About employment
People aged 16 or over are classed as employed by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) if they have done at least one hour of work in the reference week or are temporarily away from a job (for example, if they are on holiday). The number of people in employment is different from the number of jobs in the economy, because some employed people hold more than one job. A measure of the number of jobs in the workforce can be found in other surveys, such as the Workforce Jobs series.
The concept of employment lies on the supply side of the labour market framework, as it measures those people who supply their labour.
LFS respondents classify themselves into one of four employment status categories (and according to their main job if they have more than one). These categories are employees, the self-employed, unpaid family workers or participants in government-supported training schemes.
Employees are those who are in employment and paid a wage by an employer for the work that they do. This category may be further sub-divided into permanent and temporary employees.
The self-employed are defined as those who, in their main job, work on their own account, whether or not they have employees.
Unpaid family workers are those whose work contributes directly to a business, owned or operated either by themselves or by a relative, but who receive no pay or profits for this work.
People on government-supported training schemes include those doing work experience with an employer and those engaged wholly in training.
The total number of people in employment is analysed by whether they work full or part-time. In the LFS, this classification is based on the respondent's self-assessment. Other surveys use the guideline that full-time workers normally work for more than 30 hours a week. People on government-supported training schemes and who are at college in the survey reference week, are classified as part-time.
Temporary workers are those employees who say that their main job is not permanent in one of the following ways: fixed period contract, agency temping, casual work, seasonal work or other temporary work. This is also based on respondents' self-assessment.
Data on people's reasons for engaging in part-time and temporary work provide information on the number of people who could not find full-time and permanent employment.
Employment is classified by occupation and industry. The LFS also allows analysis of the personal characteristics of those in employment such as their sex, age, ethnic group and highest qualification.
Employment levels and rates are published each month in the labour market statistics First Release, by age and for full-time, part-time and temporary workers. Figures for employment by occupation and industry are published quarterly in the LFS Quarterly Supplement and the Economic and Labour Market Review.
