DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-6727-25
title: Quarterly Labour Force Survey, 1992-2021: Secure Access
title: Quarterly Labour Force Survey, 1992- : Secure Access
title: QLFS

description: &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Background&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt; The &lt;i&gt;Labour Force Survey&lt;/i&gt; (LFS) is a unique source of 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. It is used to inform social, economic and employment policy. The LFS was first conducted biennially from 1973-1983. Between 1984 and 1991 the survey was carried out annually and consisted of a quarterly survey conducted throughout the year and a 'boost' survey in the spring quarter (data were then collected seasonally). From 1992 quarterly data were made available, with a quarterly sample size approximately equivalent to that of the previous annual data. The survey then became known as the &lt;i&gt;Quarterly Labour Force Survey&lt;/i&gt; (QLFS). From December 1994, data gathering for Northern Ireland moved to a full quarterly cycle to match the rest of the country, so the QLFS then covered the whole of the UK (though some additional annual Northern Ireland LFS datasets are also held at the UK Data Archive). Further information on the background to the QLFS may be found in the documentation.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;New reweighting policy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br&gt;Following the &lt;a href="http://doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/8343/mrdoc/pdf/biennial_lfs_aps_reweighting_policy.pdf" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;new reweighting policy&lt;/a&gt; ONS has reviewed the latest population estimates made available during 2019 and have decided not to carry out a 2019 LFS and APS reweighting exercise. Therefore, the next reweighting exercise will take place in 2020. These will incorporate the 2019 Sub-National Population Projection data (published in May 2020) and 2019 Mid-Year Estimates (published in June 2020). It is expected that reweighted Labour Market aggregates and microdata will be published towards the end of 2020/early 2021.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;b&gt;Secure Access QLFS data&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt; Secure Access datasets for the QLFS are available from the April-June 1992 quarter, and include additional, detailed variables not included in the standard 'End User Licence' (EUL) versions (see under GN 33246). Extra variables that typically can be found in the Secure Access versions but not in the EUL relate to:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;geography (see 'Spatial Units' below)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;date of birth, including day&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;education and training: including type of 'other qualifications', more detail regarding the number of O'levels/GCSE passes, type of qualification gained in last 12 months, class of first degree, type of degree held, UK country of highest degree, type of current educational institution, level of Welsh baccalaureate, activities to improve knowledge or skills in last 12 months, attendance at adult learning taught courses, attendance at leisure or educational classes, self-teaching, payment of job-related training fees&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;household and family characteristics: including number of family units (and extended family units) with dependent children only, and with non-dependent children only, total number of family units with more than one person, total number of eligible people, type of household, type of family unit, number of bedrooms&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;employment: including industry code of main job, whether working full-time or part-time, reason job is temporary, payment of own National Insurance and tax, when started working at previous job, whether paid or self-employed in previous job, contracts with employment agency&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;unemployment and job hunting: including main reason for not being employed prior to current job, reasons for leaving job (provision of care or other personal/family reasons), use of internet for job hunting, if and when will work in the future&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;temporary leave from work: including proportion of salary received and duration of leave&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;accidents at work and work-related health problems&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;nationality, national identity and country of birth: including whether lived continuously in UK, month of most recent arrival to UK, frequency of Welsh speaking&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;occurrence of learning difficulty or disability&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;benefits, including additional variables on type of benefits claimed and tax credit payments&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;Secure Access versions of QLFS household datasets are available from 2009 under SN 7674.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; 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.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;b&gt;Well-Being variables are &lt;u&gt;not&lt;/u&gt; included in the LFS&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt; Users should note that subjective well-being variables (Satis, Worth, Happy, Anxious and Sad) are &lt;u&gt;not&lt;/u&gt; available on the LFS, despite being referenced in the questionnaire. Users who wish to analyse well-being variables should apply for the Annual Population Survey instead (see SNs 6721 and 7961).&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;b&gt;LFS Documentation&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt; The documentation available from the Archive to accompany LFS datasets largely consists of the relevant versions of each volume of the user guide. However, LFS volumes are updated periodically by ONS, so users are advised to check the ONS &lt;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"&gt;LFS User Guidance&lt;/a&gt; pages before commencing analysis. &lt;b&gt;This is especially important for users of older QLFS studies, where information and guidance in the user guide documents may have changed over time&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;b&gt;Variables DISEA and LNGLST&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt; 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. &lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;LFS response to COVID-19&lt;br&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Since April 2020, additional ‘non-calendar quarter’ LFS microdata have been delivered to Government Departments and the wider research community through the ONS Secure Research Service and UK Data Service. The first additional microdata to be released covers the period February to April 2020, to coincide with Labour Market Statistical Bulletin publication on 16 June. Further guidance has also been provided with the release of the February to April 2020 microdata. Please consult the documentation for full details.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; Due to Covid-19 restrictions and changes to the method of data collection for LFS, comparisons with earlier periods made re-weighting of the data based on housing tenure necessary. LFS quarterly data files for 2020 have been revised accordingly. The weight variables PWT18 and PIWT18 have been re-calibrated. Revised data files with new weights have 'tenwt' in file names. More information can be found in the document 'Coronavirus and its Impact on the Labour Force Survey '.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;LFS responses are weighted to official population projections. As the current projections are 2018-based they are based on demographic trends that pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic. The LFS team are analysing the population totals used in the weighting process and may make adjustments if appropriate. Rates published from the LFS remain robust; however, levels and changes in levels should be used with caution. This will particularly affect estimates for country of birth, nationality, ethnicity and disability.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Latest Edition Information&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; For the 24th edition (June 2021), the January - March 2021 data file has been added to the study. The documentation has also been updated to reflect the extended time period.&lt;br&gt; &lt;/p&gt;