Earnings and Labour Market Information – ONS Sources

David McPhee

Two Main Sources

• Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Annual survey of employers carried out in April each year

• Labour Force Survey (LFS) – Continuous household survey

ASHE

• Employer survey covering approximately 0.8% of all employee jobs (previously 1%)

• Basic characteristics of employees available such as age, gender, occupation, industry ft/pt split

• Detailed information on earnings including basic pay, overtime pay, bonus pay, incentive pay etc.

ASHE

• Data readily available at Local Authority level• Possible to create other geographies using

microdata• Also possible to look at ad hoc groups using

microdata• Some (long term) plans to collect qualifications

data from employers

Earnings by Local Authority Area

£0

£100

£200

£300

£400

£500

£600

£700

£800

East R

enfre

wshire

East D

unba

rtonsh

ire

South

Ayr

shire

Edinbu

rgh,

City

of

Stirlin

g

Aberd

eensh

ire

Aberd

een C

ity

East A

yrsh

ire

Argyll

& B

ute

South

Lan

arksh

ire

Perth

shire

& K

inross

Renfre

wshire

Angus

Clack

mannan

shire

East L

othia

nFife

Falkirk

Midl

othia

n

Eilean

Siar

West

Dunba

rtons

hire

North L

anar

kshir

e

Highla

nd

Dundee

City

Glasgo

w City

Dumfries &

Gall

oway

North A

yrsh

ire

Inve

rclyd

e

West

Lothian

Scotti

sh B

orde

rs

Orkne

y Isl

ands

Shetla

nd Is

lands

Mor

ay

LA

Ear

nin

gs

Lower Quartile Median Upper Qurtile

Percentage of Employees Earning below 60% of the UK Median

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

Scotti

sh B

orde

rs, T

he

Aberd

eensh

ire

Highla

nd

Angus

Stirlin

g

West

Dunba

rtons

hire

South

Ayr

shire

Perth

& K

inros

s

Inve

rclyd

e

South

Lan

arksh

ire

East A

yrsh

ire

Argyll

& B

ute

North A

yrsh

ire

East R

enfre

wshire

West

Lothian

East D

unba

rtonsh

ire

Renfre

wshire

Glasgo

w City Fife

North L

anar

kshir

e

Midl

othia

n

Aberd

een C

ity

Falkirk

Dundee

City

East L

othia

n

Edinbu

rgh,

City

of

LFS/APS

• Continuous household survey since 1992

• SG fund a boost to the sample to make the sample size 23,000 households a year

• LFS contains data on economic activity, family background, occupation, industry, earnings, health issues, qualifications, benefits etc.

LFS/APS

• Earnings information not considered as accurate as ASHE

• Allows interesting analysis of earnings by other characteristics

• Able to create ad hoc geographies and groups using microdata

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Degrees orequivalent (Above

SVQ 4)

HNC, HND orequivalent (SVQ 4)

Higher, A-Level orequivalent (SVQ 3)

O Grade, StandardGrade or equivalent

(SVQ 2)

SVQ 1 No Qualifications All

Highest level of qualification

% o

f w

ork

ing a

ge

emplo

yees

ear

nin

g le

ss than

£7

per

hour gro

ss

Percentage of Employees Earning Less than 60% of UK Median by Time in Job

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

Less than 3 months 3 months but lessthan 6

6 months but lessthan 12

1 year but less than 2 2 years but less than5

5 years but less than10

10 years but lessthan 20

20 years or more

Access to data• National Statistics Website –

www.statistics.gov.uk• Scottish Government website –

www.scotland.gov.uk• NOMIS – www.nomisweb.co.uk• Email Labour Market statistics branch: labour-

market.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Questions

• How closely linked do you see labour market statistics and poverty statistics?

• Can the ASHE be used to inform more detailed geographic poverty statistics?

• Can a combination of LFS and ASHE data help to inform poverty issues?

• What geographic levels are most important?• Are there standard outputs from the LFS and

ASHE that should be regularly published?