Fair Work Commission

The AWRS surveyed employees in the national jurisdiction of workplace relations who worked for an enterprise with 5 or more employees. Information about the scope of the AWRS can be found in the Technical notes.

Source: AWRS 2014, Enterprise Characteristics (Recruitment screener) survey.

Table 2.5 displays characteristics of the employees who participated in the AWRS that are presented in various analyses in the First Findings report. Weighted and unweighted estimates are provided for both males and females and the total sample.

What is unique about the AWRS is that employees in the sample were recruited via their employer which enables analysis of employee data to be linked to data about their employer. Most other surveys of employees are household-based and cannot be linked to enterprises. These methodological differences may explain differences in the estimates of the population produced by the AWRS to other sources of employee data.

Many of the weighted estimates align well with the unweighted estimates. These weighted estimates can be compared to other data sources to see how they align with other population estimates.

Of note, the AWRS sample contains fewer casual employees than the ABS Labour Force survey estimates report for the employee population. This may be the result of generating the AWRS employee sample via employers in that employees with stronger attachment to their employer may be more likely to participate in research about their employment.

Source: AWRS 2014, Employee survey and Enterprise Characteristics (Recruitment screener) survey.

* Other includes employees who did not provide a response, indicated that their employment status was other, undefined or did not know.