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.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
1.2. Contact organisation unit
[4D1_F3] Eurostat - Labour market and skills
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
28 September 2020
2.2. Metadata last posted
28 September 2020
2.3. Metadata last update
28 September 2020
3.1. Data description
The EU has a longstanding commitment to support the principles on secure and adaptable employment, work-life balance and well adapted work environment. This is evidenced by the European employment strategy, the employment guidelines and the European Pillar of Social Rights which express the need for greater adaptability of both enterprises and workers in Europe. Those EU initiatives highlight the need to collect data on the application of new practices in work organisation and working time arrangements and the experiences of workers with those practices and arrangements at European level. In order to monitor the progress in this area, the implementation of the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) 2019 module on work organisation and working time arrangements is of high importance.
The module is split in three submodules and includes 11 variables.
Submodule 1: Flexibility of working times
The first submodule aims to establish to what degree employed persons, aged 15 years and more, are allowed to have flexible working times in order to combine their work and private life. This can be in a negative or positive way, i.e. with overtime as a consequence, or being more flexible for the family at home.
This submodule includes 5 variables:
VARIWT: Variable working time;
FREEHOUR: Freedom to take hours off;
FREELEAV: Freedom in taking leave;
FLEXWT: Expected flexibility in working times;
AVAIFREE: Available for work in free time.
Submodule 2: Methods at work
The aim of the second submodule is to assess the degree of autonomy and trust that is given to employees and how far employees can influence the way work is carried out. In addition, it provides information on how common it is to work under time pressure.
This submodule includes 3 variables:
RECHOURS: Recording of working hours;
PRESSURE: Working under time pressure;
JOBAUTON: Job autonomy.
Submodule 3: Place of work
The third submodule targets (i) to find out the main place of work, i.e. where most activities for the main job are carried out, (ii) to investigate the time to get from home to work (main job) and (iii) to collect the frequency of changing location for the main job.
This submodule includes 3 variables:
PLACEWK: Main place of work;
COMMUTM: Commuting time;
OTHERLOC: Working on other location.
Detailed information on the relevant methodology of 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.
3.2. Classification system
The EU-LFS results are produced in accordance with the relevant international classification systems. The main classifications used are ISCO-08 for occupation and ISCED 2011 for level of education. For more details please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Methodology.
3.3. Coverage - sector
As a general rule the EU-LFS covers all economic sectors.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The full technical definitions adopted by the EU-LFS are available in employ_esms
The main concepts used in this module are as follows:
Freedom to take hours off measures the possibility to take one or two hours off in the main job for personal or family matters within one working day. The terminology ‘at short notice’ consequently refers for this indicator to ‘within one working day’. Please note that for those who reported that they can fully decide on their working time, the question on the possibility to take hours off was not asked and the answer was imputed as ‘very easy’.
Freedom in taking leave measures the possibility to take one or two days of leave within three working days in the main job. For this indicator, the terminology ‘at short notice’ consequently refers to ‘within three working days’. Days off are understood as holidays (excluding for example sick leave).
Frequency of adapting working time to fulfil work tasks, concerns the flexibility the respondent has to show in order to fulfil the work tasks in the main job. The variable does not measure expectations or a perceived pressure at the workplace but concrete behaviour on how often the respondent usually has to adapt his working time to fulfil the work. This can be the consequence of a self-perceived necessity because of the volume of work or tight or changed deadlines. While this be often the case for self-employed, in the case of employees it may also be the consequence of a request from the employer.
Contact during leisure time refers to contact by e.g. phone or e-mail during leisure time in the last two months (in the main job). Leisure time refers to ‘time outside regular working hours’. ‘Being contacted to take direct action’ means that action should be taken before the next working day.
Commuting time concerns the time to get from home to work for the main job (one-way, without any detours). Usual commuting time refers to the most frequently used mode of transport and normal weather conditions.
The Eurobase tables that include this variable provide two different sorts of information:
Number of employed persons having a particular average commuting time (in thousands): can be obtained by the combination of UNIT ‘Thousands persons’ with the selection of DURATION, e.g. MN1-9, MN1-14, MN10-14 etc. This combination of selections results in the share of employed persons in thousands, being in a particular time range of commuting time
Average commuting time (in minutes): can be obtained by the combination of UNIT ‘Minutes’ with the selection DURATION ‘MN_GE1’ (1 minute or over). This combination of selections results in the average commuting time in minutes for a selected population group.
Other concepts present in the tables:
Size of firm is based on the number of persons working at the local unit and is defined as the total number of persons who work inside the unit (inclusive of working proprietors, partners working regularly in the unit and unpaid family workers), as well as persons who work outside the unit who belong to it and are paid by it (e.g. sales representatives, delivery personnel, repair and maintenance teams). The Eurobase breakdown called “SIZES” is grouped as follows:
Small à from 1 to 10 persons;
Medium à from 11 to 49 persons;
Large à 50 persons and more.
Working from home means doing any productive work related to the person's main job at home. In this context, the breakdown “FREQUENC” refers to:
“Usually” as working from home half of the days worked in a reference period of four weeks preceding the end of the reference week.
"Sometimes" as working from home less than half of the days worked, but a least one hour in a reference period of four weeks preceding the end of the reference week.
"Never" as working from home on no occasion in a reference period of four weeks preceding the end of reference week.
Household composition (HHSTATUS) distributes households according to the number of adults and children. Priority is given to the presence of at least one child aged less than three years old (living with his/her parent(s)). If this is not the case, the presence of a child aged 3-14 years old is verified. This implies that a person in a couple living with one child aged less than three years old and another child aged three up till fourteen years old, is classified as a person in a couple living with at least one child aged less than three years old. For the breakdown, subtotals of households are provided as well, i.e. with or without children, aged 14 years and younger.
Type of employment contract (EMP_CONT) combines working time with duration of the contract and refers only to employees. Technically, the variable is derived from two variables: Full-time/part-time distinction (FTPT) and Permanency of the job (TEMP).
Atypical working time includes:
Working during the evening and/or night work: In general, ‘evening work’ is considered to be the work done after usual working hours but before the usual hours of sleep in the Member State concerned. It implies the opportunity to sleep at normal times. ‘Night work’ is generally regarded as work done during usual sleeping hours and implies abnormal sleeping times;
Working on Saturdays and/or Sundays: This concept is interpreted strictly based on formal agreements concluded with the employer;
Working in shifts: Any method of organising work in shifts whereby workers succeed each other at the same work stations according to a certain pattern, including a rotating pattern. It may be continuous or discontinuous, entailing the need for workers to work at different times over a given period of days or weeks (definition of the directive 2003/88/EC).
Degree of urbanisation: aims to classify the place of residence by three types of areas: densely populated (i.e cities), intermediate (i.e. towns and suburbs) and thinly populated areas (rural areas). For reference, please consult classifications.
The ad hoc module target population is all people in employment aged 15 years and more.
3.7. Reference area
EU Member States, the United Kingdom, three EFTA Countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and Turkey.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The majority of countries (18) used the wave approach for the data collection. This resulted in the collection of AHM information from a sample that covered all quarters of the year 2019. However, 13 countries implemented the survey during the second quarter of 2019 and Estonia was the only country that collected ad hoc module data during both the second and fourth quarters of that year.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
Number of persons, expressed in thousands and percentages, with only commuting time in minutes as well.
2019
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The legal basis for the current module on work organisation and working time arrangements is the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2384 of 19 December 2017.This means that EU Member States are obliged to carry out the survey and send microdata to Eurostat. In addition, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland (EFTA countries) and Turkey have also implemented the survey.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
No mandate for international data sharing.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
8.1. Release calendar
LFS data for ad hoc modules are released after the end of the reference period, once data processing and validation are finished.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable
8.3. Release policy - user access
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
Not applicable
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Ad hoc results are presented by a press release, together with three Statistics Explained article providing main results and metadata. Additionally, a series of tables is uploaded on Eurostat Database.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
The evaluation report summarizes the main definitions and findings of the 2019 Labour Force Survey ad hoc module. To access the report, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) – ad hoc modules.
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
A multiannual ad hoc module programme has been agreed between Eurostat, the National Statistical Institutes and the main users (basically Commission services).
DG Employment and several other Directorates of the Commission use EU-LFS results to monitor and evaluate their policies. Key users also include National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), international organisations, news agencies and researchers, who use EU-LFS data for international or intra-EU comparisons. Finally, LFS data are used by Eurostat e.g. for compiling detailed regional indicators and for making estimates on current education and education levels, higher education and research, as well as estimates of labour input for national accounts.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
12.3. Completeness
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
Moreover, AHM data distribution by household composition is not available for Denmark, Finland and Sweden (tables lfso_19fxwt05, lfso_19fxwt09 and lfso_19fxwt29) due to the lack of overlap between AHM and household variables.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
The deadline for data transmissions to Eurostat was 31 March 2020.
14.2. Punctuality
Three countries did not deliver data on time. Initial validation of the data sets was finished in May 2020, with the subsequent revision round finishing in August 2020.
The 2004 LFS ad hoc module also covered this topic.
15.4. Coherence - internal
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.
17.1. Data revision - policy
These historical data are no longer updated nor revised.
17.2. Data revision - practice
These historical data are no longer updated nor revised.
18.1. Source data
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).
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data collection is quarterly or annual.
18.3. Data collection
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.
18.4. Data validation
Prior to the dissemination of national data, LFS results are validated by the Member States and checked for plausibility by Eurostat.
18.5. Data compilation
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).
The EU has a longstanding commitment to support the principles on secure and adaptable employment, work-life balance and well adapted work environment. This is evidenced by the European employment strategy, the employment guidelines and the European Pillar of Social Rights which express the need for greater adaptability of both enterprises and workers in Europe. Those EU initiatives highlight the need to collect data on the application of new practices in work organisation and working time arrangements and the experiences of workers with those practices and arrangements at European level. In order to monitor the progress in this area, the implementation of the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) 2019 module on work organisation and working time arrangements is of high importance.
The module is split in three submodules and includes 11 variables.
Submodule 1: Flexibility of working times
The first submodule aims to establish to what degree employed persons, aged 15 years and more, are allowed to have flexible working times in order to combine their work and private life. This can be in a negative or positive way, i.e. with overtime as a consequence, or being more flexible for the family at home.
This submodule includes 5 variables:
VARIWT: Variable working time;
FREEHOUR: Freedom to take hours off;
FREELEAV: Freedom in taking leave;
FLEXWT: Expected flexibility in working times;
AVAIFREE: Available for work in free time.
Submodule 2: Methods at work
The aim of the second submodule is to assess the degree of autonomy and trust that is given to employees and how far employees can influence the way work is carried out. In addition, it provides information on how common it is to work under time pressure.
This submodule includes 3 variables:
RECHOURS: Recording of working hours;
PRESSURE: Working under time pressure;
JOBAUTON: Job autonomy.
Submodule 3: Place of work
The third submodule targets (i) to find out the main place of work, i.e. where most activities for the main job are carried out, (ii) to investigate the time to get from home to work (main job) and (iii) to collect the frequency of changing location for the main job.
This submodule includes 3 variables:
PLACEWK: Main place of work;
COMMUTM: Commuting time;
OTHERLOC: Working on other location.
Detailed information on the relevant methodology of 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.
28 September 2020
The full technical definitions adopted by the EU-LFS are available in employ_esms
The main concepts used in this module are as follows:
Freedom to take hours off measures the possibility to take one or two hours off in the main job for personal or family matters within one working day. The terminology ‘at short notice’ consequently refers for this indicator to ‘within one working day’. Please note that for those who reported that they can fully decide on their working time, the question on the possibility to take hours off was not asked and the answer was imputed as ‘very easy’.
Freedom in taking leave measures the possibility to take one or two days of leave within three working days in the main job. For this indicator, the terminology ‘at short notice’ consequently refers to ‘within three working days’. Days off are understood as holidays (excluding for example sick leave).
Frequency of adapting working time to fulfil work tasks, concerns the flexibility the respondent has to show in order to fulfil the work tasks in the main job. The variable does not measure expectations or a perceived pressure at the workplace but concrete behaviour on how often the respondent usually has to adapt his working time to fulfil the work. This can be the consequence of a self-perceived necessity because of the volume of work or tight or changed deadlines. While this be often the case for self-employed, in the case of employees it may also be the consequence of a request from the employer.
Contact during leisure time refers to contact by e.g. phone or e-mail during leisure time in the last two months (in the main job). Leisure time refers to ‘time outside regular working hours’. ‘Being contacted to take direct action’ means that action should be taken before the next working day.
Commuting time concerns the time to get from home to work for the main job (one-way, without any detours). Usual commuting time refers to the most frequently used mode of transport and normal weather conditions.
The Eurobase tables that include this variable provide two different sorts of information:
Number of employed persons having a particular average commuting time (in thousands): can be obtained by the combination of UNIT ‘Thousands persons’ with the selection of DURATION, e.g. MN1-9, MN1-14, MN10-14 etc. This combination of selections results in the share of employed persons in thousands, being in a particular time range of commuting time
Average commuting time (in minutes): can be obtained by the combination of UNIT ‘Minutes’ with the selection DURATION ‘MN_GE1’ (1 minute or over). This combination of selections results in the average commuting time in minutes for a selected population group.
Other concepts present in the tables:
Size of firm is based on the number of persons working at the local unit and is defined as the total number of persons who work inside the unit (inclusive of working proprietors, partners working regularly in the unit and unpaid family workers), as well as persons who work outside the unit who belong to it and are paid by it (e.g. sales representatives, delivery personnel, repair and maintenance teams). The Eurobase breakdown called “SIZES” is grouped as follows:
Small à from 1 to 10 persons;
Medium à from 11 to 49 persons;
Large à 50 persons and more.
Working from home means doing any productive work related to the person's main job at home. In this context, the breakdown “FREQUENC” refers to:
“Usually” as working from home half of the days worked in a reference period of four weeks preceding the end of the reference week.
"Sometimes" as working from home less than half of the days worked, but a least one hour in a reference period of four weeks preceding the end of the reference week.
"Never" as working from home on no occasion in a reference period of four weeks preceding the end of reference week.
Household composition (HHSTATUS) distributes households according to the number of adults and children. Priority is given to the presence of at least one child aged less than three years old (living with his/her parent(s)). If this is not the case, the presence of a child aged 3-14 years old is verified. This implies that a person in a couple living with one child aged less than three years old and another child aged three up till fourteen years old, is classified as a person in a couple living with at least one child aged less than three years old. For the breakdown, subtotals of households are provided as well, i.e. with or without children, aged 14 years and younger.
Type of employment contract (EMP_CONT) combines working time with duration of the contract and refers only to employees. Technically, the variable is derived from two variables: Full-time/part-time distinction (FTPT) and Permanency of the job (TEMP).
Atypical working time includes:
Working during the evening and/or night work: In general, ‘evening work’ is considered to be the work done after usual working hours but before the usual hours of sleep in the Member State concerned. It implies the opportunity to sleep at normal times. ‘Night work’ is generally regarded as work done during usual sleeping hours and implies abnormal sleeping times;
Working on Saturdays and/or Sundays: This concept is interpreted strictly based on formal agreements concluded with the employer;
Working in shifts: Any method of organising work in shifts whereby workers succeed each other at the same work stations according to a certain pattern, including a rotating pattern. It may be continuous or discontinuous, entailing the need for workers to work at different times over a given period of days or weeks (definition of the directive 2003/88/EC).
Degree of urbanisation: aims to classify the place of residence by three types of areas: densely populated (i.e cities), intermediate (i.e. towns and suburbs) and thinly populated areas (rural areas). For reference, please consult classifications.
The ad hoc module target population is all people in employment aged 15 years and more.
EU Member States, the United Kingdom, three EFTA Countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and Turkey.
2019
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
Number of persons, expressed in thousands and percentages, with only commuting time in minutes as well.
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).
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).
Not applicable
The deadline for data transmissions to Eurostat was 31 March 2020.
