Home > Data and documentation > Main Survey > Variables

Mainstage Variable

nemst

Current labour force status

Datafile

indresp

Index terms

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	3	0.02%
inapplicable	-8	8956	57.35%
proxy	-7	310	1.99%
Unemployed	3	434	2.78%
Retired	4	3126	20.02%
Maternity leave	5	12	0.08%
Family care	6	982	6.29%
FT studt, school	7	949	6.08%
LT sick, disabld	8	734	4.7%
Gvt trng scheme	9	15	0.1%
Other	10	96	0.61%
	Total	15617	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	1	0.01%
inapplicable	-8	8675	54.94%
proxy	-7	1014	6.42%
refusal	-2	1	0.01%
Unemployed	3	363	2.3%
Retired	4	3063	19.4%
Maternity leave	5	14	0.09%
Family care	6	986	6.24%
FT studt, school	7	846	5.36%
LT sick, disabld	8	720	4.56%
Gvt trng scheme	9	15	0.09%
Other	10	93	0.59%
	Total	15791	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	1	0.01%
inapplicable	-8	8924	54.96%
proxy	-7	891	5.49%
refusal	-2	2	0.01%
Unemployed	3	454	2.8%
Retired	4	3127	19.26%
Maternity leave	5	8	0.05%
Family care	6	1103	6.79%
FT studt, school	7	864	5.32%
LT sick, disabld	8	757	4.66%
Gvt trng scheme	9	19	0.12%
Other	10	88	0.54%
	Total	16238	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	55	0.33%
inapplicable	-8	9110	54.89%
proxy	-7	889	5.36%
Unemployed	3	451	2.72%
Retired	4	3186	19.2%
Maternity leave	5	5	0.03%
Family care	6	1152	6.94%
FT studt, school	7	796	4.8%
LT sick, disabld	8	817	4.92%
Gvt trng scheme	9	22	0.13%
Other	10	114	0.69%
	Total	16597	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
inapplicable	-8	10203	54.08%
proxy	-7	801	4.25%
Unemployed	3	596	3.16%
Retired	4	3736	19.8%
Maternity leave	5	12	0.06%
Family care	6	1339	7.1%
FT studt, school	7	1050	5.57%
LT sick, disabld	8	973	5.16%
Gvt trng scheme	9	21	0.11%
Other	10	136	0.72%
	Total	18867	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	1	0.01%
inapplicable	-8	8611	55.19%
proxy	-7	522	3.35%
Unemployed	3	508	3.26%
Retired	4	3166	20.29%
Maternity leave	5	8	0.05%
Family care	6	1077	6.9%
FT studt, school	7	853	5.47%
LT sick, disabld	8	721	4.62%
Gvt trng scheme	9	17	0.11%
Other	10	119	0.76%
	Total	15603	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	13	0.08%
inapplicable	-8	8600	55.05%
proxy	-7	435	2.78%
Unemployed	3	521	3.33%
Retired	4	3226	20.65%
Maternity leave	5	5	0.03%
Family care	6	1109	7.1%
FT studt, school	7	879	5.63%
LT sick, disabld	8	720	4.61%
Gvt trng scheme	9	17	0.11%
Other	10	98	0.63%
	Total	15623	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	11	0.1%
inapplicable	-8	6178	56.65%
proxy	-7	358	3.28%
Unemployed	3	320	2.93%
Retired	4	2087	19.14%
Maternity leave	5	2	0.02%
Family care	6	886	8.12%
FT studt, school	7	586	5.37%
LT sick, disabld	8	450	4.13%
Gvt trng scheme	9	10	0.09%
Other	10	18	0.17%
	Total	10906	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	9	0.08%
inapplicable	-8	6221	55.58%
proxy	-7	365	3.26%
Unemployed	3	368	3.29%
Retired	4	2078	18.57%
Family care	6	942	8.42%
FT studt, school	7	682	6.09%
LT sick, disabld	8	487	4.35%
Gvt trng scheme	9	13	0.12%
Other	10	28	0.25%
	Total	11193	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	17	0.18%
inapplicable	-8	5378	56.98%
proxy	-7	301	3.19%
Unemployed	3	349	3.7%
Retired	4	1596	16.91%
Maternity leave	5	2	0.02%
Family care	6	795	8.42%
FT studt, school	7	659	6.98%
LT sick, disabld	8	318	3.37%
Gvt trng scheme	9	11	0.12%
Other	10	12	0.13%
	Total	9438	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	13	0.14%
inapplicable	-8	5140	55.57%
proxy	-7	422	4.56%
Unemployed	3	342	3.7%
Retired	4	1581	17.09%
Maternity leave	5	1	0.01%
Family care	6	797	8.62%
FT studt, school	7	610	6.6%
LT sick, disabld	8	322	3.48%
Gvt trng scheme	9	7	0.08%
Other	10	14	0.15%
	Total	9249	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	12	0.13%
inapplicable	-8	5205	54.9%
proxy	-7	421	4.44%
Unemployed	3	459	4.84%
Retired	4	1582	16.69%
Maternity leave	5	1	0.01%
Family care	6	852	8.99%
FT studt, school	7	597	6.3%
LT sick, disabld	8	317	3.34%
Gvt trng scheme	9	19	0.2%
Other	10	16	0.17%
	Total	9481	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	8	0.08%
inapplicable	-8	5166	53.81%
proxy	-7	576	6.0%
Unemployed	3	495	5.16%
Retired	4	1535	15.99%
Maternity leave	5	1	0.01%
Family care	6	899	9.36%
FT studt, school	7	577	6.01%
LT sick, disabld	8	303	3.16%
Gvt trng scheme	9	20	0.21%
Other	10	20	0.21%
	Total	9600	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
missing	-9	10	0.1%
inapplicable	-8	5389	54.74%
proxy	-7	386	3.92%
Unemployed	3	536	5.44%
Retired	4	1567	15.92%
Maternity leave	5	3	0.03%
Family care	6	1069	10.86%
FT studt, school	7	548	5.57%
LT sick, disabld	8	298	3.03%
Gvt trng scheme	9	26	0.26%
Other	10	13	0.13%
	Total	9845	100.0%

Code creator
0

Create your own Stata code to extract data from the main end user licence Understanding Society dataset. Find out more

Saved variables

What else is Understanding Society doing?

A family celebrating

Understanding Society Wave 15

The latest wave of UKHLS is now available from the UK Data Service

Ariel view of a UK town

Understanding Society Wave 15 – what can data users expect?

The latest wave of data is out, so what’s included and what’s changed in this release?

Sushi Rolls not Gender Roles by Jeanne Menjoulet

Understanding Society used for Gender Equality Index

New tool measures men’s and women’s socioeconomic outcomes across UK

Photo of talk at an Understanding Society conference

Understanding Society Biosocial Conference 2026: combining biological and social data

A call for abstracts is now open - present your research at our Biosocial Conference

Email newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter

ESRC Institute for Social and Economic Research University of Essex

The Economic and Social Research Council is the primary funder of the study
The Study is led by a team at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex.