1. Executive summary

In December 2018, the government presented to Parliament a White Paper Help Shape our Future: The 2021 Census of Population and Housing in England and Wales (PDF, 967KB). This outlined the Office for National Statistics's (ONS's) proposal to collect information on occupation, industry and travel to work. The data collected are used for many purposes, including the derivation of the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC), supporting local industries and workers, and planning and providing transport services.

This report details the development of the questions on occupation, industry and travel to work that ask details on employment status, organisation name, occupation, job description, industry, supervisory status, method of travel to work, workplace and address of workplace.

Census 2021 will be an online-first census, with a target of 75% online returns. We have reviewed and tested each question online and have recommended additional design and functionality amends specific to the electronic questionnaire. We have also recommended additional changes to the question designs following our stakeholder engagement, evaluation and testing programmes. These changes will be detailed in this report.

The main recommended changes to question designs are:

  • we have ensured that the questions conform to Government Digital Service Standards; for example, we have changed the format of the question on place of work and address
  • we have updated the lists of example occupations and main activities so that they are more representative of the current workplace

Changes to question designs, including online functionality and accessibility, are detailed in the section Research that led to the recommended Census 2021 question designs.

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2. Aim of question development report

Since the publication of the White Paper, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has conducted and concluded the final phase of testing on occupation, industry and travel to work. Occupation, industry, travel to work, economic activity and hours worked are all part of the labour market topic. We have also published a report covering the questions on economic activity and hours worked Economic activity and hours worked question development for Census 2021.

This report details the development of questions on:

  • employment status

  • organisation name

  • job title

  • job description

  • main activity

  • supervisory status

  • method of travel to work

  • place of work

  • workplace address

The report on economic activity and hours worked details the development of questions on:

  • employment activity last week
  • reasons for not working
  • looking for work
  • availability to work
  • waiting to start a job already accepted
  • ever worked
  • hours worked

This report provides the findings of testing that led to the final recommended questions on the topics of occupation, industry and travel to work for Census 2021 in England and Wales. The questions and response options for Census 2021 have now been finalised through the census secondary legislation: the Census (England and Wales) Order 2020, and Census Regulations for England and for Wales.

The evidence base for the questions for Census 2021 is discussed in the section Research that led to the recommended Census 2021 question design.

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3. Research and development timeline

In June 2015, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) held a formal, 12-week consultation process asking census users for their views on the topics that were required in the questionnaire in England and Wales. The aim of the consultation was to promote discussion and encourage the development of strong cases for topics to be included in Census 2021.

In May 2016, the ONS published its response to the 2021 Census topic consultation. This set out our updated view on the topics to be included in Census 2021, including:

  • a summary of proposals for new topics
  • next steps
  • an overview of our plans

This response included a commitment to continue to collect information on the labour market.

The 2021 Census topic consultation revealed a clear requirement for information on labour market to enable local authorities to create economic plans and strategies, to help identify and address inequalities in the community. Data collected from the questions on occupation, industry and travel to work are also used in the derivation of the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) and to help understand and plan travel services.

A detailed summary of the consultation responses relating to all the labour market questions covering economic activity, occupation, industry and travel to work can be found in the labour market topic report (PDF, 809KB) and the travel topic report (PDF, 1.6MB). In these reports, the ONS made clear commitments to the public. These were:

  • to explore how the online question(s) set can improve the collection of the data while still meeting user needs, especially for occupation and industry

  • to review question guidance, consider improvements possible via online collection, improve data quality and reduce the burden placed on respondents

  • to review the question on supervisory status to see if these data can be derived from other sources

 We have provided an update on how we met these commitments in Annex 1.

Following this, we began a comprehensive programme of research and development. We provide a full list of the tests used in the development of the questions on occupation, industry and travel to work in Annex 2. Further details are provided in the summary of testing for Census 2021.

The tests used a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods. A short description of the different research methods and sampling techniques is given in the question and questionnaire development overview for Census 2021. Testing included respondents from a wide range of backgrounds.

In December 2018, the government presented to Parliament a White Paper Help Shape our Future: The 2021 Census of Population and Housing in England and Wales (PDF, 967KB). This outlined our proposal to continue to collect information on the labour market.

The question recommendations for Census 2021 are now finalised. We have evaluated the questions for their potential impact on data quality, public acceptability, respondent burden, financial concerns and questionnaire mode. We present details of this evaluation in Annex 3.

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6. Next steps

We are continuing to test and develop search-as-you-type and address lookup functionality for the workplace address question to reduce the respondent burden and improve the quality of data collected.

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7. Annex 1: Census commitments made on the topic of the occupation, industry and travel to work

In the Census 2021 topic consultation response, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) made clear commitments to the public. We committed to ask the question on the labour market, including occupation, industry and travel to work.

In the labour market topic consultation report (PDF, 809KB) we made commitments to

  • review the question on supervisory status to see if these data can be derived from other sources

  • explore how the online questions set can improve the collection of the data while still meeting user needs, especially for occupation and industry

  • review question guidance, consider improvements possible via online collection, improve data quality and reduce the burden placed on respondents

Exploring whether the question on supervisory status is necessary

We reviewed whether it was necessary to include a question on supervisory status on the census. The data captured by this question are used, along with other data, to derive the National Statistic Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC). Our investigation, in which we collaborated with academics, concluded that although there were other methods that could be used to derive the NS-SEC, the inclusion of the supervisory status on the census improved its accuracy and removing it would have a negative impact.

You can read more about our investigation and decision in the 2017 and 2018 census topic updates.

Exploring the use of search-as-you-type functionality for occupation and industry

Search-as-you-type functionality allows users to type in the first few characters of a word before a pre-defined list appears in a drop-down to help them complete their answer.

We began our investigation into the use of search-as-you-type by looking at the job title question. In our test, participants could type in four (round 1) or five (rounds 2 and 3) characters before the pre-defined list of job titles appeared. The list of job titles was taken from the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SOC 2010).

The intention in using the search-as-you-type functionality on the electronic questionnaire was to reduce respondent burden in answering the question. However, feedback suggested that this feature was not considered useful and not widely liked by participants:

  • some were surprised when the drop-down appeared
  • many did not realise they could type in an answer not in the list
  • some were overwhelmed by the choice of job titles presented to them
  • some chose the first job title that appeared when they were typing, rather than looking further down the list for the most accurate response option

The recommendations from the testing of search-as-you-type functionality were:

  • make it clearer to respondents that a drop-down list would appear and how to use it
  • edit the list of job titles to remove duplicates and those that were very similar, to reduce the number of options presented to respondents

After this testing was completed, it was decided that the work needed to maintain and edit the list of job titles, which contained over 30,000 entries, did not justify the potential benefit of using the search-as-you-type functionality. Therefore, this question was kept as a free-text response.

As with the job title question, we investigated the use of a search-as-you-type dropdown list to help respondents answer the question on main activity of employer. The list of main activities or industries was taken from the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007. However, the feedback from testing was similar to the feedback to our testing of the job title question. Participants did not find this functionality easy to use or helpful, and it did not help improve data quality. Therefore, we decided not to use a search-as-you-type dropdown for this question for Census 2021.

Reviewing question guidance and improving the collection of data via the electronic questionnaire

As detailed earlier in this report, we have tested each question both online and on paper to ensure that the questions are easy to answer and collect accurate data.

Although our testing showed that search-as-you-type functionality was not appropriate to use for questions on job title or main activity, this functionality will be used in the question on country of work, where respondents who work outside the UK can select the country where they work. Testing has shown that respondents benefit from having search-as-you-type functionality for this question.

We are currently developing and testing the use of address lookup functionality for the workplace address question. This type of functionality helps respondents answer quickly and accurately.

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8. Annex 2: Summary of research undertaken for the topic of occupation, industry and travel to work, 2017 to 2020

References to tests take the form (Year: Test number). "Year" refers to the calendar year the test was undertaken in and the test number is the position of the test within the year considering all testing that took place in that year. For example, the fifth test conducted in 2017 would be referenced as (2017:5).

A full description of each of these items can be found in summary of testing for Census 2021.

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9. Annex 3: Question evaluation

Evaluation of employment status question

Potential for impact on all criteria was evaluated as “Low”.

Evaluation of organisation name question

Potential for impact on public acceptability was rated as “Low”.

Potential for impact on data quality: “Medium”

The question requires respondents to write in their answer. Testing (2018:14) showed that this question can be problematic for respondents who have complex working situations, for example, people who are freelance or those with multiple jobs. Feedback from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that the non-response rate was over 7%.

Potential for impact on respondent burden: “Medium”

Feedback from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that some respondents found this question difficult to answer, and the question had a non-response rate of over 7%. In addition, this question can be difficult to answer on behalf of someone else.

Potential for impact on financial concern: “High”

This question requires all relevant respondents to write in an answer, and all write-in responses require additional processing. In the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) more than 10% of the answers required manual coding.

Potential for impact on questionnaire mode: “Medium”

This question has mutually exclusive response options that are enforced online by using radio buttons. Results from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that more than 1% of respondents to the paper questionnaire selected more than one mutually exclusive option.

Evaluation of job title question

Potential for impact on all criteria except financial concerns were rated as “Low”.

Potential for impact on financial concern: “High”

This question requires all respondents to write in an answer, and all write-in responses require additional processing. In the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15), nearly 40% of the answers required manual coding.

Evaluation of job description question

Potential for impact on all criteria except financial concerns and questionnaire mode were rated as “Low”.

Potential for impact on financial concern: “High”

This question requires all respondents to write in an answer, and all write-in responses require additional processing. In the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15), more than 10% of the responses required manual coding.

Potential for impact on questionnaire mode: “Medium”

Results from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that, on average, most people wrote more text online than would fit into the available space on paper.

Evaluation of main activity of employer or business question

Potential for impact on public acceptability was rated as “Low”.

Potential for impact on data quality: “Medium”

This question requires a write-in response and could be difficult to answer on behalf of someone else. Feedback from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that the non-response rate and average time taken to answer this question was higher than expected.

Potential for impact on respondent burden: “Medium”

This question has long instruction text and requires respondents, who may have not worked for a long time, to recall the organisation they worked for and its industry. Feedback from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that the average time taken to answer this question was higher than expected.

Potential for impact on financial concern: “High”

This question requires respondents to write in an answer, and all write-in responses require additional processing. In the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15), nearly 40% of the answers required manual coding.

Potential for impact on questionnaire mode: “Medium”

There are multiple visual differences between the write-in response online and on paper, For example, online, the instructions for this question are in one block of text, and on paper the instructions are in bullet points.

Evaluation of supervisory status question

Potential for impact on all criteria were rated as “Low”.

Evaluation of travel to work question

Potential for impact on all criteria were rated as “Low”.

Evaluation of place of work question

Potential for impact on all criteria were rated as low, except for respondent burden.

Potential for impact on respondent burden: “Medium”

The number and length of the response options has increased since the 2011 Census. Feedback from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that some respondents found this question difficult to answer.

Evaluation of workplace address and country of work question

Potential for impact public acceptability and financial concerns were rated as ”Low”.

Potential for impact on data quality: “Medium”

This question has a write-in response and can be difficult to answer on behalf of another person. Results from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that some respondents found the question difficult to answer and, on average, respondents spent more time answering this question than was expected.

Potential for impact on respondent burden: “Medium”

Feedback from the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that some respondents reported the question was difficult to answer. In addition, respondents spent, on average, more time than was expected answering this question, and more respondents than expected used the “Previous” button to review their answer.

Potential for impact on questionnaire mode: “Medium”

Online, there is guidance to inform respondents why we ask this question. Online there is an extra question (“Do you mainly work in the UK?”) that is not on the paper questionnaire. If respondents answer “No” to the question they will see another question asking for their country of work. Analysis of the 2019 Rehearsal (2019:15) showed that respondents who answer on paper are more likely to be retired and no longer working and would be routed around these questions. Therefore, the risk of mode effects is lower than might be expected, since most respondents who are required to answer this question will be using the electronic questionnaire.

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