The Annual Population Survey (APS) is obtained by merging waves one and five of four LFS quarters and data from the Annual Local (Area) Labour Force Survey (LLFS) Boosts for England, Scotland and Wales.
Description
APS datasets are produced quarterly with each dataset containing twelve months of data. There are approximately 360,000 individuals and 170,000 households per dataset, which makes estimates based on the APS more robust than those obtained from a single LFS quarter. The APS data should therefore be preferred for analyses looking at single national groups or small geographical areas.
Limitations
There is under-representation of those who do not live in households (e.g. students in halls of residence who do not have a UK resident parent) as people living in communal establishments are not sampled.
It does not collect information on immigration status at the time of the interview or on arrival in the UK.
Recent migrants are also more likely to refuse to answer the survey or provide incomplete information because of language barriers and mistrust of the interviewers – especially if their residence or work status is not entirely compliant with immigration regulations.
Annual population survey (APS) QMI
