overview of lfs survey changes in 2010 and preview of changes for 2011 colin hewat, ons social...

Overview of LFS survey changes in 2010 and preview of changes for 2011

Colin Hewat, ONS Social Surveys Division

“If you want to make enemies, try to change something” Woodrow Wilson

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery” Harold Wilson

Change

Change

Need to address user requirements as they change over time

But for such an established, long running and widely used data source, consistency of the data is also of high importance

Need to adapt to ever changing social and economic situations

2010

Female state pension age

On 6th April 2010 the state pension age for women started to change

Going up by one month every two months, until 65 is reached in April 2020

From August 2010 headline labour market estimates will be based on the population aged 16-64

Female state pension age

Employment rates from March-May 1992 to February-April 2010, seasonally adjusted

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

Em

plo

ymen

t ra

tes

(%)

16-64

Working age

Implications for labour market statistics

the new headline employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 is around 1.8 percentage points lower than the old working age employment rate

Inactivity rates from March-May 1992 to February-April 2010, seasonally adjusted

20

21

22

23

24

25

Inacti

vit

y r

ate

s (

%)

16-64

working age

the new headline inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 is around 2 percentage points higher than the old working age inactivity rate

Reasons for coming to the UK

Introduced in January 2010 – funded by Home Office

Available on public datasets from January 2011

“What was your main reason for coming to the UK (most recent arrival)…?”

1. For employment2. For study3. To get married..4. As a spouse or dependent

of a UK citizen…5. As a spouse or dependent

of someone coming into the UK…

6. Seeking asylum7. As a visitor8. Other

Efficiencies

The LFS costs around £11 million a year

Need to reduce cost but maintain data quality

Efficiency ideas considered

Removal of 75+ households

Questionnaire review

37 questions dropped

ChildcareTransportRedundancyMobile workforceMethod of job searchUnderemployment

Reduce cost

Reduce length

Concealed multiple occupancy

From July 2010 the treatment of concealed multiple occupancies changed

Rather than interviewing all concealed households, interviewers now select one

Household definition

One person or a group who have the accommodation as their only or main residence. A group of people must either share at least one meal a day or share the living accommodation

One person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area

2011

Further efficiencies

Need to keep developing ways to reduce cost whilst improving (or at least maintaining) the quality of data

Moving wave 1 interviews into the telephone unit

Refusal follow-up survey

Education review

Long-running education and training review in partnership with BIS to improve the collection of education data on the LFS

Chronological orderingNo qualifications

Vocational qualifications

Foreign qualifications

Adult education

Ethnicity

To which of these ethnic groups do you consider you belong?

What is your ethnic group?

Some categories expanded and ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ option added

National Identity

What do you consider your national identity to be?

How would you describe your national identity?

‘Northern Irish’ replaces ‘Irish’

New coding frame being used

Religion

What is your religion even if you are not currently practising?

What is your religion?

Re-ordered and country specific answer options

Northern Ireland retains ‘What is your religious denomination?’

Occupation classifications

From January 2011 the LFS will collect occupation data based on SOC 2010

Syntax provided to produce the new codes on the old datasets and the old codes on the new datasets

Socio-economic class (NS-SEC) re-based on SOC2010

Agency working

Changing perceptions of agency working

‘Were you working as an agency worker, that is, employed through an employment agency?’

Holiday entitlement

Changing ways in which holidays are contracted

‘May I just check, how many days of paid holiday are you entitled to per year including public holidays?’

Internet usage

ONS has become a partner organisation for raceonline2012

a campaign to help reduce the number of adults in the UK who have never been online

When did you last use the internet, was it… 1 within the last 3 months? 2 between 3 months and a year ago? 3 more than 1 year ago? or 4 never used it? 5 don't know

Societal wellbeing

Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?

Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?

Overall, how much purpose does your life have?

User Guides

Review of User Guides

User consultation

Content?

Style?

Comments?

ben.thatcher@ons.gov.uk

Questions / Discussion

Data issues?

Efficiency ideas?

Questions?

nina.parry-langdon@ons.gov.uk

colin.hewat@ons.gov.uk

Links

User Guides www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=1537

Performance and Quality Monitoring Reports www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=10675

Guide to Labour Market Statistics http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/guide_to_LMS_FR1.pdf

National On-line Manpower Information System (NOMIS) www.nomisweb.co.uk

Economic & Labour Market Reviewhttp://www.statistics.gov.uk/elmr/