Economic inactivity

The main LFS is a quarterly sample survey of households living at private addresses in the UK. It is based on a detailed questionnaire and hence provides for a large dataset, although there are some limitations to its use, particularly at a regional and sub-regional level due to sample size constraints.

The Annual Local Area Labour Force Survey (ALALFS) or Welsh Local Labour Force Survey (WLLFS) in Wales surveys are annual sample surveys of households living at private addresses in the UK. The annual survey uses results from those sampled for the main quarterly LFS, but do not exactly match annual averages derived from the 4 quarterly datasets in each year due to differences in the sampling structure. Since 2001 additional persons have been sampled on an annual basis to provide a more robust (boosted) annual dataset across the UK, with estimates subject to much lower sampling variability. For Wales, the data are now based on an enhanced sample (around 350 per cent larger) compared to earlier years. For other parts of the UK, the samples have also been increased, although not in all areas until 2004. Now that all the UK is covered, the annual LFS data is used to construct the Annual Population Survey or APS, which provides a four-quarter rolling average of labour market information, updated quarterly, based on these boosted samples. 

Statistical headlines, releases and bulletins

Economic Inactivity in Wales, 2007

StatsWales

Detailed datasets are available on the StatsWales website.

StatsWales website: Economic inactivity

Other sources of information

Links to information published by other organisations.

Office for National Statistics website: Labour Market Statistics

Please send any queries or comments by e-mail to economic.stats@wales.gsi.gov.uk