The Australian Fashion Council (AFC) has issued a plea to the country’s textile, fashion, and clothing (TCF) workers to be specific about their industries on the upcoming census to aid the “undercounted” field and its representation.

On Tuesday, August 11, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will compile the census for the first time since 2021. The AFC said that this is an opportunity for the fashion industry to be more recognised, possibly paving the way for more governmental funding.

“TCF is one of the most undercounted industries in Australia’s official statistics: not because the workforce is small, but because generic census answers,” the AFC added.

“That undercount impacts our industry’s workforce planning and training investment until the next census in 2031.”

It said that broad answers from workers in TCF industries get categorised into other sectors, such as designers and factory workers. “The fix takes 30 seconds: Get four questions right, and you’re counted correctly,” the council said.

Some examples included “sewing machinist” over “factory worker”; “textile designer” over “designer”; “fashion design” over “fashion industry”.

The AFC has released a campaign kit for employers to use in a bid to increase accuracy when answering the census. The four questions it centres on are titled occupation (question 42), duties (question 43), industry of employer (question 45), and goods or services produced (question 46). It argued that vague wording such as “clothing” or “fashion” on its own will not be picked up by the ABS, and instead needs to be accompanied by the role and task of the company.

“The goal is specificity, not exact wording,” it added.