Annual Business Inquiry 1

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Annual Business Inquiry (1)Annual Survey of
Hours and EarningsA Brief OverviewJon
GoughDerek Bird
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What is ABI/1? A brief Summary

• Produces employee figures for GB broken down to a
  detailed region and industrial classification
• The ABI is a sample survey, with approximately
  75,000 businesses/reporting units (RUs) selected
• Data is collected for RUs but the employee
  estimates produced are based at a local unit (LU)
  level
• Figures are published in December following the
  reference period at www.nomisweb.co.uk

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Main users of ABI/1 figures

• Local Authorities figures have historically
  been used by LA planners
• Data consultants
• Academics
• Other government departments DBERR, National
  Assembly for Wales, Scottish Executive
• Eurostat

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A brief methodology

• The sampled returned data are used to estimate
  the number of employees for all non-sampled
  businesses using a procedure known as combined
  ratio estimation
• This takes place separately for groups of
  businesses with similar characteristics
• For larger businesses figures are now collected
  from the RU but figures are provided at the LU
  level
• For smaller businesses figures are collected at
  the RU level and then our methodology apportions
  out to the LU level
• Validation of the figures by Local Authorities

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Improvements to the 2006 survey

• There were 3 major improvements to the 2006 ABI/1
  survey
• A Change in reference date from December to
  September. This brings ABI/1 more in-line with
  other ONS outputs and in particular the Business
  Register Survey (BRS)
• The use of Business Register Survey (BRS)
  employment data in the sample. The BRS still goes
  out at the RU level but asks for real LU data
• A change in the methodology regarding minimum
  domains. Minimum domains group together certain
  industries and geographical areas in order to
  proportion regional estimates at the lower, more
  detailed, levels.

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And for the future?

• 2008 ABI/1 figures will be based on the new
  SIC(07) classification
• In 2009 the ABI/1 will cease to exist and will be
  replaced by the Business Register Employment
  Survey (BRES)
• BRES will bring forward the publication date of
  the employee estimates and those estimates will
  be based on a revised and updated methodology
• BRES is a significant improvement in that
  although forms are still sent out to RUs they
  will be asked to provide accurate LU data. Within
  results the LU figures will thus be real data
  rather than estimates

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ASHE what is it?

• The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
• Replaced the New Earnings Survey (NES) in 2004
• NES run every year from 1970-2003
• Employer survey based on a 0.8 per cent sample of
  employees from HMRC PAYE list.
• Excludes the self-employed.
• Responses for 140,000 employee jobs used in the
  results.
• Results relate to April.
• Collects gross pay before
• tax, national insurance and other deductions but
  excludes payments in kind.
• Weighted to job totals from the Labour Force
  Survey

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ASHE sample

• Extract taken from HMRC PAYE register, end of
  January
• Extract includes jobs for employees whose NINO
  ends in a particular pair of digits
• Same pair of digits used every year since 1975
• Questionnaires despatched in April
• Second extract from HMRC taken for April to
  identify employees who have moved jobs or started
  new jobs since January
• Second wave of questionnaires despatched in June

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ASHE published tables

• Results published at
• www.statistics.gov.uk/ashe
• All tables include breakdowns by
• male / female
• full-time / part-time
• All tables include figures for
• Median
• Mean
• Most also include
• Deciles
• Quartiles
• Have information by region, age, industry,
  occupation
• All published figures have accompanying quality
  measures

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Users of ASHE outputs

• Some of our main data users are
• Department for Work and Pensions
• Communities and Local Government
• Department of Health
• Department of Trade and Industry
• Low Pay Commission
• ONS
• Other Government Departments
• Non-government users e.g. academics

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Primary areas of interest

• Some of the key statistics published from ASHE
  are
• Average gross weekly earnings (broken down by
  region, age, occupation, industry etc)
• The gender pay gap
• Numbers below National Minimum Wage
• Public/private sector analysis

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Ad hoc analysis service

• ASHE provides an ad-hoc analysis service through
  the Earnings Helpdesk
• Earnings_at_ons.gov.uk
• 01633 456120
• Tailored Analysis to ad-hoc request
• Charge to cover costs of producing analysis
• Examples of recent ad-hoc requests
• Primary Care Organisation (Health Boundaries)
• Urban / Rural earnings
• User defined geography groupings

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Any Questions?
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Combined Ratio Estimation - Example

• Population count 100
• Sample count 10
• Design weight 100/10 10
• Registered emp. of population 1,000
• Registered emp. of sample 200
• Calibration weight 1,000/100 / 200/10 0.5
• Returned emp. of sample 250
• Estimated emp. of the population 250 10 0.5
  1,250