1. 1 Using the government data in employment research Vanessa Higgins CCSR University of Manchester

2. 2 Why study employment and the labour market? Important for development of social and economic policies Monitoring age, gender, ethnicity over decades has helped equal opportunity policies New ways of working: flexible working hours, temporary contracts Compare UK to other countries

3. 3 Harmonisation Wide range of govt surveys –designed at different times, to meet different needs and commissioned by different departments Harmonisation 1996 –uses common classifications, definitions and standards for social survey questions –improves comparability between social stats –recommend that where a topic is covered, harmonised questions included wherever possible

4. 4 Employment-related harmonised questions economic status: –employed, unemployed, economically inactive selected job details –hours worked, time in present job, length of time since last did paid work industry, occupation & socio-economic classifications –industry and occupation, employed/self-employed, supervisory responsibility, size of establishment others –income, social security benefits, educational attainment, demographic variables such as ethnicity, age.

5. 5 ILO definition ILO employment: those in paid work in the last week either as an employee or self-employed and those on a government-supported training scheme (includes those who are temporarily away from a job and those who do unpaid work for a family business). ILO unemployment: those not in employment but available to start within two weeks, and have either looked for work in the last 4 weeks or waiting to start a new job. Economically active: ILO employed + unemployed Economically inactive: neither ILO employed or unemployed e.g. retired

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8. 8 The large-scale government surveys General Household Survey Labour Force Survey Health Survey for England/Wales/Scotland Family Expenditure Survey British Crime Survey Family Resources Survey National Food Survey/Expenditure and Food Survey ONS Omnibus Survey Survey of English Housing British Social Attitudes National Travel Survey Time Use Survey

9. 9 Choosing a survey Extent of questions of employment Other topics Measurement over time Geography When was ILO introduced? Respondents – whole household, children? Sample size Survey methodology – proxies, telephone

10. 10 Examples Violence at work – British Crime Survey Gender differences in income from work, 1993-2003 –Pay: Labour Force Survey General Household Survey, Survey English Housing, Family Resource Survey, Time Use Survey, EFS/FES/NFS. –Time element (1993-2003): TUS (2000) EFS/FES/NFS (EFS consistency?).

11. 11 Examples (continued) –4 surveys left: GHS, LFS, FRS, SEH –Other factors: SEH: 1 person. No info about income of other members. Content mainly housing-related. Could use GHS, LFS or FRS – decide which content most useful –employment, –other income, –other topics: number of children, caring responsibilities, family, education, health etc.

12. 12 Two surveys widely used for employment and labour market research –Labour Force Survey –General Household Survey

13. 13 Labour Force Survey (LFS) UK required by EU regulation to carry out an annual LFS. Comprehensive source of info about all aspects of the labour market Assists many govt departments in the framing and monitoring of social and economic policy Use 1992 onwards – major methodological changes. Quarterly survey, address interviewed five waves at 3 monthly intervals Panel element allows user to follow employment over the year

14. 14 LFS (continued) Changes between quarters and over years –not all topics available each year and within each quarter e.g pay 1992 and only asked in 2 quarters. Topics in 2000 LFS include: –All harmonised employment questions –Many other employment topics e.g: govt training schemes main job – private/public sector, permanent/temp, Shift work, PAYE scheme redundancy & sickness, home workers travel to work union representation looking for work work history benefits, education, training, health, income

15. 15 General Household Survey (GHS) Assists many govt depts in the framing and monitoring of social policy. Cross-sectional survey, not followed up, so cant look at employment patterns over the year, just a snapshot. All harmonised employment questions: –economic status –selected job details – hours worked etc –industry/occupation Income incl. from work Benefits Pensions Educational attainment Family information

16. 16 LFS v GHS LFSGHS Detailed labour market questions More detail on other topics Household, individual and family level data + health data for children 1992 onwards1971 onwards (1997 & 1999 breaks) NHS accommodation and young people living away from home 120,000 – use for sub- sample analyses e.g ethnic minorities 21,000 Small sampling errors (in employment 0.20, Spring 1999) Stratified sample Small sampling errors (in employment 0.77, 2001) Stratified and clustered sample Proxies 30%Proxies 5%

17. 17 Resources/events Introductory user guide – ongoing updates LFS Teaching Dataset – available shortly STATA guide – uses LFS teaching dataset ONS docs Labour Force Survey User Group Meeting –Tuesday 21 st October, RSS, London JISCmail list: –ARCHIVE-LMSUG@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Proceedings of LMSUG meeting May: Newsletter http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/join/

18. 18 Other non-ESDS Government sources Simply want a figure: ONS website - Labour Market Trends, Social Trends, Workforce Jobs Quarterly Surveys, NOMIS, NOMIS: New Earnings Survey, Annual Business Enquiry, Claimant Count and Jobcentre Vacancies Census Aggregate Statistics & SARs - Manchester Workplace Employee Relations Survey – NatCen, UKDA ESDS Longitudinal – BHPS etc, UKDA

19. 19 Summary Harmonised questions ILO definition Most surveys ask employment questions Differences between surveys LFS and GHS widely used Resources/events Other sources