SN 5842 -Quarterly Labour Force Survey, January

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SN 5842 -Quarterly Labour Force Survey, January - March, 2004

Documentation Variable List Keywords Publications Related Studies

Title:
Quarterly Labour Force Survey, January - March, 2004

Series: (Labour Force Survey Series)

Subject Categories:
Labour Force Survey - Major studies
General - Employment and labour

Depositor(s):
Office for National Statistics. Social and Vital Statistics Division

Principal Investigator(s):
Office for National Statistics. Social and Vital Statistics Division
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Central Survey Unit

Sponsor(s):
Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland. Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment

Other Acknowledgements:
Until 5 July 1995, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) was the responsibility of the Employment Department. On that date, the Employment Department was abolished and responsibility for the survey was passed to the Central Statistical Office (CSO). In April 1996, the Central Statistical Office and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys amalgamated to become the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Abstract:
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a unique source of articulated information using international definitions of employment and unemployment and economic inactivity, together with a wide range of related topics such as occupation, training, hours of work and personal characteristics of household members aged 16 years and over. The first LFS was conducted in 1973, under the terms of a regulation derived from the Treaty of Rome, and the provision of information for the Statistical Office of the European Communities (SOEC), now known as Eurostat, continues to be one of the reasons for carrying out the survey. Eurostat co-ordinates information from labour force surveys in the European Union (EU) member states in order to assist the EU in such matters as the allocation of the Social Fund. The LFS was carried out biennially from 1973 to 1983, and was increasingly used during this time by British government departments to obtain information which would assist in the framing of social and economic policy. By 1983, the LFS was being used by the Employment Department to obtain information which was not available from other sources or was only available for Census years. Between 1984 and 1991 the survey was carried out annually and consisted of two elements:

a quarterly survey conducted in Great Britain throughout the year, in which each sampled address was called on five times at quarterly intervals, and which yields about 15,000 responding households in every quarter
a 'boost' survey in the spring quarter (then March-May, as data were collected seasonally), which produced interviews at over 44,000 households in Great Britain and over 4,000 households in Northern Ireland

During 1991, the LFS was further developed, so that from 1992 quarterly data were made available, with a quarterly sample size approximately equivalent to that of the previous annual data, that is 60,000 responding households every quarter. Thus, the survey became known as the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). Between March 1992 and November 1994, interviewing in Northern Ireland was only conducted in the spring, with no quarterly element. However, from December 1994, data gathering for Northern Ireland moved to the full quarterly cycle to match the rest of the country. From that date, the QLFS covered the whole of the United Kingdom, though some additional annual Northern Ireland LFS datasets are also held at the UK Data Archive (UKDA).

Special Licence Access QLFS data:
From the January-March 2003 quarter, a Special Licence (SL) version of the QLFS data is also available in addition to the version made available under the standard End User Licence (EUL). The SL version contains extra variables, and therefore is subject to more restrictive access conditions. Prospective users of the SL edition will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the extra variables, in order to get permission to use that version (see 'Access' section below). Therefore, most users should order the standard version of the data. In order to help users choose the correct dataset, 'Special Licence Access' has been added to the dataset titles for the SL versions of the data. Typically, variables that can be found in the SL data, and that are not available in the standard EUL version, are: month and year of birth; Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics Level 2 (NUTS2) (county-level); 4-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for occupation in apprenticeship, last job, second job and job made redundant from; unitary authority/local authority for place of residence and place of work; urban/rural indicator. Data for households of size 10 or above, which are excluded from the standard EUL data, can also be found in the SL data.

Additional QLFS data:
Additional datasets are also produced by ONS using LFS data, and many of these are also deposited at UKDA. Full details of all LFS data held by UKDA, comprising the main quarterly datasets (including Special Licence and standard End User Licence versions), Household, Two-Quarter and Five-Quarter Longitudinal, Eurostat, Local Area, annual LFS and annual Northern Ireland LFS data, are available from the Labour Force Survey datasets page.

LFS Reweighting Project 2007:
In 2007, ONS undertook a reweighting project, whereby LFS data were reweighted using population estimates for 2007-2008. As a result, reweighted editions of QLFS back to 1992 were deposited at UKDA during 2008. Users should note that:

the single year of age variable (AGE), and 4-digit unit SOC for main occupation, have been reinstated in the reweighted datasets
only calendar datasets have been reweighted to 2007-2008 figures. The previous seasonal datasets are no longer supported by ONS, and have been withdrawn from the UKDA catalogue. Therefore the QLFS series now commences with the April-June 1992 quarter (SN 5887).

LFS move from seasonal to calendar quarters
In accordance with EU regulations, the LFS moved from seasonal (spring, summer, autumn, winter) quarters to calendar quarters (January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December) in 2006. Following the 2007-2008 reweighting project (see above), calendar versions of all datasets in the main QLFS series were deposited at the UKDA, and the previous seasonal datasets were removed from the UKDA catalogue at the request of ONS, as seasonal data are no longer supported. However, some seasonal datasets may still exist for other LFS series, and ONS advise that, because of the method of construction and the weighting factors used in the datasets, comparison cannot be made between datasets of a calendar and seasonal nature. Time series and longitudinal analysis should only be conducted on datasets of the same type. Further information on the seasonal to calendar quarter change and its impact on LFS data may be found in the following online article:
Madouros, V. (2006) Impact of the switch from seasonal to calendar quarters in the Labour Force Survey, London: ONS. Retrieved December 14, 2007 from: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/labour_market_trends/CQ_article.pdf

LFS Documentation
The documentation available from the UKDA to accompany LFS datasets largely consists of the latest version of each volume alongside the appropriate questionnaire for the year concerned. However, LFS volumes are updated periodically by ONS, so users are advised to check the ONS LFS User Guide pages before commencing analysis.

This study was deposited in 2008, as a result of the move from seasonal to calendar quarters for the QLFS, and the reweighting process to 2007-2008 population figures. It combines data from previously-available QLFS seasonal quarter datasets. The depositor has advised that small revisions to the data may have been made during this process, but they should not be significant.

Main Topics:
The QLFS questionnaire comprises a 'core' of questions which are included in every survey, together with some 'non-core' questions which vary from quarter to quarter.

The questionnaire can be split into two main parts. The first part contains questions on the respondent's household, family structure, basic housing information and demographic details of household members. The second part contains questions covering economic activity, education and health, and also may include a few questions asked on behalf of other government departments (for example the Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office). Until 1997, the questions on health covered mainly problems which affected the respondent's work. From that quarter onwards, the questions cover all health problems. Detailed questions on income have also been included in each quarter since 1993. The basic questionnaire is revised each year, and a new version published, along with a transitional version that details changes from the previous year's questionnaire.

Coverage:
Dates of Fieldwork: January 2004-March 2004
Country: United Kingdom
Spatial Units: Government Office Regions (GORs); Standard Regions
Observation Units: Individuals; Families/households

Universe Sampled:
Location of Units of Observation:National
Population:All persons normally resident in private households in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. From winter 1994-1995, Northern Ireland is included in each quarter. Prior to this, data were only collected there in the March-May quarter each year. When the LFS moved to a quarterly cycle, two new groups of people were included in the survey to improve the coverage of young people: residents in National Health Service (NHS) hospital accommodation (formerly called nurses' homes), and students living in halls of residence or boarding schools.
Northern Ireland is not included in the Local Area Data files before 1997.

Methodology:
Time Dimensions: Repeated cross-sectional study
Data are collected quarterly
Sampling Procedures: Simple random sample
Four sampling frames are used. For Great Britain, south of the Caledonian Canal, the Post Office Address File is used, whilst north of the Caledonian Canal, a random sample is drawn from the published telephone directory. The sample of residents in NHS accommodation is also drawn, unclustered, for the whole of Great Britain using a specially-prepared frame. In Northern Ireland, the source of the sample is the Valuation List used for rating purposes, excluding commercial units and known institutions. Households are interviewed on five occasions at quarterly intervals, thereby introducing a panel element to the survey. For further details see documentation.
Method of Data Collection: Face-to-face interview; Telephone interview; the first interview is conducted face-to-face, and subsequent interviews by telephone where possible.
Weighting: Weighting used. See documentation for details

Language(s) of Written Materials:
Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:
Access Conditions: The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions for further information.
Availability: ESDS Government, UK Data Archive
Contact: Help desk: govsurveys@esds.ac.uk

Date of Release:
First Edition: 30 June 2008

Copyright:
Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland

Documentation:

Format	Name	Size in Kilobytes	Description
PDF	background.pdf	3246	User Guide Vol.1 - Background and Methodology
PDF	classifications.pdf	1351	User Guide Vol.5 - Classifications
PDF	derivedvariables2007.pdf	4329	User Guide Vol.4 - Derived Variables
PDF	eurostat.pdf	982	User Guide Vol.9 - Eurostat and Eurostat Derived Variables
PDF	household.pdf	345	User Guide Vol.8 - Household and Family Data
PDF	lfs_2007_reweighting.pdf	28	LFS Reweighting Project 2007 Information
PDF	localarea.pdf	514	User Guide Vol.6 - Local Area Data
PDF	questionnaire2004.pdf	3051	LFS User Guide Vol.2/2A - Questionnaire
PDF	variabledetails1992-2002.pdf	2243	User Guide Vol.3 - Details of LFS Variables 1992-2002
PDF	variabledetails2007.pdf	1241	User Guide Vol.3 - Details of LFS Variables 2007
PDF	variables1979_1991.pdf	726	User Guide Vol.7 - LFS Variables 1979-1991
HTML	UKDA_Study_5842_Information.htm	33	Study information and citation