Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

F3: Labour market

Håvard Hungnes Lien
European Commission
Eurostat Directorate F
Labour Market Statistics (F3) methodology and analysis team
Bâtiment Joseph Bech D3/723
5, Rue Alphonse Weicker
L-2771 Luxembourg

The ad-hoc module "labour market situation of migrants and their immediate descendants" aimed at comparing the situation on the labour market for first generation immigrants, second generation immigrants, and nationals, and further to analyse the factors affecting the integration in and adaptation to the labour market.

The EU-LFS results are produced in accordance with the relevant international classification systems. The main classifications used are NACE Rev. 2 for economic activity, ISCO 88 (COM) and ISCO 08 (from 2011) for occupation and ISCED 1997 for the level of education. Actual coding in the EU-LFS may deviate to some extent from those general standards; for more details on classifications, levels of aggregation and transition rules, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Methodology.

Not applicable

Target population of the survey

The LFS ad hoc module for 2014 includes persons aged 15-64. This group will be referred to as the target population of the survey.
Some of the variables in the survey were limited further, thus dealing with sub-groups of the target population. See more information on each table below:

Online tables:

Immigrants and their descendants

• Population by sex, age, migration status and citizenship; in thousands of persons
• Population by sex, age, migration status and country of birth; in thousands of persons
• Population by sex, age, migration status, country of birth and country of birth of parents; in thousands of persons
• Population by sex, age, migration status and degree of urbanisation; in thousands of persons
• Ranking of country of birth of first generation of immigrants by sex and age; top three countries of birth for first generation immigration
• Ranking of citizenship by sex, age and migration status; top three citizenships for everyone residing in the country

Background of immigrants and their descendants

• Educational attainment level distribution by sex, age, migration status and educational attainment level of parents; per cent distribution of educational attainment level for each combined group of migration status, sex, and age
• First generation of immigrants by sex, citizenship, duration and reason for migration; in thousands of persons
• Immigrant's skills in host country language by migration status and citizenship; per cent distribution of knowledge of the host country language for each group of migration status and citizenship

Labour market situation of migrants

• Labour status distribution of the population by sex, age, migration status and educational attainment level; per cent distribution of labour status (employed, unemployed, inactive) for each combined group of sex, age, migration status and educational attainment level
• Activity rate by sex, age, migration status, citizenship and education attainment level; activity rate (and by consequence inactivity rate) for each combined group of sex, age, migration status, citizenship and educational attainment level
• Employment rate by sex, age, migration status, citizenship and education attainment level; employment rate for each combined group of sex, age, migration status, citizenship and educational attainment level
• Employment rate of first generation of immigrants by sex, age, duration of residence, and reason for migration; employment rate for each combined group of sex, age, duration of residence, and reason for migration
• Unemployment rate by sex, age, migration status, citizenship and education attainment level; unemployment rate for each combined group of sex, age, migration status, citizenship and educational attainment level
• Employment by migration status, professional status, type of contract and full/part time; in thousands of persons
• Main methods to find current job by migration status, educational attainment level and type of contract; per cent distribution of main method used to find the current job, for each combined group of migration status, educational attainment level, and type of contract (permanent / temporary job)
• Employees by migration status, educational attainment level, occupation and working time; in thousands of persons
• Self-declared over-qualified employees as percentage of the total employees by sex, age, migration status and educational attainment level; per cent distribution of self-declared over-qualified employees, for each combined group of sex, age, migration status, and educational attainment level

Please see the methodology page of the LFS for full definitions of the rates.
 
Immigrants and their main obstacles in participating in the labour market

• Obstacles to getting a suitable job by migration status, labour status and citizenship; per cent distribution of main obstacle to get a suitable job, for each combined group of migration status, labour status and citizenship group
• Obstacles to getting a suitable job by migration status, labour status and educational attainment level; per cent distribution of main obstacle to get a suitable job, for each combined group of migration status, labour status and educational attainment level

 
The migration status distinguishes between nationals and immigrants, and between first and second generation immigrants. Immigrants are persons who established their usual residence in another country than they were born, for a period that is – or is expected to be – at least 12 months. The usual residence means the place at which a person normally spend the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absence for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friend and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage or, by default, the place of legal or registered residence. Second-generation immigrants refer to two different groups of immediate descendants of immigrants. The first group, with a mixed background, is defined as persons who are born in the country of interview (native born) and who have one foreign-born parent and one native-born parent. The second group, with a foreign background, is defined as persons who are native-born, with both parents being foreign-born. Summarising, the migration status can takes the following values:

• native-born
• native-born with native background
• native-born with mixed and foreign background (second generation of immigrants)
• native-born with mixed background
• native-born with foreign background
• foreign-born (first generation of immigrants)
• no response
• unknown

Methodology notes:

Please note that for the Human Development Index rank used in these tables, we have combined the original ranks 'very high' and 'high' into 'high'.

The variable migration status is derived from the labour force survey variables country of birth, country of birth of father, and country of birth of mother, for all participating countries except Germany. For Germany the country of birth is instead linked from the micro census. For persons living in Germany but who were not born in Germany there is no detailed information on which country they were born in.

For more details on the definitions and concepts in the EU-LFS, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Methodology.

Detailed information on the relevant methodology for the ad-hoc module (including the Commission regulation and explanatory notes) as well as documentation from each participating country (national questionnaires and interviewers instructions) can be found on EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Ad-hoc modules.

Persons aged 15-64, living in private households.

Persons aged 15 – 64, living in private households.

24 member states: BE, BG, CZ, DE (no microdata available), EE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY. LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI. SE, UK
2 EFTA countries: NO, CH
Data for Cyprus refer only to the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.

2014. Differences between countries: either second quarter, or first to fourth quarter, or first and fourth quarter, or first and second quarter.

Not applicable

Number of persons, expressed in thousands.
Number of persons, expressed in per cent.
Employment rate.
Unemployment rate.
Activity rate.
Ranking of country of birth.
Ranking of citizenship.

2014

European Statistical System (ESS) agreement within the meaning of Article 14(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics

No mandate for international data sharing.

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 micro data 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 micro data is nevertheless strictly controlled and limited to specified Eurostat staff. After data treatment, records are aggregated for all further use.
For more information on publications guidelines and thresholds, please consult: EU-LFS - Data and publications.

LFS data for ad-hoc modules are released after the end of the reference period once data processing and validation is terminated. This is not scheduled in a release calendar.

Not applicable

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 - 'Accessibility and clarity') 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.

Not applicable

Not applicable

The evaluation report summarizes the main definitions and findings of the 2014 LFS (Labour Force Survey) ad hoc module. To access the report, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - ad-hoc modules.

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

EU-LFS anonymized microdata are available for research purposes. Please consult access to microdata.

Not applicable

For information on the 2014 LFS (Labour Force Survey) ad hoc module, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Ad-hoc modules.
For a detailed description of methods and concepts used, as well as for other documents related to the EU-LFS, for general information please consult the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.
The EU-LFS also disseminates publications on the methodology of the survey. For more information please consult: Quality reports and methodological publications.

Please consult the evaluation report at EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Ad-hoc modules.

The concern for the quality of labour statistics in general and of the Labour Force Survey in particular has been expressed in Regulations, 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.

Concerning the Labour Force Survey, major milestones in the improvement of its 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 have continuously worked also on a voluntary basis to improve the quality of the Labour Force Survey. 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.

The overall quality of LFS statistics is considered as high. LFS surveys are considered as reliable sources applying high standards with regard to the methodology. However, the LFS, like all surveys, 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.

Eurostat analyses the outcome of the survey.  The results are published in the final evaluation report. Please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Ad-hoc modules.

A multiannual ad hoc module programme is agreed between Eurostat, the National Statistical Institutes and the main policy users (basically Commission services).

EU-LFS results are used mainly by the DG Employment and a number of other Directorates of the Commission (in the case of this ad hoc module, mainly DG Home) for measurement and monitoring of policy agendas purposes. Key users include National Statistics Institutes (NSIs), international organisations, news agencies and researchers, which use of various aspects of EU-LFS 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.

Eurostat does not carry out any satisfaction survey targeted at users of labour markets statistics. 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.

Some NSIs implement the full set of questions only in the spring or to a certain survey wave. For more details see evaluation report at EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Ad-hoc modules.

The overall accuracy is considered as high. The LFS covers persons aged 15 years and over, 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 vary between 0.2 % and 1.6 %). Most of the National Statistics Institutes employ multi-staged stratified random sample design, especially those that do not have central population registers available. 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.

For the sample size per country see evaluation report at EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Ad-hoc modules.

Not available.

Following the ESS Agreement, the deadline for data transmissions to Eurostat was 30 March 2015. The release of EU-LFS data is not bound by an advance calendar of publication.

All participating countries delivered the data on time. Several countries sent revisions after the initial transmission. Initial validation of the data sets was finished 28 May 2013, with the subsequent revision round finishing 13 July 2015.

For details on comparability see evaluation report at EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Ad-hoc modules.

Not applicable.

The 2008 LFS ad hoc module also covered this topic.

Published estimates stemming from the LFS are considered fully internally coherent, since arithmetic and accounting identities in the production of LFS datasets are observed.

Information on average interview lengths is available in the evaluation report - see LFS ad hoc modules.

LFS data for ad-hoc modules, once released, are not usually revised, 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.

Not applicable.

The source of the data is the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS). The EU LFS is a rotating random sample survey of persons in private households. It is organised in thirteen modules, covering their demographic background, labour status, employment characteristics of the main job, hours worked, employment characteristics of the second job, time-related underemployment, search for employment, education and training, previous work experience of persons not in employment, situation one year before the survey, main labour status, income, and technical items relating to the interview. An additional so-called ad-hoc module can be added to address specific subjects that change from year to year. 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).

Data collection is quarterly or annually.

The data is acquired by interviewing the sampled individuals directly. For the sample design and rotation patterns applied in each country, please consult the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.

Prior to the dissemination of national data, LFS results are validated by the Member States and checked for plausibility by Eurostat.

Aggregate figures are calculated by adding up all the national data series.
Rates/Ratios are subsequently calculated from the data expressed in absolute values (i.e. number of persons).

No adjustments.

No notes