Instituto Nacional de Estadística de España (INE).

Labour Market Statistics Directorate

Avenida de Manoteras 50-52
28050 Madrid
Spain

Employment in industry and employment in construction. The source of these indicators is the Spanish LFS (‘Encuesta de Población Activa’)
The LFS is the main household’s survey for the knowledge of the labour market, in particular the employment.

NACE Rev. 2.

As it is a household survey, all the economic activities and all the size classes are covered.

The LFS follows the ILO methodology. The main definitions are:
Employment: People aged 16 and more that have worked at least one hour for payment in money or kind or for a profit to the enterprise in the reference week. Also are considered as employed people temporarily absent from work, for example due to sickness or holiday, provided the resumption of their job is expected. All persons in employment are considered, including working proprietors and unpaid family workers.
For employed persons the following main variables are measured: occupation, activity of the local unit, professional status, type of contract, hours worked in the reference week.

People living in private households

All persons living in private housing are included.People living in a group home included if they have a link to a private home. Foreigners are included if they are going to live in Spain for more than a year (with the exception of military and foreign diplomats)

All the regions of Spain are surveyed. The geographical coverage relates to the population with residence in Spain.

1964

The base year of the index number is 2015

The data is an index number expressed in %.

Reference period for the collection of information: The EAPS measures the situation of a person in the reference week (ie the week before the week theoretical interview).

The collection, processing and dissemination of statistical operations data for national purposes is set by Law 12/1989 , of May 9 , Public Statistical Function ( LFEP ) and Fourth Additional Provision of the Law 4/1990 , of June 29 . The LFEP provides that the National Statistical Plan is the main instrument governing statistical activities of the State Administration and contains the statistics to be developed in four years for the services of the State Administration or any other entities dependent on it and those that are to be completed wholly or partly with participation of the Autonomous Communities and local governments under cooperative agreements with state statistical services or , where appropriate , in implementing the provisions of the law. All statistics included in the National Statistical Plan are statistics for national purposes and mandatory. The National Statistical Plan 2017-2020 , approved by Royal Decree 410/2016 , of October 31st , is the plan currently in effect.

The Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS) , which provides information for the European Labour Force Survey (LFS ) , is subject to regulations governing the EFT community . The most important are:

- Regulation of the European Parliament and Council No. 577/1998 and its amending regulations , among which is located Reg.2257/2003 introducing subsample variables and Reg 1372/2007 declaring income required to provide employment information principal .

- European Commission Regulations : Reg 377/2008 establishing the list of variables to provide by EFT and Reg 1897/2000 which establishes the operational criteria of the definition of unemployment.

EAPS also provides data for variable 210 of annex A and B of short-term statistics:  Reg 1165/1998 concerning short-term statistics. 

The employment data by industry are provided to OECD, OIT, and other international agencies according to different employment questionnaires and formats.

The Law 12/1989 of the Public Statistics states that INE  can not disseminate, or make available in any way, individual or aggregate data that could lead to the identification of any individual person or entity. Moreover, the European Regulation 223/2009 on European statistics establishes the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of the data used to produce European statistics and the access to those confidential data taking into account the technical developments and the needs of users in a democratic society.

The INE takes the necessary logical, physical and administrative provisions for the protection of confidential data from data collection to publication.
A legal clause is included in the survey questionnaires informing about the protection of the data collected.
During the stages of information processing,  information allowing direct identification is only preserved while is strictly necessary to ensure the quality of processes. Direct identification data are not stored together with the own statistics, after the data collection phase.
The results to be published are analysed in detail before to prevent that confidential data of the statistical units can be derived . In cases in which  microdata are disseminated, they are always anonymous.

The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year. The calendar is presented to the media at a news conference, and is also disseminated on the INE's website.

The calendar is disseminated on the INE's website.

Short-term Statistics Availability Calendar

The data are released simultaneously to all interested parties by issuing the press release "Encuesta de Población Activa". At the same time, the data are also sent by fax to subscribers, and are posted on the INE's website (http://www.ine.es).

Some users may receive under embargo information as specified in the Code of Practice of the European Statistics.

The frequency of the data is twofold: most variables are disseminated quarterly, but for the subsample variables and ad-hoc modules the frequency is annual.

The STS employment indicator is transmitted quarterly to Eurostat.

The main results are briefly commented in the quarterly press release available in the web-site.

http://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735976595

In the INE website are available a dedicated section to LFS results.

We disseminate quarterly and annual results.

The quarterly results publishes the number of employed persons, unemployed persons, non-active persons, activity rates, and information for all the variables included in the Labour Force Survey questionnaire; main indicators are also broken down by national, regional (comunidades autónomas) and provincial levels; quarterly time series data are available since the first quarter of 2008 for NACErev2; there is information on sampling errors of the main variables.

https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=resultados&secc=1254736195128&idp=1254735976595#!tabs-1254736195129

The "Annual results " publishes annual data for the reference year for the main indicators shown in the quarterly results listed above and information on sampling and non-sampling errors. Within the annual results section we disseminate also detailed data on specific variables only obtained for an annual subsample.

https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=resultados&secc=1254736195128&idp=1254735976595#!tabs-1254736195128

INEbase is the system used to store and disseminate at INE Website all statistical information. It contains all the information produced by the INE in electronic format. It is organized basically following the thematic classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration. The basic unit is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to the collection of statistics for a particular sector or theme, from data collected individually.

Standardised anonymised microdata files are available on the INE web site:

https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=resultados&secc=1254736030639&idp=1254735976595#!tabs-1254736030639

The data are transmitted to Eurostat tha same date of the publication of national press release according to the agreed GESMES format.

Customised information must be requested in the Information Area, clearly indicating the details of the contact person (name, postal address, telephone, fax and e-mail, if you have one), and detailing as much as possible the information that you require.

Requests will pass through a viability analysis process, programming and subsequent verification that the data obtained safeguard statistical secrecy and are representative.

http://www.ine.es/ss/Satellite?c=Page&p=1254735550786&pagename=ProductosYServicios%2FPYSLayout&rendermode=previewnoinsitem&cid=1254735550786&L=1

On the website of the Labour Force Survey is provided a detailed description of the methods and concepts used, as well as other documents relating to the survey.

http://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=metodologia&idp=1254735976595

Annually publishes a report assessing the quality of EPA data which provides information on response rates obtained, the sampling errors of the estimates and the results of the survey EPA repeatedly reviewing the quality of information obtained in the interview.

http://www.ine.es/dynt3/inebase/en/index.htm?padre=1001&capsel=1003

As for the EPA as a source of EFT Spain, are prepared for Eurostat annual quality reports. Every three years, a report on the quality of the European Parliament EFT. The latter is the 7Th report and cover the period 2015-2017.

The EAPS is designed to ensure continuous assessment of data quality. Checks for invalid values ​​in the electronic questionnaire, supervision and inspection of the field work, the survey repeated made ​​to a proportion of the respondents are examples of ongoing monitoring that are made to the flow of information.

A report of errors encountered  is performed quarterly in processes centralized of the information  and sent to the various collection centers, so that they have clear indications of mistakes.

The Labour Force Survey Spain is a high quality product. The sample size offers provincial labour indicators within a reasonable sampling errors. The harmonized methodology used allows international comparisons with a high level of solvency and provides an invaluable measure of the labour market, linked and integrated with demographic information (education level, household type) that no other statistical source offers with the same level of conceptual detail.

The statistical information on the labour market in the EAPS can be contrasted with other important sources of employment and unemployment from administrative records (social security affiliation, public employment offices, business results).

As for the limitations of the survey should be pointed out the inherent to the sampling statistical operations such as no response rates and the aforementioned sampling errors or variation coefficients of the estimates. In both cases are kept within reasonable limits. Detailed information on sampling errors is provided periodically  in the tables of results published in INEBASE as well as periodic reports on quality assessment survey

The main users may be classified in the following groups:

Ministries (Economy, Labour, Education, etc..) and other public bodies (Bank of Spain, Economic and Social Council, observatories, etc..).
Regional governments (autonomous communities, provinces and municipalities).
Researchers and academics.
Companies and non-profit institutions (research services businesses, foundations, associations, etc..), Trade unions and Employer associations.
Press and the media.
Individuals.
Either through linking LFS with EAPS or directly, are numerous foreign users both institutional and individual. Among the first Eurostat, OECD, UN, IMF, etc.

The needs of the different users are broad spectrum, from the knowledge of the general evolution of the labor market (employment, labor market segmentation, etc..) to specific topics of interest (equality of women and men, education indicators, etc.).
Keeping homogeneous series and measuring the impact of changes of the survey are other aspects highly demanded by users.

The INE has conducted general surveys of user satisfaction every three years since 2007. The most recent one was in 2019. Its purpose is to know the perception of users of INE statistics regarding the quality of the information they use, and to what extent their needs are covered. Furthermore, there are other special surveys for certain aspects: dissemination of information, quality of certain publications, etc..
No specific user satisfaction survey to the EAPS has been carried out although the User Satisfaction Survey indicates the degree of satisfaction of users of labor market statistics.
Requests of EAPS data are treated punctual and are satisfied in a timely manner almost always, provided that the sample allows breakdowns requested.

Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS) meets all requirements established by national and international regulations related to labor market statistics aimed at households.
The EAPS is included in the Labour Force Survey of the European Union, which is governed by Regulations No 577/98 of 9 March 1998 and No. 2257/2003 of November 25, 2003 and Commission's regulations No. 1897/2000 September 7, 2000 and 430/2005 of March 15, 2005. It also meets the relevant regulations of the annual ad-hoc modules.

Regarding to STS indicators, EPAS provides all time series required for variable 210 in annex A and B. (Reg 1165/1998 concerning short-term statistics).

Normally, it is obtained a lower relative response of the collectives harder to find in a stable home due to the intrinsic characteristics of the EAPS. For example, the sample of older people are overrepresented in the sample, Spanish nationality people also respond at higher rates than foreigners, etc.. The application of calibration techniques from 2005 has been solved, in large part, this problem.

The calculation of the coefficients of variation of key variables is performed in each survey implementation and disseminated in the publication of their results  and the successive quality reports. For details, see Chapter 5 of Main Results or 8 Detailed results on the EPA website.

http://www.ine.es/dynt3/inebase/en/index.htm?padre=1001&capsel=1002

The response rate was around 81%. In 2020 the non-response increased due to the impossibility of personal interviews since march 2020. Actions to increase the rate of response are postal reminders, telephone contacts and field visits, but these visits were impossible since march 2020. For more information interested user is referred to the already mentioned annual evaluation survey.

https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=resultados&idp=1254735976595#!tabs-1254736195126

https://www.ine.es/docutrab/eval_epa/evaluacion_epa20.pdf

Data are published in the month following the reference quarter so the time elapsed since the reference period at the time of publication of the figures is 23 to 30 days.

The results of the survey are published according to Short-term Statistics Availability Calendar of INE.
Each publication has been released on the date announced in the calendar.

Using the definitions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the strict application of the definitions and concepts of the Labour Force Survey of the European Union, as set out in the regulations, allows to compare the results of the EAPS with those of similar surveys in other countries.

Since the third quarter of 1976 can be considered homogeneous leading indicators as the basic methodological background were the same despite changes in the survey over 30 years. It has also provided links to the main variables when methodological changes implemented have produced breaks in the series.
The Internet databases disseminated INE quarterly data series from the third quarter of 1976.

EAPS uses the concepts and definitions set by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Statistical Office (EUROSTAT ) . Exist other sources of information on the labor market in Spain , as the affiliation of workers to Social Security or the number of unemployed registered at the public employment service , from which  alternative estimates of employment and unemployment , respectively are offered. The results of these administrative sources differ from those obtained by the EAPS, because of their different nature and of the methodology used in each case.
However, employment estimates are generally consistent with the data from social security records , once the differences between the two sources are considered . Typically, EAPS estimates provide a higher level of  occupation. This is consistent with the concepts used in the survey , since the EAPS occupation is extensively measured ( having worked one hour in the reference week is enough to be classified as occupied) but  not all people who have worked a few hours are affiliated with Social Security .

The last methodological change, made in 2005,  improved measurement of  jobs of a few hours a week. This represented an increase in the estimated number of employed .

The comparison between registered unemployment figures and unemployment estimated by the survey , while providing a similar pattern of evolution over time provides considerable discrepancies in the total estimate .
These discrepancies are mainly due to the different definitions associated with the registered unemployment ( Ministerial Order of 11th March 1985 - BOE 14/3/85 ) and unemployment EAPS ( Definitions and Concepts ILO / Eurostat ) .

For more detail, refer to the section Comparison of employment and unemployment data

https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=resultados&secc=1254736195126&idp=1254735976595#!tabs-1254736195126

The use of different results provided by the different statistical sources does not indicate a problem of consistency , but rather presents measurements of reality from different perspectives.

Estimates of the "Key Indicators EAPS" have complete internal consistency, as they are based on the same corpus of microdata and are calculated using the same methods of estimation.

The estimated budget allocation necessary to finance this statistic scheduled in the annual program 2020 is 11009.53 thousand of euros.
The average length of the interviews conducted in a home is 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the type of interview (with only quarterly variables or structural variables as well) and the method of interview (personal or telephone).

The data are final when first released and are not subject to revision.

Advance notice of major changes in methodology expected to take place during a particular year is given in the annual publication " Programa Anual del Instituto Nacional de Estadística" (in Spanish), which is published in the last quarter of the previous year.

In general, the data are final when first released and are not subject to revision.

Only when new census detailled data are available the series can be recalculated backwards acordingly, if necessary, so that the next estimates are homogeneous to previous time periods.

The EAPS is a sampling-based investigation that is performed quarterly, considering the population living in family dwellings in the Spanish national territory. Its main goal is to reveal the characteristics of that population with regard to the labour market.

 The EAPS covers the entire national territory and about 99% of the population. The survey is aimed at family homes, and therefore does not include people living in group of dwellings (hotels, convents, prisons, etc..). The survey is carried out continuously at a rate of 5,000 interviews per week. The sample contains 65,000 households per quarter and about 160,000 people, or approximately 0.4% of the population. T The EAPS follows the ILO methodology.

 Sample size and design: The sample comprises 65 000 households surveyed each quarter - a sampling fraction of 0.4 percent. The final sample unit is the postal address of the house.

 Sampling Frame: The sampling frame is the list of the 32,000 census zones (or sections), in which Spain is organized for electoral and statistical purposes, and the list of postal addresses each section. Each census zone is a well-defined plot of land with its borders perfectly recognizable. The maximum size of each section are 2,000 voters. The sample consists of 3,822 sections and an average of 18 households per each section (22 in the major provinces).

 Method of sampling frame update: When the information from the last census is available, a full update is performed (every ten years). Every two years, it is a partial update with information from the electoral roll.

 Rotation system: Each quarter, one sixth of housing are renovated. Before that new homes are selected, it is an update of the section. The overlap between two consecutive quarters is 5/6 and between the same quarters of two consecutive years is 2/6. A family is interviewed for six consecutive quarters, at most.

The data collection covers the whole year (the 52 weeks), but the data are compiled quarterly.

Data collection: The first interview is a personal interview. The second and subsequent interviews are conducted by telephone interviews, unless it is not possible or  the household prefers  the personal interview. All interviews are conducted with a laptop or a computer. Since 2005, a CATI system is used in subsequent interviews. The personal interviews were cancelled since march 2020 due to COVID19 pandemic. When possible, the households in first interview were contacted and interviewed by telephone.

Survey organization: There are 52 provincial offices throughout Spain that have permanent staff who do the work of that territory in respect of personal interviews. There are also seven  telephone interview computer assisted centers covering the whole sample in successive interviews. Every week, the information available in each provincial office or in a  telephone interview center is sent to the head office in Madrid. In Galicia, the field is shared with the Galician Institute of Statistics (IGE).

Duration of field work: Most of the interviews are conducted in the week following the reference week. For those absent households, there is a maximum of six weeks to get the information.

 It is used a validation system that detects data entry errors and inconsistencies. After that, a second validation process is applied in each collection center and finally, centralized validation is performed, which takes a manual correction of errors detected in the main variables and automatic debugging of other variables.

The XML data are generated using SDMX converter software once the quarterly data are final.

Estimators: ratio estimators are used. The auxiliary information includes population projections by sex and groups of  five-years of age at the NUTS-2 level (Autonomous Communities) and age (under 16, over 16) and region (NUTS-3 or provinces). Beginning in 2005, also used the nationality of the population aged 16 and over (domestic / non-domestic) in the NUTS 2 level.

Reweighting techniques: Since 2002 reweighting techniques are applied in order to adjust estimates according to the structure by age / gender of the population in different regions. The external source of population figures called "Current Population Estimates" (nowcasts, based on census data and vital statistics and migration), is also prepared by the National Statistics Institute.

Since 2005, it also applies the distinction of nationality of the population aged 16 and over (domestic / non-domestic) in the imputation of nonresponse. The refusals in the first interview are replaced for another household of the same census section. In second and subsequent interviews negatives, missing and inaccessible information is imputed by assigning the previous response of the respondent.

The source provides total estimates of employment by sector up to the 2-digit level of NACE. These are final data.

For more detailed information:

http://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176918&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735976595