RDP 2002-04: Labour Market Adjustment in Regional Australia Appendix A: Data
June 2002
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The data used in this paper are from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Integrated Regions Database. Of the range of variables available at the level of SLA in this database, most that were used in estimation were sourced to the Census of Population and Housing, although some administrative data were also used. We use data for the census years of 1986, 1991 and 1996. Although census data go further back, 1986 is the earliest period for which data have been reconciled with the most recent SLA boundaries.
Census data
| Population growth | |
| Definition: | The percentage change in the number of persons residing in a region between 1986 and 1996. |
| Employment growth | |
| Definition: | The percentage change in the number of persons that had a job in the week before the census between 1986 and 1996. |
| Unemployment rate | |
| Definition: | The proportion of the population aged 15 and over that did not have a job in the week prior to the census but was both looking for and able to start work. |
| Participation rate | |
| Definition: | The proportion of the population aged 15 and over that was either employed or actively looking for work in the week prior to the census. |
| Industry share | |
| Definition: | The share of regional employment in 1986 in the agriculture, mining, manufacturing, retail, utilities, accommodation, cafes and restaurants, and property and business services industries. |
| Industrial diversity | |
| Definition: | A modified Herfindahl index that increases as a region's industrial diversity increases to match the diversity of the Australian economy. |
| Formula: |  |
| Where RDI is the relative diversity in region i, which is the inverse of the share of regional employment in industry j minus national share of employment in industry j summed over all industries present in a region in 1986. The industries are 1-digit ANZSIC industries. The formula is taken from Duranton and Puga (1999). | |
| Structural change | |
| Definition: | An index showing the extent to which the industrial composition of employment changed between 1986 and 1996. |
| Formula: |  |
| Where structural change is measured as the absolute value of the share of regional employment in industry j in region i in 1996 minus the share of regional employment in industry j in region i in 1986, summed over all 1-digit industries. | |
| Aged | |
| Definition: | The proportion of a region's population in 1986 aged 65 and over. |
| Human capital | |
| Definition: | The proportion of a region's population aged 15 and over with a skilled vocational qualification, a TAFE qualification or an undergraduate degree. |
Other data
| Remoteness | |
| Definition: | The Department of Health's Accessibility and Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA). The Department has allocated a score between 0 (capital cities) and 12 (for Australia's most remote locations) to each SLA on the basis of the SLA's proximity to service centres of five different sizes. |
| Source: | Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging. |
| Coastal dummy | |
| Definition: | A region is allocated a value of 1 if one of its borders is on the Australian coastline, and, according to the ARIA index it is not remote. A region is allocated a value of 0 otherwise. |
| Source: | Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging. |