The New Earnings Survey is almost certainly the most detailed and comprehensive earnings series anywhere in the world. It is a one in a hundred sample survey of employees in Britain, giving information on aspects of earnings and employment based on a week in April each year. The NES enquiry is conducted by the Department of Employment under the provisions of the Statistics of Trade Act (1947). Under the terms of this Act, data so obtained and relating solely to any individual may not be released into the public domain. All the data described here are in a form that ensures that there is no disclosure of individual information. They have been processed into a <i>minimally aggregated</i> form approved by the Department of Employment: any data record released relates to an aggregate of not less than three individuals.