In order to improve the relevance of the ethnicity classification to the changing nature of the ethnic composition of the population, the new classification has introduced a separate category for people from mixed ethnic backgrounds. In the previous system, people with these backgrounds had to select a specific ethnic group or categorise themselves as ‘other’. Analysis conducted on the Labour Force Survey (see Appendix E) showed that it is not possible to map from the old to the new classification.

In terms of analysis by ethnic group, the GHS sample has always been too small to analyse single year data. Previously the data have been added across three years to produce large enough sample sizes, but with the change in classification it is no longer possible to do this. The Labour Force Survey, with its considerably larger sample size, has, for some time, been the recommended source for minority ethnic group data, much of which is published in Social Trends each year. For these reasons, the 2001 report of the GHS does not present analyses by ethnic group. In 2002, when two years of data are available using the new classification, ethnic analyses will be re-considered.