A Description and Critique of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey Public Earnings Data: 2010–2023

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, I summarise research noting concerns with the quality of the QLFS earnings imputations, provide a description of the publicly available QLFS earnings data between 2010 and 2023 and describe how the structure of the earnings data that has been released publicly has changed over time. I explain why researchers and policymakers should not use the currently publicly available QLFS data to undertake comparisons of earnings over time or to undertake regression analysis at all.