Methodology related to people in work

  • Income and earnings statistics guide

    Methodology | Released on 5 June 2023

    Explains the relationship between income and earnings data and outlines the statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics, Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs.

    Keywords: wages, household income, income, earnings

  • Labour Force Survey performance quality monitoring report: January to March 2023

    Methodology | Released on 16 May 2023

    Response rates, sample size and quality assessment of the Office for National Statistics quarterly Labour Force Survey.

    Keywords: respondent, characteristics, household, demographic, LFS

  • A guide to labour market data

    Methodology | Released on 21 April 2023

    Summary of labour market datasets, providing estimates of employment, unemployment, average weekly earnings and the number of vacancies. Tables are listed alphabetically and by topic.

    Keywords: labour market, labour market data, employment, unemployment, average weekly earnings

  • Additional guidance for the 2023 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings paper questionnaire

    Methodology | Released on 12 April 2023

    Guidance designed to help you complete the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) questionnaire.
  • Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) methodology and guidance

    Methodology | Released on 18 January 2023

    Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) methodology and guidance

    Keywords: hours, earnings, pay, labour market, surveys, annual survey of hours and earnings, ASHE

  • Vacancy Survey QMI

    Methodology | Released on 17 January 2023

    Quality and methodology information for vacancies, detailing the strengths and limitations of the data, methods used, and data uses and users.

    Keywords: job vacancies, jobs available, labour market, data quality

  • Travel to work quality information for Census 2021

    Methodology | Released on 8 December 2022

    Known quality information affecting travel to work data from Census 2021 in England and Wales to help users correctly interpret the statistics.

    Keywords: travel to work, Census 2021, furlough, pandemic, future

  • Labour Force Survey: the impact of using an alternative imputation method on main labour market estimates

    Methodology | Released on 24 October 2022

    Labour Force Survey (LFS) person-weighted datasets use a roll-forward imputation method. During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic an alternative imputation method that might better cope with the unprecedented labour market circumstances was explored. This article highlights the impact of using this alternative method on main labour market estimates over the periods between January to March 2018 and June to August 2022.

    Keywords: Employment, Methodology, Unemployment, Inactivity

  • Monthly earnings and employment estimates from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) data: methods

    Methodology | Released on 26 July 2022

    Methodology article explaining the methods used to derive monthly employee and earnings estimates from Pay as You Earn Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) administrative data. The article also includes comparisons with ONS’s official sources of labour market data.

    Keywords: workforce, pay, labour force survey, LFS, hours

  • Comparison of labour market data sources

    Methodology | Released on 27 April 2022

    The strengths and weaknesses of the main data sources we use to produce the labour market figures, including the advantages of new administrative data sources and limitations of some of our published figures.

    Keywords: Vacancies, employment, earnings, redundancies, labour, market