harmonisation
Notes from the GHS
Question
I have a question about 'harmonisation' work for the GHS, LFS etc.
In which of the years (from earliest to latest) do we have information on:
(a) ethnicity
(b) country of birth
(c) time (year) arriving at UK
in the GHS, LFS and any other possible datasets. The reason I ask this is that I am thinking of doing some analysis of 2nd generation BMEs' labour market experience.
Answer
GHS
Country of birth is available from 1971 onwards, whereas the time of arrival can be found only from 1974. The information about ethnicity is not rich enough in early years and appeared for the first time in the 1983 GHS datasets.
LFS
In the LFS, all of these variables are available but also starting in different years. Country of birth is available from 1975, ethnicity from
1979 and UK arrival from 1983. Of course, with different classifications over time, this is true for both GHS and LFS datasets.
This inconsistency in classifications was the main reason for us to undertake a harmonisation project in ESDS Government. We have already managed to map country of birth and nationality variables across the time for both the GHS and LFS. Ethnicity is the next variable in our harmonisation project for this quarter. We hope to make it available online as soon as it has been accomplished.
I strongly recommend that you look on the ESDS Government web site for more information about country of birth in the GHS and country of birth and nationality in the LFS.
