Labour Force Survey 4th quarter 1978 - 1st quarter 1980 panel file, old estimation

SSB has conducted official quarterly labor force surveys (LFS) from Q1 1972. The survey aims to provide labor authorities and others knowledge about the occupational structure of population and development over time. The surveys provide the basis and statistical material for occupational forecasting and labor market research. In the LFS respondents are interviewed two consecutive quarters, then after two more quarters they are interviewed again in two consecutive quarters. Labour Force Survey 1972 is the first complete LFS year long survey. Originally it was intended that such statistics would be a more analytical supplement to the monthly employment statistics based on the insurance fund membership files. The insurance fund-based statistics, however, fell away when health insurance was included in the National Insurance Scheme from 1 January 1971, the LFS has gradually evolved to become the main source of knowledge about the state of the labor market.

General information on the Labour Force Survey: http://www.nsd.uib.no/data/ny_individ/norStudy/aku.html

Overview of LFS panels with detailed explanation for panel files:

Group 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
Quarter 12345| 1234 | 1234 | 1234 | 1234 | 1234 | 1234 | 1234 | 1234 |
17 | | | | XX | XX | | | | |
18 | | | | XX | XX | | | | |
19 | | | | XX | XX | | | | |
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20 | | | | X | X X | X | | | |
21 | | | | | XX | XX | | | |
22 | | | | | XX | XX | | | |
23 | | | | | XX | XX | | | |
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24 | | | | | X | X X | X | | |
25 | | | | | | XX | XX | | |
26 | | | | | | XX | XX | | |
27 | | | | | | XX | XX | | |
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28 | | | | | | X | X X | X | |
29 | | | | | | | XX | XX | |
30 | | | | | | | XX | XX | |
31 | | | | | | | XX | XX | |
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32 | | | | | | | X | X X | X |

Panel files are created by linking four interviews from an ordinary interview round in LFS. In the table above this means that one could connect all the groups (lines) marked X.
Group 1 is removed because the intweviews started 4th quarter 1971.
Participation 4 times is used as a selection criterion, therefore everyone that didn't participate in the 4th interview has been omitted.
In 1975 SSB changed selection strategy. The groups that were left out due to this (started in 1973 or 1974, should've had one or more interviews in 1975) are removed.

This panel file covers group 32 in the table above.