ONS Publish Labour Market Trends August 2006

Labour Market Trends - August 2006 was published today by the ONS (Office for National Statistics). As well an article celebrating 15 years of Labour Market Trends and the most up to date labour market data available, this month's edition contains a number of useful articles on developments in labour market information provided by ONS and the latest news. Summaries of the stories may be found below; for more information read the original in the August edition of Labour Market Trends:

News

Age discrimination in the workplace - The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 will come into effect on 1 October this year. To help employers prepare for these new regulations, Age Partnership Group (APG) sent out a newsletter to 1.4 million employers in Great Britain, inviting them to order a ‘personnel organiser’ which included a wide range of information on age-related topics.

People in low-paid informal work - New research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation explores the experience of people on low incomes, doing informal paid work. This includes those working cash-in-hand and those undertaking undeclared work while claiming benefits. The study was carried out by Community Links, a charity running community-based projects in East London, and involved one-to-one interviews with 100 people engaged in informal paid work, together with follow-up focus groups with a mixture of service practitioners and policy makers. The report demonstrates how informal work is often a response to poverty and to times of crisis and is driven by need rather than greed. Participants in the study believed that the tax and benefit system created disincentives to returning to formal work. The study also found that people wanted to work and felt they had a wide range of under-used skills and abilities. They felt they gained from working informally, through increased confidence, skills and work experience, financial support and improved pathways to formal work. There were also wider social benefits affecting families and communities.

ACAS’ role in the employment tribunal system - A new ACAS ACAS Policy Discussion Paper states the employment tribunal system has taken its fair share of criticism in recent years. Although the focus of the criticism often varies according from which corner of the employment relations arena it emanates, there are areas where the main parties are united in their criticism.

New qualifications in the management of volunteers - The United Kingdom’s first suite of management qualifications for the voluntary sector has been launched by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). Designed specifically for individuals who manage volunteers, the new qualifications will equip managers to plan, organise and monitor voluntary workers effectively. ILM’s new NVQs have been created with input from across the voluntary sector to equip the managers with the core competencies needed to address issues that may affect voluntary organisations.

Improvement Introduced, May-July 2006

LFS for calendar quarters - The Review of the Framework for Labour Market Statistics recommended that the Labour Force Survey (LFS) moves from seasonal quarters to calendar quarters in line with Eurostat regulations. ONS will be making annual changes to the LFS questionnaire each January from 2007. This time the annual changes were made in December 2005 to avoid having mid-quarter changes, and to allow for both a December-February quarter and a January-March quarter to be constructed on a consistent basis. The first calendar quarter micro data was published in May 2006, together with selected previous quarters, but a complete back series of micro data products will take longer to produce.

Occupational analysis of claimant count - The analyses of data of those claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance, according to their previous occupation and to the occupation they are seeking, published on NOMIS, have now been enhanced. The new analyses, released in July, now include the explanations for why people left the count. These analyses are available back to January 2005. An article describing the full range of analyses by occupation of Job Seeker’s Allowance claimants, which were reinstated in October 2005, was published in the September 2005 edition of Labour Market Trends (pp397-403).

Comparison of LFS and WFJ statistics on jobs - The Review of Employment and Jobs Statistics recommended that comparisons between estimates of jobs produced from household and business surveys should be made on a quarterly basis. Following that recommendation, a summary comparison between the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Workforce Jobs (WFJ) estimates of total UK jobs will now be published each quarter, in an annex to the Labour Market Overview briefing that accompanies the Labour Market Statistics First Release.

Work in Progress

Local area data - Following the publication of an experimental series of model-based estimates of local area unemployment levels and rates (see pp37-43, Labour Market Trends, January 2003), a new random effects model has been developed, which was found to produce better quality estimates than a fixed effects model. The external quality assurance phase of the project was completed in April 2005 and the National Statistician has approved these statistics for National Statistics status, subject to resolving issues relating to their presentation. Supporting documentation has been developed to label the modelled estimates clearly, explain how they were produced, describe in what circumstances they should be used and identify their limitations. These estimates were officially launched in the web-based publication of the local area labour market statistical indicators on 28 July 2006.

Job Seeker’s Allowance rates (claimant count rates) by ethnicity - Labour Market Division of ONS, together with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), are investigating the possibility of publishing claimant count data by ethnicity for Unitary Authorities, Local Authority Districts and Parliamentary Constituencies. Subject to satisfying the necessary disclosure controls, it is hoped this data can be disseminated through both NOMIS and the DWP Tabulation Tool. Further details should be available by autumn 2006.

DWP benefits data - From 27 October 2005, the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has produced headline benefit statistics derived from all claimants rather than from the 5 per cent samples which are the source of the benefits data sets on NOMIS. Benefits data based on all claimants will be available on NOMIS in summer 2006. Statistics from the 100 per cent data are available from the DWP Tabulation Tool. Information on how to use the 5 per cent sample data in combination with the new 100 per cent data is available from the Department for Work and Pensions - Analytical Services Division website.

Future Developments

LFS re-weighting - It is planned to introduce modernised Labour Force Survey (LFS) processing systems that will enable new population data to be incorporated into revised LFS micro data to the same sort of timetable currently achieved for LFS time series by using the interim adjustment procedure. Further information about the timing of this innovation will be made as soon as possible. Currently the aim is to complete this part of ONS’s statistical modernisation work by mid-2007. Once the system goes live, users can expect the micro data and aggregate level LFS monthly outputs to be brought into line with the current population estimates, and a regime of annual updating of outputs to the intercensal population totals. While the focus of the early benefits of modernised systems is on the monthly LFS system, the implications for production of other LFS products will have to be considered. These include: LFS household level files; LFS longitudinal files; and local area LFS files.

2011 Census - The response to the public consultation document was published on the National Statistics website on 8 March 2006, along with supporting documents summarising user requirements. Supplementary papers providing slightly more detail on the user requirements for labour market, NS-SEC and qualifications were also released - all of these papers are available from Census 2011 Consultation area of the ONS website. A Census topic group continues to meet to discuss issues relevant to the labour market and to recommend questions for the Census test being conducted during 2007.

Work and worklessness among households - Work is underway to develop a household version of the ONS - Annual Population Survey (APS) data sets, in order to improve the quality of family and household level labour market statistics, particularly for local areas. The aim is to switch the data source for the workless households release from the Labour Force Survey to the APS once the impact on key series has been assessed.

Standard Industrial Classification - ONS is planning for the introduction of the new European standard industrial classification NACE Rev. 2, known as Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC 2007) in the UK. This represents a significant change compared with the current UK standard (SIC 2003). The new classification reflects the greater importance of services in the world economy, in particular in relation to information and communication technologies. Its implementation needs to be carefully co-ordinated across Europe, since in the production of European statistics it is important that Member States make these changes at the same time. A European regulation has been prepared. The current plans are to move the Annual Employment estimates to the new basis for the reference year 2008 and short business survey estimates in 2009. When statistics are published on the new basis, a back series will be provided. A timetable has not yet been established for the Labour Force Survey.

Business Register and Employment Survey - As part of the long-term move to the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) in 2006, the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI/1) will take on Business Register Survey (BRS) data. As part of this process ABI/1 will be moving its reference date from December to September to bring it into line with BRS. Where businesses are selected for both surveys, the ABI/1 form will be suppressed and only a BRS form sent. This will mean a reduction in the number of ABI forms sent of approximately 15,000. The exact process of how the BRS data will be incorporated into the ABI/1 results system is still under discussion.

National Statistics Features

This month's feature is an article looking back on 15 years of Labour Market Trends.