Research Outputs: Producing statistics on labour market status using administrative data

These Research Outputs are not official statistics. Rather they are published as outputs from research into an Administrative Data Census approach. These outputs must not be reproduced without this disclaimer and should not be used for policy- or decision-making.

The Administrative Data Census (ADC) Project is working to assess whether the government-stated ambition that “censuses after 2021 will be conducted using other sources of data” can be met. We’re aiming to produce population estimates, household estimates and population and housing characteristics using a combination of administrative and survey data. This is to meet demands for improved population statistics and as a possible alternative to the census.

Labour market status (sometimes referred to as economic activity) is a high priority topic for users of census statistics. We’ve previously published research that uses administrative data to investigate the economic activity of undergraduate students in England and Wales for the academic year ending 2015. We have now expanded our research to the whole population.

Our aim is to produce small area, multivariate statistics. Therefore, we are researching the potential to allocate individual records to the different categories of labour market status. Our SlideShare presentation outlines our ability to produce estimates of labour market status using the administrative data we currently have access to.

This research finds that we are unable to recreate the exact definitions using administrative data. Some categories are better than others, and some may be improved by additional administrative data. We are seeking feedback to inform the next steps of our research. This will include considering how surveys could be used to improve the outputs.

This release presents a new methodology to produce estimates of labour market status and share the findings, including a download of the results at local authority level. We outline limitations to this approach and our need for additional administrative data to make improvements.

These figures should not be used for policy- or decision-making. Instead they have been provided to support users evaluating the approach and providing feedback. Official estimates of labour market status can be found in the UK labour market bulletins and from the census.

We’re publishing this SlideShare to ask for feedback on our approach and ideas for improvement. We’re particularly interested to hear about the breakdown of labour market status you need, for example, which categories you require at different geographic levels and the multivariate analysis you need. Please send your feedback to Admin.Data.Census.Project@ons.gov.uk.

We’re also planning to hold a user event on labour market status later in 2018. If you’re interested in attending the event please contact us at Admin.Data.Census.Project@ons.gov.uk.