overview of lfs survey changes in 2010 and preview of changes for 2011 colin hewat, ons social...
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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?
Questions / Discussion
Data issues?
Efficiency ideas?
Questions?
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/