Statistics Denmark

Labour and Income

Sejrøgade 11

DK-2100 Copenhagen

The statistics shows the quarterly development in the real number of job vacancies and job vacancy rates in relation to the sum of job vacancies and occupied posts in the Danish labour market. The statistics are broken into economic activity and size, which makes it possible to monitor and analyse the scope and structure of the demand for labour by industry and size level of the workplaces. Furthermore, the number of job vacancies and job vacancy rates at regional level are estimated.

Job vacancy statistics (JVS) provide information on the level and structure of labour demand. The country transmits to Eurostat the quarterly data on the number of job vacancies and the number of occupied posts as well as provides the quality report under the JVS framework regulation and the two implementing regulations: the implementing regulation on the definition of a job vacancy, the reference dates for data collection, data transmission specifications and feasibility studies, as well as the implementing regulation on seasonal adjustment procedures and quality reports.

The statistics show the quarterly development in the real number of job vacancies and job vacancy rates in relation to the sum of job vacancies and occupied posts in the Danish labour market. The statistics are broken into economic activity and size, which makes it possible to monitor and analyse the scope and structure of the demand for labour by industry and size level of the workplaces. Furthermore, the number of job vacancies and job vacancy rates at regional level are estimated.

The quarterly data are broken down by economic activity (at section level) in accordance with NACE Rev. 2 - Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community.

Business Units primarily covered by the private sector belonging to section B to N (defined by NACE Rev. 2)  as follows:

- (2) Manufacturing, mining and quarrying, electricity, gas and water supply (B+C+D+E)
- (3) Construction (F)
- (4) Wholesale and retail trade, transport, etc. (G+H+I)
- (5) Information and communication services (J)
- (6-7) Financial intermediation, insurance and real estate (K+L)
- (8) Business activities (M+N)

 Data do not cover:

- (1) Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)
- (9) Public administration, education and health (O+P+Q)
- (10) Culturel, leisure time and other activities (R+S)

 A complete description of the industrial classification is available in the publication Dansk Branchekode 2007 (Danish Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities 2007).

A 'job vacancy' is defined as a paid post that is newly created, unoccupied, or about to become vacant:

(a) for which the employer is taking active steps and is prepared to take further steps to find a suitable candidate from outside the enterprise concerned; and

(b) which the employer intends to fill either immediately or within a specific period of time.

‘Active steps to find a suitable candidate’ include:

- notifying the job vacancy to the public employment services,

- contacting a private employment agency/head hunters,

- advertising the vacancy in the media (for example internet, newspapers, magazines),

- advertising the vacancy on a public notice board,

- approaching, interviewing or selecting possible candidates/potential recruits directly,

- approaching employees and/or personal contacts,

- using internships.

 'Specific period of time’ refers to the maximum time the vacancy is open and intended to be filled. That period shall be unlimited; all vacancies for which active steps are continuing on the reference date shall be reported.

An 'occupied post’ means a paid post within the organisation to which an employee has been assigned.

The statistical unit is the local unit defined as workplaces with at least one employee. On the basis of the workplace number, the workplaces are extracted from the Central Business Register of Statistics Denmark.

Fictitious workplaces: The population also comprises fictitious workplaces, i.e. workplaces to which employees without a physical workplace are grouped, e.g. salesmen, sailors and bicycle messengers.

The population consists of workplaces in the private sector associated in Sections B to N (defined by NACE Rev. 2), which has at least one employee. The population also comprises fictitious workplaces, i.e. workplaces to which employees without a physical workplace are grouped, e.g. salesmen, sailors and bicycle messengers.

The statistics covers job vacancies in Denmark.

The Job Vacancy Statistics have been produced since 1st quarter 2010.

Not applicable

The statistics are compiled with use of a digital questionnaire, with a quarterly survey population of approximately 7,000 local units. Data are corrected for errors and an imputation is conducted for not reported data.

The data is continuously subjected to data editing and correction. In order to ensure that data is reported for the individual workplace, the number of employees reported is validated with the register-based information concerning the number of employees from The Central Business Register of Statistics Denmark. If there are major differences in the data reported, compared to the data stored in the Central Business Register, we will contact the workplace for the purpose of verifying the data reported.

The data on job vacancies are also scrutinised in relation to the number of employees reported, and if there are any major differences in the data reported on the number of job vacancies, compared to the number of employees that is expected for a workplace of the size stated, we will contact the workplace.

In connection with subjecting the data to editing and correction, we thoroughly review about 10 per cent of the reported data and contact about 3-4 per cent of the workplaces. It must be assumed that not all errors are detected, and consequently some sample errors remain.

For the business units with more than 100 employees which have not reported data an imputation is conducted.

Every time we publish a new quarter we also publish revised data from the previous four quarters. The main reason for this is that we receive data from business units which do not report data punctually. As a consequence, on-going error correction of reported data takes place. 

The number of job vacancies tends to decline between 0.5-1.5 per cent while the job vacancy rates often are stable and never had a fluctuation greater than 0.1 percentage points before the data obtaining the status of final.

During the Covid-19 period, the number of vacancies have increased up to 1.8 per cent before the data obtaining the status of final due to delays in data reporting by the workplaces.

Data regarding third quarter 2010 and after has been revised in connection with the publication of second quarter 2015. The estimation method for the enumeration of exempted units with over 100 employees has been changed. This has had no impact on the vacancy rate and only a minimal impact on the number of vacancies.

Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.

As with all other sample-based statistics, there are some sample errors associated with the estimates. The information on the statistical uncertainty is used for assessing to which extent a change in, e.g. the number of job vacancies reflects some degree of uncertainty or the increases or falls are real. The margins of sample errors are influenced by the sample size, and the statistical uncertainty is reduced by 50 per cent when the sample size is increased fourfold.

As is the case in other EU Member States, the variation coefficient, which is the standard deviation in relation to the estimate, is used in calculating the sample errors. 
 
Every quarter a sample is selected of approximately 7,000 workplaces with at least one employee at the time of selection. All workplaces with more than 100 employees are selected in the sample and the remaining part of the sample is based on random selection. The sample is stratified in accordance with 13 industries and 6 size groups.
In connection with the selection of the sample, the workplaces are classified into the 6 size groups on the basis of the number of employees who are registered at the workplace according to Statistics Denmark's Central Business Register.

When the statistics are published the workplaces are re-classified, implying that they are classified to the size groups which correspond with the data reported on the number of employees. The reason for this re-classification is that register-based information is one year old.
On the basis of new employment figures from Statistics Denmark's Central Business Register, the sample is optimised once every year with regard to movements, i.e. small workplaces which are now employing more than 100 persons are compulsorily selected, and large workplaces which are now employing less than 100 persons are released.

1/12 of the workplaces employing less than 100 persons are replaced every quarter. In this way, it is ensured that the sample size is maintained at the same level and that the sample gives an up-to-date picture of the number of occupied posts and job vacancies. This implies that a workplace employing less than 100 persons participates in 12 consecutive quarters and is subsequently exempted from participating over a long period of time. Workplaces employing more than 100 persons are compulsorily selected and consequently always participate in the sample. This is in compliance with Statistics Denmark's data supplier policy.

The businesses are legally obliged to report data for the statistics and failure to report data will result in a police notification, cf. the Act on Statistics Denmark. The response rate is normally over 95 per cent.
 
The data are continuously subjected to data editing and correction. In order to ensure that data are reported for the individual workplace, the number of employees reported is validated with the register-based information concerning the number of employees from Statistics Denmark's Central Business Register, and if there are major differences in the data reported, compared to the data stored in the Central Business Register, we contact the workplace for the purpose of verifying the data reported.

The data on job vacancies are also subjected to editing in relation to the number of employees reported. If there are any major differences in the data reported on the number of job vacancies, compared to the number of employees that is expected for a workplace of the size stated, we contact the workplace.

In connection with subjecting the data to editing and correction, we thoroughly review about 10 per cent of the reported data and contact about 3-4 per cent of the workplaces. It must be assumed that not all errors are detected, and consequently some sample errors remain.

For the compulsorily selected workplaces which have not reported data or have been exempted from reporting, imputation is conducted, in cases where it is possible, on the basis of the data reported from the same CVR no. over the same period. We make efforts to ensure that all compulsorily selected workplaces have reported data, so that the imputation is only conducted for those workplaces which for one reason or another have been exempted from reporting.
The program CLAN is used in connection with the raising of figures.

For the total number of occupied posts the variation coefficient is under 1 per cent, while for the total number of job vacancies the variation coefficient is between 2.5 and 3.3 per cent. The coefficient of variation for a large part of the NACE sections and size classes are relatively high. The reason why the latter variation coefficient is relatively high is not due to the raising of figures or the design and size of the sample, but due to the great variations between the number of job vacancies reported and the many data reported concerning zero vacancies in each stratum.

Every time we publish a new quarter we also publish revised data from the previous four quarters. The main reason for this is that we receive data from business units which do not report data punctually. As a consequence, on-going error correction of reported data takes place. 

The number of job vacancies tends to decline between 0.5-1.5 per cent while the job vacancy rates often are stable and never had a fluctuation greater than 0.1 percentage points before the data obtaining the status of final.

During the Covid-19 period, the number of vacancies have increased up to 1.8 per cent before the data obtaining the status of final due to delays in data reporting by the workplaces.

As with all other sample-based statistics, there are some sample errors associated with the estimates. The information on the statistical uncertainty is used for assessing to which extent a change in, e.g. the number of job vacancies reflects some degree of uncertainty or the increases or falls are real. The margins of sample errors are influenced by the sample size, and the statistical uncertainty is reduced by 50 per cent when the sample size is increased fourfold.

100% for NACE sections B-N

As with all other sample-based statistics, there are some sample errors associated with the estimates. As is the case in other EU Member States, the variation coefficient (CV), which is the standard deviation in relation to the estimate, is used in calculating the sample errors. For the total number of occupied posts the variation coefficient is under 1 per cent, while for the total number of job vacancies the variation coefficient is between 2.8 and 4.4 per cent. For the NACE sections and size classes the CV are relatively high. This is due to the great variations between the number of job vacancies reported and the many data reported concerning zero vacancies in each stratum.

The overall accuracy of the statistics is considered high as the delimitation of the population is effected on the basis of Statistics Denmark's Central Business Register comprising the industry codes stated. Furthermore, the statistics are compiled in accordance with legislation and the reminder procedure is intensive, which results, as expected, in a response rate well over 95 per cent.

Response rate for 2022:

2022Q1: 98.2 %

2022Q2: 98.4 %

2022Q3: 99.5 %

2022Q4: 98.3 %

2022 Total: 98.3 %

For the business units with more than 100 employees which have not reported data, an imputation is conducted. The imputation rate is usually less than 0.7 per cent.

The number of job vacancies tends to decline between 0.5-1.5 per cent while the job vacancy rates often are stable and never had a fluctuation greater than 0.1 percentage points before the data obtaining the status of final.

As with all other sample-based statistics, there are some sample errors associated with the estimates. The information on the statistical uncertainty is used for assessing to which extent a change, e.g. in the number of job vacancies, reflects some degree of uncertainty or the increases or falls are real. The margins of sample errors are influenced by the sample size, and the statistical uncertainty is reduced by 50 per cent when the sample size is increased fourfold.
As is the case in other EU Member States, the variation coefficient, which is the standard deviation in relation to the estimate, is used in calculating the sample errors.

For the total number of occupied posts the variation coefficient is under 1 per cent, while for the total number of job vacancies the variation coefficient normally is under 5 per cent. The coefficient of variation for a large part of the NACE sections and size classes are relatively high. The reason why the latter variation coefficient is relatively high is not due to the raising of figures or the design and size of the sample, but due to the great variations between the number of job vacancies reported and the many data reported concerning zero vacancies in each stratum.

The variation coefficient CV for job vacancies for the year 2022:

- Manufacturing, mining and quarrying and utility services (B+C+D+E): between 6.1 and 15.9 per cent.
- Construction (F): between 9.6 and 11.1 per cent.
- Trade and transport etc. (G+H+I): between 4.0 and 5.3 per cent.
- Information and communication (J): between 7.7 and 8.7 per cent.
- Financial, insurance and real estate (K+L): between 8.0 and 10.4 per cent.
- Other business services (M+N): between 5.4 and 10.5 per cent.
- Total (B-N): between 2.8 and 4.4 per cent.

See 6.2.1

Statistics Denmark applies registers that are expected to have full coverage. In the Job Vacancy Statistics the sampling frame is the Central Business Register, which covers all registered business in Denmark. The register is currently updated on a daily basis.

Every quarter a new sample is extracted from the Central Business Register and at that moment there are very few differences between the register and the sample. As times goes the register will be updated (some business units are no longer statistically active and new business units have entered the register). Before the enumeration the sample with information on business units that are no longer statistically active is updated.

Unweighted the over-coverage is below 1 per cent.

Optional

Errors caused by (partial) non-response, incorrect submitted data and misunderstandings are sought to be minimised by repeated reminders (response-chasing) and a thorough error-checking of the submitted data.

Statistics Denmark assumes that the number of job vacancies reported by the business units, in some degree, is a variable with non-negligible measurement error.
 
The main source of (non-negligible) measurement error connected with job vacancies reports is uncertainty among the respondents regarding how to measure job vacancies and which units they have to report data for (business unit or the entire business).
Furthermore, we have some business units called ‘fictitious workplaces’, i.e. business units in which employees without a physical workplace are grouped, e.g. salesmen and sailors. Reporting data for these fictitious workplaces can sometimes be difficult.

Statistics Denmark is aware of the problem with these measurement errors. Most of the measurement errors are captured in micro validation where corrections to the reported data are made.

See 6.3.3.1

It is mandatory to submit data electronically, either by the website www.virk.dk or by the telephone entry system, and it is not possible to submit a form with blank fields. Partial non-response is therefore zero.

See 6.3. non-sampling error

Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.

Optional

Data are released between 55 and 70 days after the reference quarter. The punctuality is very high, as delays in planned releases happen very rarely.

Data are released between 55 and 70 days after the reference quarter. The punctuality is very high, as delays in planned releases happen very rarely.

2022Q1: 70 days after the reference quarter

2022Q2: 63 days after the reference quarter

2022Q3: 56 days after the reference quarter

2022Q4: 55 days after the reference quarter

Data are released between 55 and 70 days after the reference quarter. The punctuality is very high, as delays in planned releases happen very rarely.

2022Q1: 70 days after the reference quarter

2022Q2: 63 days after the reference quarter

2022Q3: 56 days after the reference quarter

2022Q4: 55 days after the reference quarter

Efforts are made to ensure that the statistics are published without any delay in relation to the time of publication announced in advance. Until now, all deadlines are met.

Data are collected in accordance with similar guidelines by all EU Member States. Consequently, data on job vacancy rate (JVR) in EU contexts can be directly compared with other EU Member States.

Optional

Due to changes the job vacancies is not comparable from second quarter 2015 and back in time whereas the JVR is comparable.

Optional

Optional

Optional

Optional

Data are published in the on-line database Statbank under: Labour, income and wealth - Labour force - Job vacancies.

Quarterly data:

- LSK01: Job vacancies by industry, unit and size

- LSK02: Job vacancies by region and unit

- LSK03: Job vacancies (seasonal adjustment) by unit

Annual data:

- LS01: Job vacancies by industry, unit and size

- LS02: Job vacancies by region and unit

Optional

Micro data is not disseminated.

Researchers can via The Division of Research Services get access to micro data. Access is given to anonymised micro data, i.e. data at an individual personal or corporate level.

International figures regarding Job vacancies are published by Eurostat.

You find the Declaration of Contents on the following link: Quality Declaration

Optional

Optional

The response burden is estimated to DKK 1,665,000 total.

Job vacancy data are not published at a level of detail that requiring confidentiality.

The confidentiality of Statistics Denmark is followed. Read about Data confidentiality policy at Statistics Denmark.