Annual Population Survey - Major studies
General - Employment and labour
Population studies - Population, vital statistics and censuses
The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a major survey series, which aims to provide data that can produce reliable estimates at local authority level. Key topics covered in the survey include education, employment, health and ethnicity. The APS comprises key variables from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) (held at the UK Data Archive under GN 33246), all its associated LFS boosts and the APS boost. Thus, the APS combines results from five different sources: the LFS (waves 1 and 5); the English Local Labour Force Survey (LLFS), the Welsh Labour Force Survey (WLFS), the Scottish Labour Force Survey (SLFS) and the Annual Population Survey Boost Sample (APS(B) - however, this ceased to exist at the end of December 2005, so APS data from January 2006 onwards will contain all the above data apart from APS(B)). Users should note that the LLFS, WLFS, SLFS and APS(B) are not held separately at the Archive. For further detailed information about methodology, users should consult the Labour Force Survey User Guide, selected volumes of which have been included with the APS documentation for reference purposes (see 'Documentation' table below).
The APS aims to provide enhanced annual data for England, covering a target sample of at least 510 economically active persons for each Unitary Authority (UA)/Local Authority District (LAD) and at least 450 in each Greater London Borough. In combination with local LFS boost samples such as the WLFS and SLFS, the survey provides estimates for a range of indicators down to Local Education Authority (LEA) level across the United Kingdom.
End User Licence and Special Licence APS data
Users should note that there are two versions of each APS dataset. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement, and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version. The SL version contains more detailed variables relating to:- age: including single year of age, year and month of birth, age completed full-time education and age obtained highest qualification, age of oldest dependent child and age of youngest dependent child
- family unit and household: including a number of variables concerning the number of dependent children in the family according to their ages, relationship to head of household and relationship to head of family
- nationality and country of origin
- geography: including county, unitary/local authority, place of work, Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 (NUTS2) and NUTS3 regions, and whether lives and works in same local authority district
- health: including main health problem, and current and past health problems
- education and apprenticeship: including numbers and subjects of various qualifications and variables concerning apprenticeships
- industry: including industry, industry class and industry group for main, second and last job, and industry made redundant from
- occupation: including 4-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for main, second and last job and job made redundant from
- system variables: including week number when interview took place and number of households at address
The EUL version contains less detailed variables. For example, the lowest geography is Government Office Region, only banded age is available, only 3-digit SOC is available for main, second and last job, and only industry division for main, second and last job. Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for the research requirements.
The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. Therefore, users are strongly advised to order the standard version of the data. In order to help users choose the correct dataset, 'Special Licence Access' has been added to the dataset titles for the SL versions of the data.
APS Subjective Well-Being Datasets
During 2012, the ONS published APS data aimed at providing initial estimates of subjective well-being. These data are currently considered experimental statistics, published at an early stage to involve users as they undergo further testing and development. Further information about this initiative may be found on the ONS Measuring Subjective Well-being in the UK webpage.
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The standard version of the APS July 2007 - June 2008 is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 6093.
For the third edition (February 2012), the data have been weighted to 2010 population figures. The new weighting variable is PWTA10 (APS Person weight) accordingly. In addition, the following variables have been added: candgo1-2, hiqual8d, levqual6 and levqual8. Also, the following variables are no longer included: cameyr2, levqua2, nomis, nyqsvq, tied and wkag1664.
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Main Topics:
Topics covered include: household composition and relationships, housing tenure, nationality, ethnicity and residential history, employment and training (including government schemes), workplace and location, job hunting, educational background and qualifications. Many of the variables included in the survey are the same as those in the LFS.
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Dates of fieldwork:
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July 2007, June 2008 |
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Country:
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United Kingdom
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Spatial units:
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Government Office Regions
Unitary Authorities (England)
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Observation units:
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Individuals
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Kind of data:
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Numeric
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Universe:
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National
Persons resident in the UK in private households, and young people living away from the parental home in student halls of residence or similar institutions during term time.
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Time dimensions:
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Repeated cross-sectional study
The survey has a panel element, in that the households at selected addresses are interviewed annually over four waves, in the same way as for the LFS boosts. They then leave the survey and are replaced by other households.
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Sampling procedures:
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Multi-stage stratified random sample
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Number of units:
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348,699 cases
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Method of data collection:
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Face-to-face interview; Telephone interview
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Weighting:
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Weighting used. See documentation for details.
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Data sources:
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See the 'Abstract' section above for details of sources used.
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Please note, the inclusion of publications in this tab is temporary.
Publications and outputs will be searchable using the publications filter in the near future.
By principal investigator(s):
Data Management and Analysis Group (2006) Parents and work in London, DMAG Briefing 2006/6, London: Greater London Authority.
Data Management and Analysis Group (2006) Women and the labour market in London: key facts, DMAG Briefing 2006/33, London: Greater London Authority.
Data Management and Analysis Group (2007) Disabled people and the labour market in London: key facts, DMAG Briefing 2007/05, London: Greater London Authority.
Data Management and Analysis Group (2007) A profile of Londoners by housing tenure: analysis of Annual Population Survey and Labour Force Survey data, DMAG Briefing 2007/17, London: Greater London Authority.
Winters, G., Moloney, R. and Rowland, S. (2010) Sector skills assessment for the freight logistics and wholesale sector: UK report, Milton Keynes: Skills for Logistics.
Winters, G., Moloney, R. and Rowland, S. (2010) Sector skills assessment for the freight logistics and wholesale sector: England report, Milton Keynes: Skills for Logistics.
Winters, G., Moloney, R. and Rowland, S. (2010) Sector skills assessment for the freight logistics and wholesale sector: Scotland report, Milton Keynes: Skills for Logistics.
Winters, G., Moloney, R. and Rowland, S. (2010)Sector skills assessment for the freight logistics and wholesale sector: Wales report, Milton Keynes: Skills for Logistics.
Winters, G., Moloney, R. and Rowland, S. (2010) Sector skills assessment for the freight logistics and wholesale sector: Northern Ireland report, Milton Keynes: Skills for Logistics.
Experian/Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (2010) Unlocking the potential of the BME population: methodology report, Northwest Regional Development Agency.
Experian/Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (2010) Unlocking the potential of the BME population: final report, Northwest Regional Development Agency.
Piggott, G. (2010) Focus on London: labour market: beyond the headlines, London: Greater London Authority. ISBN 978-1-848781-174-5.
Walker, R. (2010) Intelligence Briefing 2010-08 - Disabled people and the labour market in London, 2009, London: Greater London Authority. ISSN 1479-7879.
Smart, E. (2010) Working Paper 43: Submission to the Hutton Review, review of fair pay in the public sector, London: Greater London Authority. ISBN 978-1-84781-391-6. Retrieved January 10th, 2011, from: http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/GLAE-wp-43.pdf
Beatty, C., Gore, T. and Powell, R. (2010) Participation of Women in the Labour Market in Leicester, Sheffield: Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research. Retrieved July 11th, 2011, from: http://www.shu.ac.uk/_assets/pdf/women-in-the-labour-market.pdf.
