Australia Yearbook - 2001

214 Year Book Australia 2001
6.1 THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR STATISTICS FRAMEWORK
Employing
businesses
Persons
In the Labour Force
Not in the Labour Force
Information about
persons not in the
labour force, e.g.
discouraged job seekers
Job
Vacancies
Employed
Information about employed
persons, e.g. industry
Unemployed
Information about
unemployed persons,
e.g. main difficulty in
finding work
Jobs
Information about
employee jobs,
e.g. earnings
Employees
Information
about employees,
e.g. casual status
Employers
Own account
workers
Contributing
family workers
Labour demand
Labour supply
The labour force
Fundamental to the measurement of
employment and unemployment is the concept
of the labour force, defined as those persons
aged 15 and over who, during a particular week,
are either employed or unemployed. The labour
force represents the key official measure of the
total supply of labour available to the labour
market during a given week.
This section presents statistics on the civilian
labour force drawn from the monthly Labour
Force Survey and supplementary surveys. The
household surveys contain a series of questions
to classify the population according to the
framework presented in diagram 6.2. This
framework is the basis for determining whether
persons are employed, unemployed or not in the
labour force. Further details concerning the
scope, coverage and survey methods of the
labour force and supplementary surveys (as well
as more detailed statistics) can be found in the
publications listed in the Bibliography.