ContextData dictionary

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Term	Definition
Number of participants	The number firms in the cohort. In other words, the number of participants joining the program in the cohort year.
Size distribution	Firms are categorised as small (more than zero employees, but less than 20 employees), medium (20 or more employees, but less than 200 employees) or large (200 or more employees). Note that non-employing firms are not included the PAT, and employee numbers are based on FTE so are not whole numbers.
Industry distribution	Industry categories are according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) divisions. Firms are categorised as Manufacturing; Professional, Scientific and Technical (PST) Services; or Other industries. Other industries includes all ANZSIC divisions other than Manufacturing and PST Services.
Age distribution	Age is calculated as the number of years since the firm registered for GST or an ABN.
Exporters	Firms that report at least one dollar of export sales in the BAS are counted as exporters. This differs from other definitions which only count firms as exporters if the value of their exports is over a certain threshold.
Export class	Exporters are categorised according to the dollar value of their export sales: $1 to $2,000; $2,001 to $10,000; $10,001 to $100,000; and $100,001 plus.

Term	Definition
All-firm benchmark	All the active, employing firms in the Australian economy in a given financial year. There are approximately 800,000 of these firms each year. Please note that because all the active, employing firms have been used in the benchmark it is not a true counterfactual for the program participant firms. A counterfactual is an approximation of what would have happened to the program participant firms, had they not been in the program. For deeper analysis, where the benchmark would serve as a counterfactual, the benchmark would be made up of firms similar to the program participants based on various observable firm characteristics.
Employing firm	A firm with a FTE count greater than zero.
Full-time equivalent (FTE)	Full-time equivalent (FTE) employment is a measure of employment which accounts for the number of hours worked by employees. Full-time employees count as 1.0 FTE. The calculation of FTE for part-time staff is based on the proportion of time worked compared to that worked by full-time staff performing similar duties. A part-time employee who worked half as much as a full-time employee counts as 0.5 FTE. In PAT, FTE is calculated using wages and salaries data. FTE is in contrast to headcount measures of employment which count full-time and part-time employees each as one.
Cohort	The group of firms which join a program in the cohort year. This is distinct from all the firms in the program in a given year whether new or continuing. Using cohorts allows for the comparison of firms who have been in the program for the same amount of time. When a cohort of firms is compared to the all-firm benchmark, the benchmark consists of all the active employing firms in the economy in the cohort year.
na	Denotes data that is unavailable or data that has been suppressed to ensure that individual firms cannot be identified.

Term	Definition
Age distribution	Age is calculated as the number of years since the firm registered for GST or an ABN.
All-firm benchmark	All the active, employing firms in the Australian economy in a given financial year. There are approximately 800,000 of these firms each year. Please note that because all the active, employing firms have been used in the benchmark it is not a true counterfactual for the program participant firms. A counterfactual is an approximation of what would have happened to the program participant firms, had they not been in the program. For deeper analysis, where the benchmark would serve as a counterfactual, the benchmark would be made up of firms similar to the program participants based on various observable firm characteristics.
Cohort	The group of firms which join a program in the cohort year. This is distinct from all the firms in the program in a given year whether new or continuing. Using cohorts allows for the comparison of firms who have been in the program for the same amount of time. When a cohort of firms is compared to the all-firm benchmark, the benchmark consists of all the active employing firms in the economy in the cohort year.
Employing firm	A firm with a FTE count greater than zero.
Export class	Exporters are categorised according to the dollar value of their export sales: $1 to $2,000; $2,001 to $10,000; $10,001 to $100,000; and $100,001 plus.
Exporters	Firms that report at least one dollar of export sales in the BAS are counted as exporters. This differs from other definitions which only count firms as exporters if the value of their exports is over a certain threshold.
Full-time equivalent (FTE)	Full-time equivalent (FTE) employment is a measure of employment which accounts for the number of hours worked by employees. Full-time employees count as 1.0 FTE. The calculation of FTE for part-time staff is based on the proportion of time worked compared to that worked by full-time staff performing similar duties. A part-time employee who worked half as much as a full-time employee counts as 0.5 FTE. In PAT, FTE is calculated using wages and salaries data. FTE is in contrast to headcount measures of employment which count full-time and part-time employees each as one.
Industry distribution	Industry categories are according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) divisions. Firms are categorised as Manufacturing; Professional, Scientific and Technical (PST) Services; or Other industries. Other industries includes all ANZSIC divisions other than Manufacturing and PST Services.
na	Denotes data that is unavailable or data that has been suppressed to ensure that individual firms cannot be identified.
Number of participants	The number firms in the cohort. In other words, the number of participants joining the program in the cohort year.
Size distribution	Firms are categorised as small (more than zero employees, but less than 20 employees), medium (20 or more employees, but less than 200 employees) or large (200 or more employees). Note that non-employing firms are not included the PAT, and employee numbers are based on FTE so are not whole numbers.