RDP 1999-07: Job-Search Methods, Neighbourhood Effects and the Youth Labour Market Appendix B: Variable Definitions

Respondents are asked whether each of their parents was present in the household when they were 14. If a parent was present, further questions are asked about whether the parent was employed, the nature of their employment and their education level.

The following variables take the value one when the characteristic is present and zero otherwise:

• personal characteristics: male, married;
• parent's characteristics: parent not present in the household when the respondent was 14, parent not employed when the respondent was 14 (given that they were present in the household);
• parent's education: has a degree, has a trade qualification, has other post-school qualifications, has secondary education (omitted category: parent has less than secondary education);
• section of state: other city, rural area, country town (omitted category: capital city); and
• school/work experience: attended a government school (omitted category: attended a Catholic or other non-government school), left school in Year 10 or earlier, receives unemployment benefits or the Job Search Allowance.

The following variables are count variables:

• age (in years), number of siblings, years since leaving school and current unemployment duration (in weeks).
• parent's occupational status is measured as the socioeconomic status of the respondent's parent when the respondent was 14. If the parent was not present in the household or was not employed the index is set to zero.

The neighbourhood variables are defined as:

• ‘average personal income’ is the average personal income of the respondent's postcode;
• ‘unemployment rate’ is the unemployment rate of the respondent's postcode;
• ‘per cent with vocational qualifications’ is the proportion of the respondent's postcode who recorded having skilled vocational training or basic vocational training; and
• ‘per cent with graduate qualifications’ is the proportion of the respondent's postcode who recorded having a higher degree, a degree, a graduate diploma, or an undergraduate diploma.

The omitted education category is the proportion of the respondent's postcode with high school education or less.