Labour Force Survey Household Datasets, 2002-2018: Secure Access

The <i>Labour Force Survey</i> (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 that 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:<ul><li>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</li><li>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</li></ul>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 <i>Quarterly Labour Force Survey</i> (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.<br>
<br>
<b>Secure Access QLFS household data</b><br>
Up to 2015, the LFS household datasets were produced twice a year (April-June and October-December) from the corresponding quarter's individual-level data. From January 2015 onwards, they are now produced each quarter alongside the main QLFS. The household datasets include all the usual variables found in the individual-level datasets, with the exception of those relating to income, and are intended to facilitate the analysis of the economic activity patterns of whole households. It is recommended that the existing individual-level LFS datasets continue to be used for any analysis at individual level, and that the LFS household datasets be used for analysis involving household or family-level data. For some quarters, users should note that all missing values in the data are set to one '-10' category instead of the separate '-8' and '-9' categories. For that period, the ONS introduced a new imputation process for the LFS household datasets and it was necessary to code the missing values into one new combined category ('-10'), to avoid over-complication. From the 2013 household datasets, the standard -8 and -9 missing categories have been reinstated.<br>
<br>
Secure Access household datasets for the QLFS are available from 2002 onwards, and include additional, detailed variables not included in the standard 'End User Licence' (EUL) versions. Extra variables that typically can be found in the Secure Access versions but not in the EUL versions relate to: geography; date of birth, including day; education and training; household and family characteristics; employment; unemployment and job hunting; accidents at work and work-related health problems; nationality, national identity and country of birth; occurence of learning difficulty or disability; and benefits.<br>
<br>
Prospective users of a Secure Access version of the QLFS will need to fulfil additional requirements, commencing with the completion of an extra application form to demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the extra, more detailed variables, in order to obtain permission to use that version. Secure Access users must also complete face-to-face training and agree to Secure Access' User Agreement (see 'Access' section below). Therefore, users are encouraged to download and inspect the EUL version of the data prior to ordering the Secure Access version.<br>
<br>
<b>LFS Documentation</b><br>
The documentation available from the Archive to accompany LFS datasets largely consists of each volume of the User Guide including the appropriate questionnaires for the years concerned. However, LFS volumes are updated periodically by ONS, so users are advised to check the ONS <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/labour-market/labour-market-statistics/index.html" title="Labour Force Survey (LFS) User Guidance">LFS User Guidance</a> pages before commencing analysis.<br>
<br>
<b>Variables DISEA and LNGLST</b><br>
Dataset A08 (Labour market status of disabled people) which ONS suspended due to an apparent discontinuity between April to June 2017 and July to September 2017 is now available. As a result of this apparent discontinuity and the inconclusive investigations at this stage, comparisons should be made with caution between April to June 2017 and subsequent time periods. However users should note that the estimates are not seasonally adjusted, so some of the change between quarters could be due to seasonality. Further recommendations on historical comparisons of the estimates will be given in November 2018 when ONS are due to publish estimates for July to September 2018. <br>
<br>
An article explaining the quality assurance investigations that have been conducted so far is available on the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/analysisofthediscontinuityinthelabourforcesurveydisabilitydataapriltojune2017tojulytoseptember2017" target="_blank">ONS Methodology</a> webpage. For any queries about Dataset A08 please email [e-mail].<br>
<br>
<b>Latest Edition Information</b><br>
For the fifth edition (December 2018) the April - June 2018 data file has been added to the study; in addition, the documentation has been enhanced.<br>
<br>

<i>劳动力调查（Labour Force Survey, LFS）</i>是一套兼具独特性的标准化信息来源，其采用国际通用的就业、失业及经济非活动状态定义，涵盖职业、培训、工作时长以及16岁及以上家庭成员个人特征等诸多相关议题。<br><br>首份LFS于1973年开展，其依据源自《罗马条约》的相关法规制定；为欧洲共同体统计办公室（Statistical Office of the European Communities, SOEC，现更名为欧盟统计局Eurostat）提供信息，至今仍是开展该调查的核心动因之一。<br><br>欧盟统计局负责协调欧盟成员国劳动力调查的相关信息，以协助欧盟开展社会基金分配等相关工作。<br><br>1973年至1983年间，LFS每两年开展一次；在此期间，英国政府各部门越来越多地借助该调查获取支撑社会与经济政策制定的相关信息。<br><br>至1983年，英国就业部门已将LFS用于获取其他渠道无法获取，或仅能在人口普查年份才能获取的信息。<br><br>1984年至1991年间，该调查改为年度开展，包含两个组成部分：<ul><li>全年在大不列颠地区开展的季度调查：每季度对每个抽中的地址进行5次回访，间隔为一个季度，每季度可回收约15000户有效样本</li><li>春季季度（当时为3月至5月，因数据按季节采集）的「补充调查」：在大不列颠地区完成超44000户访谈，北爱尔兰地区完成超4000户访谈</li></ul><br><br>1991年，LFS完成进一步优化：自1992年起，可提供季度数据，季度样本规模与此前年度数据的样本规模大致相当，即每季度回收60000户有效样本。自此，该调查被称为<i>季度劳动力调查（Quarterly Labour Force Survey, QLFS）</i>。<br><br>1992年3月至1994年11月期间，北爱尔兰地区仅在春季开展访谈，未设置季度模块。但自1994年12月起，北爱尔兰地区的数据采集转为全季度周期，与英国其他地区保持一致。自此，QLFS覆盖全英国境内范围，不过英国数据档案馆（UK Data Archive）仍留存有部分额外的北爱尔兰年度LFS数据集。<br><br><b>安全访问版QLFS家庭数据</b><br><br>截至2015年，LFS家庭数据集每年生成两次（4-6月、10-12月），数据源自对应季度的个体层面数据。自2015年1月起，家庭数据集改为每季度与主QLFS同步生成。<br><br>家庭数据集包含个体层面数据集的全部常规变量，仅排除与收入相关的变量，旨在助力全家庭经济活动模式的分析研究。<br><br>建议针对个体层面的分析仍使用现有LFS个体层面数据集，而涉及家庭或家族层面的分析则采用LFS家庭数据集。<br><br>请注意，部分季度的数据中，所有缺失值均被统一归类为「-10」，而非原有的「-8」和「-9」两个独立类别。在此期间，英国国家统计局（Office for National Statistics, ONS）为LFS家庭数据集引入了全新的插补流程，为避免过度复杂化，需将缺失值统一编码为新的合并类别「-10」。自2013年家庭数据集起，标准的「-8」和「-9」缺失值类别已恢复使用。<br><br>QLFS的安全访问版家庭数据集自2002年起对外开放，其包含标准「最终用户许可（End User Licence, EUL）」版本未涵盖的额外详细变量。<br><br>安全访问版相较于EUL版额外包含的典型变量包括：地理信息、含具体日期在内的出生日期、教育与培训情况、家庭与家族特征、就业状况、失业与求职情况、工作事故及职业相关健康问题、国籍与国民身份及出生国家、学习障碍或残疾发生情况，以及福利相关信息。<br><br>申请使用QLFS安全访问版的用户需满足额外要求：首先需填写额外申请表，向数据所有者明确说明其需要获取额外详细变量的具体原因，以获得使用该版本的许可。此外，安全访问版用户还需完成面对面培训，并签署《安全访问用户协议》（详见下文「访问」章节）。因此，建议用户在申请安全访问版前，先下载并查看EUL版数据。<br><br><b>LFS文档资料</b><br><br>档案馆配套LFS数据集的文档资料，主要包含各卷用户指南及对应年份的专用调查问卷。不过，ONS会定期更新LFS各卷文档，因此建议用户在开展分析前，先访问ONS的<a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/labour-market/labour-market-statistics/index.html" title="劳动力调查（LFS）用户指南">LFS用户指南</a>页面进行查阅。<br><br><b>变量DISEA与LNGLST</b><br><br>A08数据集（残疾人劳动力市场状况）此前因2017年4-6月与2017年7-9月的数据存在明显断层而被ONS暂停发布，现已重新开放。鉴于此次明显的数据断层及现阶段调查尚未得出定论，在对2017年4-6月数据与后续时段数据进行对比时需格外谨慎。同时请注意，相关估算值未经过季节调整，因此季度间的部分变化可能源自季节因素。关于此类估算值历史对比的进一步建议，将在2018年11月ONS发布2018年7-9月估算值时一并公布。<br><br>一篇阐述截至目前所开展的质量保证调查的文章，已发布在<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/analysisofthediscontinuityinthelabourforcesurveydisabilitydataapriltojune2017tojulytoseptember2017" target="_blank">ONS方法学</a>网页上。若您对A08数据集有任何疑问，请发送邮件至[e-mail]。<br><br><b>最新版本信息</b><br><br>第五版（2018年12月）新增了2018年4-6月的数据文件，同时对文档资料进行了完善。<br><br>