DEVELOPMENTS AND ORGANISATION OF THE EU LABOUR FORCE SURVEY

Last update: 14/11/2007

 

The European Union Labour Force Survey is a quarterly large sample survey covering the population in private households in the EU, EFTA (except Lichtenstein) and Candidate Countries. It provides quarterly results on labour participation of people aged 15 and over as well as persons outside the labour force. Conscripts in military or community service are not included. The sample size amounts approximately to 1700 thousands of individuals (2004, q2). The EU LFS micro data collection starts in 1983 (one reference quarter per year). From 1998, the EU-LFS has progressively become a continuous quarterly survey. This transition is to be completed in 2005. The national statistical institutes are responsible for selecting the sample, preparing the questionnaires, conducting the direct interviews among households, and forwarding the results to Eurostat in accordance with the common coding scheme. The sampling rates vary between 0.2% and 3.3% across the countries.

 

This document presents main facts on the development and organisation of the EU-LFS. The information is provided in the following sections:

 

1. Developments of the EU Labour Force Survey

 

2. Organisation of the EU Labour Force Survey

 

1. Developments of the EU Labour Force Survey

 

More than forty years have passed since the first attempt was made in 1960 to collect comparable data on employment and unemployment from the six original Member States of the then European Community by means of a labour force survey. Since that date, the number of Member States has risen to twenty-five and the character of the European labour market has been transformed by the changes which have taken place, for example in employment rates, in the allocation of working-time, and in the distribution of employment across the various sectors of the economy.

 

Throughout this period, the institutions of the European Union have included the issues of employment and unemployment among their highest priorities. In consequence, the demand for accurate and comparable information on the labour market has progressively become more urgent.

 

In this context, the role of the EU Labour Force Survey (LFS) has gained steadily in importance and is now universally recognised as an indispensable tool for observing labour market developments and for taking the appropriate policy measures. The LFS is the only source of information in these areas to provide data, which is truly comparable in the sense of being independent of the national administrative and legislative framework. Among the statistical instruments available in the European Union, the LFS is unique for the sample-size it covers, for the length of the time-series which it offers, and for the unrivalled picture it can provide of economic and social developments from the very earliest days of the European Community right up to the present day.

 

No.

From

To

Main developments

1.

1960

 

The first LFS was organised in the six original member states in 1960 by Eurostat *

 

2.

1968

1971

Annual  surveys *

 

3.

1973

1981

Biennial surveys *

 

4.

1983

1991

Annual surveys on the basis of a revised set of concepts designed to guarantee an improved degree of comparability between the member states. The concepts and definitions used were those adopted by the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians of 1982. The methodological basis is described in the publication LFS - Methods and Definitions 1988

 

5.

1992

1997

In 1992, a number of changes were introduced with the aim of improving the quality of the data and their reliability at national and regional level; Council Regulation (EEC) 3711/1991 specified the contents and reliability criteria for the survey, to be conducted annually from 1992. The methodological basis and the content of the series of surveys between 1992 and 1997 are described in the publication LFS - Methods and Definitions - 1992 series.

 

6.

1995

 

LFS covers all 15 member states

 

7.

1998

2000

In 1998 the Council regulation n° 577/1998 was adopted and replaced the previous one to take into account new statistical requirements. The methodological basis and the contents of this new series of surveys are described in the publication LFS - Methods and Definitions  -1998.

 

8.

2001

 

In 2000 the regulation n° 1575/2000 was adopted concerning the codification to be used for data transmission from the year 2001 onwards.

9.

2000

 

LFS covers all 25 member states

10.

2002

 

Regulation 1991/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 October 2002 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community introduced a deadline (end of 2002) for the period of transition given to the Member States to introduce a continuous quarterly survey (derogation periods for Cyprus until the end of 2004 and Germany until the end of 2005).

* Data is only available for these years in paper publications

 

For the start dates of yearly / quarterly LFS collections and the transmission to the continuous survey, please view Transition to the continuous survey.

 

2. Organisation of the EU Labour Force Survey

 

The Council Regulation (EEC) No 577/98 stipulates the agreements reached by the Member States and Eurostat on the implementation of the survey. The technical aspects of the survey are discussed by Eurostat and representatives of the respective national statistical offices and employment ministries that meet regularly (between one and three times a year) at the Employment Statistics Working Party held in Luxembourg. This Working Party determines the content of the survey, the EU list of questions and the common coding of individual replies, as well as the principal definitions to be applied for the analyses of the results.

The national statistical institutes are responsible for selecting the sample, preparing the questionnaires, conducting the direct interviews among households, and forwarding the results to Eurostat in accordance with the common coding scheme. The questionnaires are drawn up by each Member State in the national language or languages, taking into account the stipulations made in the Regulation. For every survey characteristic listed in the Regulation, a question or series of questions exists in each questionnaire to permit this information to be supplied to Eurostat. There are thirty-one Labour Force Surveys conducted by the National Statistical Institutes across Europe and centrally processed by Eurostat:

 

-         Using the same concepts and definitions

-         Following the International Labour Organisation guidelines

-         Using common classifications: NACE (rev.1, from 2005 rev.1.1, ISCO-88(COM), ISCED, NUTS)

-         Recording the same set of characteristics in each country

 

In spring 2004, the LFS sample size across the EU was about 1 700 thousands of individuals. The sampling rates vary between 0.2% and 3.3%.

 

For the concise description of organisation of EU LFS, view this link. In order to obtain more detailed information, consult the publication below:

 

Publications  on methods and definitions

Comments

The European Union Labour Force Survey – Methods and definitions – 2001

Description of the continuous survey  from 2001

The European Union Labour Force Survey – Methods and definitions – 1998

Description of the survey 1998-2000

 

Reference period

The EU-LFS measures the labour status and other characteristics during one reference week in each quarter of the calendar year (second quarter in IE and UK). From 2003, the sample units are distributed uniformly over the quarter so that the quarterly estimates are equivalent to an average week in the quarter (except in IT, CY and AT: from 2004 and DE from 2005). The reference week starts on Monday and concludes on Sunday. The first week of the year/quarter is the week including the first Thursday of the year/quarter. Each quarter has 13 weeks. The first week in 2003 started on Monday 30 December 2002.

 

For the overview of breaks due to the transition to the continuous quarterly survey, please view: EU LFS Comparability of results.

 

Techniques of data collection

The data is acquired by interviewing the sampled individuals directly. Proxy interviews are allowed through a responsible person in the household. In most countries at least the first wave interview is conducted in person while subsequent follow-up interviews can be conducted via telephone. 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 the population registers.

 

 

Sample designs

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.

The sample design and rotation patterns are not fully harmonised. Different schemes are used to sample the units from the simple random sampling method to complex stratified multi-stage sampling methods of clusters. Most countries use a variant of a two-stage stratified random sampling of household units. All of the Member States apply a rotating pattern so that part of the observations can be directly paired to the observations one survey instance earlier. These rotating patterns range from 2-() (participating 2 quarters consecutively before leaving the sample) through 2-(2)-2 (2 quarters then skip 2 quarters and finally participating for 2 quarters) to 8-(). For a detailed description of the most recent national survey designs, consult the following documents:

 

EU LFS Publications, Quality Reports and Other Documents

 

(*) See the section on characteristics of national surveys in the introduction of the publication.