Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) on the organization of a labour force sample survey in the Community'
Date: 1998-02-25
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: economic statistics, labour market, sample survey, unemployment, working population

27.4.98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 129/65

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation
(EC) on the organization of a labour force sample survey in the Community’

(98/C 129/15)

On 25 February 1998 the Economic and Social Committee, acting under the third paragraph
of Rule 23 of its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an Opinion, on the above-mentioned
proposal.

The Economic and Social Committee appointed Mr Kenneth Walker as main rapporteur and
asked him to prepare the work at hand.

At its 352nd plenary session (meeting of 25 February 1998), the Economic and Social Committee
adopted the following opinion by 70 votes in favour, one against and one abstention.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
In order to carry out its tasks, in particular the
monitoring of trends in employment and unemployment
(Annual Report to the Council following the Essen
Summit), to identify the regions most affected by
unemployment (eligibility for the Structural Funds —
Objective 2) and to analyze the situation of individuals
and households on the labour market, the Commission
wishes to have regular, comparable, recent and represen-
tative regional data on unemployment in the Member
States.

1.2.
The Community Labour Force Survey currently
consists of putting together the national labour force
surveys conducted in the Member States. Although
formally harmonized (1), these surveys essentially retain
their own specific features as adopted to meet national
requirements.

Subsisting differences include the frequency of
1.2.1.
reporting, the definition of the reference period, the
units observed, the survey coverage, the observation
methods, the sample design, the extrapolation methods
and the questionnaires. The country-to-country compa-
rability of the data obtained, particularly on employment
and unemployment, is therefore seriously impaired.

1.3. One of the obstacles to achieving more compa-
rable survey methods is the inertia of large sample
surveys; reforming a national labour force survey rep-
resents a considerable investment of resources in terms
of sample design, organization of data processing and
general survey infrastructure. It is not until a Member
State has actually begun to overhaul its survey that there
is any real chance of progress. For this reason, the
proposed regulation defines a target while allowing the
Member States the option of conducting only an annual
survey in the Spring, for a transitional period.

1.4.
Limiting the costs of implementing the continu-
ous survey has been a major consideration; spreading

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) 3711/91, 16.12.1991.

data collection over the whole year should make for a
more rational organization of the operations and more
efficient use of computer resources; the accuracy levels
set do not generally imply an excessive increase in the
size of the annual sample; the requirement to use the
household as the sampling unit has been dropped in
order to accommodate those Member States which
prefer to base their sample on individuals, on condition
that the other requirements regarding households are
met; and certain variables included in the current series
of surveys have been dropped.

1.5.
In line with the principle of subsidiarity, only
data on the variables used to determine activity status
and underemployment are required to be collected in
direct personal interviews conducted according to very
strict common guidelines, which are deemed to be
essential for ensuring an acceptable degree of compara-
bility of the results. For the remaining variables, the
wording and sequence of the questions are not subject
to Community guidelines but are left to the discretion
of the Member State or the information required may
be obtained from other sources.

1.5.1.
Furthermore, the target structure does not
require a sample rotation scheme so that Member States
can use the survey plan which most effectively takes
account of specific national features.

2. The Commission’s proposals

2.1. Member States would be required to conduct a
labour force survey each year.

2.1.1.
The survey would be a continuous survey
providing quarterly and annual results. However, those
Member States which were unable to implement a
continuous survey would be permitted to conduct an
annual survey only, to be carried out in the Spring.

2.1.2.
The information to be collected in the survey
would relate generally to the situation during the course
of the week (taken to run from Monday to Sunday)
preceding the interview, known as the reference week.

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2.1.3.
In the case of a continuous survey, the reference
weeks would be spread uniformly throughout the year.
The interview would normally take place in the week
following the reference week. The reference week and
the date of the interview would not be permitted to be
more than five weeks apart, except in the third quarter.
The reference quarters and years would be respectively
groups of 13 and 52 weeks.

working age, the standard error at national level for the
estimate of changes between two successive quarters did
not exceed 2 % of the sub-population concerned.

2.3.2.1.
For Member States with populations between
one million and twenty million, this requirement would
be relaxed to 3 %.

2.2.
The survey would be carried out on a sample of
those residing in the economic territory of each Member
State at the time of the survey. The sample could be
selected on the basis of either an individual or a
household. Regardless of whether the sampling unit
were an individual or a household, information would
be collected in respect of all persons residing in the
household but, where the sampling unit was an individ-
ual, the information required in respect of other members
of the household would be reduced. A household is a
physical concept, i.e. all persons residing in the same
premises are deemed to constitute a household, regard-
less of their relationship to each other.

2.2.1.
The principal scope of the survey would consist
of persons residing in private households on the econ-
omic territory of each Member State; where possible,
this main population would be supplemented by persons
residing in collective households. The survey would not
be limited to those of working age.

2.2.2.
The variables used to determine labour status
and underemployment would have to be obtained by
interviewing the person concerned or, if this were not
possible, another member of the same household. Other
information could be obtained from alternative sources,
including administrative records, provided that the data
obtained were of equivalent quality.

2.3.
The proposed regulation lays down certain
reliability criteria to ensure the representativeness of the
sample.

2.3.1.
In order to ensure a reliable foundation for
comparative analysis, at Community level as well as at
the level of the Member State and of specific regions,
the sampling plan would have to guarantee that for
characteristics relating to 5 % of the population of
working age the relative standard error for the estimation
of annual averages (or of the Spring estimates in the
case of an annual Spring survey) at NUTS II level did
not exceed 8 %, assuming the design effect for the
variable ‘unemployment’.

2.3.1.1.
would be exempt from this requirement.

Regions with less than 300 000 inhabitants

2.3.2.
In the case of a continuous survey, the sample
design would have to guarantee that, for sub-populations
which constituted about 5 % of the population of

2.3.2.2. Member States with a population below
one million would be exempt from these precision
requirements concerning changes.

2.3.3. Where the survey was carried out only in the
Spring, at least a quarter of the survey units would have
to be taken from the previous survey and at least a
quarter would have to form part of the following survey.

2.3.4. Where non-response to certain questions result-
ed in missing data, statistical imputation would normally
be applied.

2.3.5.
The weighting factors would be calculated
taking into account the probability of selection and
external data relating to the distribution of the popu-
lation being surveyed by sex, age (in five-year age
groups) and region (NUTS II level), where such external
data were sufficiently reliable. The same weighting
factor would be applied to all members of the same
household.

2.3.5.1. Member States would have to provide Euro-
stat with whatever information it required concerning
the organization and methodology of the survey and, in
particular, would have to indicate the criteria adopted
for the design and size of the sample.

The list of survey characteristics on which data
2.4.
would have to be collected is set out in Appendix 1. It is
divided into 13 modules; which are sub-divided into a
total of 85 questions. Where the sampling unit was an
individual, the information required in respect of other
members of the household would exclude modules g, h,
i and j.

2.4.1.
A further set of variables, known as ‘ad hoc’
modules might be added to the information required
from time to time. These supplementary modules could
cover such aspects as organization of work, accidents at
work and the transition from education to work. The
volume of an ad hoc module would not exceed the
volume of module c.

2.4.1.1.
A programme of ad hoc modules covering
several years would be drawn up each year, not less that
twelve months prior to the reference period for any
module in the programme. The programme would
specify for each ad hoc module the subject, the Member
States and regions covered, the reference period, the
sample size (equal to or less than the main sample) and
the deadline for the transmission of results (which might
be different from the deadline for the survey as a whole).

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The Member States would be entitled to make it

2.5.
compulsory to reply to the survey.

2.6.
The results would be required to be forwarded
to Eurostat, duly checked, by each Member State for
each person questioned (without indication of name or
address) within twelve weeks of the end of the reference
quarter in the case of a continuous survey and within
nine months of the end of the reference period in the
case of an annual Spring survey.

2.7.
A report on the implementation of the Regulation
would be submitted by the Commission to the Parliament
and the Council every three years, commencing in the
year 2000. The report would evaluate in particular the
quality of the statistical methods employed by the
Member States.

2.8.
The Commission would be assisted by the
Statistical Programme Committee set up under Decision
(EEC, Euratom) No 89/382, acting within the framework
of the ‘regulatory committee’ procedure. The Com-
mission would adopt measures which would apply
immediately. However, if these measures were not in
accordance with the opinion of the Committee, the
Commission would refer them to the Council forthwith
and delay application of the measures. The Council,
acting by a qualified majority, could decide to reject the
measures within a period of three months, failing which
the measures would be applied.

2.9.

Regulation (EEC) No 3711/91 would be repealed.

3. General Comments

The ESC considers that the availability of reliable
3.1.
and detailed information on the characteristics of
the labour market,
including the characteristics of
employment and the nature and extent of the unemploy-
ment situation in the various Member States, and on the
different regions within individual Member States,
is essential to the development of a coherent and
coordinated strategy to reduce unemployment levels in
the European Union. By the same token, it is obvious
that such statistics need to be prepared on a comparable
and consistent basis if they are to be of real value.

3.1.1.
The Committee therefore welcomes the Com-
mission’s present proposal as constituting a positive step
in this direction.

3.2.
The ESC feels that the comparability of the
statistics would be greatly enhanced if all Member States
were to conduct the survey on a continuous basis, as is
currently the case in a majority of Member States. The
Committee therefore hopes that the transitional phase
during which Member States would be given the option
to conduct an annual survey in the Spring will be
curtailed as much as possible and that within the

reasonably near future there will be a situation in which
every Member State conducts a continuous survey. This
should not impose an undue burden, either on the
administrative departments of the Member States or on
the interviewees.

3.3.
The accuracy of a sample survey is heavily
dependent on the extent to which the sample is selected
on a truly random basis. The ESC therefore endorses
the proposition that Member States may be entitled to
make it compulsory to reply to the survey, since
non-response impairs the random nature of the sample.
The sample should be selected on a common basis.

The ESC considers that on-going differences
3.3.1.
between the Member States in the content of the
questionnaires and in the way in which the question-
naires are administered and interpreted constitute a
weakness in the system which will vitiate the true
comparability of the results obtained and it would like
to see a greater degree of harmonization in this area.

The ESC feels that

3.3.2.
the harmonization of
surveys should make it possible to calculate and publish
unemployment rates in both the restricted and broad
senses of the term as defined by the ILO. The ESC
considers that the current practice of expressing the
unemployment rate in the restricted sense does not allow
a correct assessment of the unemployment problem and
may make it difficult to compare data from different
Member States, which is all the more serious when such
data is then used by the Commission as the basis for its
proposed schedule of Structural Fund distribution.

3.4.
The ESC believes that these surveys can be
of considerable use in determining the true level of
unemployment by identifying, for example, those per-
sons who have not registered as unemployed because
they do not consider that there is any real prospect of
obtaining work but who would, nevertheless, like to
work if the opportunity were there. They could also
provide interesting data on part-time working by dis-
tinguishing between those who work part-time because
that is what they wish to do and those who do so
because that is all that is available; to this end, questions
should be directed at both the wish to extend and the
wish to curtail working hours, with a view to providing
reliable statistics on full-time equivalent employment.
Other relevant elements on which to focus attention
would be the various types of employment contract and
the provision of differentiated data on temporary work.

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3.4.1.
The use of ‘ad hoc’ modules offers significant
potential for obtaining detailed information on employ-
ment levels, specific aspects of the unemployment
situation and contractual arrangements.

4. Conclusion

The Committee regrets that it was not consulted
4.1.
on the proposed regulation, obliging it to issue an
own-initiative opinion.

3.5.
The ESC approves the proposal for the Com-
mission to be assisted by the Statistical Programme
Committee, acting within the ‘regulatory committee’
framework.

The ESC approves the Commission’s proposal
4.2.
for a Council Regulation on the organization of a labour
force sample survey in the Community.

Brussels, 25 February 1998.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS

APPENDIX

to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

Survey characteristics

1. Data shall be collected on:

a)

demographic background:

— sequence number in the household
— sex
— year of birth
— date of birth in relation to the end of the reference period
— marital status
— relationship to reference person
— sequence number of spouse
— sequence number of father
— sequence number of mother
— nationality
— number of years of residence in the Member State
— country of birth (optional)
— nature of participation in the survey (direct participation or proxy through another member

of the household)

b)

labour status:

— labour status during the reference week
— reason for not having worked though having a job
— search for employment for person without employment
— type of employment sought (self-employed or employee)
— methods used to find a job
— availability to start work

c)

employment characteristics of the main job:

— professional status
— economic activity of local unit
— occupation
— number of persons working at the local unit

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— country of place of work
— region of place of work
— year and month when the person started working in the current employment
— permanency of the job (and reasons)
— duration of temporary job or work contract of limited duration
— full-time/part-time distinction (and reasons)
— working at home

d)

hours worked:

— number of hours per week usually worked
— number of hours actually worked
— main reason for hours worked being different from person’s usual hours

e)

second job:

— existence of more than one job
— professional status
— economic activity of the local unit
— number of hours actually worked

f)

visible underemployment:

— wish to work usually more than the current number of hours (optional in the case of an

annual survey)

— looking for another job and reasons for doing so
— type of employment sought (as employee or otherwise)
— methods used to find another job
— reason why the person is not seeking another job (optional in the case of an annual survey)
— availability to start work
— number of hours of work wished for (optional in the case of an annual survey)

g)

search for employment:

— type of employment sought (full-time or part-time)
— duration of search for employment
— situation of person immediately before starting to seek employment
— registration at public employment office and whether receiving benefits
— willingness to work for person not seeking employment
— reason why person has not sought work

h)

education and training:

— participation in education or training during previous four weeks
— purpose
— level
— place
— total length
— total number of hours
— highest successfully completed level of education or training
— year when this highest level was successfully completed
— received vocational training within a dual system

i)

previous work experience of person not in employment:

— existence of previous employment experience
— year and month in which the person last worked
— main reason for leaving last job or business
— professional status in last job
— economic activity of local unit in which person last worked
— occupation of last job

j)

situation one year before the survey:

— main labour status
— professional status
— economic activity of local unit in which person was working
— country of residence
— region of residence

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k) main labour status (optional)

l)

income (optional)

m)

technical items relating to the interview:

— year or survey
— reference week
— interview week
— member state
— region of household
— degree of urbanization
— serial number of household
— type of household
— type of institution
— weighting factor
— sub-sample in relation to the preceding survey (annual survey)
— sub-sample in relation to the following survey (annual survey)
— sequence number of the survey wave

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation
(EC) on the application of Articles 92 and 93 of the EC Treaty to certain categories of
horizontal state aid’

(98/C 129/16)

On 7 October 1997 the Commission decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned
proposal.

The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 6 February 1998. The rapporteur
was Mr van Dijk.

At its 352nd plenary session (meeting of 25 February 1998) the Economic and Social Committee
adopted the following opinion with 70 votes in favour and four abstentions.

1.

Introduction

c) aid granted to the economy of certain areas of the

Federal Republic of Germany.

The EC Treaty regards state aid as being generally
1.1.
incompatible with the common market. Articles 92 and
93 of the EC Treaty are devoted to this subject, and
Article 94 specifies how decisions are to be reached on
the measures to be taken.

The Treaty considers the following forms of aid

1.2.
to be compatible with the common market:

a) aid having a social character, granted to individual
consumers, provided that such aid is granted without
discrimination related to the origin of the products
concerned;

b) aid to make good the damage caused by natural

disasters or exceptional occurrences;

In addition, the following forms of state aid may

1.3.
be considered to be compatible:

a) aid to promote the economic development of areas
where the standard of living is abnormally low or
where there is serious underemployment;

b) aid to promote an important project of European
interest or to remedy a serious disturbance in the
economy of a Member State;

c) aid to stimulate certain economic activities or econ-
omic areas, where such aid does not adversely affect
the common interest;