PLFS Usual-Status Approach

The PLFS usual-status approach classifies a person by activities undertaken during the 365 days preceding the survey date. It combines the person's usual principal status with any qualifying subsidiary economic activity to identify longer-term labour-force attachment.

Determining the principal activity status

The usual principal status (ps) is the activity status in which a person spent a relatively long time during the reference year, using the major time criterion.

• The person is first classified as being in the labour force or outside it according to the major time criterion.
• A person placed in the labour force is then classified as employed or unemployed, again according to the major time criterion.
• The detailed activity category is assigned consistently with the broad status so determined.

Identifying subsidiary economic activity

The survey also checks whether the person pursued an economic activity for at least 30 days during the same 365-day reference period. Such work is recorded as the person's usual subsidiary economic activity status.

• Subsidiary work captures economic activity that may not qualify as the principal activity because it was undertaken for a shorter period.
• It helps record intermittent, seasonal or supplementary employment that the principal-status classification alone may miss.

Arriving at the combined usual status

Under usual status (ps+ss), a person is treated as employed if employment appears either as the principal status or as a qualifying subsidiary status. The measure therefore presents a longer-term picture of employment and labour-force participation rather than activity during only a particular week or day.