The 2016 Census includes the following question:
50. In the last two weeks did the person spend time looking after a child, without pay?
A follow-up question could be considered for inclusion in the 2021 Census:
Follow-up question: If so, how many hours (on average) did the person spend looking after the child, without pay?
Choose your area of interest
Please select one item
(Required)
Population
Sex and gender
Households and families
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Income and work
Ticked
Unpaid work and care
Education and training
Disability and carers
Housing
Location
Transport
Cultural diversity
Religion
Other topic
Assessment Criteria 1
1.
This topic is of current national importance.
National Importance
The data would provide important information to support policy development and for research purposes in relation to child care and paid work.
It could inform longer-term government policy regarding child care, eg whether there is a general reduction in time that parents are looking after a child without pay; and showing trends in time spent between men and women providing unpaid care for children.
The role of grandmothers taking care of children may be of particular policy and research interest. The following infographic from the ABS 2016 Census shows a spike in the proportion of older women providing unpaid care to children (other than their own), which would suggest grandmothers:
Assessment Criteria 2
2.
There is a need for data from a Census of the whole population.
For whole population
As this is a follow-up question to the existing question 50 from the 2016 Census, the question would gather data from the whole population, which would provide more accurate and comprehensive information. Nonetheless, it may be that a sample survey - whether existing (see assessment criteria 7) or proposed for the future - may be adequate for a range of policy and research purposes.
Assessment Criteria 3
3.
The topic can be accurately collected in a form which the household completes themselves.
Easy to answer
The topic is likely to be easily understood by respondents; can be collected in a simple question or questions.
Whether respondents will be able to easily and quickly know the answer may need to be tested.
Assessment Criteria 4
4.
The topic would be acceptable to Census respondents.
Acceptable
While the question may need to be tested with respondents, it is not obvious that the topic is likely to be considered intrusive, offensive or controversial and respondents are likely to be willing to answer. The accuracy of responses will need to rely on the respondent calculating average hours spent looking after the child without pay, which may be difficult to do so, especially if it changes from week to week.
Assessment Criteria 5
5.
The topic can be collected efficiently.
Collected efficiently
All of the following are likely to apply to the proposed question:
the topic or question will not present major difficulties for coding the information
the topic or question will not require extensive processing
the topic will not significantly add to the overall cost of the Census
the topic will not require a lengthy instruction or explanation
the collection of data on the topic will not require a large number of response categories or multiple questions
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 need for time series data on the topic and the topic is likely to remain relevant in the future.
Assessment Criteria 7
7.
There are no other alternative data sources or solutions that could meet the topic need.
No alternatives
There may be a range of other alternative data sources or solutions that could meet the topic need. For example, the ABS Childhood Education and Care Survey (CEaCS) provides information on families’ care arrangements—including the use of grandparent care—at three yearly intervals. This may be a more useful vehicle than the Census for asking additional child care questions. The CEaCS has comprehensive data items, which may prove useful to identify the factors / covariates impacting the association between child care usage and employment.
There may also be a range of other existing surveys that may provide information on this topic, though they may lack the longer term trend data and full Census population approach that can be provided through the ABS Census.