27 September 2011

The domain Employment and Unemployment is mainly but not only based on the results of the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). Few indicators use other data sources like national accounts employment or registered unemployment.

The structure of this domain is as follows:

- 'LFS main indicators' consists of a selection of the most important monthly, quarterly and annual  labour market indicators, most of them based on EU-LFS.

- 'LFS series - detailed quarterly survey results' and 'LFS series - detailed annual survey results' is a more comprehensive selection of data from the EU-LFS.

- 'LFS series - specific topics' report annual regional data (NUTS III) and annual data on households (both households demographics and labour market results by household type).

- 'LFS series - adhoc modules' report annual results for some EU-LFS adhoc modules. Other adhoc module results are published in other domains where they better fit (e.g. in education statistics or health statistics).

The rest of this document provides general information on the EU-LFS or explanations applicable to all the sections named above. More specific information for some of those domains can be found in the respective ESMS pages (please see links in setion 21.2 below).

The EU-LFS is a quarterly household sample survey carried out in the Member States of the European Union, Candidate Countries and EFTA countries (except for Liechtenstein). It is the main source of information about the situation and trends on the labour market in the European Union. The EU-LFS is organised in 12 modules covering demographic background, labour status, employment characteristics of the main job, atypical work, working time, employment characteristics of the second job, previous work experience of persons not in employment, search for employment, main labour status, education and training, situation one year before the survey and income.

The survey's target population consists of all persons in private households, although the variables related to labour market are only collected for persons aged 15 years or older.

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).

Since 1999 an inherent part of the European Union EU-LFS are the so called 'ad-hoc modules'.

Detailed information regarding the survey methods, organization and comparability issues is available on the EU-LFS webpage.

The EU-LFS results are produced in accordance with the relevant international classification systems. The main classifications used are NACE Rev.1 (NACE Rev.1.1 from 2005) and NACE Rev. 2 (from 2008) for economic activity, ISCO 08 (from 2011) and ISCO 88 (COM) (until 2010) for occupation and ISCED 1997 for the level of education. For more details on classifications, levels of aggregation and transition rules, please view the EU-LFS webpage: Statistical classifications in EU-LFS.

As a general rule the EU-LFS covers all economic sectors.

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 other labour related variables, as well as important socio-demographic characteristics, such as sex, age, education, household characteristics and regions of residence.

The definitions of employment and unemployment, as well as other survey characteristics follow the definitions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation. The definition of unemployment is further specified in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1897/2000.

For more details, please consult the EU-LFS webpage: Concepts and Definitions.

Persons and 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).

Data for all Member States are mostly available from 1999 or 2000 onwards. Data relating to the former EU-15 are available from 1995 onwards. Data relating to the former EU-12 are available from 1987 onwards. Results for Candidate Countries date back to 2002 and for EFTA countries to 1995. Data for earlier years (since 1983) are only available in electronic format. Household data with tabulation by household composition, number of children, age of the youngest child and household working status are available from 2005.

Not applicable

Most results measure number of persons (thousands). Some indicators are reported as rates (employment, unemployment rates) or growth rates. Some variables are reported in other units (ages in years, working time in hours, etc.).

The EU-LFS measures the variables during a reference week in each the reference quarter. The reference week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. By convention, the first week of the year is the week including the first Thursday, and the 1^st reference quarter consists of 13 consecutive weeks starting from that week. Therefore reference quarter corresponds to the calendar quarter. Exceptions are Ireland and the United Kingdom, which used until 2006 the seasonal quarter (Dec-Feb, Mar-May, Jun-Aug, Sep-Nov). Built in this way, the quarterly sample is spread uniformly over all weeks of the quarter.

Annual data encompass the four reference quarters in the year.

Before early 2000s the EU-LFS was conducted annually in spring, rather than quarterly. Spring was considered a period representative of the labour situation in the whole year. The changeover from an annual survey to a continuous, quarterly survey took place between 1998 and 2004, depending on the Member State. For more information on the transition to a quarterly continuous survey, see the 

EU-LFS webpage: Comparability of results.

The EU-LFS 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.

EU-LFS microdata as received by Eurostat from the national statistical institutes does not contain any administrative information such as names or addresses that would allow direct identification. Access to this microdata is nevertheless strictly controlled and limited to specified Eurostat staff. After data treatment, records are aggregated for all further use.

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.

Data in 'EU-LFS series, detailed survey results' are not bound by an advance release calendar.

The release dates of monthly unemployment data are disseminated on Eurostat's website.

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

Other data in 'LFS series, detailed survey results' are not bound by a release calendar.

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.

The frequency of the data are monthly (only for unemployment), quarterly, annual. The frequency of the dissemination is explained above under 8.3.

News releases on-line (only for unemployment)

Free publications and "Data in Focus" on line.

Please consult free data on-line or refer to ESTAT-LFS-USER-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu

EU-LFS anonymised microdata are available for research purposes. Please refer to access to microdata

See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Labour Force Survey in the EU, Candidate and EFTA countries - Main characteristics of the 2006 national surveys

EU Labour Force Survey database. User guide and the Annex: explanatory notes.

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

Labour Force Survey Quality Report 2006

Labour Force Survey Quality Report 2005

For more information on quality documentation please consult the EU-LFS webpage: EU-LFS PUBLICATIONS and OTHER DOCUMENTS.

The concern for the quality of the EU-LFS is expressed in Regulations and reflected in harmonised definitions and discussed in Working groups (such as the Labour Markey Statistics Working Group and its predecessor the Employment Statistics Working Group), workshops and seminars within the European Statistical System (ESS).

Major milestones in the improvement of EU-LFS quality have been the adoption of Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a continuous, quarterly sample survey in the Community; the adoption of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1897/2000 concerning the operational definition of unemployment and the 12 principles for formulating questions on labour status; the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1991/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council making the continuous survey mandatory from 2003 onwards (except Italy from 2004 and Germany from 2005) and the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 2257/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council extending the survey characteristics and introducing the distinction between structural and quarterly variables.

Eurostat and the Member States continuously work also to improve the quality of the survey on a voluntary basis beyond legal obligations. Annual quality reports were introduced in 2002 and quarterly accuracy reports were introduced in 2004. Standards and rules for preparing ad hoc modules were adopted in 2004. At the initiative of Member States, a programme of annual LFS workshops was started in 2005. A thorough revision of the explanatory notes has been carried out from 2005 to 2007 and a monitoring of the implementation of these explanatory notes is ongoing.

A Task Force on the Quality of the EU-LFS is reviewing the quality of the survey along the dimensions of the Eurostat's quality framework. It will issue recommendations that will pave the way for future improvement regarding the relevance of the ILO concept of employment and unemployment, sampling design and sampling errors, weighting schemes, non-response, interviewers and fieldwork organization, survey modes, information for users, coherence, cross-country comparability and change management. Issues related to quality assessment and, more in general, quality assurance for the LFS were discussed at a Eurostat's Workshop on LFS quality assurance, held in Athens in October 2008. Participants discussed the need to review and reorganise the framework for the quality assessment of the EU-LFS and issues concerning the harmonization of the main quality indicators of the EU-LFS and shared national practices in the field of quality assurance.

EU-LFS statistics have overall high quality. National LFS surveys are considered as reliable sources applying high standards with regard to the methodology. However, the EU-LFS, like any survey, 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 unreliable or to give warning of the unreliability of the figures.

For a detailed description of the methods and concepts used, as well as for other documents related to the EU-LFS, consult the EU-LFS webpage.

EU-LFS results are used by the DG Employment and a number of other Directorates of the Commission mainly for measurement and monitoring of policy agenda purposes. The European Central Bank (ECB) uses short term LFS statistics related to Euro area. Key users include NSI's, international organizations, news agencies and researchers which use various aspects of EU-LSF data for international or intra EU comparisons. Finally, LFS data are used by Eurostat for compiling detailed regional indicators, for estimates on current education and education levels, higher education and research, and for accurate estimates of labour input of national accounts.

The main indicators stemming from the EU-LFS are used for monitoring and measurement of core employment policy objectives of the Community. Please refer to the ESMS page on 'LFS- main indicators' (see link below in section 21.2).

Eurostat does not carry out 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. The LFS covers persons living in private households to ensure a comparable coverage for all countries. The sampling designs in the LFS are chosen on a country by country basis (sampling rates per quarter vary between less than 1.5% and 3.5%, but the average for EU-LFS is 0.44% in 2007). Most of the National Statistical Institutes employ multi-staged stratified random sample design, especially those that do not have central population registers available.

Regardless of the sampling method or which age groups are interviewed, the data records at Eurostat are representative for the population aged 15- 74 (16-74 in Iceland, Norway, UK and Spain).

As the results are based on a sample of population they are subject to the usual types of errors associated with sampling techniques and interviews. Sampling errors, non-sampling errors, measurement errors, processing errors and non-response are calculated for each country and documented in the Quality Report of the European Union Labour Force Survey. Subject to Eurostat's quality screening, figures on employment fulfill the Eurostat requirements concerning reliability.

The Participating Countries provide Eurostat with an estimate of the relative standard error of five main characteristics (number of employed, number of part-time employed, number of unemployed, rate of unemployment, average number of hours actually worked). These relative standard errors can also be expressed as confidence limits, i.e. the range of values that 95% of times would capture the true value in the population. It is also relatively straightforward to provide similar statistics on the aggregate level.

• For the EU-27, the confidence limits at 95% level of significance for the 2nd quarter 2006, are estimated at 213,845 ±476 for the number of employed (× 1000), at 38,566 ±288 for the number of part-time employed (× 1000), at 18,935 ±226  for the number of unemployed (× 1000), at 8.1 ±0.1 for the rate of unemployment (%), and at 37.4 ±(0.1) for the average number of hours actually worked (hrs).
• For the EU-25, the confidence limits at 95% level of significance for the 2nd quarter 2006, are estimated at 201,257 ±(436) for the number of employed (× 1000), at 37,586 ±(270) for the number of part-time employed (× 1000), at 17,912 ±(219) for the number of unemployed (× 1000), at 8.2 ±(0.1) for the rate of unemployment (%), and at 37.2 ±(0.1) for the average number of hours actually worked (hrs).
• For the EU-15, the confidence limits at 95% level of significance for the 2nd quarter 2006, are estimated at 171,041 ±(399) for the number of employed (× 1000), at 35,280 ±(256) for the number of part-time employed (× 1000), at 14,212 ±(190) for the number of unemployed (× 1000), at 7.7 ±(0.1)  for the rate of unemployment (%), and at 36.5 (±0.1) for the average number of hours actually worked (hrs).
• For the EU-12, the confidence limits at 95% level of significance for the 2nd quarter 2006, are estimated at 135,570 ±375 for the number of employed (× 1000), at 26,342 ±230 for the number of part-time employed (× 1000), at 12,133 ±180 for the number of unemployed (× 1000), at 8.2 ±0.1  for the rate of unemployment (%), and at 36.9 (±0.1) for the average number of hours actually worked (hrs).

The estimates and confidence limits for the 2nd quarter 2007 are calculated for each country and documented in the Quality Report of the European Union Labour Force Survey.

a) Coverage errors

Nonexistent or unhabited houses or population no longer living in the country are main causes of overcoverge, especially for the countries who use the Census list. Under-coverage problems are caused by the time lag in registering new residents or newly constructed dwellings. Field work problems during the survey are also found on multiple households which are recorded as one household in the framing list or the opposite.

Coverage errors (undercoverage, overcoverage, misclassification) are documented for each country in the Quality Report of the European Union Labour Force Survey.

b) Measurement errors

No estimates of measurement errors are available. However, the number of proxy interviews, the average number of interviews per interviewer and statistics on the last updates of the questionnaire, are all related to the error sources listed above. In 2007, at the EU-25 level, the share of proxy interviews is estimated at 35.4%, and the number of interviews per interviewer and per quarter at 139.

c) Processing errors

Between data collection and the beginning of statistical analysis for the production of statistics, data must undergo a certain processing: coding, data entry, data editing, imputation, etc.

There are no estimates available on the rate of processing errors in the EU-LFS.

d) Non-response errors

Non-response rates are not fully comparable throughout EU. Most of the countries calculate non-response on the basis of the household unit, with the exception of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland which calculate non-response on person basis. The treatment of non-response in the follow up waves is also different between countries. Some Participating Countries do not take previous non-response into account when calculating the non-response in later waves, whereas others do. Thus the former countries may show lower non-response rates on the average than the latter. Non response rates vary for 2007 between 3.5 % in Cyprus and 68.0 % in Luxembourg.

A common Council regulation ((EC) No 577/98) establishes the timeliness of data transmissions from the National Statistical Institutes to the Member States to Eurostat. This timeliness is 12 weeks after the end of the reference period, and it determines the release of data to users. The timeliness of data release to users is explained above in section 8.3.

For 2007 throughout EU-27 countries data were published nationally within an average of 69 calendar days and transmitted to Eurostat within an average of 77 days. Eurostat's dissemination of the national data at the website took place within an average of 191 days from the end of the reference period 2007

Comparability across countries is considered as high. Comparability across countries is achieved in the EU-LFS through various regulations ensuring harmonisation of concepts, definitions and methodologies for all EU Member States, EFTA and candidate countries. However, perfect comparability among countries is difficult to achieve, even were it to be by means of a single direct survey, i.e. a survey carried out at the same time, using the same questionnaire and a single method of recording.

Comparability of the statistics between the Participating Countries is ensured for the main characteristics, employment and unemployment where particular definitions and sequence of questions are part of the EU legislation. The degree of comparability of the EU Labour Force Survey results is ensured by:

(a) the recording of the same set of characteristics in each country;

(b) a close correspondence between the EU list of questions and the national questionnaires;

(c) the use of the same definitions for all countries;

(d) the use of common classifications (e.g. NACE for economic activity);

(e) the data being centrally processed by Eurostat.

For other variables, each country has the responsibility to ensure that the national survey provides data that are compatible with the EU definitions and of the same quality. Therefore, in spite of the close coordination between the national statistical institutes and Eurostat, there inevitably remain some differences in the survey from country to country. This is especially the case for:

-Population coverage (restricted to age: 16-74 in IS; 15-74 in NO; CH, 15 and over in PL before 2006, before 1999 in EE, before 2002 in LT and before 2001 in BG; 15-74 in SE (1995)),

-Labour status coverage (restricted to age: 16 and over in ES and UK; 16-74 in IS and SE (1995 - 2000); 15-74 in DK, EE, LV, HU, FI, NO and SE (from 2001 onwards). In 1999, the division between unemployment and inactivity was not possible for Cyprus),

-Main economic activity definition (e.g. BG: number of persons whose main activity is in the agriculture sector lacks reliability. Due to the very high proportion of persons having agricultural activity in addition to another main occupation the LFS does not provide a precise estimate of total employment in this sector)

-Participation in education and training (see the notes for the indicator 'Life-long learning'),

-Highest educational attainment level (see the notes for the indicator 'Youth education attainment level'),

The EU-LFS statistics are overall comparable to those from other developed countries, especially those of the other members of the OECD, because most of the variables are defined in accordance with resolutions of the ILO and other international organisations.

Although improvements in time have brought some time series break the comparability of the main indicators is high.

The first attempt to carry out a labour force survey covering the then European Community dates back to 1960 with the six original Member States (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). This was regarded largely as an experiment and was not repeated until 1968, when the first of a series of annual surveys took place. This ran for four years but in none of these were all six Member States covered, since Luxembourg did not provide data in 1968 nor the Netherlands between 1969 and 1971. With the enlargement of the European Community in 1973, a series of biennial surveys was initiated. The United Kingdom was the only one of the three new Member States to join the original six in the 1973 survey, but Ireland and Denmark also took part in 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1981. In this last year Greece took part as a new Member State for the first time but Luxembourg was not covered.

In 1982 the Thirteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, convened at Geneva by the International Labour Organisation, passed a Resolution concerning statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment, containing exact definitions of the various categories of the population which labour force surveys were designed to measure. The Member States of the then European Community agreed to apply these recommendations in a new series of Community Labour Force Surveys which would be conducted annually. During the course of this series, from 1983 to 1991, a substantial and coherent collection of labour market data was built up. This comprised microdata (individual observations) from ten Member States from 1983 onwards (with the exception of the Netherlands in 1984 and 1986), and from Spain and Portugal from 1987.

Since 1995 the survey covered fifteen Member States. Austria, Sweden and Finland all had in place well established LFS before their entry into the European Union (embedded in the national Mikrozensus in the case of Austria), but in each of these three cases some adjustments were necessary in order to maintain the level of comparability which had already been achieved between the other Member States. Norway and Iceland have also supplied data since 1995 and Switzerland since 1996.

From 1983 to 1997, the EU-LFS was conducted only in spring (quarter 1 or 2 depending on the country). The data for remaining quarters started to become progressively available from 1998 onwards. Since 1998, the transition to a continuous quarterly survey (where the reference weeks are spread uniformly throughout the year) has been gradually conducted by Member States. Some countries first introduced a continuous annual survey (meaning the reference weeks were uniformly distributed throughout the reference spring quarter) and then switched to a quarterly collection, whereas the others moved directly to a continuous quarterly survey.

In 2003, all countries conducted a quarterly continuous survey except Italy, Cyprus and Austria (starting in 2004) and Germany (starting in 2005). Croatia started with a quarterly continuous survey in 2007 and Switzerland plans to start with a quarterly survey in 2010 (Switzerland is the only country producing annual results (Spring))

No change was introduced in 2005 to the concepts or measurements in the EU-LFS. Three countries, however, made major changes to their survey in 2005. Germany implemented the quarterly continuous survey in 2005 along with changes to the questionnaire; Sweden introduced considerable changes in April 2005 concerning the questionnaire, the sample selection and the weighting scheme, while Spain introduced a new questionnaire in full compliance with the EU regulations. From 2006 onwards, Commission Regulation (EC) No 430/2005 of 15 March 2005 regulates the codification to be used for data transmission and the use of a sub-sample for the collection of data on structural variables (OJ No L 71/36). As for the Participating Countries, main changes referred either to the mode of data collection or to adaptations of the questionnaire. Belgium and Latvia changed to computer assisted questionnaires thus speeding up the data production. Poland and Norway adapted their questions on employment and unemployment according to EU-requirements.

Since 1983, improved comparability between results of successive surveys has been achieved, mainly due to the greater stability of content and the higher frequency of surveys. However, the following factors may somewhat detract from perfect comparability:

(a) the population figures used for the population adjustment are revised at intervals on the basis of new population censuses (however, it is common practice to disseminate basic recalculated series);

(b) the reference period may not remain the same for a given country due to the transition to a quarterly continuous survey;

(c) in order to improve the quality of results, some countries may change the content or order of their questionnaire;

(d) countries may modify their survey designs;

(e) the manner in which certain questions are answered may be influenced by the political or social circumstances at the time of interview.

a) Coherence with population statistics

The LFS uses population statistics to gross up sample results, LFS also publishes those data. The most timely population estimates are often available from the EU-LFS statistics. Most of the Participating Countries carried out a Population Census in the 2001 Round, and they often resulted in new LFS weights, new sample frames or new sample designs. By 2004 all of the Participating Countries had revised the LFS weights to reflect new population estimates. Revising previously released LFS data series have, however, not always been implemented.

In addition, population statistics and EU-LFS demographic statistics are not fully comparable, some conceptual differences must be considered:

- The EU-LFS statistics cover only the population in private households, while

population statistics cover the whole population.

- Sometimes the rules for defining the usual resident population differ in the LFS from the rule in population statistics.

- Population statistics refer to particular dates, such as the population at 1 January or mid-year. The EU-LFS statistics refer generally to average population in a quarter or year.

A -1.2 % relative difference is observed between 2007 EU-LFS and Population statistics (EU-27 population aged between 15-64 is estimated 333,085 on 1 January 2006 in the population statistics and 329,164 annual average in the EU-LFS).

b) Coherence with employment estimates in National Accounts

LFS and National Accounts are the two main sources of employment data. These sources are not independent; indeed LFS is frequently an input to National Accounts employment estimates. Although the ILO concepts reflect the National Accounts concepts both have their own aims and measurement approaches, which may lead to different results. In addition, other statistics based on business surveys also provide estimates of employment which may differ.

The LFS is a sample survey of individuals and households. However, for this reason, the identification of economic activity lacks the quality when employers rather than employees report (e.g. in business surveys or employment registers).

National Accounts is a conceptual framework (specified in the European System of Accounts - ESA95) comprising definitions, classifications, variables and presentational arrangements. National Accounts are compiled by comparing and combining all the relevant data sources available in the country. This is a key feature of National Accounts: it allows taking the best from each source, increasing coherence and obtaining a more comprehensive result. For the variable employment, this means more robust estimates and improved consistency with other key national accounts variables like salaries and output. The National Accounts integration is however done at macro level, meaning that the results are produced for the whole economy plus a few standard industry breakdowns. Certain breakdowns like gender and age, which are available for the LFS are not available from National Accounts. The macro-level adjustments and the absence of certain breakdowns do not make it possible to cross National Accounts employment with other variables in the way LFS allows.

The integration of data sources into the National Accounts is done differently in each country. In general, the LFS is the most important single source used for National Accounts employment. Other sources are business surveys, employment registers, social security registers, population census, etc. Some countries use LFS as the only source for National Accounts employment, many others complement the LFS with other sources and a few countries do not use LFS. Whenever LFS is used in National Accounts, some scope alignments are needed prior to any integration, the main ones being:

• Different geographical coverage. ESA95 acknowledges two employment concepts: resident persons employed (i.e. the so-called national employment concept) and employment in resident production units irrespective of the place of residence of the employee (i.e. domestic concept). The domestic concept is more frequently used as it allows putting employment in relation to GDP. On its side, LFS gives information on the national concept (i.e. resident workers). Adjustments for cross-border workers are needed to transform one concept into the other.

• Other coverage issues: LFS excludes persons below 16 years old from the definition of employment. On its side, National Accounts do not exclude individuals from employment because of age. LFS leaves out of scope the following: persons living in institutional households, staff of national embassies working abroad and crews of national fishing boats.

• Other small borderline differences (in some countries and circumstances): regarding recording of conscripts, unpaid apprentices and trainees, work in agriculture for own-consumption, etc.

Those scope alignments plus the integration of LFS with other sources (in countries where done) leads National Accounts employment to be different from LFS. All in all, National Accounts is judged more suitable to measure employment levels, employment growth and industry breakdowns. LFS is more adequate to measure participation in the labour market (i.e. employment rates, activity rates, flows between employment and unemployment, etc.), demographic or social breakdowns (e.g. by age, gender or educational level) and it is more suitable for socio-demographic studies.

Furthermore, key concepts used in National Accounts, such as domestic employment, have no correspondence in the EU-LFS, which uses instead number of persons employed based on residency within the national border (national employment). There are also differences in coverage, where the EU -LFS employment covers the age groups 15 and older in private households only, while the national accounts employment cover all persons regardless of age or residence. In addition, the EU -LFS doesn't consider conscripts and unpaid trainees as employed whereas these are explicitly or implicitly accounted for in the National Accounts. The reference period for the measurement could also contribute to some differences. The LFS represent one average week in the year with all the weeks of the year measured. When data are derived from administrative sources or establishment surveys the reference period is usually different, the month, the whole year or a single day within the year or month.

As expected, the employment estimates based on the LFS data usually lie somewhat below the estimates of employment as estimated by National Accounts. EU-27 employment for 2007 is estimated at 223 042 000 by National Accounts and at 219 129 000 based on the EU-LFS data. This is the case for most countries in 2007, Germany and Italy are responsible for the bulk of the absolute difference between the National Accounts estimates and the LFS, with Bulgaria showing the highest relative discrepancies (-12.4 %). On the contrary Slovenia shows the highest discrepancy above the National Accounts figures 2.3%.

When comparing LFS data and National Account statistics, users are also interested in whether or not the two approaches show the same trend, i.e. change from one period to another. A comparison between EU -LFS and national accounts (ESA95) data on employment growth until 2005 shows that that both sources are broadly comparable with relation to the direction of the employment growth. If the ESA95 data are not predominantly based on the LFS, the differences are mostly marked in the levels of the growth figures, and in 2004 and 2005 disparities have developed in otherwise comparable series. The reasons for the disparities, either in levels or in the direction of the employment growth are not fully known. Some indicative reasons can, however, be mentioned: i) national accounts may use sources different than LFS (or LFS combined with other sources) to estimate employment, ii) national accounts may introduce adjustments to reach consistency between the employment reported by its sources and other related variables, like salaries or production, iii) the national accounts approach, by comparing and combining different sources, is also more prone than LFS to identify underreporting or systematic biases. iv) In addition, it can be pointed out that LFS estimates are subject to sampling error, both with regard to levels and changes between periods. Thus, when there are relatively small changes between periods, these could easily be shown numerically differently in the different estimates, just because the changes are within the margin of error.

c) Coherence with employment estimates stemming from business surveys

Business surveys, like structural business statistics (SBS) or short-term business statistics (STS), are focused on production-related variables like output, turnover or value added, but they also produce some estimates of employment. These estimates may be and, in fact, frequently are different from LFS. There are two broad groups of reasons:

• Different scope and different units: business surveys gather information on production units operating in the territory whereas LFS gathers information on people living in the country. Cross-border workers, or seasonal workers, are correspondingly recorded in different countries. LFS does not cover people living in collective households. Business surveys typically do not gather information on certain economic activities, like agriculture or some services. Business surveys estimate number of jobs whereas LFS counts jobholders. Business surveys rarely have access to jobholders' features like age, gender, etc. for which LFS is the only source.

Different measurement strengths: business surveys are based on a business register that may not include small enterprises below a certain threshold. Update and comprehensive coverage in the register of small production units and self-employed persons might be an issue. As business surveys inquire employment simultaneously to other variables like turnover or profits, they are more exposed to underreporting of employment than household surveys. In addition, employment not included in the payroll or in the accounting books, like trainees or family aids, could be left out. On their side, household surveys like LFS do not suffer from those downsides. LFS is more adequate to measure the total employment levels. However the identification of economic activity (industry) is generally more accurate from business surveys than from household surveys, because the information is directly obtained from the production units. As comparisons between business surveys and LFS can only be done at industry level (because some activities are out of business surveys scope, as explained above), weaknesses in both sides undermine comparisons.

EU-LFS estimates for a given reference period have full internal coherence, as they are all based on the same corpus of microdata and they are calculated using the same estimation methods. Arithmetic and accounting identities in the production of LFS datasets are observed.

There is also the issue of coherence between annual and quarterly estimates. Coherence is ensure whenever annual estimates are produced as average of quarterly results. Since 2006 it is possible to collect data for EU-LFS annual variables from a sub-sample spread over the full year. In that case small discrepancies between annual estimates and averaged quarterly estimates may exist. For this reason, consistency of totals for the ILO labour status by sex and broad age groups is required by Regulation.

Not available

Revisions of previously released data 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.

EU-LFS results are revised whenever revised quarterly LFS data become available. Exceptionally, the indicator employment growth has a different revision policy in line with 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 EU-LFS is a rotating random sample survey of persons in private households. The sampling units are dwellings, households or individuals depending on the sampling frame. Different schemes are used to sample the units, ranging from the simple random sampling method to complex stratified multi-stage sampling methods of clusters. Most countries use a variant of the two-stage stratified random sampling of household units.

Participation in the survey is compulsory in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Austria, Portugal and Norway. Part of the data can be supplied by equivalent information from alternative sources, including administrative registers, provided the data obtained are of equivalent quality. Typically, the Nordic countries supply the demographic information directly from their population registers.

The sample size amounts approximately to 1500 thousands of individuals each quarter. The quarterly sampling rates vary between 0.2% and 3.3% in each country.  

Eurostat started collection of LFS micro-data in 1983 with one reference quarter per year (spring). In the period from 1998 to 2005, the survey underwent a transition to a continuous quarterly survey. By now all EU countries are providing quarterly results.

For more information please consult the corresponding LFS quality reports.

Since the 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).

Data are acquired by interviewing the sampled individuals directly. Three modes of data collection exist for the EU-LFS: personal visits, telephone interviews and self-administered questionnaires. Half of the Participating Countries mix the two first so that the first wave is always or mainly via personal visit while subsequent waves are interviewed by telephone if available.

Twenty-one of the countries conduct the interview only with computerised questionnaires. Other two use both computerised and paper questionnaires. The rest rely solely on paper questionnaires.

For more information please consult the corresponding LFS quality reports.

Prior to the dissemination of the national data, Eurostat checks the data quality and consistency. Eurostat calculates LFS results and they are then validated by the Member States. Afterwards they are published.

EU and Euro area aggregates are calculated aggregating totals from Member Sates. For the data expressed in absolute values for each quarter (i.e. number of persons) no weighting is used. Rates/Ratios are subsequently calculated from the data expressed in absolute values (i.e. number of persons).

Monthly unemployment rates are calculated with different methods. Some indicators, like 'average exit age from labour market' or 'population in jobless households' have specific estimation methods too, documented in the respective ESMS pages (see section 21.2 below).

Adjustments of data under the domain 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' depend on the sub-domain:

- Data under 'LFS main indicators' may be interpolated and breaks in series corrected to ensure correct behavior of time series. Some integration with other data sources (national accounts employment) is also done to ensure coherence. Details are given in the ESMS page for main indicators and employment growth.

- Data under 'LFS series - detailed annual and quarterly series', 'LFS series - specific topics'  and 'LFS - ad-hoc modules' are not adjusted.

Annual results of quarterly variables are produced as simple averages of the quarterly results. Instead annual reults of annual variables are derived directly.

No notes