Full-time equivalent (FTE) employment is modelled by NIEIR and takes account differences in hours worked between industry sectors. It is a measure that allows direct comparison of employment between industries in The Hills Shire.
Typically, industries such as Retail Trade and Accommodation and Food Services, which employ many part-time workers, have lower FTE employment than total employment.
FTE employment is calculated directly by dividing the total hours worked in each industry by 38.
NOTE: FTE employment by industry is NOT based on Census data, which undercounts employment. Detailed notes about how the figures are derived can be found in the data notes section.
Full-Time Equivalent employment is actually a representation of Hours Worked estimates from the National Institute for Economic and Industry Research modelling. It is considered an easier way to look at the aggregate hours worked data, which generally involves much larger numbers.
FTE employment is simply aggregate hours worked divided by 38 hours per week, as an estimate of the average full-time worker hours. Note that this means that workers doing more hours than this count in the data as more than one FTE job.
The starting point for estimating hours worked is the estimation of hours and dollars per hour reported at the 1-digit ANZSIC level for States and Territories from the ABS Labour Force Bulletin, which is updated quarterly. These are reconciled to the wages and salaries and mixed income series in the ABS Annual State Accounts, converted to $/hour by estimates of total hours worked by industry from the Labour Force Bulletin. The dataset is smoothed a 7 quarter moving average.
Hours of work by industry and dollars per hour by place of work were estimated using the Census journey to work matrix, adjusted for the net undercount, as described in more detail in the Employment data notes.
The NIEIR modelling uses the ABS Labour Force Survey and ATO data to estimate the number of hours worked in each industry in a given quarter. This is divided by 38 hours per week (representing a full-time week) to get the Full-Time Equivalent employment
As some industries have very high hours of work per individual, in these cases FTE employment can actually be higher than total employment. This is often the case in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry.
Please note that these modelled estimates are subject to change. Estimates are reviewed when more recent and robust data becomes available, particularly when new National or State Accounts data are released by the ABS, or new tax office income data are released. Most recent financial year estimates are based on a combination of factors including Centrelink and Labour Force Survey data, which is replaced by ATO income data when it becomes available. As a result of this, revisions to the most recent 6 quarters (18 months) of data should be anticipated by users, which could change the statistical outcomes.
Source: National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (NIEIR) ©2012
Please note that NIEIR modelled estimates are subject to change and review for the most recent two financial years.
Please refer to the data notes for more information.