• Health, Standard 10/12/2009

All health professionals renewing their registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

The data elements in this cluster, when used together, describe the labour force status of registered health professionals. The cluster assists to describe the size and availability of the health labour force.

The data can be output as sub-groups of the labour force using the following categories: 

1. Employed
   1. Employed in Australia in registered profession
      1. Employed in the profession
      2. On extended leave
   2. Employed in Australia outside of registered profession
      1. Looking for work in registered profession
      2. Not looking for work in registered profession
   3. Employed overseas in registered profession
      1. Looking for work in Australia in registered profession
      2. Not looking for work in Australia in registered profession
2. Not employed in Australia
   1. Looking for work in Australia in registered profession
   2. Not looking for work in Australia in registered profession
3. Retired from registered profession in Australia

The employed category excludes those only engaged in unpaid and/or voluntary activities.

Not employed in Australia includes those who are not employed at all and those who are only employed outside Australia.

Data elements in this cluster comprise five key labour force concepts for the registered profession:

• Country of employment
• Extended leave status
• Jobseeker status     
• Labour force status
• Retirement status

It is not necessary to collect these concepts as separate questions. Instead, they are best combined to form the response categories to a set of survey questions.

The following questions are an example of how the separate data elements from this cluster should be used together. They identify the labour force status of a health professional in the registered profession in the last week.

1. Last week, were you:

• Working in the registered profession in Australia? (continue with questionnaire)
• Employed in the registered profession but within a period of leave for 3 months or more? (thank you, nothing further)
• Working in the registered profession overseas? (go to question 2)
• Working, but not in the profession? (go to question 2)
• Not working in paid employment at all? (go to question 2)

2. Last week, did you take active steps to look for work in the registered profession in Australia?

Active steps include: applying for work in the profession, enquiring about a job, answering an advertisement, registering with an employment agency, advertising for work or contacting people in the profession about a job.

• No, I am retired from regular work
• No, not at all
• Yes, I looked for work (either full-time or part-time)

     Thank you - no further questions