What the quarterly Labour Force Survey can tell us about the economic circumstances of people with sight loss Sue Keil RNIB

About the Labour Force Survey (LFS) Carried out every quarter by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Largest household survey in the UK Provides the official measures of employment and unemployment rates 2

Why use the LFS? Direct comparison between BPS people of working age with the rest of the WA population:  Employment and unemployment rates  Other economic circumstances  Factors that might affect employment status 3

Background to RNIB use of LFS Institute for Employment Studies in devised methodology:  Data aggregated over 12 quarters as recommended by ONS  Identification of participants with seeing difficulties 4 further reports by Birmingham university 2011 to

Identifying BPS population Health problems or disabilities lasting more than one year ‘Difficulty in seeing’ main problem Substantially limits ability to carry out daily activities; and/or affects amount or type of work can do EA disabled with a seeing difficulty 5

Key findings for people ‘disabled due to a seeing difficulty’ Report February quarters October 2011 to September

Population and prevalence An estimated 111,255 people of working age identified as ‘disabled due to seeing difficulty’ As a proportion of the WA population:  0.29% overall  0.18% of year olds  0.56% of year olds 7

People in employment Long term disabled with a seeing difficulty: 44.9% Other long term disabled: 49.4% All people of working age: 72.8% 8

Employment rates by age 16-25: 27.8% compared with 52.8% 26-44: 48.3% compared with 80.4% 45-54: 54.6% compared with 85.2% 55-64: 45.5% compared with 69.0% 9

People unemployed Long term disabled with a seeing difficulty: 9% Other long term disabled: 7.2% All people of working age: 6.1% 10

Age and unemployment Long term disabled with seeing difficulty at ages twice as likely to be unemployed as those of the same age:  10.1% compared with 5.1% Long term disabled with seeing difficulty ages16-25 appear almost twice as likely to be NEET as those of the same age:  42.8% compared with 21.7% 11

Long term sick or disabled Long term disabled with a seeing difficulty: 25.8% Other long term disabled: 25.9% All people of working age: 4.9% 12

Long term sickness and age 26-44: 24.9% compared with 3.2% 45-54: 29.0% compared with 7.2% 55-64: 32.7% compared with 11.9% 13

Health as reason for giving up job People long term disabled with a seeing difficulty were more than twice as likely as the rest of the working age population to have given up work for health reasons: 37.6% compared to 15.7% 14

Other findings in the report Educational qualifications Relationship between qualifications and employment status For those in employment:  Occupational groups  Sector  Full or part time employment 15

Educational qualifications Higher the qualifications held the more likely to be in employment Even with a degree, people long term disabled with a seeing difficulty less likely than people without a disability to be employed With no qualifications, people long term disabled with a seeing difficulty far less likely to be employed 16

Summary At all ages and educational levels, compared to the rest of the WA population, people long term disabled with a seeing difficulty are:  Less likely to be employed  More likely to be unemployed  More likely to be long term sick  More likely to have given up their job for health reasons 17

Some implications Low levels of employment – risk of social and economic exclusion Different age groups may have different support needs – younger people need first step into the labour market High proportion giving up work for health reasons and long term sick - more emphasis on job retention? 18

Further information RNIB employment research: hub-research-reports/employment-research ONS information on the LFS: involved/taking-part-in-a-survey/information-for- households/a-to-z-of-household-and-individual- surveys/labour-force-survey/labour-force-survey- -lfs--faqs/index.html 19

Contact details: 20