Residential and Workplace Mobility, and Implications for Travel

Over the three years to October 2008, around 2.7 million people in New South Wales and Victoria moved usual residence.

Data has now been released from the Residential and Workplace Mobility, and Implications for Travel survey, which was conducted in October 2008 (cat. no. 3240.0).

The publication provides a range of information on people in NSW and Victoria including:

• demographic characteristics of movers and non-movers;
• the reasons why people changed their usual residence;
• the reasons why people changed their current suburb of employment;
• and the modes of transport typically used to travel to the current suburb of employment.

Other Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) resources relating to the topic include:

• Locations of Work, Australia, Nov 2008, cat. no. 6275.0
• Labour Mobility, Australia, Feb 2008, cat. no. 6209.0
• Housing Choices, NSW, Oct 2004, cat. no. 3240.1
• Population Mobility, Victoria, Oct 1999, cat. no. 3237.2
• Transport Patterns and Preferences, New South Wales, October 1996, cat. no. 9201.1
• Travel to Work, School and Shops, Victoria, October 1994, cat. no. 9201.2

Another interesting resource: The NSW Ministry of Transport's Journey to Work 2006 publication provides information to assist those using the Transport Data Centre's 2006 Journey to Work dataset. This data is derived from place of work and other employment information collected in the ABS's Census of Population and Housing.

Helping you evaluate data quality

If you're interested in evaluating the quality of statistical collections and products (eg. survey data or statistical tables) then check out the recently released ABS Data Quality Framework (cat. no 1520.0).

The Framework can assist user's to:

• decide whether a dataset or statistical product is fit for purpose
• assess the data quality of seemingly similar collections
• interpret data

It can also assist those developing statistical collections to produce high quality outputs.

The Framework provides a multidimensional approach for assessing the quality of statistics, incorporating: Relevance, Timeliness, Accuracy, Coherence, Interpretability, Accessibility and Institutional Environment.

For each dimension, the paper describes what constitutes the dimension, how it may be evaluated, and suggests questions to be considered for the purpose of assessing the dimension. The paper also includes information to assist data users and producers to apply the framework.

Are you statistically literate?

If you are uncomfortable with using statistics, you are not alone. Many people shy away from using statistics because of their perceived complexity.

However, statistics are highly prevalent in our information-rich society and can influence our daily lives via media reporting and social and economic policy decisions. It is therefore necessary to develop the ability to critically interpret and evaluate statistics to make informed decisions about the information that surrounds us.

A new article: What is statistical literacy and why is it important to be statistically literate? is featured in the recent issue of Tasmanian State and Regional Indicators, Mar 2009 (cat. no. 1307.6).

The article provides an overview of what it means to be statistically literate, and why it is so important. The article also provides a set of criteria that are essential for building statistical literacy, including:

1. Data awareness

2. The ability to understand statistical concepts

3. The ability to analyse, interpret and evaluate statistical information

4. The ability to communicate statistical information and understandings

Find out what it takes to be statistically literate today.

CDATA Online nominated for two awards

The ABS' CDATA Online tool which allows you to create your own tables of Census data has now been nominated for two prestigious awards.

CDATA Online has been announced as a finalist for the 2009 Excellence in e-Government Award (e-Award) which was introduced in 2006 by the Australian Government to promote excellence in the use of ICT in Australia at all levels of government. The 2009 e-Award will be presented to coincide with the eGovernment Forum being held on Wednesday, 13 May 2009.

CDATA Online has also been nominated for the ESRI GIS Challenge, an award that is decided by public votes, with voting open until the end of May 2009. If you have found the innovative elements of CDATA Online helpful, then please feel free to vote for CDATA Online at the ESRI GIS Challenge website.

New G-20 Statistical Website

The Inter-Agency Group on Economic and Financial Statistics has launched a new website 'Principal Global Indicators' covering economic and financial data for the Group of 20 economies.

The website was launched in response to the ongoing global financial crisis to assist with monitoring and evaluating the economic and financial developments of the G-20 economies.

The website is a useful resource for locating data on the financial, governmental, external, and real sectors of G-20 economies. Market indicators including Consumer prices; Unemployment rates; and Interest rates are also provided.

The website also provides links to data in related websites of international and national agencies. For Australia, the website links to statistical information from the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.