Building a Council Profile

Using ABS Data

Presenter: Sharon Fielder

Session objectives

Produce a profile for your LGA using the ABS National Regional Profile. In the process you will learn about ….

How to navigate and search the ABS website

What the National Regional Profile is and the data it contains

Some basics about statistics:

ABS collection methods

ABS classifications

ABS Geography

Quality declarations

Other sources of information

How the ABS operates

• We run a survey

– We collate and analyse the survey

data to produce useful information

• We publish information in publications

and include text, tables, graphs and

downloads

The Mornington Peninsula

abs.gov.au

First Visit?

ABS Website

Topics @ a Glance

Regional @ a Glance

Topics @ a Glance - Regional Statistics

Local Government Areas

Search result: regional profile

National Regional Profiles

National Regional Profile 2005-2009

Find by searching for an address

My LGA

Exercise 1 – a map for your area

• Using the National Regional Profile

page, create a map of your LGA for

use in your regional profile article

• Hint: If you have or something similar you can use

it capture a part of the screen

• Hint: If you don’t have a snipping program you can use Alt

PrtScrn to take a snapshot of your entire screen and then use

Paint (or something similar) to paste and then select the part

you want.

Getting some data

Getting some data - Population

Profile for South Australia

Topics @ a Glance - Regional Statistics

Local Government Areas

= (LGA / Total SA) * 100

Exercise 2: ERP and % of state

• Using the ABS website, find your LGA

ERP figures for 2005 and for 2009

• Using the handout provided, what is your

LGA’s rank.

Getting some data - Population

Exercise 3: Gender and

Population growth

• Using the ABS website, how many

males and females were estimated to be

in your LGA as at June 2009?

• Using the handout provided, how much

has your LGA grown since 2005 and

how does this compare with all of SA?

More population data

My LGA: West Torrens (C)

South Australia

More population data

My LGA: West Torrens (C)

South Australia

More population data

More population data

Exercise 4: age, country of

birth and fertility

• Using the ABS website, for 2009:

– What is the largest age group in your LGA?

– What proportion of your LGA’s residents

were born overseas?

– What was the fertility rate for your LGA?

• How do these values compare with SA as a

whole?

• Extra Task: create an age graph for your LGA

like the one in the Mornington Peninsula article

Data about the Economy

Exercise 5: Economic data

• Using the ABS website, find the

following figures for your LGA – The unemployment rate

– The average wage and salary income

– The two most common occupations

– The number of people on an age pension

from Centrelink and from DVA

– The proportion of people 65 years and over

• How do these compare with figures

for SA?

Data about Industry

Exercise 6a: tourism and

housing • Using the ABS website, find the following figures for your LGA

and compare with SA totals

– Hotel/Motel/Serviced apartments 5 rooms or more

– Caravan parks

– Largest use of agricultural land

– Highest prevalent livestock

– Gross value of livestock

– Gross value of crops

– Average value of private sector house approvals and rate of

increase from 2004-05

– Number of private sector house approvals and rate of

increase from 2004-05

• Extra task: Create a time series graph for building

approvals for your LGA

Exercise 6b: motor

vehicles • Using the ABS website, find the following figures

for your LGA and compare with SA and

Australian totals

– Total registered motor vehicles

– Registered passenger vehicles

– Proportion of total registered vehicles aged 10 years or

more

• Extra task: What proportion of total registered

vehicles are less than 5 years old in your LGA.

Compare with SA and Australian totals

Data about the Environment

Exercise 7: irrigation and

water use • Using the ABS website, what hectares of land

were irrigated in your LGA? What proportion of

all agricultural land is irrigated in your LGA?

How does this compare with SA as a whole?

• What was the total water use on farms in your

LGA? How much of all water used on SA farms

was this?

• Extra task: How does your LGA compare with

% of irrigated agricultural land for Australia as a

whole? How much of all water used on

Australian farms was used in your LGA?

Exercise 8: putting it all

together • Gather all the data from the

previous 7 exercises together to

produce the article for your LGA

Data on counts of

businesses

Exercise 9: businesses

• Using the ABS website, what

proportion of businesses in your

LGA employed 1-4 employees?

• How does this compare to SA as a

whole?

• Extra task: How does it compare

with Australia?

Other data?

• What else do you want to know

about your LGA?

Survey Methodologies

• Census Survey– count of whole

population

• Sample Survey – sample of

population

• Administrative Data – reusing data

collected for another reason

Search for geography in the search bar

ABS Geography

Australian Standard Geographical

Classification (ASGC)

– Cat.no 1216.0

ABS Geography

ABS Data Quality Framework

Data

Quality

Framework

Relevance

Accuracy

Timeliness Accessibility

Interpretability

Coherence

Institutional Environment

ABS Quality Declarations

Keeping up to date

• Email Notification

• RSS

• Bookmark

Email notification

New subscription

Really Simple Syndication

Bookmark and Share

Where to get help:

National Information Referral Service (NIRS)

Phone: 1300 135 070

(9am–5pm Monday to Friday)

Email: client.services@abs.gov.au

Session summary

You should have located all the data you need to create your own LGA profile like the Mornington Peninsula example and be able to:

• Locate regional data easily using the National Regional Profile

• Investigate other data sources from links on the ABS website

• Understand the basic differences for LGA boundaries for the new ASGS classification

• Understand where to obtain information about some of the quality issues that may be relevant to the numbers you want to use

Questions?

• Thank you!