Updated 28 September 2012
The proportion of households that are workless technical description
| Short title | The proportion of households that are workless. |
|---|---|
| Technical definition | The number of workless households as a proportion of all households (containing at least one person aged 16-64).
A workless household is a household that includes at least one person aged 16 to 64; where no-one aged 16 or over is in employment. Data are not seasonally adjusted and therefore only year on year comparisons are meaningful. |
| Rationale | DWP’s vision is to promote high levels of employment by helping those currently out of work into employment. The structural reform priority to tackle the causes of poverty recognises that work is the best route out of poverty. This indicator aligns with both of these objectives. |
| Formula | Number of workless households / total number of households = proportion of households that are workless Worked Example: Using latest 2012 Quarter 2 data: 3,676,000 / 20,536,000 = 17.9% |
| Start date | Already published in public domain. There is a time series of data from 1996 for Quarter 2 data and from 2004 for Quarter 4 data. Data published approximately every 6 months for Quarter 2 (April-June) and Quarter 4 (October-December). |
| Good performance | An improvement would be indicated by a statistically significant fall in the indicator. The magnitude of the fall required for a statistically significant change depends on the sampling variability around both the current and previous data points, for example for there to have been a statistically significant fall between April-June 2011 and April-June 2012 the proportion of households that are workless would have had to have fallen by more than 0.6% points. As the Labour Force Survey is a sample survey, it is subject to a margin of uncertainty, as different samples give different results. Therefore small changes over time in estimated indicators may not be statistically significant (ie they may have arisen from the different samples by chance). The threshold of a year-on-year change greater than 0.6 percentage points between 2011 and 2012 is based on the confidence interval of the change rather than the single estimate. Significant changes in the indicator may be observed more easily over a longer time period. For example, two consecutive year-on-year changes, neither of which are statistically significant, may combine to show a significant change over the two-year period. Similarly, looking at a series of estimates over time will aid interpretation of trends. The proportion of households that are workless is made up of the number of workless households and the total number of households (as shown above), so changes to either of these figures affects the indicator. It is therefore important to look at why there has been a change to the indicator: is there a change in the number of workless households or a change in the total number of households (or both)? Changes to the total number of households, through for example population growth and changes in family formation, will affect this indicator. For example, it would be possible for there to be a fall in the proportion of households that are workless at the same time as an increase in the number of workless households, if the total number of households rose at a greater rate than the number of workless households. Data are not seasonally adjusted and so only year on year comparisons are meaningful. In addition, external factors impacting on the prevalence of worklessness, for example general economic conditions, will affect this indicator but are outside of DWP’s control. |
| Behavioural impact | Monitoring workless households may result in a focus on only whether individuals are working or workless, with little attention on other factors such as earnings levels or the quality of employment. |
| Comparability | There is not an internationally recognised indicator that can be used to make comparisons. Eurostat (the EU statistics agency) publishes data on the number of individuals aged 18-59 living in workless households in EU countries, but not the total number of workless households (in EU statistics these are referred to as “jobless households”).
This indicator links to the “children in workless households” impact indicator. |
| Collection frequency | Published approximately every 6 months for Quarter 2 (April-June) and Quarter 4 (October-December).
Quarter 2 and Quarter 4 figures are not directly comparable as the data are not seasonally adjusted. |
| Time lag | Generally around 2-3 months after the end of the reference quarter |
| Data source (which data collection it comes from) | Household Labour Force survey (HLFS) |
| Type of data (Whether it is an official statistic, national statistic, survey, MI ) | National Statistics |
| Robustness and data limitations |
As the HLFS is a sample survey, it is subject to a margin of uncertainty as different samples give different results – for example the Office for National Statistics provides a single confidence interval estimate of +/-0.4% for the April-June 2012 data
The analysis is based on a random sample of around 45,000 households each quarter, used for a wide range of National Statistics.
Analyses are National Statistics produced to the high professional standards. The quality of National Statistics products is assessed on a regular basis by the independent UK Statistics Authority. Along with other users, DWP are represented on groups that monitor the quality and relevance of the underlying data (Labour Force Survey Steering Group) and the related National Statistics outputs (Labour Market Statistics Theme Group) and are able to feed in any concerns about the data collection process. |
| Collecting organisation | Office for National Statistics |
| Return format | Unit and format of measurement is: Percentage terms |
| Geographical coverage | National - UK Great Britain England (including regional breakdown) Scotland Wales Northern Ireland |
| How indicator can be broken down | The headline data can be broken down by whether all members of the household are unemployed, all are inactive, or a combination of the two.
The data can be compared with households where all members are working, and with households containing both working and workless members. The headline data can also be broken down by:
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| Further guidance | Published in Excel and PDF format |
