Demographics

State/territory

The state or territory of the school the respondent attended at the time of the first interview.

Sex

The gender the respondent reported at the time of the first interview.

Indigenous status

Indigenous respondents are identified by recording responses to the following question asked at the time of the first interview:

• ‘Are you an Aboriginal person or Torres Strait Islander person?’ (for the Y95 and Y98 cohorts)
• ‘Are you of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin?’ (for the Y03, Y06, Y09 and Y15 cohorts)
  Indigenous status is split into two categories: ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Non-Indigenous’.

For the Y98 cohort

Missing or invalid responses are coded to the ‘Non-Indigenous’ category.

Geographic region

The geographic region of the school the respondent attended at the time of the first interview.

Geographic region is categorised as: ‘Metropolitan’ and ‘Non-metropolitan’. Missing or invalid responses are coded to the ‘Metropolitan’ category.

• Metropolitan areas are defined as those with a population size of 100 000 or more.
• Non-metropolitan areas are defined as those with a population size less than 100 000.

Country of birth

The country of birth reported at the time of the first interview. Country of birth is categorised as: ‘Australia’ and ‘Other’. Respondents born outside of Australia, missing and invalid responses are coded to the ‘Other’ category.

School sector

The school sector for the school the respondent attended at the time of the first interview.

Socio-economic status

For the Y95 and Y98 cohorts

The ANU3 measure, an indicator of socioeconomic status based on occupational prestige, has been used in the calculation of socioeconomic status. ANU3 uses the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) schema to determine the socioeconomic status of the respondent based on their parents’ occupation. Parental occupation is based on father’s occupation when available and mother’s occupation when information on father’s occupation is absent. The scale ranges from 0 to 100. More information about the scale can be accessed at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/144078330003600105

For the Y03, Y06, Y09 and Y15 cohorts

The socioeconomic status quintiles are calculated using the PISA Economic, Social and Cultural Status (ESCS) index.

Overall achievement

For the Y95 and Y98 cohorts

The achievement quartile using a combined measure of achievement in literacy and numeracy from testing conducted at the time of the first interview.

Mathematics achievement

For the Y03, Y06, Y09 and Y15 cohorts

The mathematics achievement quartile derived using mathematics plausible values from testing conducted at the time of the first interview.

Reading achievement

For the Y03, Y06, Y09 and Y15 cohorts

The reading achievement quartile derived using reading plausible values from testing conducted at the time of the first interview.

Science achievement

For the Y03, Y06, Y09 and Y15 cohorts

The science achievement quartile derived using science plausible values from testing conducted at the time of the first interview.

Employment

Labour force status

The labour force status at the time of interview. This indicator categorises respondents as: employed, unemployed, not in the labour force or unknown labour force status.

The ‘Employed’ category includes respondents who reported they are not working but are waiting to start work.

Full-time or part-time employment status

The full-time or part-time employment status at the time of interview. For respondents with more than one job, the full-time or part-time employment status of the main job is reported. It does not consider any additional job/s that the respondent later reclassified as their main job.

For the Y95, Y03, Y06 and Y09 cohorts

This indicator categorises respondents as: employed full-time, employed part-time, not working (which includes those who are unemployed or not in the labour force), or working but their working time is unknown.

The category ‘Not working (unemployed or NILF)’ includes respondents whose labour force status is unknown.

For the Y98 and Y15 cohorts

This indicator categorises respondents as: employed full-time, employed part-time, not working (which includes those who are unemployed or not in the labour force), working but their working time is unknown, or unknown employment status.

For all cohorts

The ‘Working, but working time unknown’ category includes respondents who reported they are not working but are waiting to start work.

Permanent or casual employment

The permanent or casual employment status at the time of interview.

This indicator is derived using responses to questions about whether the respondent is entitled to paid annual or sick leave.

For respondents with more than one job, the permanent or casual employment status of the main job is reported. It does not consider any additional job/s that the respondent later reclassified as their main job.

This indicator categorises respondents as: permanent or on-going, casual, not working (which includes those who are unemployed or not in the labour force), or working but their permanent or casual employment status is unknown. The Y98 and Y15 cohorts contain an additional category: unknown labour force status.

The category ‘Permanent/on-going’ includes respondents who are entitled to paid annual or sick leave. The category ‘Casual’ includes respondents who are not entitled to paid annual or sick leave, or who do not know if they are receiving annual or sick leave. For the Y15 cohort, responses to questions about their working arrangements (i.e. whether their job is ongoing/permanent, fixed term, or casual) are also used for those whose entitlements are unknown. The category ‘Working, but employment status unknown’ includes respondents who are self-employed or are waiting to start work.

For the Y95, Y03, Y06 and Y09 cohorts

The category ‘Not working (unemployed or NILF)’ includes respondents whose labour force status is unknown.

Status in apprenticeship or traineeship

The apprenticeship or traineeship status at the time of interview. This does not include apprenticeships and traineeships undertaken while at school.

For the Y95, Y98, Y03, Y06 and Y09 cohorts

This indicator categorises respondents as: currently undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship, having ever completed an apprenticeship or traineeship, having ever commenced but did not complete an apprenticeship or traineeship, or having never commenced an apprenticeship or traineeship.

For the Y95 cohort

The category ‘Currently undertaking’ an apprenticeship or traineeship includes those who have completed an apprenticeship or traineeship and are currently undertaking an additional apprenticeship or traineeship.

For the Y98, Y03, Y06 and Y09 cohorts

The category ‘Completed’ an apprenticeship or traineeship includes those who have completed an apprenticeship or traineeship and are currently undertaking an additional apprenticeship or traineeship.

For the Y15 cohort

This indicator categorises respondents as: currently undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship, having ever completed an apprenticeship or traineeship (and not undertaking an additional apprenticeship or traineeship), having ever commenced but did not complete an apprenticeship or traineeship, completed and undertaking an additional apprenticeship or traineeship, or having never commenced an apprenticeship or traineeship.

Job mobility during last year

The job mobility at the time of interview. This indicator categorises respondents as: having the same employer or job as reported at the last survey, having a different employer/job from last survey, having gained employment since last survey, no longer employed since last survey, unknown or not in the labour force.

Occupation

The occupation at the time of interview.

For the Y95 cohort only

Occupations are categorised using the following ASCO Second Edition major groups:  Managers and Administrators, Professionals, Associate Professionals, Tradespersons and Related Workers, Advanced Clerical and Service Workers, Intermediate Clerical, Sales and Service Workers, Intermediate Production and Transport Workers, Elementary Clerical, Sales and Service Workers, Labourers and Related Workers.

For the Y98, Y03, Y06, Y09 and Y15 cohorts

Occupations are categorised using the following ANZSCO First Edition major groups: Managers, Professionals, Technicians and trades workers, Community and personal service workers, Clerical and administrative workers, Sales workers, Machinery operators and drivers and Labourers.

For the Y95, Y03, Y06 and Y09 cohorts

The category ‘Not working (unemployed or NILF)’ includes respondents whose labour force status is unknown.

For all cohorts

The category ‘Unknown or not classifiable’ is used to code respondents who are working but whose occupation is unknown, or not classifiable using the ASCO/ANZSCO.

Any spell of unemployment during the year

This indicator measures whether respondents have had a spell of unemployment since their interview in the previous year, or since October of the previous year if they missed their last interview. A spell of unemployment is defined as at least a month where they were not working and were looking for work.

This indicator categorises respondents as: had a spell of unemployment during the year, did not have a spell of unemployment during the year, or unknown (at the time of interview).

Income and hours worked

Average weekly pay

The average weekly pay for those employed at the time of interview. Respondents who: are working in ways other than for wages/salary, are waiting to start work, did not provide a rate of pay, or provided their hourly pay but did not provide their weekly hours worked are excluded from the figures reported.

For respondents with more than one job, the average weekly pay of the main job is reported. It does not consider pay from additional jobs, or pay from job/s the respondent later reclassified as their main job.

Outliers are retained with the exception of extreme pay values for the Y15 cohort in waves 6, 8 and 9.

For the Y95, Y98, Y03, Y06 and Y09 cohorts

This indicator includes those who are working for wages/salary or self-employed in their own business. Weekly business earnings are recorded for those who are self-employed.

For the Y95 and Y98 cohorts

For those who are working for wages or salary, take-home pay is recorded at waves 1 and 2, while gross weekly pay is recorded for all remaining waves.

For the Y03, Y06, Y09 and Y15 cohorts

For those who are working for wages or salary, take-home pay is recorded at wave 1, while gross weekly pay is recorded for all remaining waves.

For the Y15 cohort

This indicator includes those who are working for wages or salary. Respondents who are self-employed do not report a rate of pay so are excluded from the figures reported.

In 2020 (due to the coronavirus pandemic):

• respondents who reported receiving the JobKeeper payment were assigned the higher value of either the JobKeeper weekly threshold or their usual weekly pay
• in place of 'usual hours', 'usual (pre-COVID) hours' and 'current hours' worked were asked of respondents, and 'current hours' was used to derive average weekly pay.

Since 2020, respondents could report they were working zero hours; if these respondents reported their hourly pay, they were not assigned an average weekly pay value (with the exception of those who reported receiving the JobKeeper payment in 2020).

Average hourly pay

The average hourly pay for those employed at the time of interview. Respondents who: are working in ways other than for wages/salary, are waiting to start work, did not provide a rate of pay, or provided their weekly/fortnightly/annual pay rate but did not provide their weekly hours worked are excluded from the figures reported.

For respondents with more than one job, the average hourly pay of the main job is reported. It does not consider pay from additional jobs, or pay from job/s the respondent later reclassified as their main job.

Outliers are retained with the exception of extreme pay values for the Y15 cohort in waves 6, 8 and 9.

For the Y95, Y98, Y03, Y06 and Y09 cohorts

This indicator includes those who are working for wages/salary or self-employed in their own business.

For those who were self-employed, weekly business earnings are used to calculate average hourly pay.

For the Y95 and Y98 cohorts

For those who are working for wages or salary, take-home pay is recorded at waves 1 and 2, while gross weekly pay is recorded for all remaining waves.

For the Y03, Y06, Y09 and Y15 cohorts

For those who are working for wages or salary, take-home pay is recorded at wave 1, while gross weekly pay is recorded for all remaining waves.

For the Y15 cohort

This indicator includes those who are working for wages or salary. Respondents who are self-employed do not report a rate of pay so are excluded from the figures reported.

In 2020, in place of 'usual hours', 'usual (pre-COVID) hours' and 'current hours' worked were asked of respondents, and 'current hours' were used to derived average hourly pay.

Average weekly hours worked

The average weekly working hours for those employed at the time of interview. Respondents who: are waiting to start work or did not provide the number of hours they work each week are excluded from the figures reported.

For respondents with more than one job, the hours worked of the main job is reported. It does not consider hours worked from additional jobs, or hours worked from job/s the respondent later reclassified as their main job.

For the Y15 cohort

In 2020, in place of 'usual hours', 'usual (pre-COVID) hours' and 'current hours' were asked of respondents, and 'current hours' was used in the derivation of average weekly hours worked.

From 2020, respondents could report working zero hours.

Outliers are retained with the exception of extreme values for the Y15 cohort in waves 8 and 9.

Satisfaction

Satisfaction with aspects of employment

The respondent’s satisfaction with aspects of their employment at the time of interview.

This information is only collected for those who work for wages or a salary. It is not collected for those who are self-employed or employed in some other way, or those who are waiting to start work.

For respondents with more than one job, the satisfaction with their main job is reported. It does not consider satisfaction from additional jobs, or satisfaction from job/s the respondent later reclassified as their main job.

Employment satisfaction indicators include: The kind of work you do, Opportunities to use your skills and experience, Your immediate boss or supervisor, Other people you work with, The pay you get, Opportunities for training, The tasks you are assigned, Recognition you get for tasks well done, and Your opportunities for promotion.

The question series was collected from wave 3 for the Y95 and Y98 cohorts, and from wave 2 for the Y03-Y15 cohorts, with some exceptions:

• ‘Opportunities to use your skills and experience’ was not asked of the Y95 cohort and was introduced at wave 12 for the Y98 cohort, wave 7 for the Y03 cohort, wave 4 for the Y06 cohort, wave 3 for the Y09 cohort and wave 3 for the Y15 cohort.
• For the Y15 cohort, ‘Other people you work with’ was introduced at wave 3 and ‘The tasks you are assigned’ at wave 5.

For the Y15 cohort

Additional satisfaction indicators include: The flexibility you have to balance work and non-work commitments, The hours you work (asked in wave 2 only) and Your job overall.

Satisfaction with ‘Your job overall’ is collected for all those who are currently working, i.e. it includes those who are working for wages or salary, self-employed or employed in some other way. It is not collected for those waiting to start work.

For the Y95, Y98, Y03 and Y06 cohorts

These cohorts use a 5-point scale with the following classifications:

• 1 = 'Very satisfied'
• 2 = 'Fairly satisfied'
• 3 = 'Fairly dissatisfied'
• 4 = 'Very dissatisfied'
• 5 = 'Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied’.

For the Y09 and Y15 cohorts 

The Y09 and Y15 cohorts were asked to rate their satisfaction on an 11-point scale using the following assignments:

• 0-1 = 'Very dissatisfied'
• 2-4 = 'Fairly dissatisfied'
• 5 = 'Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied'
• 6-8 = 'Fairly satisfied'
• 9-10 = 'Very satisfied'.

Other terms and definitions

Not in the labour force (NILF)

Respondents who are not working and are not actively looking for work are classified as being not in the labour force.

The Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO)

The ASCO is a skill-based classification system used to classify all jobs in the Australian labour market. It defines jobs and occupations according to level of skill and specialisation. It uses similarities between these attributes to organise them into three hierarchical levels: major group, minor group and unit group and occupation.

ASCO First Edition was released in 1986. The classification structure of the Second Edition was released in July 1996.

Australian New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO)

The ANZSCO is a skill-based classification system used to classify all jobs in the Australian and New Zealand labour markets. It defines jobs and occupations according to level of skill and specialisation. It uses similarities between these attributes to organise them into five hierarchical levels: major group, sub-major group, minor group, unit group and occupation.

ANZSCO replaced the ASCO and the New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (NZSCO) in 2006.

Life satisfaction and soft skills

Happiness with different aspects of your life

Respondents reported happiness with different aspects of their life at the time of interview. Information is recorded for all respondents. Respondents are asked how happy they are with the following:

• The work you do at study, at home or in a job
• What you do in your spare time
• How you get on with people in general
• The money you get each week
• Your social life
• Your independence - being able to do what you want
• Your career prospects
• Your future
• Your life at home
• Your standard of living
• The way the country is run
• The state of the economy
• Where you live
• Your life as a whole.

The Y03 cohort were not asked to rate happiness with ‘The way the country is run’ and ‘The state of the economy’ at waves 3 or 4. The Y06 cohort were asked to rate these aspects from wave 5 onwards and the Y09 cohort from wave 7 onwards.

At waves 2 and 3 the Y15 cohort were only asked to rate happiness with ‘Your life as a whole’.

For the Y95, Y98, Y03 and Y06 cohorts

These cohorts use a 5-point scale with the following assignments:

• 1 = 'Very happy'
• 2 = 'Fairly happy'
• 3 = 'Fairly unhappy'
• 4 = 'Very unhappy'
• 5 = 'Neither happy nor unhappy'.

For the Y09 and Y15 cohorts

The Y09 and Y15 cohorts were asked to rate their happiness on an 11-point scale using the following assignments:

• 0-1 = 'Very unhappy'
• 2-4 = 'Fairly unhappy'
• 5 = 'Neither happy nor unhappy'
• 6-8 = 'Fairly happy'
• 9-10 = 'Very happy'.