The Centre of Full Employment and Equity developed a new geography for Australia which we called the CofFEE Functional Economic Regions (CFERs).
The genesis of the CofFEE FER began with our concern that the administrative geographical demarcations currently used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) to collect and disseminate their labour force and Census data - is unsuited to the task of providing a systematic understanding of level of economic interaction within and between neighbouring regions.
The CofFEE FER provide a new socio-economic geography for Australia (regionalisation) or spatial aggregation of data based on an analysis of economic behaviour in the form of commuting flows which are collected in the ABS Census of Population and Housing.
We consider the resulting geographical classification based on underlying economic behaviour provides new insights into critical issues of regional performance, including unemployment differentials, the impact of industry, infrastructure and changes in local public expenditure on local labour markets.
The Second Edition of the CFERs was designed using the 2011 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing Data.
For the 2011 CofFEE Functional Economic Regions, we designed a range of regionalisations based on the commuting patterns of differentiated workers. These included gender-specific, occupation-based and mode of transport regionalisations, as follows:
Original CFERs - commuting flows of all workers
Gender based CFERs
Male CFERs (MCFER) - commuting flows of male workers
Female CFERs (FCFER) - commuting flows of female workers
Occupation based CFERs
Skilled CFERs (SCFER) - commuting flows of skilled workers, those in the ANZSCO classes Manager and Professionals
Less Skilled CFERs (LSCFER) - commuting flows of less skilled workers, those in the ANZSCO classes Community and Personal Service Workers, Clerical and Administrative Workers, Sales Workers, Machinery Operators and Drivers and Labourers
Trades CFERs (TCFER) - commuting flows of tradespersons, those in the Technicians and Trades Workers ANZSCO class
Mode of Transport based CFERs
Road CFERs (RoCFER) - commuting flows of workers who travelled to work using a Car (as driver or passenger), Bus, Motorbike, Taxi, Tram or Truck
Rail CFERs (RaCFER) - commuting flows of workers who travelled to work by heavy rail
Bicycle CFERs (BCFER) - commuting flows of workers who travelled to work by bicycle
Multiple modes of transport CFERs (MTCFER) - commuting flows of workers who used more than mode of transport to travel to work
You can download the concordance files for all of the various 2011 CFER aggregations here.
You can download the list of names of the regions for the various 2011 CFER aggregations here.
You can download a Technical Users Manual for the 2011 CFERs here.
The First Edition of the CFERs was designed using the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing Data.
The first edition was the first attempt by CofFEE to design an alternative regionalisation based on an analysis of economic behaviour. The initial attempt laid the groudwork for the refined processes undertaken for the subsequent editions in 2011 and 2016.
In the first edition there were 143 interactive CFERs and 17 Self-Contained Labour Markets.
You can view the mapping tool for the 2006 CFERs here.
You can download the concordance file for the 2006 CFER aggregation here.
You can download the list of names of the regions for the 2006 CFER aggregation here.
You can download a Technical Users Manual for the 2006 CFERs here.
This material is from the First Edition of the CFERs from the 2006 Census.
=> CFER Australia with no original SLA boundaries included and CFER names - large zip file 25 mgs.
=> CFER Australia with original SLA boundaries included and CFER names - large zip file 45 mgs.
=> Complete naming information for the CofFEE FERs - Excel file.
=> Intramax fusion reports for the CofFEE FERs - Excel file.
=> East Coast and South Australia - pdf.
=> Western Australia - pdf.
=> Tasmania - pdf.
=> Northern Territory - pdf.
=> CofFEE FERs 2006 Census population counts
The flash map tools allow you to study the CofFEE FERs without having to use a GIS mapping software. They overlay ABS Statistical Local Area and Labour Market Regions onto the FER boundaries to allow comparisons. Zooming and mouse dragging the maps are possible. You have to have flash installed to view these maps.
=> Queensland
=> South Australia, Western Australia, and NT
=> Tasmania
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