Northern Ireland Labour Force Survey: Urban-Rural Statistics
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The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a UK wide continuous household survey carried out in Northern Ireland by Central Survey Unit, NISRA. The main purpose of the survey is to provide information on the labour market, including employment, unemployment and economic inactivity rates. The current quarterly LFS has been running in Northern Ireland since December 1994.
The sample for each quarter consists of around 2,500 households in NI, made up of 5 waves with an average of around 500 private households in each wave, with a total of around 4,000 individuals included. Every sampled address is interviewed in five successive quarters, such that in any one quarter one wave will be receiving their first interview, one wave their second and so on. This results in an 80% sample overlap between quarters. Due to the cumulative effect of refusals and ineligible addresses, the number of 'active' addresses is approximately 2,700 each quarter.
More information on the survey is available from the DfE website, and from the Central Survey Unit.