Facts and Figures Definitions

The Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) is an employer survey conducted in December of each year. The survey samples around 78,000 businesses. The ABI records a job at the location of an employee's workplace (rather than at the location of the business's main office). The sample is drawn from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), a comprehensive list of UK businesses that is used by the Government for statistical purposes.

In the ABI, part-time employees are those working for 30 or fewer hours per week.
"Tourism-related" jobs includes the following sectors: hotels, camping sites, restaurants, bars, activities of travel agencies, library, archives, museums, sporting activities, and other recreational activities.

See also:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/guides/LabourMarket/sources/business/businquiry.asp
and
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/guides/LabourMarket/sources/business/businessregister.asp

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a combined survey of households in Great Britain. Its purpose is to provide information on key social and socio-economic variables between the 10-yearly censuses, with particular emphasis on providing information relating to small geographical areas.

The APS is a new survey and is the largest regular household survey in the United Kingdom. It includes data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the annual LFS sample boosts in England, Wales and Scotland, plus an extra boost aimed at achieving a sample of at least 500 economically active adults in each local authority district in England. This first publication of APS data covers the period January to December 2004, and includes data from a sample of over 214,000 UK households consisting of around 500,000 people, of whom over 390,000 are aged 16 and over.

The APS Boost was discontinued in January 2006 due to withdrawal of ONS funding so is only present in the 5 datasets released between June 2005 and June 2006. With the withdrawal of the APS Boost the APS is in essence the Annual Local Area Labour Force Survey again and the sample is about 375,000.

As APS estimates are based on statistical samples, they are subject to sampling variability. This means that if another sample for the same period were drawn, a different estimate might be produced. In general, the larger the number of people in the sample, the smaller the variation between estimates. Estimates for smaller areas such as local/unitary authorities are therefore less reliable than those for larger areas such as regions and countries.

As a household survey, the figures relate to where people live.

Earnings by residence

The figures show the median earnings in pounds for employees living in the area who are on adults rates of pay and whose pay was not affected by absence. Figures for earnings come from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). The ASHE is based on a 1 per cent sample of employees, information on whose earnings and hours is obtained from employers. The survey does not cover self-employed.

The earnings information collected relates to gross pay before tax, national insurance or other deductions, and excludes payments in kind. It is restricted to earnings relating to the survey pay period and so excludes payments of arrears from another period made during the survey period; any payments due as a result of a pay settlement but not yet paid at the time of the survey will also be excluded.

Earnings by workplace

The figures show the median earnings in pounds for employees working in the area who are on adults rates of pay and whose pay was not affected by absence. Figures for earnings come from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). The ASHE is based on a 1 per cent sample of employees, information on whose earnings and hours is obtained from employers. The survey does not cover self-employed. In 2004 information related to the pay period which included 21 April.

The earnings information collected relates to gross pay before tax, national insurance or other deductions, and excludes payments in kind. It is restricted to earnings relating to the survey pay period and so excludes payments of arrears from another period made during the survey period; any payments due as a result of a pay settlement but not yet paid at the time of the survey will also be excluded.

(Source: Nomis June 2006)
See also:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/guides/LabourMarket/sources/business/ASHE.asp

Certain benefits and pensions are available for people of working age, people of pensionable age, disabled people and carers, and people with children. These benefits and pensions are administered and paid by the Department for Work and Pensions or the Job Centre Plus. Housing and Council Tax Benefits are available to help people on low incomes with their rent and council tax payments. These benefits are administered and paid by the Council.

The qualifying conditions for claiming and receiving these benefits are detailed and precise. Follow the link below to the Department for Work and Pensions A - Z search on all pensions and benefits that are available. Also see the Housing and Council Tax Benefit information on Basingstoke and Deane`s own website.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/atoz.asp
http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/services/counciltax/benefits.htm

Percentage of working age population claiming key benefits

This dataset refers to numbers of working age benefit claimants - working age defined as females aged 16 to 59 and males aged 16 to 64. The dataset provides counts of benefit claimants categorised by their "statistical group" (that is, their main reason for interacting with the benefits system. If claimants are claiming more than one benefit then they are categorised according to a benefits hierarchy, thus avoiding double counting.

The dataset includes claimants of Bereavement Allowance, Carer`s Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance, income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Pension Credit and Widows Benefit.

Each claimant can only be assigned to one of eight statistical groups in the following priority order:
Job Seekers: Job Seekers Allowance claimants;
Incapacity Benefits: Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance claimants;
Lone parent: Income Support claimants with a child under 16 and no partner;
Carer: Carers Allowance claimants;
Others on income related benefit: Other Income Support (including IS Disability Premium) or Pension Credit claimants under pension age;
Disabled: Disability Living Allowance;
Bereaved: Widows Benefit, Bereavement Benefit or Industrial Death Benefit claimants.

The Department for Work and Pensions uses the Mid Year Population Estimates as the working age population denominator. For a more local analyses, data in the Research and Information Newsletter and A Profile of the Borough may be presented using the Hampshire County Council Small Area Population Forecasts (SAPF) as a population denominator. Where SAPF is used, this will be indicated alongside the data presented.

Economically active: People aged 16 and over who are either in employment or unemployed.

Economic activity rate (working age): The number of people, who are economically active aged 16 to 59/64, expressed as a percentage of all working age people.

In employment: People aged 16 or over who did some paid work in the reference week (whether as an employee or self employed); those who had a job that they were temporarily away from (on holiday, for example); those on Government supported training and employment programmes; and those doing unpaid family work.

Employment rate (working age): The number of people in employment aged 16 to 59/64 expressed as a percentage of all working age people.

Employees and self employed: The division between employees and self employed is based on survey respondents' own assessment of their employment status. The percentage show the number in each category as a percentage of all working age people. The sum of employees and self employed will not equal the in employment figure due to the inclusion of those on government-supported training and employment programmes, and those doing unpaid family work in the latter.

Unemployment: Refers to people without a job who were available to start work in the two weeks following their interview and who had either looked for work in the four weeks prior to interview or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained.

The Office for National Statistics publication, "How exactly is unemployment measured?", explores the differences between various indicators used to assess the extent of unemployment. This can be found at the bottom of this page. A fact sheet, "Comparisons between unemployment and the claimant count", also produced by ONS, is also attached at the bottom of this page.

Model based unemployed: As unemployed form a small percentage of the population, the APS unemployed estimates within local authorities area based on very small samples so for many areas would be unreliable. To overcome this, ONS has developed a statistical model which provides better estimates of total unemployed for unitary authorities and local authority districts (unemployment estimates for counties are direct survey estimates). Model based estimates are not produced for male or female unemployed.

The model based estimate improves on the APS estimate by borrowing strength form the claimant count to produce an estimate that is more precise (ie. has a smaller confidence interval). The claimant count is not itself a measure of unemployment but is strongly correlated with unemployment, and, as it is an administrative count, is known without sampling error. The gain in precision is greatest for areas with small sample sizes.

Unemployment rate (working age): The number of unemployed people aged 16 to 59/64 expressed as a percentage of the economically active population aged 16 to 59/64.

Economically inactive: People who are neither in employment nor unemployed. This group includes, for example, all those who were looking after a home or retired.

Economically Inactive - wanting a job: People not in employment who want a job but are not classed as unemployed because they have either not sought work in the last four weeks or are not available to start work.

Economically Inactive - not wanting a job: People who are neither in employment nor unemployed and who do not want a job.

Experimental statistics are statistics that are in the testing phase and are not fully developed. The limitations of each series of data is given in the information that accompanies it. Typically, experimental statistics arise when a set of data is new or there is a change to existing data, when testing and quality checks are still being carried out and when there is considerable or immedidate value to users to publish.

Experimental statistics can reflect new methods of collection and presentation which are still subject to modification, partial coverage of data or partial modification of data in the light of user feedback to date.

The aims of publication of such statistics could be for consultation - for ONS to recieve informed feedback from potential users; acclimatisation - where ONS wish users to become accustomed to different presentations; and to provide a wider range of data to users, providing limitations of the data are well explained.

Further information about experimental statistics can be found on the ONS Frequently Asked Questions page at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=173

The forecasts commence from April 2007 population estimates rolled forward from the 2001 Census. Students are counted at their term time address.

The 2007 population estimates are rolled forward from 2001, incorporating known births and deaths, known dwelling completions and in and out flows of migrants - in migrants to the new dwellings completions, and in and out migrants from the existing stock of dwellings.

The forecasts are based on future dwellings supply. The dwelling supply information for the period 2007 to 2014 includes all large and small sites with planning permission, or allocated in local plans as at April 1st 2007. Assessments have been made on the scale, phasing, and likely locations of development on urban capacity and large windfall sites.

These rates of development may not be achieved on all sites, and that the population forecasts should therefore be regarded as towards the upper end of the possible range.

The Small Area Population Forecasts, along with the methodology used to produce the forecasts, can be found at:http://www3.hants.gov.uk/planning/factsandfigures/population-statistics/small-area-pop-stats.htm

JSA claimant count records the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and National Insurance credits at Jobcentre Plus local offices. People claiming JSA must declare that they are out of work, capable of, available for and actively seeking work during the week in which the claim is made.

The percentage figures express the number of claimants resident in an area as a percentage of the working age population resident in that area. Working age is defined as 16-64 for males and 16-59 for females. The working age population figures used to calculate claimant count proportions are derived from the mid-2002 population estimates.

The count of total JSA claimants is mostly derived from the Jobcentre Plus computer records. For various reasons, e.g. when a claimant's National Insurance number is not known, a few claims have to be dealt with manually by local offices. These clerical claims, which amount to less than 1 per cent of the total, are counted separately and not analysed in as much detail as the computerised claims. The count of total JSA claimants includes clerical claims, but only the computerised claims are analysed by age and duration.
(Source: Nomis June 2006)

The Office for National Statistics has also published a guide to unemployment indicators, "How exactly is unemployment measured?". This can be found at the bottom of this page, along with a factsheet, also produced by ONS, "Comparisons between unemployment and the claimant count".

See also:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/guides/LabourMarket/sources/adminsources/benefits/jsacc.asp

For a guide to the Labour market, definitions, glossary and underlying concepts including economic activity, employment, unemployment, economic inactivity, working age benefits, disability, ethnicity and pay, go to the Office for National Statistics Labour Market Guide at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/guides/LabourMarket/default.asp

The Mid Year Population Estimates are available at national level by single year of age and sex and at local authority/health area by five year age group and sex. Data is available on an annual basis from 1982 and is available one year in arrears, published in the autumn of each year.

The estimated resident population of an area includes all people who usually live there, whatever their nationality. Members of HM and US Armed Forces in England and Wales are included on a residential basis wherever possible. HM Forces stationed outside England and Wales are not included. Students are taken to be resident at their term time address.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15106

Working age includes males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59.
(Source: ONS June 2006)

The Local Government White Paper Strong and Prosperous Communities, published in October 2006, committed to introducing a set of streamlined indicators that would reflect national priority outcomes for local authorities working alone or in partnership. A new set of 198 national indicators was announced as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.

The Handbook of Definitions can be found at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/performanceframeworkpartnerships/nationalindicators/

Occupation Groups:

Professional occupations includes chemists, civil engineers, software professionals, dental practitioners, solicitors and architects.

Skilled trade occupations includes farmers, motor mechanics, electricians, plumbers, plasterers and chefs.

Personal service occupations includes dental nurses, care assistants, nursery nurses, sports and leisure assistants.

Elementary occupations include farm workers, labourers, kitchen assistants and bar staff.

Industry sectors:

(1) A,B Agriculture and fishing. This includes categories of agriculture, hunting & forestry; fishing.
(2) C,E Energy and water. This includes mining, quarrying; electricity, gas & water supply.
(3) D Manufacturing
(4) F Construction
(5) G,H Distribution, hotels and restaurants. This includes wholesale, retail & motor trade; hotels & restuarants.
(6) I Transport and communication
(7) J,K Banking, finance and insurance. This includes financial intermediation; real estate, renting & business activities.
(8) L,M,N Public administration, education and health. This includes public administration & defence; education; health & social work.
(9) O,P,Q Other services. This includes other community, social & personal; private households with employed persons; extra-territorial organisations & bodies.
(10) Workplace outside UK

(Source: Nomis June 2006)
See also:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/guides/LabourMarket/sources/household/aps.asp
and
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/guides/LabourMarket/sources/household/LFS.asp
and
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/guides/LabourMarket/default.asp

The United Kingdom Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (SIC) is used to classify business establishments by the type of economic activity in which they are engaged. It provides a framework for the colection, tabulation, presentation and analysis of data. A quick guide to the SIC definitions and coverage can be found at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/abi/sic92_desc.asp

Census and national statistics data can be output for any area required, whether electoral wards/divisions, local authorities, health authorities or any other geographic unit.

The Beginners Guide to UK Geography

For a Beginners Guide to UK Geography in terms of data analysis, government administration and policy, go to:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/beginners_guide.asp.
This provides a simple guide and glossary for many aspects of the main geographies used in National Statistics work. The Guide includes maps and names and codes listings as well as a straightforward explanation of National Statistics, output area, administrative, electoral, health, postal, census and European geographies, terminologies and meanings.

The Output Area Geography

Electoral wards can vary greatly in size which is not ideal for nationwide comparisons. In addition, data which can safely be released for larger wards may not be released for smaller wards due to the need to protect the confidentiality of individuals. The Office for National Statistics, therefore, has developed a range of areas that would be of consistent size and whose boundaries would not change.

The new Output Areas (OAs) were introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland at the 2001 Census. Due to their smaller size, OAs allow for a finer resolution of data analysis. They were designed to have similar population sizes and tenure/dwelling type profile. Urban/rural mixes were avoided where possible. They had approximately regular shapes and tended to be constrained by obvious boundaries such as major roads.

In England and Wales 2001 Census OAs are based on postcodes as at Census Day and fit within the boundaries of 2003 statistical wards (and parishes). If a postcode straddled an electoral ward/division (or parish) boundary, it was therefore split between two or more OAs. The minimum OA size is 40 resident households and 100 resident persons but the recommended size was rather larger at 125 households.

To support a range of potential requirements, Output Areas have been combined to form two layers of Super Output Areas known as Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) and Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA). These are built from groups of the Output Areas (OAs) used for the 2001 Census and take into account measures of population size, mutual proximity and social homogeneity.

Output Area (OA): Minimum population 100; 40 households. There are 175,434 OAs in England (165,665) and Wales (9,769).

Lower Layer SOA: Minimum population 1000; mean 1500. Built from groups of OAs (typically 4-6) and nesting into 2003 Ward boundaries. There are 34,378 Lower Layer SOAs in England and Wales (32,482 in England, 1,896 in Wales).

Middle Layer SOA: Minimum population 5000; mean 7200. Built from groups of Lower Layer SOAs and constrained by the 2003 local authority boundaries used for 2001 Census outputs. There are 7,193 Middle Layer SOAs (6,780 in England, 413 in Wales).

Source: ONS September 2006
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/census_geog.asp
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/soa.asp

There is no single definition of a small firm - it can be based on the number of employees, turnover, balance sheet information or audit threshholds. However, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has published guidance on one definition of an SME along with the European Commision (EC) definition. Please note that there are other definitions, some of which do not include "micro-businesses" which have up to 10 employees.
For the BERR and EC definitions, go to:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/bbf/enterprise-smes/research-and-statistics/statistics/page38563.html

How exactly is unemployment measured? (PDF document)

Comparisons between unemployment and the claimant count (PDF document)