Fair Work Commission

The sample design for the AWRS was primarily based on the employer (enterprise) population.

The sample design took account of the 18 ANZSIC 2006 industry divisions for two employment sizes (5–19 and 20+ employees) so that the design included up to 36 strata (ANZSIC division x employment size category). Strata for some ANZSIC divisions were collapsed so that it encompassed both of the employment size categories (i.e. 5+ employees) and the design included 30 strata.

Sample allocation was focused toward industries with higher levels of award reliance among the employee population (based on incidence from the ABS’ EEH survey), including:

• Retail Trade
• Accommodation and Food Services
• Health Care and Social Assistance
• Administrative and Support Services
• Manufacturing
• Arts and Recreation Services, and
• Other Services.

The design also split out the Accommodation and Food Services division into the two subdivisions to enable some reporting at the subdivision level:

• Accommodation, and
• Food and Beverage Services.

The following table depicts how the sample was allocated for each of the 18 ANZSIC 2006 industry divisions.

AWRS sample design: depiction of sample allocation to strata

This design was agreed with the project steering committee in order to service a particular interest among key stakeholders and the Commission for enabling more detailed analysis of award-reliant wage-setting practices and outcomes to inform annual wage reviews.

Information about the composition of the final AWRS sample is available from the Sample characteristics page.

Although the survey sample is not directly proportional to the population of national system of employers by industry division and employment size (due to the aforementioned interest in analysis of award-reliant wage-setting practices), survey weights have been constructed for the purpose of realigning the survey data estimates to better reflect the composition of the actual population for each industry division and employment size category.

All data reported by the Commission has been weighted.

The ABS Counts of Australian Business Entries and Exits June 2013 catalogue was used to estimate the composition of the population of private sector Australian enterprises in the national system of workplace relations, including to estimate the composition of private sector enterprises in Western Australia (i.e. constitutional corporations based in Western Australia).

The population of public sector employers in the national system was mapped separately using resources available from the Australian Public Service Commission, state and local government registers as well as the Australian Business Register.

The population of non-government organisations in the national system, including not-for-profit and registered organisation was also mapped separately using various resources, including unpublished ABS catalogues, purchased and sourced by the Commission.

These resources were then combined with the ABS Counts of Australian Business Entries and Exits June 2013 catalogue to estimate the composition of enterprises within the scope of the AWRS for each of the 18 ANZSIC 2006 industry divisions by employment sizes of 5–19 employees and 20+ employees.