21 March 2012

Short description

The 'LFS main indicators' section presents the main aspects of the labour market. As a result of the application of adjustments, corrections and reconciliation of EU Labour Force Survey (described below), it represents the most complete and reliable collection of employment and unemployment data available in the Employment-Unemployment sub-domain.

In particular, it consists of the following series:

• Population, activity and inactivity indicators -LFS adjusted series (including also the structural indicators Average exit age and Population in jobless households)
• Employment - LFS adjusted series, including employment main characteristics and rates (LFS household resident concept) and employment growth and activity branches (ESA domestic concept)
• Unemployment - LFS adjusted series (including also Harmonised long-term unemployment)
• Education and Training - LFS adjusted series (including the structural indicators Lifelong Learning, Education Attainment Level and Early School Leavers).

The quarterly and annual series are based on the quarterly results of the EU Labour Force Survey, which are, where necessary, adjusted and enriched in various ways, in accordance with the specificities of an indicator. In order to ensure the consistency of the productivity indicators, the primary source of information for employment growth and activity branches is National Accounts data (domestic concept), while the LFS data (national concept) are used for the gender and social breakdowns. For all others indicators, the most common adjustments cover:

- correction of the main breaks in the LFS series,

- estimation of the missing values,

(i.e. in case of missing quarters, annual results and EU aggregates are estimated using adjusted quarterly national labour force survey data or interpolations of the EU Labour Force Survey data with reference to the available quarter(s)),

- reconciliations of the LFS data with other sources, mainly National Accounts (for Employment growth and activity branches) and national statistics on monthly unemployment (for Harmonised unemployment series).

The definitions of indicators conform to the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

All sectors covered

The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) provides population estimates for the main labour market characteristics, such as employment, unemployment, inactivity, hours of work, occupation, economic activity and much else, as well as important socio-demographic characteristics, such as sex, age, education, household characteristics and regions of residence.

The LFS adjusted series are based on the quarterly results of the EU Labour Force Survey. They are the result of correction for main breaks in series and estimation of missing values. Therefore, there are significant differences between LFS adjusted series and LFS series for the past years. However, for the most recent years these two series converge. This is the result of the implementation of a continuous quarterly survey and the improved quality of the data.

Please note that the employment figures based on the Labour Force Survey (resident household concept) differs from the employment figures based on the National Accounts (domestic concept). For more details, please see tsieb050_sm1 (Employment growth and activity branches) under Links at the bottom of the page.

• Employed persons are all persons who worked at least one hour for pay or profit during the reference week or were temporarily absent from such work.
• Unemployed persons are all persons who were not employed during the reference week and had actively sought work during the past four weeks and were ready to begin working immediately or within two weeks.
• The active population (labour force) is defined as the sum of employed and unemployed persons.
• The inactive population consists of all persons who are classified neither as employed nor as unemployed.

For more details, please consult the EU LFS webpage: Concepts and Definitions and Comparability of results or refer to contact details

The statistical units are individuals living in private households

The EU LFS results cover the total population usually residing in Member States, except for persons living in collective or institutional households. While demographic data are gathered for all age groups, questions relating to labour market status are restricted to persons in the age group of 15 years or older. For exceptions, please consult EU LFS webpage: Comparability of results. In the EFTA countries participating in LFS, i.e. Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, population data are not provided for the age-groups outside the scope of labour market questions. The EU LFS covers all industries and occupations.

European Union, Euro area, EU-Member States, Candidate Countries, EFTA Countries (except for Liechtenstein), USA and Japan. Data for Cyprus refer only to the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. Data for France do not include the overseas departments (DOM).

The EU LFS covers all the territories of the Member States of the European Union, the EFTA countries (excluding Lichtenstein), as well as Candidate Countries. In case of Cyprus, however, the data only refer to the territory under the control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. Data for France do not include the overseas departments (DOM). A specific survey is conducted for these territories; however, the results are used in regional statistics only. Employment rate figures for USA and Japan are also disseminated.

The time coverage varies with indicator and country. Data for all Member States are mostly available from 1998 onwards. Data relating to the former EU-15 are available from 1992 onwards. Results for Candidate Countries date back to 2002 and for EFTA countries to 1995.

Not applicable

Depending on the indicator, thousands of persons or rates.

The EU LFS measures the labour status and other characteristics during a reference week in each quarter of the reference quarter. The reference week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. From 2004, in all countries providing quarterly data, the quarterly sample is spread uniformly over all weeks of the quarter.

The reference quarter is the calendar quarter except for Ireland and the United Kingdom (until 2006), which use the seasonal quarter (Dec-Feb, Mar-May, Jun-Aug, Sep-Nov).

Annual results are calculated averaging quarterly data.

The European Union Labour Force Survey implementation is governed by legislative acts of the Council and Parliament, as well as of the Commission. The principal legislation is the Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 of 9 March 1998 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community (OJ No L 77/3). This is the main regulation with provisions on design, survey characteristics and decision making processes. See also the list of LFS Regulations.

Not applicable

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Same as above

EU-LFS main indicators data are released according to a quarterly release calendar. Annual results are released at the same time as the fourth quarter.

There is a different, separate release calendar for monthly unemployment data.

For monthly unemployment data - the precise release date is disseminated on Eurostat's website.

For other data, the precise release date is disseminated in the EU LFS dedicated section found in the Eurostat's website.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Dissemination format') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Monthly (only for unemployment), quarterly, annual

News releases on-line.

Free publications and "Statistics in Focus" on line.

Please consult free data on-line or refer to contact details.

Not applicable

For the methodological summary of the EU LFS, see "Links" below.

For a detailed description of methods and concepts used, as well as for other documents related to the EU LFS, consult the webpage: The EU Labour Force Survey.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 21.2)

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 21.2)

The main indicators stemming from the EU-LFS are used for monitoring and measurement of core employment policy objectives of the Community, as defined by the Lisbon European Council in 2000 and the Stockholm European Council in 2001, such as the raise of the employment rate from an average of 61% in the year 2000 to as close as possible to 70% by 2010 and the increase of the number of women in employment from an average of 51% to more than 60% by 2010 (Lisbon target), the intermediate targets for employment rates across the Union as a whole for January 2005 of 67% overall and 57% for women and accordingly the invitation to the Member States to consider setting in their National Employment Plans intermediate employment targets taking due account of their particular national and regional circumstances (Stockholm). The employment rate for persons aged 55 to 64 years is to be raised as well. The target set is to achieve a rate of 50% by 2010. These targets were complemented by the Employment Guidelines 2003/2004 and the 2005/2008 Integrated Guidelines as well as by later Council conclusions, that state that Member States shall aim to achieve full employment by implementing a comprehensive policy approach incorporating demand and supply side measures and thus raise employment rates towards the Lisbon and Stockholm targets.

Some of the LFS main indicators are also Structural Indicators and/or Employment Guidelines Indicators.

Eurostat does not carry out any satisfaction survey targeted at users of labour markets statistics. The relevance of the LFS statistics for the users can thus only be assessed by indirect means. All new requests for labour market statistics are subject to scrutiny by the national experts and representatives of the NSIs and in particular for major topics of interest, for social research the instrument of ad hoc modules is used. The main institutional users other than the Commission are also known to the unit for Labour Market Statistics. Many of them are frequently consulted on various aspects of development and dissemination of labour force statistics.

Even if otherwise adhering to the EU regulations on the EU-LFS, countries do not always provide data for all the variables. This can be for various reasons, such as assessment that the variable in question is irrelevant to the labour market situation in the country or (temporary) inability to implement the variable in the national questionnaire.

In 2006 among the EU-25, 14 countries implemented the full set of compulsory variables, 6 countries did not implement 1-4 compulsory variables, 3 countries did not implement 5-9 compulsory variables, and 2 countries did not provide data for 10-19 compulsory variables.

The overall accuracy is considered as high. Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 21.2)

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 21.2)

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 21.2)

Monthly data on seasonally adjusted unemployment rates are published approximately 34 days after the end of the month. The quarterly series are updated at approximately 120 days after the end of reference quarter. Annual averages are published along with quarter 4 data.

Not available

Comparability across countries is considered as high. Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 21.2)

Comparability over time is considered as high. Adjustments to EU-LFS data described above in section 3.1 ensure correct comparability of the time series, even when improvements in the EU-LFS have compromised EU-LFS results.

Integration of EU-LFS results with other data sources improve coherence across domains. In particular, special estimation methods for indicator 'employment growth' ensure coherence with national accounts. Please refer to the corresponding ESMS page (see link below in section 21.2)

The ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' provides general explanations of coherence between EU-LFS, population statistics, national accounts employment and business surveys employment (see link below in section 21.2.

'LFS main indicators' estimates have full internal coherence, as they are all based on the same corpus of microdata and they calculated using the same estimation methods. Arithmetic and accounting identities in the production of LFS datasets are observed.

Annual results are calculated as average of quarterly results, and they are hence fully consistent. Monthly unemployment estimates are also forced by construction to be coherent with quarterly results.

Not available.

Revisions of previously released data based on EU-LFS are not expected, unless major errors are identified in the data delivered or in their processing. Exceptional revisions may happen e.g. after new estimates of population from a population census.

Exceptionally, the indicator employment growth is subject to the revisions inherent to national accounts.

For a detailed reporting template of introduced/received EU-LFS data revisions for data disseminated by Eurostat from 2005 onwards, consult the LFS data revisions page.

The quarterly EU Labour Force Survey is the main source of the data. In case of missing quarterly data, annual results and EU aggregates are estimated by using adjusted quarterly national labour force survey data or interpolations of the EU Labour Force Survey data with reference to the available quarter(s).  

The data for US and Japan are produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Government of Japan, respectively. Eurostat obtains those data via OECD and disseminates them without any processing.

The Labour Force Survey is a rotating random sample survey of persons in private households. It is organised in thirteen modules, covering their demographic background, labour status, employment characteristics of the main job, hours worked, employment characteristics of the second job, time-related underemployment, search for employment, education and training, previous work experience of persons not in employment, situation one year before the survey, main labour status, income, and technical items relating to the interview. For details see Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 of 9 March 1998 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community (OJ No L 77/3).

Quarterly

Data are acquired by interviewing the sampled individuals directly. For the sample design and rotation patterns applied in each country, please consult the EU LFS webpage (section development and organisation).

Prior to the dissemination of national data, LFS results are validated by the Member States.

EU and Euro area aggregates are calculated on the basis of quarterly population totals. For the data expressed in absolute values for each quarter (i.e. number of persons) no weighting is used; aggregate figures are calculated by adding up all the national data series.

Rates/Ratios are subsequently calculated from the data expressed in absolute values (i.e. number of persons).

Number of persons and rates

Since early 2000's, the survey has quarterly periodicity, previously it was an annual survey run in spring. Since the survey became quarterly, it includes both quarterly variables and annual variables (i.e. collected only once a year).

Annual results are derived from the populations obtained at the annual level. Annual averages of the quarterly data are produced as simple averages of the quarterly populations.

For the period when the survey was run annually in spring, annual averages are calculated as follows: first, the annual results are disaggregated into quarterly results, by interpolation of the spring data; then the annual averages are calculated from those quarterly estimates.

Interpolations for quarterly missing country data are not published, while only used for the compilation of annual averages and European aggregates.

Adjustments are performed for past data only. The LFS detailed survey results and the LFS adjusted series converge from:

- 1996 for Spain,
- 1998 for Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Slovakia
- 1999 for Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia and Romania
- 2000 for Estonia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Bulgaria

- 2001 for Finland and Sweden
- 2002 for Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Austria, Croatia
- 2003 for France, Luxembourg, Iceland
- 2004 for Cyprus
- 2005 for Germany.

For more information on the transition to a quarterly continuous survey, see EU LFS webpage: Comparability of results.

The LFS, like all surveys, is based upon a sample of the population. The results are therefore subject to the usual types of errors associated with random sampling. Based on the sample size and design in the various Member States, Eurostat implements basic guidelines intended to avoid publication of figures that are too small to be reliable or to give warning of the unreliability of the figures. See quarterly data for the LFS publishing guidelines applicable to these results.