COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2019/2241

of 16 December 2019

describing the variables and the length, quality requirements and level of detail of the time series for the transmission of monthly unemployment data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 (1), and in particular Article 7(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The provision of monthly unemployment data by Member States plays an essential role in informing the Commission (Eurostat) and thus supporting the Union key priorities for growth and job creation by ensuring the use of timely and comparable data for the formulation and monitoring of the Union’s policies targeted to those priorities.

(2) Monthly unemployment data are used to compile the Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR), which is one of Principal European Economic Indicators (2).

(3) The monthly unemployment statistics should be based on internationally agreed concepts as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

(4) In case Member States do not compile the monthly unemployment statistics in accordance with the ILO definition, they should compile monthly unemployment estimates or transmit monthly unemployment inputs to the Commission (Eurostat) that would compile such monthly estimates on their behalf.

(5) Monthly unemployment data should measure unemployment at the reference month, after adjusting for possible seasonal effects without excessive smoothing. They should be consistent with the quarterly data collected in the labour force domain under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700.

(6) Member States should transmit monthly unemployment data according to a precise timetable so that the Commission (Eurostat) can meet the timeliness requirements of the users.

(7) The quality of monthly unemployment data should be monitored through a set of commonly agreed and uniformly applied indicators.

(8) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European System Statistical Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1 Subject matter This Regulation establishes the variables, the length, level of detail and quality requirements of monthly unemployment data to be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700.

Article 2 Definitions For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (1) ‘monthly unemployment statistics’ means the record of the number of employed and unemployed persons, and the derived ‘monthly unemployment rate’, in accordance with the ILO definition (3) as implemented in the labour force domain under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700; (2) ‘monthly unemployment rate’ means the number of unemployed persons divided by the number of employed and unemployed persons for the reference month; (3) ‘monthly unemployment inputs’ means the record of the number of unemployed persons registered in the Public Employment Services of the Member States; (4) ‘monthly unemployment estimates’ means the combination of quarterly data based on the ILO definition, as implemented in the labour force domain under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, and monthly registered unemployment; (5) ‘monthly unemployment data’ means the data to be transmitted in accordance with this Regulation, namely monthly unemployment statistics, monthly unemployment inputs or monthly unemployment estimates; (6) ‘reference month’ means the set of weeks assembled in the following way: — Each week belonging to a reference quarter, as established for the quarterly data collected in the labour force domain under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, is allocated to only one of the three reference months belonging to that quarter; — Weeks that belong in full to a calendar month are allocated to the corresponding reference month; — Weeks that cross over two calendar months are allocated to one of the two corresponding reference months.

Article 3 Data requirements 1. Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) either monthly unemployment statistics [option 1]; monthly unemployment inputs [option 2] or monthly unemployment estimates [option 3]. 2. Data sets containing monthly unemployment statistics shall include monthly statistics that are representative of the entire reference month. 3. Data sets containing monthly unemployment inputs shall include data corresponding to the number of persons that were registered as unemployed at a given period of the calendar month. 4. Registered unemployment figures used in the compilation of monthly unemployment estimates shall correspond to the number of persons that were registered as unemployed at a given period of the calendar month. 5. The names and definitions of the variables to be transmitted shall be those listed in Annex I for monthly unemployment statistics [option 1], in Annex II for monthly unemployment inputs [option 2] and in Annex III for monthly unemployment estimates [option 3].

Article 4 Transmission deadlines 1. Monthly unemployment data shall be transmitted each month within the deadlines set in Annex V of Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, as follows: (a) for Member States having chosen option 1, the monthly unemployment statistics shall be transmitted within 27 days after the calendar month; (b) for Member States having chosen option 2, the monthly unemployment inputs shall be transmitted within 25 days after the calendar month; (c) for Member States having chosen option 3, the monthly unemployment estimates shall be transmitted within 25 days after the calendar month. 2. In months where the deadline falls on Saturday or Sunday, the effective deadline shall be the following Monday. Monthly unemployment data for the reference month of November shall be transmitted by 31 December. Data transmission shall start at the latest for the reference month of May 2021.

Article 5 Back series 1. For Member States having chosen to submit monthly unemployment statistics [option 1] or monthly unemployment estimates [option 3]: (a) the first transmission for the reference month of May 2021 shall also include monthly unemployment statistics or, respectively, monthly unemployment estimates for the reference months of January to April 2021; (b) the transmission for the reference month of April 2022 shall include break-free time series for monthly unemployment statistics or, respectively, monthly unemployment estimates for all reference months back to January 2009 included; (c) from the reference month of May 2022 onwards, the transmissions shall include revised series back to January 2009. 2. For Member States having chosen to submit monthly unemployment inputs [option 2], the first transmission for the reference month of May 2021 shall also include monthly unemployment inputs back to January 2009.

Article 6 Sources and methods 1. By 19 July 2020 at the latest, Member States having chosen to submit monthly unemployment estimates [option 3], or respectively to submit monthly unemployment inputs [option 2], shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) a description of the sources and methods used for the compilation of the monthly unemployment estimates or, respectively, the monthly unemployment inputs. 2. Member States having chosen to submit monthly unemployment statistics [option 1] shall only transmit a description of the methods used for the derivation of the monthly statistics from the quarterly data collected in the labour force domain under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700. 3. Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) two months before any changes to the description provided in accordance with paragraph 1 or 2 are implemented, and transmit the updated documentation no later than six months after the implementation of the changes. 4. Member States shall include, within each monthly transmission, information on possible breaks in the series as well as other special events that may impact comparability over time.

Article 7 Quality requirements 1. The Commission (Eurostat) shall monitor the quality of the overall monthly unemployment rate, according to the ILO concept, which is published by Member States (options 1 and 3) or by Eurostat (option 2) as headline indicator. 2. The quality of the overall monthly unemployment rate is monitored, every three years, through the set of indicators and thresholds included in Annex IV.

Article 8 Entry into force This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 16 December 2019. For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 261 I, 14.10.2019, p. 1.

(2) Communication of the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on eurozone statistics ‘Towards improved methodologies for Eurozone statistics and indicators’, COM(2002) 661 final.

(3) As adopted on 11 October 2013 by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians in its first resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour utilization.