Box 2.3.2: The ABS Labour Force Survey
The ABS Labour Force Survey is based on a sample of about 27,000 private and non-private
dwellings, and collects information from people living in these selected dwellings
(ABS 2013). While the survey is conducted monthly, information on occupation and industry
of employment is collected quarterly (in February, May, August and November). For this
article, the quarterly data were averaged to produce annual estimates.
The Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ABS 2006b) and Australian
and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ABS 2006a; ABS & SNZ 2013) were
used to identify the welfare workforce in the ABS Labour Force Survey data. This was done
through defining a set of community services industries and occupations that best represent
the welfare workforce (see below for information about these industries and Figure 2.3.3 for
the occupations).