The newest WED datasets which link the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) with the Pay as you Earn (PAYE) and Self Assessment datasets are now available for accredited researchers to apply to access through the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service (SRS).
The dataset covers roughly 1% of the workforce, with de-identified data from around 180,000 individuals in the PAYE and Self-Assessment records, linked with information within the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). This data integration helps bridge gaps in understanding changes in the labour market that occur in the 12-month periods between ASHE surveys. By combining the annual survey with PAYE and Self-Assessment data, it offers a more comprehensive view of an individual’s overall interactions with the labour market.
About the Data
The ASHE dataset includes de-identified personal information such as age, gender, employment information, and employer information. The PAYE data provides details of point-in-time employment of people and what they have been paid. The Self-Assessment data provides employees’ income from self-employment and other forms of income.
The linked dataset combines all detailed personal, employment, and job characteristics with PAYE and self-employment income data. It covers the 1% of the working population randomly selected for ASHE. The linkage brings together ASHE data from years 1997-2022 with PAYE data for tax year 2015-2019 and Self-Assessment data for tax year 2011-2018.
The data has all been de-identified and has been linked under the provisions of the Digital Economy Act 2017, which provides a legal gateway for researchers to access government data in a secure way.
What’s in the linked dataset?
- Personal characteristics: Age, gender, and residential location
- Employment information: Periods of employment and self-employment, number of jobs
- Job characteristics: Earnings from employment, income from self-employment, number of jobs, working hours, paid hours, occupation, and pensions
- Employer characteristics: Employer identifier, size, industry, legal status, and workplace location(s).
What can be done with these data?
This dataset can provide insight into changes, patterns and inequalities in the labour market. It can also give a deeper insight into the how different individuals work and earn money, for example the types of people who work multiple jobs, or supplement full-time employment with self-employed work.
There are many directions researchers may take these datasets. Some example questions include:
- How large is the gender wage gap or earnings gap when considering all earned income and total compensation?
- Does having a student loan increase the likelihood of working in the gig economy?
- What does inequality look like across the wage distribution when we include income from self-employment alongside earnings?
- Is the volatility of changes in employment and/or income related to location/region?
- Which types of employees also have income from self-employment and what share of their earnings is accounted for by self-employment?
Accessing the data and other useful links.
Accredited researchers can apply to access the ASHE linked to PAYE and Self-Assessment dataset via the ONS Research Accreditation Service.
You can read more about the dataset, explore the data dictionary, and apply to access on the ADR UK Data Catalogue
You can find a recent blog in which Project Lead Damian Whittard discusses the incredible research potential presented by these new linked datasets here.
Additionally, you can find out more about the value and uses of administrative data here.
And finally, you can find the documentation relating to these datasets here, including a user guide and full variable lists.