.
  • The structure of the economy generally changes slowly over time, therefore employment generated by tourism in each industry is directly related to value added generated by tourism in the benchmark year. This assumption holds well except when there are sudden economic shocks that result in structural changes to the economy, e.g. a health pandemic, and/or significant changes in input costs (such as fuel). Ideally, the tourism value added ratios would be updated every quarter in the Quarterly Tourism Labour Statistics to reflect the current situation, however, data availability means this is not possible practically.
  • The distribution of part-time, full-time, male and female employment from the Labour Force, Australia, Detailed (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) for a given industry is consistent with the distribution of part-time, full-time, male and female employment and jobs within the tourism share of that particular industry.

Revisions to tourism labour estimates

Revisions are a necessary and expected part of accounts compilation as data sources are updated and improved over time. This experimental publication draws on data published in the latest available issue of the Australian Labour Account. As such, any revisions made subsequent to that release will not be reflected in this release. Source data revisions will be incorporated into future publications in line with the TSA revision policy. Further information about revisions to the Labour Account can be found in the Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Oct 2019 (cat. no. 6150.0).

Comparison with annual tourism employment statistics

Estimates in this release will differ to the levels of Tourism employed persons published in the annual release of the TSA due to the different underlying data source and the frequency of publication. Please see the Feature Article in March quarter 2020 release for more information.

Appendix - Tourism industry correspondence

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Tourism related industries

The following table shows the correspondence between tourism related industries and industries in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).

Tourism industry correspondence
Characteristic and connected tourism industriesANZSIC codeANZSIC industry
Accommodation44Accommodation
Ownership of dwellings6711Residential property operators
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services451Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services
Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars452Pubs, taverns and bars
453Clubs (hospitality)
Rail transport47Rail transport
Taxi transport4623Taxi and other road transport
Other road transport461Road freight transport
4621Interurban and rural bus transport
4622Urban bus transport (including tramway)
Air, water and other transport48Water transport
49Air and space transport
50Other transport
Transport equipment rental6611Passenger car rental and hiring
Travel agency and information centre services722Travel agency and tour arrangement services
7299Other Administrative Services n.e.c.
Cultural services89Heritage activities
90Creative and performing arts activities
Casinos and other gambling services92Gambling activities
Sports and recreation services91Sports and recreation activities
Automotive fuel retailing40Fuel retailing
Other retail trade39Motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts retailing
41Food retailing
42Other store-based retailing
43Non-store retailing and retail commission based buying and/or selling
Education and training80Preschool and school education
81Tertiary education
82Adult, community and other education
All other industries All other industries

Tourism employment industries for labour statistics

The following table shows how the tourism employment industries correspond with the tourism related industries in the table above.

Tourism employment industries
Tourism employment industriesTourism related industries
AccommodationAccommodation
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food servicesCafes, restaurants and takeaway food services
Clubs, pubs, taverns and barsClubs, pubs, taverns and bars
Rail transportRail transport
Road transport and transport equipment rentalTaxi transport; other road transport; motor vehicle hiring
Air, water and other transportAir, water and other transport
Travel agency and information centre servicesTravel agency and information centre services
Cultural servicesCultural services
Casinos and other gambling servicesCasinos and other gambling services
Sports and recreation servicesOther sports and recreation services
Retail tradeOther retail trade; automotive fuel retailing
Education and trainingEducation and training
All other industriesAll other industries

Glossary

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Employees

Employees are persons who work for a public or private employer and receive remuneration in wages, salary, a retainer fee from their employer while working on a commission basis, tips, piece rates, or payment in kind. Employees are engaged under a contract of service (an employment contract) and take directions from their employer/supervisor/manager/foreman on how work is performed.

Filled jobs

Filled jobs refer to all positions of employment that are currently filled (including self-employment). Filled jobs can be measured from either household sources (such as the Labour Force Survey), or business sources (such as the Economic Activity Survey).

Full-time workers

Employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working fewer than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week. See also Part-time workers.

Gross value added

The value of output at basic prices minus the value of intermediate consumption at purchasers' prices. The term is used to describe gross product by industry and by sector. Basic prices valuation of output removes the distortion caused by variations in the incidence of commodity taxes and subsidies across the output of individual industries.

Labour Account

Labour Account added as a prefix to a data item (e.g. Labour Account main job and Labour Account secondary job) are indicative of statistical estimates made to address scope discrepancies between the principal data sources (such as the household Labour Force Survey) and the conceptual scope of the Australian Labour Account (the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) production and residence boundaries). For example, the number of filled jobs reported in the Labour Force Survey is adjusted by adding estimates of jobs held by members of the permanent defence forces, child workers and short-term visa holders, and deducting an estimate of Australian residents employed by non-resident enterprises.

Labour Account Adjustments to employed persons

Adjustments to employed persons are the additions and deductions made to align the scope of the Labour Force Survey with Australian System of National Accounts concepts of production and residency.

Additions are made for:

  • persons working in the permanent defence forces;
  • non-residents (short term visitors) living in Australia and employed by Australian resident enterprises; and
  • child workers.

Deductions are made for:

  • Australian residents living in Australia employed by non-resident enterprises.

Labour Account employed persons

Labour Account employed persons is the sum of all persons engaged by Australian resident enterprises in economic activity within the System of National Accounts (SNA) production boundary.

Labour Account labour force

The Labour Force, also referred to as the currently economically active population, is the aggregate of employed and unemployed persons which gives a measure of the number of people contributing to, or actively looking and immediately available for, the supply of labour at a point in time. Labour Account labour force is the sum of Labour Account employed persons and Labour Force Survey unemployed persons.

Labour Account main job

Labour Account main job is the main activity carried out by an employed person. In the Australian context, this is the job in which most hours are usually worked. An employed person can only have one main job.

Labour Account secondary job

Labour Account secondary job is any job held by an employed person, other than their main job. A person can have multiple secondary jobs.

Labour Force Survey employed persons

Labour Force Survey employed persons is the sum of all persons, defined as employed in line with ILO guidelines and in ABS official employment statistics (Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, cat. no. 6102.0.55.001).

An employed person must meet the following criteria:

  • be aged 15 years and over; and
  • be usually resident in Australia (i.e. not a short term visitor intending to stay in Australia for less than 12 months in a 16 month period); and
  • not be a member of the permanent defence forces of Australia, a foreign diplomat (or a dependant of a foreign diplomat) or a member of a foreign military force stationed in Australia (or their dependant); and
  • meet at least one of the following criteria during the Labour Force Survey reference week:
    • worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (contributing family workers); or
    • worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind, in a job or business or on a farm (Employees, Owner-Managers of Incorporated Enterprises (OMIEs), Self-employed persons (Owner-Managers of Unincorporated Enterprises (OMUEs)) and contributing family workers); or
    • were owner managers who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work; or
    • 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; or
      • 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; or
      • away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement; or
      • on strike or locked out; or
      • on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job.

Members of the permanent defence forces, certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments customarily excluded from census and estimated population counts, overseas residents in Australia, and members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependents) stationed in Australia are excluded from the Labour Force Survey.

Labour Force Survey main job

Labour Force Survey main job is the number of main jobs held by members of the usually resident civilian population aged 15 years and over. This is the official estimate of the number of main jobs derived from data collected in the household Labour Force Survey and published in Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).

Part-time workers

Employed persons who usually worked fewer than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and either did so during the reference week or were not at work during the reference week. See also Full-time workers.

Tourism

Comprises the activities of visitors. See also Visitor.

Tourism characteristic industries

Industries that would either cease to exist in their present form, producing their present product(s), or would be significantly affected if tourism were to cease. Under the international Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) standards, core lists of tourism characteristic industries, based on the significance of their link to tourism in the worldwide context, are recommended for implementation to facilitate international comparison. In the Australian TSA, for an industry to be a country-specific tourism characteristic industry, at least 25 per cent of its output must be consumed by visitors.

Tourism connected industries

Industries other than tourism characteristic industries, for which a tourism related product is directly identifiable (primary) to, and where the products are consumed by visitors in volumes which are significant for the visitor and/or the producer. All other industries are classified as non-tourism industries, though some of their products may be consumed by visitors and are included in the calculation of direct tourism gross value added and direct tourism GDP.

Tourism industry ratio

This is the proportion of the total value added of an industry which is related to tourism.

Visitor

A visitor is defined as any person 'taking a trip to a main destination outside his/her usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose (business, leisure or other personal purpose) other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited'.

Quality declaration - summary

Institutional environment

For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.

Relevance

This publication contains experimental estimates of tourism labour statistics based on the Australian Labour Account. The Australian Labour Account provides a conceptual framework through which existing labour market data from different sources can be confronted and integrated, with the aim of producing a coherent and consistent set of aggregate labour market statistics. The Australian Labour Account is macro-economic in scope, building on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) fundamentals and expanding them to ensure consistency with the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA). It aims to extend the analytical capacity of national accounts data by providing a tourism labour-specific lens.


Tourism labour statistics relate to the direct impact of tourism only. A direct impact occurs where there is a direct relationship (physical and economic) between the visitor and producer of a good or service. Indirect effects of tourism consumption is a broader notion that includes downstream effects of tourism demand and is out of scope for this publication. These concepts are consistent with the annual Tourism Satellite Account (cat. no. 5249.0).

Timeliness

The Tourism Satellite Account, quarterly tourism labour statistics, experimental estimates will be released quarterly after the release of the latest quarter of the Australian Labour Account (cat. no. 6150.0.55.003). This means that these statistics will normally be released between 3 and 4 months after the reference period.

Accuracy

Accuracy remains the main focus of ABS quality control. However, due to the variety of data sources and the compilation methodology for the quarterly tourism labour statistics, users should exercise some caution in the use and interpretation of the results. In order to produce estimates for tourism industries, assumptions have been made and applied to data from the Labour Account and Labour Force Survey. The assumptions made are noted in the Explanatory Notes and may impact on the quality of the statistics. Moreover, major tourism aggregates such as direct tourism employment and jobs are not directly observable in practice and assumptions have been made to create the estimate.


For more information on the accuracy of the Australian Labour Account and the Labour Force Survey refer to their respective Quality Declarations.

Coherence

Data in this publication has been designed to complement other tourism statistics published in the annual Tourism Satellite Account (cat. no. 5249.0).

 

Tourism labour data produced in this publication is directly comparable to labour data for other industries published in the Australian Labour Account (cat. no. 6150.0.55.003).

Interpretability

Analysis and commentary is included with each publication to provide more information and discussion of the estimates. Users may wish to refer to the Explanatory Notes and Glossary to help interpret the information provided in this release.

 

For more information on the interpretability of the Australian Labour Account and the Labour Force Survey refer to their respective Quality Declarations.

Accessibility

The Tourism Satellite Account, quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, experimental release is available on the ABS website with data contained in a Data Cube. If the information you require is not available as a standard product or service, then ABS Consultancy Services may be able to help you with customised services to suit your needs. Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

Abbreviations

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'000thousand
$mmillion dollars
ABSAustralian Bureau of Statistics
ANZSICAustralian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification
ASNAAustralian System of National Accounts
LFSLabour Force Survey
SNA08System of National Accounts 2008 version
TSATourism Satellite Account
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