As of the 1st quarter of 1972, SSB has conducted official quarterly labour force surveys (AKU). These surveys aim to give the labour force authorities (and other people interested) knowledge of the occupational structure of the population and how it develops over time. The surveys are meant to give a foundation and statistical material for occupational prognoses and labour research. The samples in AKU are from 1992 representative at county level. In the period 1972-1991 they were representative on county pair level.

As from January 2006 some major changes were introduced to AKU in order to enhance its comparability to similar surveys in other countries. The changes consist of minor definitional adjustments of unemployment, some adjustments and enlargement of the questionnaire and a change in age definition (age at reference point instead of at the end of the year). Simultaneously the lower age limit to be included in AKU was lowered from 16 to 15 years. This led to some breaks in the time series in the aforementioned areas.

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Originally, AKU respondents were interviewed in two consecutive quarters of a year, followed by a pause of two quarters, and then another two quarters of interviews. The sample was approximately 10-11.000 respondents in each quarter up until 1988. Originally, AKU was intended to be an analytical supplement to the monthly occupational statistics that was based on the social security membership index file. However, the social security-based statistics disappeared when the sickness benefit was included in the National Insurance as of 1st of January 1971, and AKU has after gradually developed into the most significant source of knowledge of the state of the labour market and its development.

In 1975, Statistics Norway changed the sampling frame of survey research, see article 37: “Om bruk av stikkprøver ved kontoret for intervjuundersøkelser”, SSB (About the Use of Random Samples at the Office for Survey Research, Statistics Norway) by Steinar Tamsfoss, and SØS 33: “Prinsipper og metoder for Statistisk sentralbyrås utvalgsundersøkelse (Principles and Methods for Statistics Norway's sample research) by Ib Thomsen. Simultaneously, the method for estimation of inflation to national numbers was changed, so that reasonable numbers for regions do exist from 1975 and onwards. The change in 1975 led to a different way of interviewing in groups. This caused amongst other things a break with the AKU panel systematics.

In the AKU survey of 1976, a slightly changed questionnaire was introduced. Also, there was a return to the original 6-quarter rotation scheme. The new questionnaire implied a better identification of family workers and persons that are temporarily without paid work. Thus, 30-35 000 more people were defined as employed. The group of "job-seekers without income" were also extended to include persons that were on an involuntary leave of absence. The questions concerning underemployment and “over employment” in the original questionnaire were abandoned.

From the 1st quarter of 1987, the estimation method (inflation to national numbers) was slightly changed. There was also a minor adjustment in the definition of employment. In order to ensure that the numbers were to be comparable to earlier surveys, new versions of the 1980-1986 AKU-files were drawn up. Consequently two versions of the 1980-1987 files - respectively with the old and new methods of estimation - exist. The “old” means that the data are comparable to the original numbers published in the period of 1972 - 1987, whilst the “new” implies that the data are comparable to numbers published after 1987.

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Between the 1st and 2nd quarter of 1988, the AKU file description was changed. The variable “Labour-market status” was given a different coding. In addition, adjustments in the data collections were made - from interviewing a specific week every quarter to carry out continuous weekly interviews. SSB also started up an escalation scheme to increase the sample size. This affected the weights, and from the 2nd quarter of 1988, these were recalculated monthly. To balance out the quarterly or yearly files to total national numbers, the monthly weights therefore had to be divided in three or twelve to give the correct total number.

In 1996, AKU was significantly revised: The questionnaire, the file description and the standard for coding of industry and occupation. The data collection also changed to CATI - Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing. A new classification of industry was put into use (NOS C 182, based on the EU standard NACE, Rev.1). This standard was updated in 2002 and 2007. Also, the new Norwegian standard classification of occupations (STYRK) based on ISCO 88 was used from 1996 and onwards. The variable indicating socio-economic status was omitted, as a similar variable was not developed in the new occupational classification.

As from January 2006 some major changes were introduced to AKU in order to enhance its comparability to similar surveys in other countries. The changes consist of minor definitional adjustments of unemployment, some adjustments and enlargement of the questionnaire and a change in age definition (age at reference point instead of at the end of the year). Simultaneously the lower age limit to be included in AKU was lowered from 16 to 15 years. This led to some breaks in the time series in the mentioned areas.

To access to the dataset, use the NSD application form:
http://www.nsd.uib.no/bestilledata/survey/