Labour Force Survey

Content

The LFS collects the age, sex, date of birth and marital status of each member of the household, as well as their relationships to each other. It also collects some household-level information, such as tenure and car availability.

At an individual level, each person in the household answers questions about ethnic origin and nationality. They are then asked a wide range of questions relating to economic activity. Examples of these are listed below. 

• whether the respondent did any paid work in the reference week
• occupation and industry details of main and second job
• employment status 
• hours worked
• length of time in main job
• whether job is temporary or permanent
• whether job is full-time or part-time
• whether job is in the public or private sector
• method of travel to work
• length of unemployment
• whether respondent has looked for work in the last four weeks
• reason for not seeking work
• methods used to look for work
• type of employment sought
• reason the respondent left their last job
• qualifications
• current education or training
• benefits received

Respondents are also asked about any health problems they have which might limit the type or amount of paid work they might do.