Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
These metadata refer to the first releases of the 2023 data, that is to the data transmitted for the 45 and 70-day EU Regulation deadlines. They refer to the revisions of the 2023 data disseminated in June 2024, together with the data for 2024Q1.
2.2. Classification system
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
2.3. Coverage - sector
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security” (NACE Rev. 2 section O) is not surveyed. Public institutions are not fully covered in ‘Education’ as well as ‘Human health and social work activities’ (NACE Rev. 2 sections P and Q).
2.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
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.
2.5. Statistical unit
Enterprise
2.6. Statistical population
Enterprises with 1+ employees (public institutions not included).
2.7. Reference area
The whole territory of the country
2.8. Coverage - Time
From 2003Q3 for enterprises with 10+ employees and from 2016Q1 for enterprises with 1+ employees
2.9. Base period
Not applicable
3.1. Source data
Identification of the source of the data
Data for both job vacancies and occupied posts are collected separately for enterprises with 1-499 employees and enterprises with at least 500 employees. For enterprises with 1-499 employees, data are collected by the Istat quarterly survey on job vacancies and hours worked (VELA). For enterprises with at least 500 employees data are collected by an extended quarterly version of a well-established census monthly Istat survey on employment, hours worked, wages and labour cost in large enterprises (LES).
Coverage
- Geographical
the whole country
- NACE
NACE: sections B to S, except O, of Nace Rev. 2
- Enterprise size
enterprise size: 1+ employees
Definition of the statistical unit
enterprise
Remarks
Sampling design
Base used for the sample
Both VELA and LES surveys employ the last version of the statistical business register (SBR) available at the time when the sample is drawn. For the 2022 sample, the 2020 SBR release was used.
Sampling design
The LES survey includes in its sample all the enterprises in the population with at least 500 employees. The VELA survey is based on a sample of around 12,860 enterprises with 10-499 employees and of around 28,377 enterprises with 1-499 employees, drawn via a stratified random scheme from the SBR. The VELA sample is allocated via a constrained optimisation method (where the sample size is minimised under constraints on the maximum values of the expected coefficients of variation for the interest variables in the study domains).
Retention/renewal of sampling units
Once a year (for the wave referring to the first quarter):
the list of all the population enterprises with at least 500 employees is updated on the basis of the SBR most recently available version, and
around one third of the 1-499 employee sample enterprises is rotated.
Sample size
around 14,513 enterprises with 10+ employees and 30,030 enterprises with 1+ employees
Stratification
Economic activity, size and geographical area are used as stratification variables for the VELA sample. The considered stratification classes are the following:
for economic activity: divisions from 05 to 36 and from 45 to 47; the aggregate of divisions 37, 38 and 39; sections F, and from H to S (excluding O);
for size (in terms of employees): 1-4, 5-9, 10-49, 50-499, 500+
for geographical area: North, Centre and South (this last class includes also Sardinia and Sicily).
Sampling fractions: see sheet “sampling fractions” in the excel file "Annex_2" in the annex section.
Other sources
Maintenance agency
Not applicable
Updating frequency
Not applicable
Rules for clearance (of outdated information)
Not applicable
Voluntary/compulsory reporting and sanctions
Not applicable
Remarks
3.2. Frequency of data collection
Reference dates
The last day of the reference quarter.
3.3. Data collection
Brief description of the data collection method(s)
Remarks
Data are collected separately for enterprises with 1-499 employees and enterprises with at least 500 employees. For enterprises with 1-499 employees, starting from the first quarter of 2017, data on job vacancies and occupied posts are collected by VELA via CAWI response mode. Furthermore, from the second quarter of 2017, the VELA survey has also begun to avail itself of the support of phone reminders carried out by an external provider of outbound services. For enterprises with at least 500 employees, data on job vacancies and occupied posts are collected by LES, exclusively via Web.
3.4. Data validation
Not applicable
3.5. Data compilation
Brief description of the weighting method
Weighting dimensions
Unit non responses in enterprises with at least 500 employees are imputed.
All responding enterprises and the unit non response imputed records are assigned a weight via calibration. The only exception is a small list of extremely large enterprises which are assigned a unit weight.
The theoretical reference population for the calibration is made by all the enterprises with at least 1 employees in Nace Rev. 2 sections B to S which were active in the reference quarter. This population is well represented by the set of microdata of the OROS survey for the reference quarter. The OROS survey is based on the social security database of the forms that all enterprises (with at least one hour of remunerated work) have to fill each month to pay the compulsory social contributions. It is this set of microdata that is therefore used to derive the calibration constraints. The quarterly average of monthly data on jobs, as measured by OROS, is used as the auxiliary variable in the calibration.
The calibration classes are based on economic activity and enterprise size. The economic activity classes for calibration are based on Nace Rev. 2 divisions for sections from C to E, G and N, while they are based on sections for B, F, and from H to M and P to S. The considered size classes are based on employees and are thus defined: 1-4, 5-9, 10-49, 50-499 and at least 500.
The initial calibration weights are based on both inclusion probabilities and response rates.
The calibration is carried out using a generalized software purposely built by Istat, ReGenesees, and within it, a truncated logarithmic distance function.
See the description of weighting methods.
3.6. Adjustment
Not applicable
4.1. Quality assurance
Not applicable
4.2. Quality management - assessment
Not applicable
5.1. Relevance - User Needs
Description of the national users and their main needs
Remarks
Not requested.
5.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Extent to which the needs of national users are satisfied (voluntary)
Remarks
Not requested.
5.3. Completeness
Description of missing variables and missing breakdowns of the variables
Report progress on the implementation measures regarding quarterly job vacancies statistics of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008, including :
a detailed plan and timetable for completing implementation
a summary of the remaining deviations from EU concepts
No missing variables or breakdown.
The Italian statistics on job vacancies for 2023 do not cover:
public institutions.
So far, there is no plan to extend the coverage to public institutions.
Deviation from EU concepts:
job vacancies and occupied posts for employees of the temporary work agencies (including temporary workers) are not included in the published figures. Figures for agency workers are not included either in the data of the enterprises where they actually work.
5.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable
6.1. Accuracy - overall
see below
6.2. Sampling error
Restricted from publication
6.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Restricted from publication
6.3. Non-sampling error
Information on variables with non-negligible measurement and processing errors
Information on main sources of (non-negligible) measurement and processing errors and, if available, on methods applied for correction
Estimation bias: An assessment of the non-sampling errors, in terms of the absolute number of vacant posts, for the total number of job vacancies and, where possible, for aggregation level of NACE Rev. 2 specified in Annex 1 to this Regulation and size classes (1-9, 10 + employees).
Remarks
Number of occupied posts.
For all the enterprises with 1-499 employees, occupied posts are checked by comparing them with the OROS microdata: if the data collected by the two sources differ substantially and there are signals that the difference is due to problems in those of the VELA survey, occupied posts are imputed by a nearest neighbour donor imputation, using OROS jobs as matching variable. For large enterprises (500+ employees), occupied posts collected and edited by the monthly survey LES are used. They are very accurate, due to the work of Istat experts who follow each enterprise along time.
None.
6.3.1. Coverage error
Description of any difference between the reference population and the study population
Description of classification errors
Description of any difference between the reference dates and the reference quarter
Any other relevant information
The main difference between the reference and the study population depends on the enterprises beginning and finishing their activities in the reference population between the SBR reference year and the survey reference quarter. An attempt at measuring these errors is made, on the basis of the assumption that the OROS list for the reference quarter is a better representation of the population of enterprises with at least 1 employees which were active in the quarter than the most recent version of the SBR.
See sheets “coverage errors 1” and “coverage errors 2” in the attached excel file "Annex_2"
See sheet “classification errors” in the excel file "Annex_2" in the annex section.
The reference date for both job vacancies and occupied posts is the last day of the reference quarter.
See sheet “unit response rate” in in the excel file "Annex_2" attached in the 6.3.1 section.
6.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
see 6.3.4.1
6.3.4. Processing error
see below
6.3.4.1. Imputation - rate
Item imputation rate and methods and, where possible, the effect of imputation on the estimates for the variables transmitted
See sheet “imputation rate” in the excel file "Annex_2" attached in the 6.3.1 section.
Imputation of:
occupied posts: as described in 6.3.
job vacancies: as described in 6.3.5.
6.3.5. Model assumption error
If modelling is used, include a description of the models used. Particular emphasis should be given to models for imputation or grossing-up to correct for unit non-response.
Job vacancies imputation methods:
in enterprises with less than 10,000 employees: by hot deck nearest neighbour donation (variables in the distance function: occupied posts, lagged job vacancy rates, lagged hiring rates, lagged occupied posts’ growth rate);
in enterprises with at least 10,000 employees: if sufficient auxiliary information is available, on the basis of a time series model on the data of the concerned enterprise, with lagged job vacancy and hiring rates among the regressors.
Grossing up is done by calibrating to the known totals of the OROS measure of occupied posts in cells defined by economic activity and size.
This procedure is used also as correction for unit non response, under the assumption that the response probability is constant among enterprises within each calibration cell.
6.4. Seasonal adjustment
See the excel file "Annex_3" (SA quality template) in this section. From this release, the SA quality template refers to Total enterprises "_T" (and not only to enterprises with at least 10 employees "GE10").
Provide a revision history, including the revisions in the published number of job vacancies and a summary of the reasons for the revisions.
Each year in June, when the data for the first quarter of a year are published, revisions of the previous eight quarters are also disseminated.
Reasons for revisions:
inclusion of late responses (i.e. arrived after the first publication of the quarterly figures);
the revision of the auxiliary sources which are used for editing and imputation and calibration.
See sheet “June 2024 revisions” in the excel file "Annex_2", attached in the 6.3.1 section, for a comparison of figures for 2023 transmitted for the 70-day Regulation deadline with those disseminated in June 2024.
Furthermore, the preliminary estimates for the entire reference population, which are transmitted to Eurostat within 45 days from the end of the reference quarter, can be revised when the data for the Nace Rev. 2 sections for that quarter are produced for the 70-day regulation deadline, for the reasons indicated above.
See sheet “revisions 45-70 day deadlines” in the excel file "Annex_2" attached in the 6.3.1 section.
6.6.1. Data revision - average size
see 6.6
7.1. Timeliness
Not applicable.
7.1.1. Time lag - first result
Information on the time span between the release of data at national level and the reference period of the data.
Preliminary data are published in the Istat datawarehouse around 46 days after the end of the reference quarter. Final data are published in the Istat datawarehouse around 74 days after the end of the reference quarter.
7.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable
7.2. Punctuality
see below
7.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Deadlines for the respondents to reply, also covering recalls and follow-ups
Period of the fieldwork
Period of data processing
Dates of publication of first results
Remarks
On the whole, around 45 days on average are allowed for replies:
enterprises have about 37 days from the end of the reference quarter to reply,
the following week is dedicated to follow-up of non respondents.
The CAWI data collection period lasts about 37 days (from the first day after the end of the reference quarter).
The follow up of non respondents lasts approximately one working week.
Three working days for the preliminary estimates (at 45 days after the end of the reference quarter); five working days for the national release and the production of the figures for the 70-day EU Regulation deadline.
Preliminary estimates: transmission to Eurostat of the series for the entire reference population within the 45 day EU Regulation deadline; publication in the Istat datawarehouse of the series for the entire reference population and the main aggregates, for 2023 data around 43 days after the end of the reference quarter for Eurostat transmission and 46 for publication in the Istat datawarehouse.
For the estimates by Nace Rev. 2 section: transmission to Eurostat within the 70 day EU Regulation deadline; press releases in Italy and publication in the Istat datawarehouse, for 2023 data around 67 days after the end of the reference quarter for Eurostat transmission and 74 for publication in the Istat datawarehouse.
8.1. Comparability - geographical
Information on differences between national and European concepts, and — to the extent possible — their effects on the estimation.
8.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
8.2. Comparability - over time
Information on changes in definitions, coverage and methods in any two consecutive quarters, and their effects on the estimation.
Remarks
8.2.1. Length of comparable time series
see 8.2. and 8.1.
8.3. Coherence - cross domain
Comparisons of data on the number of vacant jobs from other relevant sources when available, in total and broken down by NACE at section level when relevant, and reasons if the values differ considerably.
No other source of vacant jobs is available for comparison.
Dissemination scheme, including to whom the results are sent
Periodicity of national publication
References for publications of core results, including those with commentary in the form of text, graphs, maps, etc.
Information on what results, if any, are sent to reporting units included in the sample
Job vacancy rates are disseminated quarterly at the national level as follows:
around 46 days after the end of the reference quarter: a news page announcing the publication of preliminary estimates in the online datawarehouse I.Stat.
around 74 days after the end of the reference quarter: a press release and the publication in the online datawarehouse I.Stat.
Furthermore, the job vacancy rates figures are transmitted quarterly to Eurostat via Edamis for the 45 (43 days after the end of the reference quarter) and 70 days (67 days after the end of the reference quarter) regulation deadlines.
In-depth descriptions of the error prevention, data integration and editing and imputation methods applied in the quarterly survey on job vacancies and hours worked can be found in:
Baldi, C., Bellisai, D., Fivizzani, S. and M. Sorrentino, “Prevenzione degli errori, integrazione dei dati e metodi statistici nel processo di controllo e correzione dell'Indagine trimestrale sui posti vacanti e le ore lavorate”, Istat, Contributi, n. 13/2008, Rome, 2008 (See this website).
Bellisai, D., Fivizzani, S. and M. Sorrentino, “A Business Survey on Job Vacancies: Integration with Other Sources and Calibration”, in Davino, C. and L. Fabbris (eds.), Survey Data Collection and Integration, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2012.
Baldi, C., Bellisai, D., Fivizzani, S., Lucarelli A. and M. Sorrentino, “L’indagine trimestrale sui posti vacanti e le ore lavorate ed il passaggio alla classificazione Ateco 2007”, chapter 5 in Istat, “Il sistema degli indicatori congiunturali sulla domanda di lavoro e le retribuzioni in base 2005 e Ateco 2007”, Rome, Metodi e norme, 2013 (Istat website).
Bellisai, D., Binci, S., Gigante, S., Libratore, A., Serbassi, L. and M. Sorrentino, “Verso la modernizzazione della produzione delle statistiche congiunturali sull’input di lavoro: il processo di integrazione tra la rilevazione mensile sulle grandi imprese e quella trimestrale sui posti vacanti e le ore lavorate”, Istat, Working Papers, n.11, 2013 (Istat website).
the calendar of all the press releases of the year is published on the Istat Web Site (Press room calendar);
the press releases are sent via email to the main news agencies just before publication;
tweets are posted at the time of each press release by @istat_it and @istat_en.
9.7.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable
9.7.2. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable
Not applicable
11.1. Confidentiality - policy
see 11.2
11.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Disclosure rules: Brief description of when data have to be deleted for reasons of confidentiality
Italian figures on the number of job vacancies and occupied posts are confidential for all study domains. This is so far Istat dissemination policy.
Furthermore, the job vacancy rate figures are confidential until their first national release (for the preliminary estimates on the B to S aggregate, at around 46 days after the end of the reference quarter; for the data by Nace sections, currently around 74 days after the end of the reference quarter). However, the data for Nace Rev. 2 section L remain confidential also after this date, due to the small size of the section.
These metadata refer to the first releases of the 2023 data, that is to the data transmitted for the 45 and 70-day EU Regulation deadlines. They refer to the revisions of the 2023 data disseminated in June 2024, together with the data for 2024Q1.
Not Applicable
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.
Enterprise
Enterprises with 1+ employees (public institutions not included).
The whole territory of the country
Not Applicable
see below
Not Applicable
Brief description of the weighting method
Weighting dimensions
Unit non responses in enterprises with at least 500 employees are imputed.
All responding enterprises and the unit non response imputed records are assigned a weight via calibration. The only exception is a small list of extremely large enterprises which are assigned a unit weight.
The theoretical reference population for the calibration is made by all the enterprises with at least 1 employees in Nace Rev. 2 sections B to S which were active in the reference quarter. This population is well represented by the set of microdata of the OROS survey for the reference quarter. The OROS survey is based on the social security database of the forms that all enterprises (with at least one hour of remunerated work) have to fill each month to pay the compulsory social contributions. It is this set of microdata that is therefore used to derive the calibration constraints. The quarterly average of monthly data on jobs, as measured by OROS, is used as the auxiliary variable in the calibration.
The calibration classes are based on economic activity and enterprise size. The economic activity classes for calibration are based on Nace Rev. 2 divisions for sections from C to E, G and N, while they are based on sections for B, F, and from H to M and P to S. The considered size classes are based on employees and are thus defined: 1-4, 5-9, 10-49, 50-499 and at least 500.
The initial calibration weights are based on both inclusion probabilities and response rates.
The calibration is carried out using a generalized software purposely built by Istat, ReGenesees, and within it, a truncated logarithmic distance function.
See the description of weighting methods.
Identification of the source of the data
Data for both job vacancies and occupied posts are collected separately for enterprises with 1-499 employees and enterprises with at least 500 employees. For enterprises with 1-499 employees, data are collected by the Istat quarterly survey on job vacancies and hours worked (VELA). For enterprises with at least 500 employees data are collected by an extended quarterly version of a well-established census monthly Istat survey on employment, hours worked, wages and labour cost in large enterprises (LES).
Coverage
- Geographical
the whole country
- NACE
NACE: sections B to S, except O, of Nace Rev. 2
- Enterprise size
enterprise size: 1+ employees
Definition of the statistical unit
enterprise
Remarks
Sampling design
Base used for the sample
Both VELA and LES surveys employ the last version of the statistical business register (SBR) available at the time when the sample is drawn. For the 2022 sample, the 2020 SBR release was used.
Sampling design
The LES survey includes in its sample all the enterprises in the population with at least 500 employees. The VELA survey is based on a sample of around 12,860 enterprises with 10-499 employees and of around 28,377 enterprises with 1-499 employees, drawn via a stratified random scheme from the SBR. The VELA sample is allocated via a constrained optimisation method (where the sample size is minimised under constraints on the maximum values of the expected coefficients of variation for the interest variables in the study domains).
Retention/renewal of sampling units
Once a year (for the wave referring to the first quarter):
the list of all the population enterprises with at least 500 employees is updated on the basis of the SBR most recently available version, and
around one third of the 1-499 employee sample enterprises is rotated.
Sample size
around 14,513 enterprises with 10+ employees and 30,030 enterprises with 1+ employees
Stratification
Economic activity, size and geographical area are used as stratification variables for the VELA sample. The considered stratification classes are the following:
for economic activity: divisions from 05 to 36 and from 45 to 47; the aggregate of divisions 37, 38 and 39; sections F, and from H to S (excluding O);
for size (in terms of employees): 1-4, 5-9, 10-49, 50-499, 500+
for geographical area: North, Centre and South (this last class includes also Sardinia and Sicily).
Sampling fractions: see sheet “sampling fractions” in the excel file "Annex_2" in the annex section.
Other sources
Maintenance agency
Not applicable
Updating frequency
Not applicable
Rules for clearance (of outdated information)
Not applicable
Voluntary/compulsory reporting and sanctions
Not applicable
Remarks
Not Applicable
Not applicable.
Information on differences between national and European concepts, and — to the extent possible — their effects on the estimation.
Information on changes in definitions, coverage and methods in any two consecutive quarters, and their effects on the estimation.
