Linked Employer-Employee Dataset (LEED) and Longitudinal LEED (L-LEED)

Both the LEED and L-LEED bring together employer information and employee information into linked datasets, made possible through data integration.

LEED is created annually and covers consecutive financial years starting from 2011-12. This data is used by the Labour Accounts and Multisource Statistics section to produce publications.

L-LEED is a microdata product and is created from the same data pipeline as the LEED. It is updated annually in late November each year and covers consecutive financial years starting from 2015-16.
 

The linked dataset is comprised of a person file, a job file, and an employer file. Employed persons are linked to employers via jobs. A person can have a number of jobs throughout the year with one or many employers, some of which may be held concurrently. 

The information available across the three lenses of jobs, persons and employers includes:

• Jobs - provides information on the jobs held each year in Australia, such as when they were worked, how much they paid and multiple job-holder information (how many people are working more than one job at a time and what type of jobs they are working).
• Persons - provides information on all persons in Australia receiving any income, both income from employment and other sources, and includes characteristics such as age, sex, geography, occupation, and industry.
• Employers - provides information on all businesses in Australia with a tax role, at the Economic Units Model level, and includes characteristics such as industry, headcount of employees, turnover, wages and location.

Further information about the LEED product and methodology can be found in Jobs in Australia methodology and Personal Income in Australia methodology.

Researchers have already used data from LEED to study micro-labour markets, examine how specific major changes impact employees and employers, and understand structural changes in the labour market. Some examples of important insights made possible by LEED can be found in the Jobs in Australia and Personal Income in Australia releases. Information from LEED is also used in the compilation of the Australian Labour Accounts.

The longitudinal nature of the L-LEED enables analysis of a person’s employment and income patterns over time, the jobs they have held and businesses that employed them. It can provide insights into topics such as job creation and destruction as industries change over time and assists in exploring the drivers of firm-level performance, such as occupation composition and key demographics of employees. Outcomes of analysis can be used to better target funding and policy implementation or evaluation. Linkage to other microdata modules (pending approvals) from the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA) or the Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment (BLADE) can further enrich analysis.

To find out more about how L-LEED, and data integration in general, can be used to advance research and benefit the public, visit the Use and benefits page.

Information from the annual LEED is published in Jobs in Australia and Personal Income in Australia, and customisable microdata is available through the Microdata: Jobs and Income of Employed Persons TableBuilder release. Customised data requests may also be made through the ABS Consultancy Service. 

The L-LEED is now available as a unit record level microdata product in DataLab for approved projects and researchers. Accessing integrated data provides an outline of how to apply for and access microdata from L-LEED.

LEED and L-LEED are governed by existing ABS Privacy and Security protections, expanded in the Keeping integrated data safe page. 

The LEED and L-LEED include tax data supplied by the Australian Tax Office to the ABS under the Taxation Administration Act 1953, which requires that such data is only used for the purpose of administering the Census and Statistics Act 1905. The LEED and L-LEED also include Australian Business Register data supplied by the Registrar to the ABS under A new Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999, which requires that such data is only used for the purpose of carrying out functions of the ABS.