Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia

Enables in-depth analysis of the social and economic aspects of labour market engagement over time

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Accessing the data

You can use this data in: 

  • DataLab - analyse detailed longitudinal microdata

Compare data services to see what's right for you. Information on how to apply for access can be found in DataLab.

Further information about these products, and other information to assist users in understanding and accessing microdata in general, is available from the Microdata and TableBuilder Entry Page.

The Labour Force Survey provides monthly statistics about the labour market participation of the population. It is conducted every month throughout Australia. See Labour Force, Australia for summary results, methodology and other information.

Data and file structure

Data items include: 

  • Demographics, such as age, sex and country of birth
  • Survey month and time in survey
  • Geography
  • Household and family characteristics
  • Employment characteristics
  • Hours worked
  • Industry
  • Occupation
  • Skill level of job
  • Educational attainment and attendance
  • Underemployment and Underutilisation
  • Unemployment and details of last job
  • Retrenchments
  • Duration of job search
  • Reason not in the labour force

Use the data item list in Data downloads to confirm this dataset includes what you need for your research before purchasing your subscription.

The file is structured as a single level person file. Higher level characteristics, such as items related to households and families, are attributed to each person record.

The Longitudinal Labour Force (LLFS) data spans multiple time periods, so the month of the survey also acts like an additional level. Individuals can be observed for up to eight months making the data suitable for use in analysis of cross sections, pooled cross sections, short panels and longer pseudo panels.

The current edition of the LLFS covers over 42 years of Labour Force Survey (LFS) responses from October 1982 to October 2024. The LLFS will continue to be updated on a monthly basis, usually scheduled 8 days after the release of Labour Force, Australia (6202.0). The next edition of the LLFS with November 2024 data is scheduled for release in DataLab on Friday 20 December 2024.

Using DataLab

DataLab allows real time access to detailed microdata files through a portal to a secure ABS environment. Using detailed microdata in DataLab allows users to run advanced statistical analyses using recent analytical software.

For information about the data items available on the detailed microdata files, see the Data Item List in the Data Downloads section.

About DataLab

Detailed microdata files in DataLab can be accessed on-site at ABS offices or in a secure virtual environment from your own computer. All unit record data remains in DataLab, and any analysis results or tables are checked by the ABS before being provided to users.

Refer to DataLab for more information, including prerequisites for DataLab access.

Counts and weights

The current edition of the Longitudinal LFS (LLFS) includes 496 monthly cross sections covering the period from October 1982 to October 2024 (Table 1). On average, each cross section has 61,525 observations but the size of the cross sections has been closer to 50,000 since late 2009. Between July 2008 and September 2009, the sample size was temporarily reduced to be around 40,000. The size of cross sections generally declines over time reflecting improvements in sampling methodology.

Each cross section is used to produce the headline LFS statistics. The weights provided with the LLFS ensure that each cross-section reproduces the statistics close the LFS.

Table 1: Summary of monthly cross sections(a)
 MonthsMinimumMaximumAverageTotal
Observations49641,47276,22861,52530,516,155
  1. Excluding the missing cross sections for May 1983, Jun 1983, Nov 1983, Jan 1984, Sep 1984, Dec 1984, Jan 1985, Jul 1985 and Jul 1986. Microdata for these cross sections were not recoverable from the magnetic tape archives. Finely detailed tabulated data has been preserved on microfiche, and digitised scans for these missing cross-sections are now available. See Appendix 1 - Missing months for more information.

For more information about the file structure, see the Data and file structure section.

For more information about the weights, see the Weighting and Benchmarks section of the Data Item List, available in the Data downloads section.

Unit identifiers

Every record of the file is uniquely identified by the item ABSRID. This identifier is a combination of the household identifier ABSHID and the person identifier ABSPID. All of these identifiers are used consistently across months to create longitudinal links.

Non-private dwellings and dwellings selected in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are excluded from longitudinal linking. These include hotels, motels, hostels, hospitals, religious institutions providing accommodation, educational institutions providing accommodation, prisons, boarding houses, and short-stay caravan parks. These are given a new household identifier each month in this dataset. People in non-private dwellings are more likely to be older and not in the labour force than those in private dwellings.

Family units are identified by the item FAMNUM. This identifier is not used consistently across months due to the dynamic nature of family relationships. Its purpose is to identify family units within multiple family households for the particular circumstances of each month. The identification of family units in one month may not necessarily correspond to how family units are identified in subsequent or preceding months.

For more information about the identifiers, see the Record Identifiers section of the Data Item List, available in the Data downloads section.

Longitudinal analysis

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is designed to survey the same household for eight consecutive months. However, this means that individuals can move in and out of the LLFS for a number of reasons:

  • they do not complete the survey in a month,
  • they are visiting the household,
  • they move house permanently, or
  • they are in a non-private dwelling.

More than 6.6 million individuals are observed in total, with about 2.1 million observed for the full eight months (Table 2).

Table 2: Counts of individuals
 Number of responses
12345678Total
Total2,161,770318,172289,711394,162307,069392,811682,2472,075,5406,621,482
Visitors152,17518,1385,7642,3041,036599444357180,817
Non-private dwellings1,501,57500000001,501,575

Some individuals are more likely to leave the LFS than others.

  • Males are more likely to leave relative to females
  • Younger individuals are more likely to leave relative to older individuals
  • Unemployed individuals are more likely to leave relative to employed individuals or those not in the labour force
  • Individuals in regional areas are more likely to leave relative to those in capital cities
  • Single individuals are more likely to leave relative to married individuals
  • People who were born overseas are more likely to leave than those born in Australia
  • Those visiting a household are more likely to leave than those that live in the household

When linking individuals, this variability in the types of people who leave and stay in the LFS results in attrition bias overtime. It is important when looking at aggregate statistics that use linked observations to be aware of this bias and to attempt to control for it if possible. This can be done by adjusting the weights appropriately - increasing the weights for those who are more likely to leave the LFS.

It is also important to consider how the collection of the LFS has changed over time. The method of data collection has changed to allow a greater choice in how people respond, from face-to-face interviews to phone interviews to online self-completion.

Concordance files

Correspondence files for International classifications

Concordance files for historical Australian classifications

Data downloads

Data files

Data files

History of changes

22/11/2024 - Version 2410, October 1982 to October 2024

LLFS microdata was released into DataLab on Friday 22 November 2024 with the following updates:

  • Addition of month October 2024.
  • Revisions to Previous weight (PREVWT) for Sep 2024 to match the previous version (version 2409).

  • Revisions to Number of responses (NUMRESP) for the period March 2024 to September 2024 to account for the additional month of data.

     

Show all

Appendix 1 - Missing months

Labour Force data on microfiche

Appendix 2 - Historical longitudinal microdata

Australians' Employment and Unemployment Patterns, 1994-1997

Microdata: Australians' Employment and Unemployment Patterns data item lists, 1994-1997

Data files
Download zip [93.49 KB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6602.0.

Previous issues of this release can be found in Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia (6602.0)