Box 2.3.1: About the data
Information on the welfare workforce is available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
(ABS) Labour Force Survey, and ABS Census of Population and Housing, as well as a range of
sector-based collections conducted by research and industry peak bodies. The ABS
collections provide national- and state/territory-level data using a consistent collection
framework. The sector-based collections tend to define their respective workforces to
suit their specific needs, and use a range of different methods to collect data. They are
therefore not necessarily comparable with the ABS data, but can provide a greater depth of
information about sections of the welfare workforce.
Both of these types of data are used here to describe the welfare workforce, as follows:
• Data from the ABS Labour Force Survey are used to provide an overview of workers in the
welfare sector, and workers in welfare-related occupations (see Box 2.3.2 for more details
about the ABS Labour Force Survey). (Detailed welfare workforce information from the
2011 ABS Census of Population and Housing was published in Australia’s welfare 2013, so
those data are not repeated here.)
• Data from a number of the sector-based collections—such as the 2013 National Early
Childhood Education and Care Workforce Census and the 2011 Survey of Homelessness
Services—are used to describe the workforces in those sectors.
In addition, the National Health Workforce Data Set has been used to provide information on
registered health professionals who work in the welfare sector.
For some sectors, no new national data have been available since 2011; however, summary
findings from the most recent sector-based collections are presented, noting detailed
information is available in previous editions of Australia’s welfare.