Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) has been carried out in the UK since 1973. From 1973 until 1983 the survey was carried out biennially, and from 1984 until 1991 it was conducted annually. In 1992 the quarterly LFS was introduced. For full background and methodological information users should refer to the main Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) series (held at the UK Data Archive (UKDA) under GN 33246).

The Local Area Data series was produced quarterly alongside the main QLFS from 1992-2006, and included aggregated data on employment, economic activity and related subjects, covering Local Authority Districts (LADs), Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs), and their Scottish and Welsh equivalents. From 1992 until August 1997, the data covered Great Britain, and from September 1997 data from Northern Ireland were added. The Local Area Data were also available as an annual database between 1994-1995 and 1999-2000, for LADs at individual level, but these are no longer produced.

LFS move from seasonal to calendar quarters
In accordance with EU regulations, the LFS moved from seasonal (spring, summer, autumn, winter) quarters to calendar quarters (January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December) in 2006. The last seasonal Local Area Data dataset issued was the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, December 2005 - February, 2006: Local Area Data (SN 5392), and the first calendar quarter dataset was the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, January - March, 2006: Local Area Data (SN 5393). Users should note that there is some overlap between these two datasets. Further information on the seasonal to calendar quarter change and its impact on LFS data may be found in the following online article:
Madouros, V. (2006) Impact of the switch from seasonal to calendar quarters in the Labour Force Survey, London: ONS.

LFS Documentation
The User Guides available with the UK Data Archive's LFS studies are those available at the time of deposit. Users can access the updated guides online via the ONS LFS User Guide pages.

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