United Kingdom
Title of the survey:
Labour Force Survey.
Organization responsible for the survey:
Planning and conduct of the survey:
Office for National Statistics.
Analysis and publication of the results:
Office for National Statistics.
Topics covered:
Employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work, wages, duration of employment, duration of unemployment, discouraged workers, industry, occupation, status in employment, educational level, second jobs. Other topics included: earnings, disability, education and training, travel to work, sickness, union representation, benefits and health.
Coverage of the survey:
Geographical:
Whole country.
Population groups:
All persons aged 16 years and over living in private households and including career armed forces personnel, plus students in residence halls (enumerated at parents’ address), plus National Health Service (NHS) and hospital staff living in NHS/hospital trust accommodations. Other institutional populations and communal army bases are excluded. For those aged under 16 years, only demographic details are collected. The UK working age population is 16-59 for women and 16-64 for men.
Availability of estimates from other sources for the excluded areas/groups:
Not available.
Groups covered by the survey but excluded from the published results:
All groups included in the sample are included in the results.
Periodicity:
Conduct of the survey:
The survey is continuous, providing quarterly results.
Publication of results:
Three-month rolling averages are published on a monthly basis; quarterly and annually.
Reference periods:
Employment:
One moving week.
Seeking work:
Last four weeks (moving reference period).
Availability for work:
Two weeks (moving reference period).
Concepts and definitions:
Employment:
Work for pay or profit for at least one hour per week, including unpaid family workers. Persons temporarily absent from work are employed if the temporary absence is less than six months or the person continues to be paid and has a guarantee of a return to work.
It includes:
- persons absent due to illness, injury, vacation, annual leave, maternity or paternity leave, educational or training leave, absence without leave, labour management dispute, bad weather, mechanical breakdown, temporary or indefinite (6 months) lay-off without pay and unpaid leave initiated by the employer;
- full and part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
- persons who performed some work for pay or profit during the reference week, who were retired and receiving a pension, registered as job seekers at an employment office or receiving unemployment benefits;
- full and part-time students working full or part-time;
- paid apprentices and trainees;
- participants in employment promotion schemes;
- volunteer and career members of the armed forces.
Unemployment:
Without work during the reference week, available to start work within two weeks and either has looked for work in the previous four weeks or has already found a job to start in the future.
It includes:
- persons trying to establish their own enterprise;
- persons retired and receiving a pension, unpaid family workers temporarily absent from work and seasonal workers not at work -if available and seeking work;
- full and part-time students seeking full or part-time work.
Underemployment:
Time-related underemployment:
ONS collects data on people who want to work additional hours and will soon begin an evaluation of the data; estimates of time-related underemployment are not published. In future a definition of underemployment in line with a Eurostat "operationalized" interpretation of the international recommendations will be implemented.
Inadequate employment situations:
Not applicable.
Hours of work:
Hours usually worked in main job, actual number of hours worked in the reference week in the main job and in the second job, including paid and unpaid overtime, excluding time spent for meal breaks.
Employment-related income:
Income from paid employment:
All cash earnings, payments in kind, profit-related pay and certain benefits (Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance) if quoted by the respondent. Pay can be identified by both gross and net, for both main and second jobs. The reference period is that stated in the last pay packet.
Income from self-employment:
Not applicable.
Informal sector:
Not applicable.
Usual activity:
Not applicable.
Classifications:
Branch of economic activity (industry):
Title of the classification:
Standard Industrial Classification 1992 (SIC92).
Population groups classified by industry:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Number of groups used for coding:
458.
Links to ISIC:
ISIC-Rev. 3 at the 4-digit level; SIC92 is identical.
Occupation:
Title of the classification:
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).
Population groups classified by occupation:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Number of groups used for coding:
374.
Links to ISCO:
SOC is as close as possible at the aggregate level. ONS and the Institute of Employment Research are revising SOC which will improve harmonization with ISCO.
Status in employment:
Title of the classification:
Not available.
Population groups classified by status in employment:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Groups used for classification:
Four groups: Employees, Selfemployed, People on Government Training Schemes, Unpaid family workers.
Links to ICSE:
ICSE-1993.
Education:
Title of the classification:
Not available.
Population groups classified by education:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Groups used for classification:
All ISCED groups.
Links to ISCED:
From 1999 onwards, ISCED97 can be derived from the UK LFS data.
Sample size and design:
Ultimate sampling unit:
Address.
Sample size (ultimate sampling units):
88,740 addresses.
Overall sampling fraction:
Just under 0.04 per cent.
Sample frame:
The "small users" subfile from the Postal Address File (PAF) plus the NHS/hospital accommodation list. The PAF is a computer list prepared by the Post Office of all the addresses (delivery points) to which mail is delivered. "Small users" are delivery points which receive fewer than 25 articles of mail per day (known to include the majority of private households).
Updating of the sample:
The PAF is updated every six months by the Post Office and the NHS/hospital accommodation list is updated around once every 5 years.
Rotation:
Scheme:
The sample is divided equally into five waves - one wave enters and one leaves each quarter. Sample units are interviewed once per quarter.
Percentage of units remaining in the sample for two consecutive survey rounds:
80 per cent.
Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:
Five.
Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:
Five quarters.
Field work:
Type of interview:
Computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).
Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:
(68,250 ultimate sampling units.)
Duration of field work:
Total:
Continuous over the year.
Per sample area:
Not available.
Survey organization:
Permanent.
Number of field staff:
420.
Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:
No.
Estimation and adjustments:
Total non-response rate:
22.3 per cent (for wave one and 5.5 per cent for waves 2-5).
Adjustment for total non-response:
Yes.
Imputation for item non-response:
Yes, for non-respondents and circumstantial refusals, data from the previous interview are carried forward for one period only.
Adjustment for areas/population not covered:
No.
Adjustment for undercoverage:
Yes.
Adjustment for overcoverage:
Yes.
Adjustment for seasonal variations:
Yes, using the Census X-11 Arima package. A single, standard model is used across series. Item non-response imputation improves the additivity of the seasonally adjusted series. Additivity is imposed for most seasonally adjusted series.
History of the survey:
Title and date of the first survey:
The Labour Force Survey, 1973.
Significant changes or revisions:
1973 - 1983: The survey was conducted in the spring quarter every other year. (Results for 1973, 1975, and 1977 are not published due to the survey being experimental in those years.) 1984 - 1991: The survey was conducted in the spring quarter every year; various changes in the classification of specific groups in economic activity (e.g. students, training scheme participants etc. from inactivity to employment) in line with the international recommendations.
Spring 1992 onwards: The survey is continuous; updating/revision of the major economic classifications applied in the survey.
Documentation and dissemination:
Documentation:
Survey results:
Labour Force Survey (year) (annual); LFS User Guide, Volume 1 (from page 130). (Periodicity: annual).
Survey methodology:
LFS User Guide, Volume 1.
Dissemination:
Time needed for initial release of survey results:
One-two months.
Advance information of public about date of initial release:
Yes.
Availability of unpublished data upon request:
ONS makes simple non-published tabulations available to government users and international institutions. Other tabulations can be provided by a marketing agent who will charge a fee.
Availability of data in machine-readable form:
Yes.
Website:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/.