Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The first Labour Force Survey (LFS) in the United Kingdom was conducted in 1973, under the terms of a Regulation derived from the Treaty of Rome. The provision of information for the Statistical Office of the European Communities (SOEC) continued to be one of the reasons for carrying out the survey on an annual basis. SOEC co-ordinated information from labour force surveys in the member states in order to assist the EC in such matters as the allocation of the Social Fund. The survey was carried out biennially from 1973 to 1983 and was increasingly used by UK government departments to obtain information which would assist in the framing of social and economic policy. By 1983 it was being used by the Employment Department (now the Department for Work and Pensions) to obtain information which was not available from other sources or was only available for Census years. From 1984 the survey was carried out annually, and since that time the LFS has 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 yielded about 15,000 responding households in every quartera `boost' survey in the spring quarter (March-May), which produced interviews at over 44,000 households in Great Britain and over 4,000 households in Northern IrelandUsers should note that only the data from the spring quarter and the 'boost' survey were included in the annual datasets for public release, and that only data from 1975-1991 are available from the UK Data Archive. The depositor recommends only considered use of data for 1975 and 1977 (SNs 1757 and 1758), as the concepts behind the definitions of economic activity changed and are not comparable with later years. Also the survey methodology was being developed at the time and so the estimates may not be reliable enough to use. During 1991 the survey was developed, so that from spring 1992 the data were made available quarterly, with a quarterly sample size approximately equivalent to that of the previous annual data. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey series therefore superseded the annual LFS series, and is held at the Data Archive under GN 33246.
Main Topics:The basic set of LFS questions sought information about household composition: i.e. for each usually resident individual member of the household, the relationship to the head of the household, sex, age, marital condition and nationality. For persons above the statutory school-leaving age information was sought about the main economic activity, any secondary economic activity, and economic activity one year previously. For unemployed persons questions were asked about the type of employment sought, duration of unemployment and method of seeking employment, previous employment status and industry and whether or not registered as unemployed at an official employment office.
The European Community's supplementary set of questions in 1975 asked about vocational training in progress, travel-to-work and working conditions. At the request of UK departments in 1975, questions were asked about length of time in the present occupation and on the previous occupation of persons who had changed their occupation during the previous year, as well as extra questions about vocational training.
Stratified multi-stage sample; for further details see annual reports. Until 1983 two sampling frames were used; in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, the Valuation Roll provided the basis for a sample which, in England and Wales, included all 69 metropolitan districts, and a two-stage selection from among the remaining non-metropolitan districts. In Northern Ireland wards were the primary sampling units. In Scotland, the Address File (i.e. post codes) was used as the basis for a stratified sample.From 1983 the Postoffice Address File has been used instead of the Valuation Roll in England and Wales.In 1984 sample rotation was introduced along with a panel element, the quarterly survey, which uses a two-stage clustered sample design.
Face-to-face interview
Telephone interview
(from 1986)
