The labour market [March 1998]

Data on employment are generally founded upon employer-based sample surveys, which are benchmarked to a biennial Census of Employment. Recently, the results of the September 1993 Census of Employment have become available (the first full Census since 1981, though sample censuses were taken in 1984, 1987, 1989 and 1991), and this, together with some revisions to the 1991 Census, has led to revisions of the estimates of employees in employment back to December 1989 (on a seasonally unadjusted basis). Furthermore, the 1993 Census results have been classified according to Standard Industrial Classification 1992 (SIC 92), which replaces SIC 80, and gives greater disaggregation of the (now substantially larger) services sectors.