The Census provides a rich data set covering very small geographic areas, as well as detailed personal characteristics, such as age. Reliable data about income sources for detailed geographic levels and for specific demographic groups of the population (e.g. retirees and/or people aged 55 years and over) is not currently available.
The Library proposes the collection of additional information on sources of income to enhance the income data already collected through the Census.
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Assessment Criteria 1
1.
This topic is of current national importance.
National Importance
As Australia’s population ages, there is growing interest in the number and characteristics of people who fully, or partially, self-fund their own retirement. This theme has been debated in Parliament in relation to proposed changes to superannuation, amendments to taxation legislation and regarding the future provision of services to older people. Statistics on the sources of income available to retired people are relevant to these debates, and are likely to continue to be so in the future. These statistics would be used for research purposes, and to support Parliamentary debate. This data could also be used in combination with a range of other data from the Census, such as housing tenure type.
Assessment Criteria 2
2.
There is a need for data from a Census of the whole population.
For whole population
As described in criterion 1, there is a need for sources of income data for small population groups and small geographic areas. The combination of this data and income ranges would assist in interpreting distributions and medians.
Estimates produced by the ABS Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) do not meet current requirements, due to the sample being insufficiently large enough to enable analysis by small geographic areas or by specific age groups (or both). The Parliamentary Library considers this data set a valuable source of information on income, wealth and expenditure, which could be built on to meet user and client needs. Collecting small area data through SIH would require an enlargement of the survey sample and a framework to produce more reliable sub-state level data, as well as more robust estimates for older Australians.
Assessment Criteria 3
3.
The topic can be accurately collected in a form which the household completes themselves.
Easy to answer
The topic is directly linked to the question of income. Being asked about the main source of personal (and/or household) income should be fairly straight forward. Respondents could be asked the following type of question: ‘What is your (the household’s) main source of regular (weekly/fortnightly) income?’
Response categories could be based on those output from the Survey of Income and Housing, but expanded to include more options (the following example is based on a person-level response):
• Zero/negative income or not applicable
• Employee income (includes overtime and bonuses)
• Own (unincorporated) business income
• Government pensions and allowances (includes Age Pension, Carer allowance/payment, Newstart allowance, Disability Support Pension, Austudy/Abstudy, Family tax benefits, Youth allowance, DVA disability or service pension, Parenting payment, Paid Parental Leave Payment, Widow allowance or Wife pension).
• Investment income (includes dividends, franking credits, financial institution account interest, interest on bonds or debentures, residential or non-residential properties, royalties, beneficiary of a trust, or benefits from being a silent partner).
• Superannuation, annuity or private pension
• Workers’ compensation or accident/sickness insurance
• Child support or maintenance
• Other regular source (includes income from family members not living in the household, scholarships, other not elsewhere classified).
Assessment Criteria 4
4.
The topic would be acceptable to Census respondents.
Acceptable
The topic may be considered somewhat intrusive, based on the (generally) lower response rates to the personal income question in the Census. However, if a person is willing to answer the income question, it is unlikely that a follow up question on their main source of income would be considered any more intrusive. An accurate response from respondents is more likely if the list of options is well defined and examples are provided (as per the income question already asked). The question on main source of income naturally flows from the question about income.
Assessment Criteria 5
5.
The topic can be collected efficiently.
Collected efficiently
The responses to the main source of income should be relatively straight forward to process, unless some of the groups listed in the example (see criterion 3) are very small. This could be pre-empted by reviewing the data from the Survey of Income and Housing and ensuring the response categories are well defined. There is particular interest in having data available on people who rely mainly on superannuation, annuities and private pensions, so a separate response category would be needed for this group (including them in ‘other’ is unhelpful).
Extensive data on superannuation was last collected by the ABS in 2007 through the Survey of Employment Arrangements, Retirement and Superannuation. The survey subsequent to that (2013 Work, Life and Family Survey) was cancelled due to budgetary constraints. While a useful source of information at the national or state level, the Multi-Purpose Household Survey topic, Retirement and Retirement Intentions, does not have a sufficiently large enough sample to enable analysis for small geographies (SA4 or smaller) or small population groups (e.g. 55 years and over by five-year groups). For sources of personal income data, the errors at the SA4 level are too generally high to allow for any reasonable analysis of the data.
Assessment Criteria 6
6.
There is likely to be a continuing need for data on this topic in the following Census.
Continuing need
There is a foreseeable need for the type of information being requested. As described in criterion 1, with population ageing, there is a need for data on how people are funding their retirement. In particular, there is interest in knowing the number/proportion of older people relying on government pensions compared to those who are self-funded, including those funded through compulsory superannuation schemes. With larger waves of people retiring with superannuation balances, this data will become increasingly sought after. Whether the Census is the right vehicle to collect such information, or whether the ABS can boost existing household surveys to allow for more robust data sets to be created, is a decision for the ABS.
Assessment Criteria 7
7.
There are no other alternative data sources or solutions that could meet the topic need.
No alternatives
As earlier described, several ABS household surveys provide limited data of the type sought. The recognised data sets do not have sufficient sample to enable analysis by very small geographic areas or by very small population groups. The ability to cross-reference main source of personal (or household) income with other demographic and geographic variables is a place that the Census uniquely occupies. As suggested, increasing the sample size (and selection framework) of some of the aforementioned surveys would be an alternate way to meet user and client needs, without changing the Census.