Anonymized EU-LFS Microdata for Research: Background, Resources, and Introduction to Data Handling

Abstract

This report is intended to aid researchers working with the European Labour Force Survey, which Eurostat disseminates in anonymized form to accredited researchers. The report seeks to fulfil three objectives: Firstly, to provide an overview of the scope of the survey and it’s potential for scientific inquiry. Secondly, to review the wide array of resources made available by Eurostat and the services provided by GESIS and provide links for further reading. And finally, to instruct on the use of the microdata by outlining the data structure, the different identifiers and how these can be used for analyses at the household level and to study individuals over multiple quarters. To this aim the report includes a num- ber of illustrated examples alongside Stata code. These examples are mainly intended for researchers with little experience with complex data files, they can also be useful to experienced researchers as they highlight some of the key features of the EU-LFS microdata.