Accessing and using the Labour Force Survey data

• Pierre Walthery • ESDS Government

Programme for this session

1. LFS resources available at ESDS

2. Registering with ESDS and downloading the data

3. Finding your way through the documentation

4. Opening the data in SPSS & SPSS basics

LFS Resources available

LFS webpage

Survey description and news

Future events

http://www.esds.ac.uk/government/lfs/

Accessing data and starting analysis Download datasets

Variables search

Help to get started: FAQ and Starting analysis

Variables Search

Publications search

Registering with ESDS and

getting the LFS data

Registering for access

Why registering • This is not public data End User License! • We need to know who you are, how to contact

you and what you are using the data for • Details of intended use of the data • Agree not to attempt to identify individuals or

households • Only use the data for stated purpose (you can re-

register if you want to use the data for another use) • Do not pass the data to unregistered parties (that

includes deleting the data before passing on PCs!) • Tell us if you publish using the data • Keep means of access secure • Breach will lead to termination of access

Obtaining the data

• Choice of downloading entire files: – Stata, SAS, SPSS, tab delimited formats – Comes zipped up with documentation

• Or explore the data and download subsets

in Nesstar (c. 200 files in this format – including most of the Government surveys) – Allows you to explore metadata without being

registered – Can do basic exploratory analyses (including OLS

regression) online without downloading files – Can define subsets to download in a wider range

of formats including SAS

Simple analyses in Nesstar

Contingency tables in Nesstar

Correlation and regression

The LFS documentation

For Further info: Website: www.esds.ac.uk www.esds.ac.uk/government www.esds.ac.uk/government/ihs/

Helpdesk: Registration, downloading or ordering the IHS data: help@esds.ac.uk 01206 872143 All other IHS queries: govsurveys@esds.ac.uk

0161 275 1980

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Now it’s your turn

• Take the Practical 1 handout • We are here to help – do not

hesitate to ask questions

Slide Number 1Programme for this sessionLFS Resources availableSlide Number 4LFS webpageAccessing data and starting analysisVariables SearchPublications search�Registering with ESDS and�getting the LFS dataSlide Number 10Slide Number 11Registering for accessWhy registeringSlide Number 14Obtaining the dataSimple analyses in NesstarContingency tables in NesstarCorrelation and regressionThe LFS documentationFor Further info:Now it’s your turn