The ONS is the government agency responsible for compiling, analysing and disseminating many of the UK's economic, social and demographic statistics, including the retail prices index, trade figures and labour market data, as well as the periodic Census of the population and health statistics.

Link: Office for National Statistics website

The sub-section Neighbourhood statistics compares data on crime, health, employment and the population at ward level.

Link: Neighbourhood Statistics website

The University of Durham provides the Nomis free service on behalf of the ONS and thus gives access to up-to-date and detailed labour market data produced from official sources .

Link: Nomis website
Nomis gives access to the following datasets

• Annual Population survey / Labour Force survey
• Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
• New earnings survey
• Unemployment data
• Employment data
• Demographic data
• Vacancy data

Annual Population Survey (APS) data are available on Nomis from 25 August 2005. The APS is a new survey which includes the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) plus a new sample boost aimed at achieving a minimum sample of 500 economically active adults in local authority districts in England. The size of the total APS sample is approximately 500,000 people.

The first APS data published are for the period January to December 2004. Subsequently, APS data will be published quarterly with each publication covering a year’s data. That is, data for April 2004 to March 2005 will be published in September 2005, data for July 2004 to June 2005 will be published in December 2005, etc.

Like the local area LFS data set, the APS data is published by local authority area. However, it contains an enhanced range of variables providing a greater level of detail about the resident household population of an area. In particular, more variables are provided on ethnic group, health and gender. User-defined tabulations can be requested from ONS's tabulation service at lfs.dataservice@ons.gov.uk .

At present, tables on qualifications are not available from the APS. Further processing of APS micro-data needs to be carried out before these tables can be published. They will be made available as soon as possible. Data on qualifications continue to be available from the annual Labour Force Survey data sets.

APS estimates replace those previously obtained from the local area LFS in local authority profiles. The full renge of APS data is accessed from the Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey theme in wizard or advanced queries.

The APS supercedes the existing two LFS data sets on Nomis: the local area LFS and the LFS - quarterly: four quarter averages. These will remain online for users wishing to access data for time-series but will no longer be updated.

Future Developments

Two further APS data sets will be added at later dates. One will provide information about the workplace population of an area, and the other will provide information on commuting patterns (i.e. travel-to-work flows between local authorities). Although workplace information was collected in the LFS, it was never previously published on Nomis.

The LFS is a continuous sample survey carried out throughout the UK by interviewing people about personal circumstances and work. It provides sources of information about the labour force using internationally agreed concepts and definitions. The Social Survey Division of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) carries out the questionnaire design, sample selection and interviewing for the LFS which analyses and publishes the results of the survey.

Each quarter's LFS sample of 60,000 households is made up of 5 'waves', each of approximately 12,000 private households. Each wave is interviewed in 5 successive quarters.

The LFS sample is designed to produce a meaningful picture of the national labour force. If that sample is divided into Unitary Authority sized sub-sections, the statistics get less accurate and precise. However, in an attempt to produce some statistics that are meaningful locally, LFS sample sizes are boosted once a year (the Annual LFS). Therefore, the author of this website selected in most cases statistics from the Annual LFS to overcome this problem of accuracy of local data.

Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data are available on Nomis from 17 November 2005. Initially, only the local authority level data sets are provided on Nomis, the regional/country level data which give more in-depth analyses of earnings (e.g. by industry and occupation) will be added at a later date.

The ASHE data can be accessed through two new Nomis data sets. Although both provide the same breakdowns, one gives earnings estimates for the resident population (i.e. people living in an area) and is available from 2002 onwards, whilst the other gives estimates for the workplace population (i.e. people working in an area) and is available from 1998 onwards.

Please note that ASHE estimates by occupation and industry are not available for local authorities. These analyses are only available at the region / country level and will be made available on Nomis at a later date. In the mean time, the full data sets can be downloaded from the main National Statistics site.

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) provides information about the levels, distribution and make-up of earnings and hours worked for employees in all industries and occupations.

The ASHE is a new survey developed to replace the New Earnings Survey (NES) from 2004, including improvements to the coverage of employees, imputation for item non-response and the weighting of earnings estimates.

In 2005 a new questionnaire was introduced for ASHE, which included improvements to the collection of data relating to allowances and incentive pay.

2004 results have been reworked to take account of the new questionnaire introduced for the 2005 survey. Therefore these results are continuous with the reworked 2004 results, but are discontinuous with results for previous years.

The ASHE volumes contain UK data on earnings for employees by sex and full-time/part-time workers. Further breakdowns include by region; occupation; industry; region by occupation; and age-groups, for the following variables: gross weekly pay, gross hourly pay, gross annual pay, weekly pay excluding overtime, hourly pay excluding overtime, overtime pay, shift pay, gross hours worked and overtime hours worked.

The New Earnings Survey is based on a 1 per cent sample of employees in employment, information on whose earnings and hours is obtained in confidence from employers. It does not cover the self-employed. The data available on Nomis relate to earners on adults rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence.

The earnings information collected relates to gross pay before tax, national insurance or other deductions, and excludes payments in kind. It is restricted to earnings relating to the survey pay period and so excludes payments of arrears from another period made during the survey period; any payments due as a result of a pay settlement but not yet paid at the time of the survey will also be excluded.

The geographic data that underpin the earnings figures from the NES results on Nomis are based on frozen 1991 wards to allow comparisons over time, and also allow comparisons with employment and unemployment data for the same areas.

This approach differs to that taken when the annual NES data are compiled by ONS, in that current geographic areas are generally used. In the production of the ONS NES results, an employee is allocated to the area (UA, LAD, PCA, etc.) in which the postcode currently falls. In circumstances where there have been changes in the definitions of geographic boundaries the different approach leads to differences in the estimates of pay derived from the two systems.

Currently there are two types of measures of unemployment data, the Claimant Count and the Unemployment Rate (the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition). Whilst there is a large overlap between the ILO unemployment and those claiming unemployment-related benefits, there are some significant differences between the two.

1) The claimant count (JSA Claimant Count) measures those claiming unemployment-related benefits (These are currently the Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and National Insurance credits, claimed at Job Centre Plus local area offices). This is not an official measure of unemployment, but is the only indicative statistic available for areas smaller than Local Authorities.

The Claimant Count expresses the number of claimants resident in an area as a percentage of the sum of claimants and workforce jobs.

The monthly claimant count for unemployment is recognised to under estimate the number of people out of work.

This assumption is based on the fact that the present eligibility rules prevent certain groups who are seeking work from claiming unemployment benefit e.g. those under 18, the long term unemployed, certain women and people with disabilities. If these groups were included the rate would be certain to increase. It is partly in recognition of this and in line with moves to harmonise measures of unemployment across the European Union, that in April 1998, the Government increased the weight it placed on the ILO definition of unemployment.

2) The ILO unemployment rate since April 1998 has been considered the most accurate record of unemployment, but is not available at lower level geographies.

The ILO Definition unlike the claimant count includes a wider definition of unemployment. It covers people who are; not in employment, want a job, have actively sought work in the previous 4 weeks and are available to start work within the next fortnight or; out of work and have accepted a job which they are awaiting to start in the next fortnight.

The ILO Unemployment Rate is the number of people expressed as a percentage of the relevant economically active population.

The ILO unemployment rate was recorded firstly under the Local Area Labour Force Survey and now through the Annual Population Survey. From January 2003, the text 'ILO' will be deleted from existing names to refer simply to 'unemployment'.

As the LFS and APS are sample surveys the estimates produced are subject to variability, for this reason areas that are too small to provide reliable estimates are suppressed.

This definition of unemployment is in accordance with that adopted by the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians, further clarified at the 14 ICLS, and promulgated by the ILO in its publications.

The Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) is a business survey that collects both employment and financial information. On 11 April 2001, this survey replaced the Annual Employment Survey as the sources of information on employee jobs.

The ABI provides estimates of employee jobs by geography (down to ward and postcode sector level), by industry, by size of business and by gender and full/part-time. Data for the agriculture sector comes from both the business survey and DEFRA and the Scottish Executive. The ABI covers the non-farm parts of the agriculture sector while DEFRA and the Scottish Executive provide the information on employee jobs in farms.

Be aware that the data contain some inaccuracies at Local Authority level e.g. most of the aerospace industry has been allocated to Bristol rather than South Gloucestershire.

Demographic data are provided by the Census which is a count of all people and households in the UK. It is carried out every 10 years and the most recent one was held on 29 April 2001 - the 2001 Census. The Office for National Statistics releases these results. Hence, Census data are also available on the ONS website.

Link: Office for National Statistics website