RDP 2014-03: Household Saving in Australia Appendix C: Variable Definitions

Richard Finlay and Fiona Price

April 2014 – ISSN 1320-7229 (Print), ISSN 1448-5109 (Online)

Table C1: Definitions of Variables
Variable name Definition
Current income Natural logarithm of current household income, dollars
Deviation from permanent income Percentage deviation of current income from modelled permanent income
 
Married Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head married or in a de facto relationship; 0 otherwise
Single-parent household Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head is a single parent; 0 otherwise
Female Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head is female; 0 otherwise
Household size Number of persons regularly residing in household
Share of children Share of children aged under 15 in household
Share of old Share of people aged over 65 in household
Non-urban status Dummy variable equal to 1 if household lives in non-urban area; 0 otherwise
State A series of dummy variables for NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA, TAS, ACT and NT
Education – TAFE/certificate Dummy variable equal to 1 if highest education of household head is TAFE/certificate; 0 otherwise
Education – university Dummy variable equal to 1 if highest education of household head is university; 0 otherwise
Low-skilled occupation Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head is employed in a low-skilled occupation (based on ABS Cat No 1220.0); 0 otherwise
Middle-skilled occupation Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head is employed in a middle-skilled occupation (based on ABS Cat No 1220.0); 0 otherwise
Unemployed Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head is unemployed; 0 otherwise
Risk of unemployment Dummy variable equal to 1 if household at risk of having one or more unemployed individuals; 0 otherwise
Self-funded retiree Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head is a self-funded retiree or receives more than 20 per cent of income from investment income; 0 otherwise
Salary income Dummy variable equal to 1 if household receives more than 20 per cent of income from wages/salary; 0 otherwise
Business income Dummy variable equal to 1 if household receives more than 20 per cent of income from business income; 0 otherwise
Government income Dummy variable equal to 1 if household receives more than 20 per cent of income from government payments; 0 otherwise
Other income Dummy variable equal to 1 if household receives more than 20 per cent of income from ‘other’ income; 0 otherwise; other income includes private pensions, superannuation, child support, scholarships, other regular sources and income from family members not living in the household
Pensioner Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head is a pensioner; 0 otherwise
Not in the labour force Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head is a not in the labour force and not retired; 0 otherwise
Own home outright Dummy variable equal to 1 if household owns their place of usual residence outright; 0 otherwise
Mortgage Dummy variable equal to 1 if household owns their place of usual residence with a mortgage; 0 otherwise
Wealth-to-income ratio Ratio of household wealth to annual household disposable income
Gearing ratio Household debt divided by household assets
Young Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head aged less than 30; 0 otherwise
Middle-aged Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head aged between 30 and 49; 0 otherwise
Pre-retired Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head aged between 50 and 64; 0 otherwise
Old Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head aged over 65; 0 otherwise
No of credit cards Number of credit cards in household
Personal debt status Dummy variable equal to 1 if household has a level of personal debt greater than 10 per cent of its yearly income; 0 otherwise
Better off than a year ago Dummy variable equal to 1 if household perceives their standard of living to be better than a year ago; 0 otherwise
Worse off than a year ago Dummy variable equal to 1 if household perceives their standard of living to be worse than a year ago; 0 otherwise
Financially constrained Dummy variable equal to 1 if household answered yes to two or more of the seven financial stress questions; 0 otherwise
Non-English-speaking migrant Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head born in a non-English-speaking country; 0 otherwise
English-speaking migrant Dummy variable equal to 1 if household head born in an English-speaking country other than Australia; 0 otherwise
No of spare rooms The number of spare rooms in a household's dwelling