Australia 1981-82 - Documentation

Table of Contents

• A. GENERAL INFORMATION
• B. POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE, SAMPLING METHODS
• C. MEASURES OF DATA QUALITY
• D. DATA COLLECTION AND ACQUISITION
• E. WEIGHTING PROCEDURES
• F. DETERMINATION OF SURVEY UNIT MEMBERSHIP
• G. CHILDREN AND SPOUSES
• H. AVAILABILITY OF BASIC SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
• I. AVAILABILITY OF LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION
• J. AVAILABILITY OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
• K. SOURCES AND AMOUNTS OF CASH INCOME
• L. TAXES
• M. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MAIN PUBLICATIONS BASED ON THE CSP PANEL

 

A. GENERAL INFORMATION (see note 1) back

Official name of the survey:
1981-82 Income and Housing Survey

Since 1979 the Australian Bureau of Statistics has conducted a series of special supplementary surveys based on the monthly labour force survey. Although the 1981-82 Income and Housing Survey was the fifth special supplementary survey, it was only the first survey since 1979 to collect detailed income data. It collected a wide range of information on education, incomes and housing costs. The main users of data from the survey have been the social policy departments of the Australian Government, and researchers in academic and private research centres.

The survey was funded by the Australian government. A public use unit record file of selected data from the survey is available for purchase from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This file has been used to generate the LIS data file. Users are restricted to using this file for statistical purposes only, and may not use it to identify individuals. Further information on the survey generally, and the conditions of usage of the unit record file in particular, can be obtained from:

The field work for the survey was conducted over the period September to November 1982 with income information collected both for the current period (e.g. most recent payment), and for the 1981-82 financial year. The demographic data in the LIS dataset thus refers to the time of interview, whilst the income data used is that for the 1981-82 year. A bibliography of the main official publications from this survey is provided in Section M. Unpublished documentation associated with the sample file is also available, and may be obtained  from the above address.

Note:

1. Compiled by Bruce Bradbury of the Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales. The author is grateful for the assistance provided by Jenny Doyle of the SPRC in the calculation of Table 17.2, and the general assistance of Bob Dutton of the Australia Bureau of Statistics, but retains responsibility for any errors.

 B POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE, SAMPLING METHODS back

1. The Sample Design and Sampling Frames

 The survey was conducted throughout Australia on a multi-stage area sample of private dwellings (about 15,000 houses, flats, etc.) and non-private dwellings (hotels, motels, etc.), and covered about one third of one per cent of the population of Australia. Selection probabilities were based on population estimates from the census and other data sources. The sampling fraction varied across the different states and territories of Australia in order to permit stable estimates for the smaller states.

Information was obtained by trained interviewers in a personal interview conducted with each person aged 14 years and over in the selected dwelling. The following persons were excluded from the scope of the survey:  

1. members of the Australian defence forces living in military establishments,
2. certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments customarily excluded from the census and estimated populations,
3. overseas visitors holidaying in Australia,
4. members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependents) stationed in Australia,
5. students in boarding schools, patients in hospitals and sanatoria, and inmates of prisons, reformatories etc.

 Families containing persons in any of these categories have also been excluded from the LIS database. In addition, households whose head fell into any of the following categories have been excluded from the LIS database:

•  Persons out of Australia for the whole of 1981-82;
•  Persons arriving in Australia during 1981-82;
•  Persons out of Australia for 13 weeks or more during 1981-82, and who were not working for an Australian business during this period.

 Where the household head did not fall into these categories, but other individuals in the household did, these individuals have been excluded from the calculation of LIS variables. Hence some families are coded as "married" but have D4=1 (because the spouse falls into one of these categories, but the head does not). Income questions were not asked of full-time school students aged 14 to 20 years, and  are assumed to be zero in the LIS variables.

Note:

2. These publications and other documents form the basis of the summary here. Direct quotes from these sources are not further acknowledged.

C. MEASURES OF DATA QUALITY  back

1. Response Rates

The survey was conducted under the Census and Statistics Act, which mandates participation. Consequently, response rates are very high. The response rates calculated from the initial fieldwork phase are summarised in Table AU81.1.

Table AU81.1
Response Rates

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, PSO Procedures, Special Supplementary Survey 9, Response and Sample Loss Tables.

The overall response rate of fully responding dwellings was 93.6 %. No analysis has been undertaken of the characteristics of non responding persons and households.

2. Reporting and Under-Reporting and Income Data Quality

 The survey data has been checked against the population census, National Accounts, income tax, Department of Social Security and Department of Veterans' Affairs aggregate statistics. In addition, extensive checks of the internal consistency of the data were carried out. A comparison of the survey income aggregates with those available from the Australian National Accounts is shown in Table AU81.2. (see note 3)

Total household disposable income recorded by the survey comprises only 82 per cent of that recorded by the National Accounts, but most of this difference can be explained by the conceptual differences in he two data sources. Though such conceptual differences apply to all the items in this table, some key issues of data quality are identifiable.

Note:

3. These calculations are based on the unit record file rather than the LIS database. In particular, the imputation of income tax has been done using a model developed by the Social Policy Research Centre, rather than the imputation model used by LIS.

Table AU81.2
Comparison with National Accounts Aggregates, 1981-82 

Source: 1981-82 Income Distribution Survey, Unit Record File, Australian National Accounts, National Income and Expenditure 1987-88, and SPRC calculations.

In the survey, recorded income from unincorporated enterprises is relatively high, and income from wages and salaries relatively low. This is because wages received by persons from their own limited liability company have been grouped with self-employment income. The convention followed by the National Accounts, however, is to classify this income as wages and salaries. (Note: in the 1985-86 survey [AS85] the income survey coding has been changed to correspond to the National Accounts basis).

•  Income from interest is very much under-recorded (though this is offset to a small extent by an over-estimate of dividend income).
•  Only three-quarters of personal benefits payments to residents are recorded in the survey. Much of this difference stems from the inclusion of benefits such as medical and pharmaceutical benefits in the National Accounts measures. However, there is also some apparent under-recording of income support payments. This is likely to be similar to that observed for the 1985-86 survey (AS85) (see AS85 file).
•  The synthetic modelling of personal income tax seems to be quite successful in replicating national aggregates. (Note, however, that this is a different, though similar, algorithm to that used in the LIS database).  

3. Data Corrections and Adjustments

Where respondents to the survey could not supply precise details of annual income from some sources, income from the sources concerned was derived from other known sources (e.g. pension rates) or was imputed from a similar source from other respondents with similar characteristics ("hot-decking"). Negative incomes are recorded as zero.

In addition, incomes that may be considered unusually high and therefore may possibly identify persons, have been adjusted. Such adjustments have been made over a range of disaggregations of the population and have been performed in such a way as to minimise the effect on the income distribution.

4. General Assessment of Income Data Quality

The main strength of the survey is the very high response rate resulting from the compulsory nature of the survey. Fieldwork procedures were also very thorough, with the request for respondents to refer to records expected to result in income levels close to those recorded for taxation purposes.

Nonetheless, it appears that the survey suffers from under-recording of unearned income, as is typical for most other income surveys. It should be noted, for instance, that one reason for discrepancies between the National Accounts and survey estimates is that the National Accounts explicitly adjust for the underreporting of income in taxation and similar data.

D. DATA COLLECTION AND ADMINISTRATION back

The data were collected via personal interviews with all persons aged 14 and over in the selected household. On the initial call the interviewer completed a household schedule, and then made arrangements (if necessary) to return to interview each person in the scope and coverage of the survey.

For each individual a detailed personal questionnaire was administered. Respondents were asked to refer to personal records such as taxation assessment or return forms, group certificates, pay slips, etc. where available.

E. WEIGHTING PROCEDURE back

Each person record in the file has a weight assigned which takes account of probability of selection in the sample from their region, with an adjustment to account for under-enumeration at the age, sex and metropolitan/rest of state level. The weights were derived from the monthly population benchmarks showing the number of persons in each part-of-state, cross classified by age and sex. Because of a requirement to obtain stable estimates for the smaller states, probabilities of selection vary significantly from state to state. Hence the use of weights to obtain Australian estimates is essential.

Weights for higher units of aggregation than the individual (i.e. for income units, families or households) were calculated as the harmonic mean of the person weights.

F. DETERMINATION OF SURVEY UNIT MEMBERSHIP back

The basic criteria for persons to be included were that they satisfied the scope criteria of the survey (see Section B) and were usual residents of the dwelling. However, usual residents of the dwelling were excluded if they were away from the dwelling for the whole of the field-work period, whilst visitors were excluded if they stayed at their usual residence (i.e. elsewhere) for any part of the period. Visitors were included in the survey if they did not usually live in a private dwelling. Visitors who were included in the survey at selected dwellings were allocated separate dwelling numbers on the public use unit tape.

To determine family relationships, respondents were asked to nominate a person as head of the household, with relationships being recorded relative to that person. Within households, respondents were classified into families and "income units".

Income units can be one of the following types: single adults, sole parents with dependent children, married couples or married couples with dependent children. Couples in "de-facto" (cohabiting) relationships are coded identically to those who are legally married.

Families comprise persons related by blood, marriage (legal or de-facto) or adoption with the proviso that there can only be one couple or sole parent per family. Thus a household comprising a married couple and their sole parent daughter is coded as two families, as is a household comprising a husband and wife together with the wife's mother and her husband.

The family head on the unit record file, however, is not necessarily the person nominated as household head by the initial respondent.

The family head is defined as the head of the primary income unit of the family. If this income unit is a couple, the husband is the head. The primary income unit is defined according to a pre-defined hierarchy, with married couples, for example, coming before individuals. In the LIS database, information at both the family and household level can be accessed (see variable D5), as well as at the person level.

G. CHILDREN AND SPOUSES back

Dependent children were defined as all unmarried persons living with their parent(s) and either under 15 years of age, or full-time students aged 15-20 years. Dependent children who were at school (but not in higher education) were not asked any income questions. Since all persons aged 14 and over were included in the unit record file, alternative definitions of children are possible. This information has been used to calculate LIS variable D27.

As noted above, couples in de-facto (cohabiting) relationships were coded as if married. De-facto relationships were defined as existing where a married couple live together in a married situation, but are not legally married. For example, responses such as "fiancee" and "living with my girlfriend/ boyfriend" are coded as de-facto.

H. AVAILABILITY OF BASIC SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION back

A wide range of social and demographic information is available from the survey, and most of this is also made available on the unit record file. Some variables, however, have had categories collapsed in order to protect the confidentiality of respondents. A summary of available variables is shown in Table AU81.3. These variables are available for all persons interviewed. Information on dependents aged under 14, however, is much more limited, consisting only of: the number of dependents, the age of the youngest (4 categories), and the number of children aged 0 to 4, 5 to 9 and 10 to 14.

Table A81.3
Basic Social and Demographic Information (available on public use unit record file)

I. AVAILABILITY OF LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION back

A wide range of labour force information was collected for all persons interviewed. These variables relate both to the persons' status at the time of interview, and their experience during the 1981-82 financial year. Table AU81.4 summarises the information available from the public use unit record file.

Table AU81.4
Labour Market Information

J. AVAILABILITY OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION back

Twelve separate regions are identified on the public use file (and the LIS database). These identify the state of residence, and for all states except Tasmania, whether or not the household is in the capital city statistical division.

K. SOURCES AND AMOUNTS OF CASH INCOME back

Both current and 1981-82 financial year incomes were recorded from a wide range of cash income sources. No information on income was collected from full-time school students aged 14 years or more, nor from persons overseas for the whole of 1981-82. The incomes recorded in the LIS database are for the 1981-82 fiscal year.

L. TAXES back

Personal income tax amounts payable for the 1981-82 financial year were collected. Since the non-response was high the tax information collected in the survey was considered to be of poor quality. Consequently, it was not included on the public unit use tape. However, taxes have been imputed in the LIS database. Personal income tax liability has been imputed on the basis of known characteristics. See variable V11 for more information.

M. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS BASED ON THE 1981-82 INCOME AND HOUSING SURVEY back

Income and Housing Survey, Income of Individuals, Australia, 1981-82 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1984, Catalogue No. 6502.0.

Income and Housing Survey, Income of Income Units, Australia, 1981-82 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1984, Catalogue No. 6523.0.

1981-82 Income and Housing Survey, Sample File Documentation Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1985, mimeo.