Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 1997-2024: Secure Access

<p>The <i>Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings</i> (ASHE) is one of the largest surveys of the earnings of individuals in the UK. Data on the wages, paid hours of work, and pensions arrangements of nearly one per cent of the working population are collected. Other variables relating to age, occupation and industrial classification are also available. The ASHE sample is drawn from National Insurance records for working individuals, and the survey forms are sent to their respective employers to complete.<br>
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While limited in terms of personal characteristics compared to surveys such as the <i>Labour Force Survey</i>, the ASHE is useful not only because of its larger sample size, but also the responses regarding wages and hours are considered to be more accurate, since the responses are provided by employers rather than from employees themselves. A further advantage of the ASHE is that data for the same individuals are collected year after year. It is therefore possible to construct a panel dataset of responses for each individual running back as far as 1997, and to track how occupations, earnings and working hours change for individuals over time. Furthermore, using the unique business identifiers, it is possible to combine ASHE data with data from other business surveys, such as the <i>Annual Business Survey</i> (UK Data Archive SN 7451).<br>
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The ASHE replaced the <i>New Earnings Survey</i> (NES, SN 6704) in 2004. NES was developed in the 1970s in response to the policy needs of the time. The survey had changed very little in its thirty-year history. ASHE datasets for the years 1997-2003 were derived using ASHE methodologies applied to NES data.<br>
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The ASHE improves on the NES in the following ways:</p><ul><li>the NES questionnaire allowed too much variation in employer responses, leading to wide variations in the data</li><li>weightings have been introduced to take account of the population size (significant biases were a known problem in NES data)</li><li>the significant numbers of employees who change jobs between the sample selection and survey reference dates are retained in the ASHE sample, whereas these were dropped from the NES</li></ul><i>Linking to other business studies</i><br>
These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.<br>
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<i>Observations from Northern Ireland</i><br>
The ASHE data held by the UK Data Archive include very few observations from Northern Ireland. Users requiring access to Northern Ireland data are advised to contact the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, who administer this aspect of the survey.<br>
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<i>Local unit reference variable, luref</i><br>
The local unit reference variable 'luref', is generated to indicate multiple occurrences of the same local unit for disclosure checking purposes. It is inconsistent across years and is not an IDBR reference number. It should not be used to link ASHE with other business datasets.<p></p><p>For Secure Lab projects applying for access to this study as well as to SN 6697 <span style="font-style:italic">Business Structure Database</span> and/or SN 7683<em> Business Structure Database Longitudinal</em>, only postcode-free versions of the data will be made available.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Latest Edition Information</span><br>For the twenty-sixth edition (February 2025), the data file 'ashegb_2023r_2024p_pc' has been added, along with the accompanying data dictionary. <br></p>

《工时与收入年度调查》（Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, ASHE）是英国规模最大的个人收入调研项目之一。该调查收集了近1%劳动人口的工资、付薪工时与养老金安排相关数据，同时涵盖年龄、职业、行业分类等其他变量。其样本取自在职人员的国民保险（National Insurance）记录，调研问卷由受访者所属的雇主代为填写。

尽管相较于《劳动力调查》（Labour Force Survey）等同类调研，工时与收入年度调查在个人特征维度上存在局限，但其优势不仅在于样本量更大，还因数据由雇主而非雇员本人填报，使得工资与工时的应答准确性显著更高。此外，该调查可逐年追踪同一批受访者，因此能够构建起自1997年起的个人面板数据集，跟踪个体的职业、收入与工时随时间的变化情况。不仅如此，依托唯一的企业标识符，研究人员还可将工时与收入年度调查数据与《年度企业调查》（Annual Business Survey, 英国数据档案馆编号SN 7451）等其他企业调研数据进行合并。

工时与收入年度调查于2004年取代了《新收入调查》（New Earnings Survey, NES, SN 6704）。《新收入调查》于20世纪70年代为响应当时的政策需求而设立，在其30年的发展历程中几乎未做调整。1997-2003年的工时与收入年度调查数据集，是通过将工时与收入年度调查的方法应用于《新收入调查》数据衍生而来的。

工时与收入年度调查在以下方面对《新收入调查》进行了优化：
- 《新收入调查》的问卷允许雇主应答存在过多差异，导致数据离散度较高；
- 新增了权重设置以适配人口规模（《新收入调查》数据中存在显著偏倚问题，此为已知缺陷）；
- 保留了在样本选取与调查基准日期之间更换工作的大量雇员，而这类群体在《新收入调查》中会被剔除。

关联其他企业研究
本数据集包含跨部门企业登记册（Inter-Departmental Business Register, IDBR）参考编号。此类编号为匿名且唯一的企业组织标识符，其纳入使得研究人员可将不同的企业调研数据源进行合并。研究人员可申请调用其他企业数据以辅助相关研究。

北爱尔兰地区观测值
英国数据档案馆所收录的工时与收入年度调查数据中，北爱尔兰地区的观测值极少。如需获取北爱尔兰相关数据的用户，建议联系北爱尔兰统计与研究局（Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency），该局负责该调研的该板块管理工作。

本地单位参考变量“luref”
本地单位参考变量“luref”是为披露检查（disclosure checking）目的而生成的，用于标识同一本地单位的多次出现情况。该变量在不同年份间不具备一致性，且并非跨部门企业登记册参考编号，因此不可用于将工时与收入年度调查数据与其他企业数据集进行关联。

对于申请访问本研究以及SN 6697《企业结构数据库》（Business Structure Database）和/或SN 7683《纵向企业结构数据库》（Business Structure Database Longitudinal）的安全实验室项目，仅会提供无邮政编码版本的数据。

最新版本信息
第26版（2025年2月）新增了数据文件`ashegb_2023r_2024p_pc`及配套的数据字典。

搜集汇总

背景与挑战

背景概述

该数据集是英国国家统计局发布的工时和收入年度调查数据，覆盖1997年至2025年，包含多个版本的更新记录和修正数据。数据访问需注册用户通过安全环境进行，且需获得数据所有者的批准。