1. Main points
Revisions have been made to the workforce jobs series as a result of benchmarking to the latest estimates of the annual Business Register and Employment Survey, revisions to public sector employment, revisions to Northern Ireland employee jobs estimates and revisions to Short-Term Employment Surveys.
There were also revisions to the government-supported trainees (GST) from the devolved administrations, revisions to His Majesty's Forces (HMF) and changes to seasonal parameters following a seasonal adjustment review.
These revisions to the workforce jobs series have mostly decreased the estimates, and the largest impact is in September 2022 with a fall of 178,000 (down 0.49%).
2. Overview of revisions to workforce jobs
Workforce jobs (WFJ) is a quarterly measure of the number of jobs in the UK and is the preferred measure of the change in jobs by industry. It is a compound source that draws on a range of employer surveys, household surveys and administrative sources. WFJ is the sum of:
employee jobs (EJ) measured primarily by employer surveys (mainly) the Short-Term Employment Surveys (STES) and the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES)
self-employment jobs (SEJ) from the Labour Force Survey (LFS)
government-supported trainees (GST) and His Majesty's Forces (HMF) from the devolved administrations, administrative sources and the LFS
A variety of outputs by industry, region, sex and full-time or part-time status are produced for a range of publications and users.
Figure 1: Previously published versus revised UK seasonally adjusted workforce jobs
March 1981 to June 2023
Source: Workforce Jobs from the Office for National Statistics
Download this chart Figure 1: Previously published versus revised UK seasonally adjusted workforce jobs
Image .csv .xlsThe revisions to WFJ have mostly decreased the estimates. The largest impact is in September 2022, with a fall of 178,000 (down 0.49%). For further details on the causes of the revisions and the revisions periods, see Section 6: Data sources and quality
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys3. Revisions by component
Benchmarking Great Britain employee jobs to the Business Register and Employment Survey
Benchmarking is an annual process to align the quarterly Great Britain employee jobs (EJ) series to the latest estimates from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). BRES is based on a sample of approximately 88,000 reporting units, which hold the mailing address to which survey questionnaires are sent (questionnaires can cover the enterprise or parts of the enterprise identified by lists of local units). This is a much larger sample than the Short-Term Employment Surveys (STES), and therefore generally considered to produce more accurate and detailed estimates of the level of employment.
BRES estimates refer to September of a given year. The private sector element of the Great Britain EJ series has been benchmarked to the equivalent from BRES for the periods September 2021 and September 2022 (the latest period available).
Revisions to public sector employment
Workforce jobs (WFJ) makes use of our official public sector employment (PSE) estimates for Great Britain. These inputs are not benchmarked as they are the definitive measure of PSE. The data received up to September 2023 have led to revisions back to December 2021. For further information, see Section 3: Measuring the data section in our Public sector employment, UK: September 2022 bulletin.
Revisions to Short-Term Employment Surveys
The private sector employee jobs data come from sample surveys. Each quarter, revisions to data supplied or late data are incorporated for the previous quarter in line with the revisions policy. Revisions or late data for earlier periods (June 2022 onwards) have now been included.
Revisions to government-supported trainees
Revised estimates of government- supported trainees taken on from the devolved administrations caused revisions back to September 2021.
Seasonal adjustment
Seasonal adjustment is the process of identifying and removing the seasonal components from a series to leave the underlying trend and irregular components. The revised WFJ series has undergone a seasonal adjustment review, by our Time Series Analysis Branch, causing revisions back to September 1981.
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys4. Workforce jobs revisions data
Revisions to workforce jobs by component, UK
Dataset | Released 12 December 2023
Estimates of revisions to workforce jobs by component for the UK.
5. Glossary
Workforce jobs
Workforce jobs is a quarterly measure of the number of jobs in the UK and is the preferred measure of the change in jobs by industry.
Jobs
A job is an activity performed for an employer or customer by a worker in exchange for payment, usually in cash, or in kind, or both. The number of jobs is not the same as the number of people in employment. This is because a person can have more than one job.
The number of jobs is the sum of employee jobs from employer surveys, self-employment jobs from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), those in His Majesty's Forces and government-supported trainees. The number of people in employment is measured by the LFS; these estimates are available in our Employment in the UK bulletin.
A more detailed glossary is available.
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys6. Data sources and quality
This article explains, in detail, the revisions that have been made to the workforce jobs (WFJ) series as a result of:
benchmarking to the latest estimates from the annual Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES); these revisions will go back to December 2020
revisions to public sector employment (PSE); these revisions will go back to December 2021
revisions to Short-Term Employment Surveys (STES) from June 2022, because of updates in data supplied or late data
revisions to Northern Ireland employee jobs; these revisions will go back to March 2005
revised estimates of government-supported trainees taken on from the devolved administrations caused revisions back to September 2021
revisions to His Majesty's Forces will go back to December 2012
changes to seasonal parameters following a seasonal adjustment review; these revisions will go back to September 1981
Workforce jobs sources
These are the four components of the WFJ series and the sources of their respective data
Component 1: employee jobs, Great Britain
Private sector source
Short-Term Employer Surveys (STES), benchmarked to the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES).
Public sector source
Public sector employment (PSE) from Quarterly Public Sector Employment Surveys (QPSES) and administrative sources from other government departments and devolved administrations.
Agriculture source
Labour Force Survey (LFS), benchmarked either to BRES, or the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) farms data, or both.
Air transport source
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), benchmarked to BRES.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).
Component 2: self-employment jobs
Labour Force Survey (LFS) -- main and second jobs by industry by region.
Component 3: government-supported trainees
England
Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Wales
Welsh Government (WG), split by industry using LFS.
Scotland
Scottish Government (SG), split by industry using LFS.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).
Component 4: His Majesty's Forces
Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA).
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys8. Cite this article
Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 12 December 2023, ONS website, article, Revisions to workforce jobs: December 2023
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