Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Labour Market Department

Zelenih beretki 26, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; bhas@bhas.gov.ba

31 December 2023

31 December 2023

31 December 2023

The classifications applied in the Labour Force Survey are harmonized with the international classifications in terms of economic activities, occupations, levels of education. The following classifications were used in the encoding and processing of data obtained by the Labour Force Survey:

• Classification of Economic Activities KD BiH 2010 that is, in its content and structure, comparable to the EU Classification of Economic Activities NACE Rev.2 and to the United Nations Classification of Activities (ISIC Rev.4);
• Classification of Occupation KZ BiH 2008 that is, in its content and structure, comparable to the International Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08);
• International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011);
• Classification of the Field of Education (ISCED-F 2013), which complements the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED - 2011);
• International Classification of Status in Employment (ISCE – 93).

The economic activity refers to the production or services that are performed / provided in the local unit of the business entity in which the surveyed person is employed.

LFS in Bosnia and Herzegovina covers all economic sectors.

The activities are coded according to the EU Classification of Economic Activities (NACE Rev.2). The results of the Labour Force Survey presented in the Release refer to the main activity groups:

• Agricultural activities (A);
• Non-agricultural activities (B, C, D, E, F);
• Service activities (G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U)

The Labor Force Survey (LFS) covers whole territory of country. The LFS covers total population that resides in the Bosnia and Herzegovina or intend to stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina for at least 12 months.

Excluded are persons in institutional households (students’ homes, homes for children and young people with developmental disability, homes for socially imperiled children, old / retired people homes, homes for adults with disability, monasteries, nunneries, etc.). For the temporary absent persons (less than 1 year) data are obtained from other family member. Persons absent more than one year are excluded. For students who live in other town/village within country data are obtained from original households in the case when they are economic dependent from that household.

The population interviewed about the employment status coves people aged 15-89.

The methodology of the Labour Force Survey used definitions and recommendations published in Eurostat regulations: Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 (Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation - IESS FR) and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 of 16 December 2019 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 for the labour force domain).

The observation unit in the Labour Force Survey is a household living in a housing unit selected in the sample, and the survey unit is a member of a randomly selected household.

Basic sociodemographic data were collected on all persons in the selected household, while data on work activity were collected only for persons aged 15-89.

The target population in the Labour Force Survey is:

• persons who live or intend to live in the surveyed private household on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a year or longer;
• persons who are members of the surveyed private household, who live abroad, but intend to return and live in the surveyed household on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a year and longer.

The working age population includes all persons aged 15-89 and is divided into two categories: active population or labour force (employed and unemployed persons) and persons outside the labour force.

The labour force or active population consists of all employed persons aged 15-89 and unemployed persons aged 15-74.

Persons outside the labour force are persons aged 15 to 89 who are not classified as employed or unemployed, ie all persons who did not perform any paid work in the reference week, did not actively look for a job or were not able to start working within two weeks after the end of the reference week.

Employed persons comprise persons aged 15 to 89 (in completed years at the end of the reference week) who, during the reference week, were in one of the following categories:

(a) persons who during the reference week worked for at least 1 hour for pay or profit, including contributing family workers;

(b) persons with a job or business who were temporarily not at work during the reference week but had an attachment to their job, where the following groups have a job attachment:

• persons not at work due to holidays, working time arrangements, sick leave, maternity or paternity leave,
• persons in job-related training,
• persons on parental leave, either receiving and/or being entitled to job-related income or benefits, or whose parental leave is expected to be 3 months or less,
• seasonal workers during the off-season, where they continue to regularly perform tasks and duties for the job or business, excluding fulfilment of legal or administrative obligations,
• persons temporarily not at work for other reasons where the expected duration of the absence is 3 months or less, and

(c) persons that produce agricultural goods whose main part is intended for sale or barter.

Persons in own-use production work, voluntary workers, unpaid trainees and individuals involved in other forms of work are not included in employment on the basis of those activities.

The Labour Force Survey does not take into account the formal status of the person being interviewed, but the employment status of that person is determined on the basis of the actual activity performed in the reference week.

According to the International Classification of Status in Employment, they are divided into self-employed persons, employees and contributing family workers.

Self-employed persons are persons who work independently in their own company, institution, private shop or on an agricultural farm, as well as persons who perform independent professional activity or some other job for their own account. Self-employed persons determine the conditions of their work (as well as the work of their employees) and bear the risk for their work.

Self-employed persons with employees are defined as persons who work in their own enterprise, institution, private shop or on an agricultural farm for the purpose of making a profit from the goods or services produced and who employ at least one other person.

Self-employed persons without employees are defined as persons who work in their own enterprise, institution, private shop or on an agricultural farm for the purpose of making a profit from the goods or services produced and who do not employ any other person.

Self-employed persons working in their own enterprise, institution, private shop or on an agricultural farm will be considered employed if during the reference week:

• worked in their own company, institution, private shop or on an agricultural farm for the purpose of making a profit, even if the company does not make a profit;
• spent time in their own company, institution, private shop or farm, even if no sales were made, no professional services were provided or nothing was produced;
• attended a congress or seminar;
• were in the process of establishing a company, private shop, institution or agricultural farm, taking the initiative to purchase or install equipment, rent business premises in preparation for starting a new business.

Employees are persons who work for an employer in any form of ownership (public or private), regardless of whether they have a formal employment contract or work on the basis of an oral agreement. Household members who help with family work and who are paid for their work are considered employees.

Contributing family workers (unpaid) are persons who assist another household member in running a family business or farm without being paid for the work. These persons are considered employed regardless of the fact that they are not paid for their work, because they benefit from their work in the form of certain benefits (accommodation, food, etc.).

Unemployed persons comprise persons aged 15 to 74 who were:

• during the reference week not employed;
• currently available for work, i.e. were available for paid employment or self-employment before the end of the 2 weeks following the reference week and
• actively seeking work, i.e. had either carried out activities in the four-week period ending with the reference week to seek paid employment or self-employment or found a job to start within a period of at most 3 months from the end of the reference week.

Active job search includes activities such as studying job advertisements, placing or answering job advertisements, placing or updating CVs online, contacting employers directly, asking friends, relatives or acquaintances, contacting a public employment service, contacting a private employment agency, taking a test, interview or examination as part of a recruitment process and making preparations to set up a business.

Only a person who has taken one of the active steps in the previous four weeks with the aim of finding a job can be considered an unemployed person.

Basic indicators that are derived from the Labour Force Survey are:

The activity rate is the share of the active population (labour force) in the total working age population.

The inactivity rate is the share of persons outside the labour force (inactive population) in the total working age population.

The employment rate is the share of employed persons in the total working age population.

Unemployment rate is the share of unemployed persons in the total active population.

 The LFS covers persons in private households.

A household is considered to be any family or other group of persons who declare that they live together and jointly spend their income to meet basic life needs, regardless of whether all members are permanently in the place where the household is located or some of them stay for a long time in another settlement, that is, to a foreign country for work, education or for other reasons.

A household can be:

• Single-member private household - a private household in which a person usually lives alone in a separate housing unit or lives as a tenant in a separate room (or rooms) of the housing unit, but does not join with other tenants of the housing unit with the aim of forming a multi-member household and
• Multi-member private household - a private household in which a group of two or more persons who usually live together in a housing unit or part of a housing unit and share the household's income or expenses with other household members.

The survey does not include collective households (a home or hotel for singles, a student dormitory, a home for developmentally disabled children and youth, a home for socially vulnerable children, a home for pensioners, the elderly and infirm, other nursing homes, monasteries, monasteries, boarding schools, etc.).

Usually residence :

• persons who live or intend to live in the private household on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a year or longer;
• persons who are members of the private household and who live abroad, but intend to return and live in the private household on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a year and longer.

The observation unit in the Labour Force Survey is a household living in a housing unit selected in the sample, and the survey unit is a member of a randomly selected household.
Basic sociodemographic data were collected on all persons in the selected household, while data on work activity were collected only for persons aged 15-89.

The target statistical population in the Labour Force Survey is:

• persons who live or intend to live in the surveyed private household on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a year or longer;
• persons who are members of the surveyed private household, who live abroad, but intend to return and live in the surveyed household on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a year and longer.

The target statistical population is not persons who stay or intend to stay in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for less than a year, nor persons who are absent or intend to be permanently absent from the surveyed household for a year or longer.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

In the period from 2006 to 2019, the Labour Force Survey in Bosnia and Herzegovina was conducted once a year, in April, and the fieldwork lasted two weeks.

Since January 2020, the Labour Force Survey in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been conducted continuously, throughout the year, with a quarterly release of data.

In order to harmonize with EU regulations and Eurostat requirements, from 2020 the procedure of weight calibration according to population estimates by five-year age groups and sex is carried out.

From January 2021, statistical institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina began to apply the new, redesigned methodology of the Labour Force Survey. The redesign of the survey took place on the basis of and in accordance with the new Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council, which entered into force on 1th January 2021.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

The results of the Labor Force Survey are expressed through:

• number of persons in thousands ('000) or
• rates in percent (%).

Most of the data refer to the economic activity of a person in a specific calendar week, from Monday to Sunday, which is called the reference week. Some data refer to other periods (four weeks or one year versus the reference week).

The reference week is assigned to the observation unit prior to the fieldwork and interviewing week is a week after the reference week (INTWEEK=REFWEEK+1).

We follow the rule of interviewing all people in the week immediately following the reference week. Only in exceptional cases (due to the interviewer's illness and inability to go to the field due to some other reasons) we allow interviews 2 weeks after the reference week (REFWEEK+2).

The observation period for the first quarter of 2023 consists of 13 reference weeks and lasts from January 2, 2023 to April 2, 2023.

The observation period for the second quarter of 2023 consists of 13 reference weeks and lasts from April 3, 2023 to July 2, 2023.

The observation period for the third quarter of 2023 consists of 13 reference weeks and lasts from July 3, 2023 to October 1, 2023.

The observation period for the fourth quarter of 2023 consists of 13 reference weeks and lasts from October 2, 2023 to December 31, 2023.

The Labour Force Survey is conducted on the basis of the Law on Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH No. 26/04 and 42/04), the Law on Statistics of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of FBiH No. 63/03 and 9/09) and the Law on Statistics of the Republika Srpska (Official Gazette of RS 85/03).

The Labour Force Survey is conducted in accordance with the standards and recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO), as well as with the regulations of the European Statistical Office (EUROSTAT): Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 (Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation - IESS FR) and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 of 16 December 2019 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 for the labour force domain), when it comes to methodology, organization, sampling procedure, questionnaire design and definitions of employment and unemployment.

The compliance of methodologies, definitions and classifications with international standards allows a large number of data obtained from the Labour Force Survey to be compared with equivalent data from other countries, especially European ones.

Entity statistical institutions, the Federal Institute of Statistics and the Republic Institute of Statistics of RS, submit data (databases) of the Labour Force Survey to the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina for further processing and publication of the results of the Survey for the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The confidentiality of statistical data is regulated by law, and the staff conducting statistical research has the obligation to protect confidentiality on the same legal basis. The Law on Statistics of BiH (Official Gazette of BiH 26/04 and 42/04 - Chapter XI - Articles 23-29) establishes the principle of confidentiality as one of the main principles.
The Agency for Statistics of BiH distributes statistics in accordance with the statistical principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in particular with the principle of statistical confidentiality.

The document "Ordinance on the protection of statistical data in the Agency for Statistics" lists the procedures for ensuring confidentiality during collection, processing and dissemination - which includes protocols for ensuring individual data to be accessed, rules for defining confidential cells in output tables and procedures for the detection and prevention of subsequent disclosures, as well as access to microdata for research purposes.
By signing the Memorandum of Understanding, data users who have access to individual data undertake:

1. treat individual anonymised data as confidential in accordance with rules, regulations and procedures
2. ensure adequate protection of individual data in accordance with rules, regulations and procedures
3. protect the transfer of microdata and destroy the media on which the data are, as well as the accompanying documentation five days after the publication of the results.

At the end of December every year, BHAS announces the Release Calendar with the precise date and time of publication of the statistics for the following year.

Quarterly data is published 10 weeks after the end of the quarter, while annual data is published 13 weeks after the end of the reference year.

Calendar

The data is disseminated to all users through the official web site of Agency for statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina First release 

At the same time new release is also e-mailed to the media and to the all users from user database.

The results of the Labour Force Survey are published quarterly and annually.

Annual Labor Force Survey data for 2023 is available at the following link:

Labour Force Survey, 2023

Data from the Labour Force Survey can be found in the publications of BiH in figures, Women and Men in BiH and Statistics for Indicators of Sustainable Development of BiH.
Also, on the website of the Agency for Statistics of BiH (Labour Market category -Time series section), 25 web tables of the Labour Force Survey are available, which contain a time series of basic labor market indicators.

Data from the Labor Force Survey are not available in the online database.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Short methodology is available on the following links: First realease, Labour Force Survey, 2023.

Published data are made available to all interested institutions and media. Also, data can be sent to all interested parties at their request by email or phone.

All requests for information about the LFS are answered within agreed period of time.

Further assistance is available via phone or e-mail to LFS department.

Access to microdata for research purposes is permitted for registered scientific research institutions and registered researchers.

Anonymized microdata databases can be obtained under certain conditions prescribed by Article 18 of the Rulebook on the Protection of Statistical Data of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chapter VI – Regulated Access to Microdata for Research Purposes which is available at the following link:

Rulebook on the Protection of Statistical Data of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Y

Researchers and some international organizations.

Access to microdata for research purposes is granted only after:

• completing the Application Form for Access to Microdata for Research Purposes,
• signing the Data Protection Statement (for all persons who will come into contact with this data), and
• concluding the Agreement on Access and Use of Data.

 Additionally, proof of registration as a scientific research institution must be provided.

Each variable in database contains label and value with belonging description.

Methodological guidelines, questionnaire, list of variables, description of aggregated variables etc.

Contacts and meetings with LFS methodologist.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

See below.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Short methodology is available on the following links:

First release, Labour Force Survey, 2023

All available documentation regarding quality in BHAS statistics is available on following link: bhas.gov.ba/Content/Read/92?title=Kvalitet&lang=en

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

LFS data are used by national and international users.

The key users of the survey data are:

• Internal users: statisticians from other statistical domains;
• National beneficiaries: governments at all levels, ministries, other state institutions and local authorities, various academic and research institutions (universities and institutes), enterprises, journalists and individual users such as students, scientists, researchers and others;
• International users: Eurostat ,World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Labor Organization (ILO), UNDP, UNESCO, UNECE, UNICEF, OECD, European Training Foundation (ETF), USAID, embassies and others.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

The 2021 Labour Force Survey was prepared on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and the Council from 10 October 2019, which covers almost all mandatory variables.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

The proposal for the nomenclature of statistical territorial units in Bosnia and Herzegovina (NUTS) has not yet been agreed upon.

In LFS individual data are collected at unofficial regional level (two entities and district).

The quarterly and annual data are published at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina (country level), entities level (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska) and district Brcko of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For Republica Srpska only basic indicators such as rates of activities, employment, unemployment and inactivity are published.

Unofficial regional level (two entities and district).

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Sampling errors are presented for the following statistics and / or variables: working age population, labour force, employed persons, unemployed persons, inactive persons, persons aged 15-64, activity rate, employment rate and unemployment rate. Sampling errors occur as a fact that the Survey is not conducted on full coverage, ie. on the entire target population, which in the case of the Survey would include all persons in BiH aged 15 and over. Conducting the Survey on full coverage would require much more time, as well as significantly higher financial resources for implementation. The survey is conducted on a sample, ie on a part of households. It is also known that it is possible to select a large number of samples for one study, where each sample would give certain estimates of key indicators that would be more or less different. It is the sampling errors, which, unlike non-sampling errors, are measurable, that indicate how reliable our obtained indicators are.

In surveys where the observation unit is household and where the results are often presented as a proportion or percentage, it is not appropriate to present the error in a random sample only in the form of a coefficient of variation but also over a confidence interval. Signs for the level of reliability in the Survey are:
1. () the data is less reliable if the coefficient of variation (CV) is less than 0.20 and equal to or greater than 0.10 or, expressed as a percentage, 10% ≤ CV <20%,
2. (()) the data is uncertain, if the coefficient of variation (CV) is less than 0.30, and equal to or greater than 0.20 or, expressed as a percentage, 20% ≤ CV <30% ,,
3. · the data is extremely uncertain, if the coefficient of variation (CV) is equal to or greater than 0.30 or, expressed as a percentage of CV ≥ 30%.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

Coefficient of variation for the number of employed persons (aged 15-74) and the employment rate (aged 15-74) are identical. Since the denominator of the employment rate is the total population and for this particular age group (individuals aged 15-74) it is one of the population totals used in the calibration procedure. Thus the only source of sampling variability is the numerator.

ReGenesees.

Taylor linearization

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

References to Annex File.

See in the 13.3.1. Coverage error section in Annex.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

See in the 13.3.1. Coverage error section in Annex.

References to Annex File.

 See below.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

See below.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

See below.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

Changes and editing of data are possible during the survey. If the interviewer wants to change the respondent's answer, when he concludes that an error has occurred, he can do so on the spot. When the interviewers send the data to the headquarters, the subsequent control is performed, as well as the coding of occupations, activities and areas of education. Editing and processing phases refer to locating logically inconsistent information and correcting it. Logical-computational controls implemented in the application software prevent the entry of illogical data, so errors are minimized. No estimates of the number of processing errors are available.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

References to Annex File.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

LFS data were transmitted to Eurostat within 10 weeks of the end of the reference period.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

The comparability of data from the Labour Force Survey in the other European countries is provided, because the LFS was made on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 (Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation - IESS FR) and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 of 16 December 2019 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 for the labour force domain), when it comes to methodology, organization, sampling procedure, questionnaire design and definitions of employment and unemployment.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

The Labour Force Survey, as a pilot survey, was first conducted in 2005. From 2006 to 2019, the survey was conducted once a year, in April. During this period, there was a change in the sampling framework in 2009 (a new updated Master Framework for sampling was introduced), harmonization of the Classification of Occupations with the ISCO-08 classification (2011), harmonization of the Classification of Activities of BiH with NACE Rev. 2 classification (2012), harmonization of the Classification of Levels of Education with the ISCED 2011 classification (2015), which affected the comparability of annual data.

From 2020, the survey is conducted as a continuous survey on the new Main Framework for Sample Selection.

In order to harmonize with EU regulations and Eurostat requirements, from 2020 the procedure of weight calibration according to population estimates by five-year age groups and sex is carried out.

From January 2021, the Labour Force Survey is conducted on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019, which establishes a common framework for European statistics on persons and households based on data on individuals collected on the basis of a sample, and on the basis of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 of 16 December 2019, which introduced a new, redesigned methodology of the Labour Force Survey, and interrupted the data series in relation to 2020.

See below

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

References to Annex File.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

The annual operating costs for carrying out the research are reflected in the material costs and costs of fees. Material costs include the cost of printing interviewer training documentation and purchasing other supporting material, while the costs of fees include the costs of payments to interviewers and code lists for data entry.The costs do not include salaries of employees and other costs of statistical institutions in BiH. As an indicator of the workload of reporting units, we estimate the time that reporting units spend to participate in the Survey. The household survey lasts approximately 35 minutes on average. Time consumption by households that did not participate in the survey is not included.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

UNA

The Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have an official general audit policy document.

The Agency for statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have an official revision policy document.

The Agency for statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have an official revision policy document.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

The Agency for statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have an official revision policy document.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

Data collection in the field is conducted using an electronic application for manual entry (CAPI method), which ensures data validation through the implementation of logical controls (hard and soft) at the time of data entry.

The validation of the data structure before sending microdata to Eurostat is based on the description and technical formats of variables provided in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 of 16 December 2019 specifying the technical items of the data set, establishing the technical formats for transmission of information and specifying the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the labour force domain in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council,   while the validation of the data consistency is carried out in accordance with Eurostat's logical controls specified in "Annex 3 - LFS from 2021 - CONVAL specifications,"

Additionally, the central statistical office conducts validation and comparison of basic unweighted and weighted indicators, as well as validation and comparison of basic quarterly and annual indicators with the same indicators from previous quarters/years.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

References to Annex File.

References to Annex File.

Not requested for the LFS quality report.

No comments.