Experience of violence in Australia

Image Source: Dark and Stormy by Adam Selwood, on Flickr

On the 11th of December 2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the results of its 2012 Personal Safety Survey (PSS). This much anticipated survey on the safety of Australians aged 18 years and over is the second release of the PSS, with the first being released in 2005. The PSS collects information about the nature and extent of violence experienced by men and women since the age of 15 and includes their experiences of violence in the 12 months prior to the survey. Information has been collected on: domestic violence by a current or previous partner; lifetime experiences of stalking; physical and sexual abuse and the general feeling of safety.

Retirement intentions and labour force participation by older workers

On 9 December 2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the results of its 2012–13 survey on retirement and retirement intentions. The data collected by the survey provides information on retirement trends, the factors which influence decisions to retire, and the income arrangements that retirees and potential retirees have made to provide for their retirement. Another indicator of retirement behaviour is the participation by older workers in the labour force.

Employed people or jobs: semantics or an important difference in terminology?

Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

In March (2013), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released new analysis of the Australian labour market based on jobs. Their article, Estimating jobs in the Australian Labour Market, outlines the differences between the number of jobs and the number of employed people, and complements regular labour market data produced by the ABS. Estimates of the number of jobs were produced using the monthly Labour Force Survey, the quarterly Job Vacancies Survey and the 2007 Survey of Employment Arrangements, Retirement and Superannuation.

ABS public consultation on topics for the 2016 Census

Image source: ABS

Under the Census and Statistics Act 1905, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is required to conduct a Census of Population and Housing every five years. The next one is scheduled for August 2016 and planning is already well underway. An extensive review of topics collected in the Census is being undertaken to ensure that the data collected remains relevant to contemporary Australia.

Economic growth and change in post GFC world: What’s hot and what’s cold in the Australian economy

Image source: www.sa.gov.au

Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008, the Australian economy has experienced a period of slower, more uncertain growth than it did in the years leading up to the crisis. During the four years leading up to the GFC, Australia’s economy grew between three and four per cent a year, in inflation adjusted terms, with an annual average growth rate of 3.4 per cent. Since then, growth has been as low as 1.6 per cent in 2007—08, and only topped three per cent in 2011—12. The annual average growth rate for this later period was 2.4 per cent; a full percentage point lower than the earlier period.

However, not all parts of the economy have performed equally over the last four years. Some industries have grown strongly, whilst others have contracted. This has brought about a certain degree of structural change within the economy in terms of the sorts of goods and services the country produces and types of workers it needs to produce them.

Small business - 2011 profile

Image source: business.gov.au

Small business accounts for the majority of businesses in Australia. In terms of economic output and employment, it also makes a significant contribution.

Homelessness in Australia - official ABS estimates

Image source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has for the first time released official estimates of the prevalence of homelessness in Australia. The estimates, which are based on the ABS’s new definition of homelessness and methodology for estimating homelessness using census data, are provided for homelessness at the time of the 2001 and 2006 censuses. Estimates from the 2011 census are to be published on 12 November 2012.

 

The ABS found that, as at the 2006 census, 89 728 Australians were homeless. This represents 0.5 per cent of the Australian population at that time and a rate of 45 homeless people for every 10 000 persons. At the 2001 census, the ABS estimates that 95 314 people were homeless. As such, according to the ABS, between 2001 and 2006 there was a 6 per cent decrease in the number of homeless Australians, and the rate of homelessness fell from 51 homeless people per 10 000 to 45. The main factor contributing to this decline was a fall in the boarding house population.

 

The ABS’s estimates differ substantially from what were previously assumed to be the most accurate and reliable data on homelessness in Australia—those estimates produced by Chamberlain and McKenzie, and published in Counting the Homeless reports. According to Counting the Homeless data, in 2001 there were 99 000 homeless people whilst in 2006 there were 104 676 homeless. Hence, not only are the ABS homelessness estimates lower than those furnished by the Counting the Homeless figures, but they also contradict the finding that there was an increase in homelessness between 2001 and 2006 of 4.8 per cent. So, the question is, what are the changes that led to this result?