Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community to adapt the list of survey characteristics
Date: 2003-03-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, labour market, sample survey, sampling, statistical method, working population

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 12.03.2003
COM(2003) 109 final

2003/0047 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force
sample survey in the Community to adapt the list of survey characteristics

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. 

1.

BACKGROUND AND BRIEF HISTORY

Organisation of an EU labour force survey, providing quarterly results, was started in
1998  with  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  577/98.  Recently,  Regulation  (EC)  No
1991/2002 specified that the labour force survey should be a continuous survey in all
Member  States  from  2003  onwards.  The  proposed  Regulation  adapts  the  list  of
survey characteristics.

2.

The labour force survey has two aims:

3.

2. 

4.

5.

– 

– 

to provide comparable statistics on employment and unemployment levels and
trends in the EU Member States and regions based on ILO concepts;

to describe the structure of labour participation by individuals and households
taking  into  account individual  characteristics (e.g. sex,  age,  educational level,
occupation,  previous  work  experience),  job  characteristics  (e.g.  economic
activity,  hours  worked,  size  of  the  local  unit)  and  household  characteristics
(household composition and labour participation of household members).

Because  this  household  labour  force  survey  is  the  source  for  key  socio-economic
indicators and describes the structural characteristics of the labour force, it must meet
high  statistical  quality  standards.  To  achieve  these  standards  -  a  high  response  rate
and a low error rate - interviews must be short and questions clear. This is even more
important  because  the  labour  force  survey  uses  a  rotating  panel  with  respondents
interviewed four to eight consecutive quarters.

POLICY CONTEXT

Over the past five  years, the labour market has changed and many policy measures
have come into effect under the co-ordinated process of the European Employment
Strategy. These changes can be summarised as increased employment with stronger
growth  in  female  employment,  and  emphasis  on  improved  job  quality  and  labour
market  flexibility.  The  Lisbon  strategy,  aiming  at  long-term  economic  growth,  full
employment,  social  cohesion  and  sustainable  development  in  a  knowledge  based
society, provides the framework for a coherent economic and employment policy. At
the  level  of  macro-economic  policy,  the  broad  economic  policy  guidelines
recommend invigorating labour markets. The European Employment Strategy is the
policy  response  to  achieve  the  Lisbon  employment  targets  of  an  increased  labour
participation and improved job quality  in an inclusive labour market  without  social
or  regional  disparities.  Improved  labour  force  survey  statistics  are  needed  to  better
monitor these aspects of the EU labour market performance.

In  2000,  only  minor  changes  were  made  to  the  codification  of  the  variables  (for
example, additional response categories  under  "reasons  for not working"  and under
"search  for  employment"  were 
introduced  by  Commission  Regulation  No
1575/2000), while the latest Commission Regulation (EC) No 2104/2002 concerned
only changes in the  education  and training  variables.  The  current proposal to adapt
the  list  of  survey  characteristics  concerns  six  new  variables  ("continued  receipt  of

2

wages  and  salary",  "supervisory  responsibilities",  "involvement  of  the  public
employment services in finding the current job", "overtime hours", "contract with a
temporary  employment  agency"  and  "lack  of  care  facilities  as  a  reason  for  non-
participation  or  part-time  work").  It  is  also  an  opportunity  to  formally  include  the
five variables on atypical working times as a standard module instead of the current
gentleman's  agreement  (columns  204-208  in  the  Annex  to  Commission  Regulation
(EC) No 1575/2000).

6.

The  additional  variables  cover  a  range  of  policy  issues.  The  rationale  for  each
variable is the following:

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

supervisory  responsibilities:  relevant  for  the  policy  objective  of  equal
opportunities,  it  determines  a  socio-economic  position  and  it  measures  career
advancement;

involvement  of  the  public  employment  service  in  finding  the  current  job:
relevant  for  the  policy  objective  of  enhancing  the  functioning  of  the  labour
market,  it  helps  to  assess  the  effective  role  in  job  brokerage,  in  particular  in
relation to job characteristics;

contract with a temporary work agency: relevant for labour market flexibility;
the  share  of  temporary  agency  work  is  expanding;  temporary  employment
agencies play a dual role: they help to cope with a shortage of regular staff and
they help unemployed persons to gain access to the labour market or to pursue
alternate employment and other family or leisure activities.

overtime  hours  in  the  reference  week:  relevant  for  labour  market  flexibility
against the background of a general reduction in working hours, besides being
an  essential  component  of  the  number  of  hours  actually  worked  (already
included  in  the  labour  force  survey);  it  is  a  short-term  response  by  the
employer to adapt the workforce to production or service needs.

lack  of  care  facilities  as  a  reason  for  non-participation  or  part-time  work:
relevant  for  the  policy  objective  of  equal  opportunities,  it  makes  it  easier  to
reconcile work and family life and thus increases employment for women;

continued  receipt  of  wages  and  salary:  relevant  for  determining  whether  an
employment situation is continued in the case of extended absence from work,
and an essential variable to explain the employment rate.

3. 

7.

OBJECTIVE OF THIS NEW REGULATION

The  proposed  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  amending
Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98:

– 

– 

introduces six new variables as mentioned in paragraph 6; and

makes  it  possible  to  specify  those  structural  variables  which  need  to  be
surveyed only once a year in order to estimate annual averages.

These  structural  variables  mainly  concern  reasons  for  particular  types  of  jobs  or
details about previous work experience. It is sufficient to have this information on an

3

annual  basis,  rather  than  quarterly  as  is  the  case  for  short-term  estimates.  Because
those structural variables need to be surveyed once a year only, they can be limited to
a sub-sample  with  reference  to all  52  weeks  of  the  year  in  order  to  estimate  a  true
annual average (for example, the first or the last wave). The sub-sample could even
be limited to one quarter, assuming there is no seasonal variation. Restriction of the
structural  variables  to  a  sub-sample  will  make  room  for  the  proposed  six  new
variables.

8.

9.

This  balance  between  additional  variables  to  improve  understanding  of  the  labour
market and a reduction in the response burden is an essential feature of the proposal.
It reconciles users' demands for better information with the producers' desire to treat
their respondents with proper consideration.

The new variables will most likely be applied in the labour force survey from 2005
onwards. The coding and classification of these quarterly and structural variables and
the  frequency  with  which  they  are  surveyed  will  be  defined  in  detail  in  a
Commission Regulation according to Article 4.3 of the Council Regulation (EC) No
577/98.

4. 

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The  proposed  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  has  no  financial
implications for the Commission.

5. 

NEXT STEPS

The proposed  Regulation will be submitted to the  European Parliament and  the  Council  for
their consideration.

4

2003/0047 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force
sample survey in the Community to adapt the list of survey characteristics

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article
285 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,1

Whereas:

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

The labour force sample survey to be  carried out under Council Regulation (EC) No
577/98  must  adequately  cover  new  and  recently  emerging  features  of  the  labour
market;

According  to  the  European  Social  Policy  Agenda  adopted  by  the  Nice  European
Council  in  December  2000,  the  Council  Decision  on  guidelines  for  Member  States
employment policies for 20022 and the Council  Recommendation on  the  2002 broad
guidelines  of  economic  policies,3  the  way  work  is  organised  must  be  adapted  to  the
needs of both businesses and individuals;

The survey characteristics laid down in Regulation (EC) No 577/98 were determined
according to statistical needs and the labour market situation prevailing at the time;

Data collection should not impose on respondents a burden out of proportion with the
results which users of the survey can reasonably expect;

Regulation (EC) No 577/98 should therefore be amended accordingly.

The Statistical Programme Committee, established by Council Decision 89/382/EEC,
Euratom4 has been consulted by the Commission,

1

2

3

4

OJ C […], […], p. […]
OJ, L60, 1.3.2002, p. 60-69
OJ L182, 11.7.2002, p. 1-50
OJ L 181 of 28.6.1989, p. 47

5

                                                
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 shall be modified as follows:

(1)

Points (b), (c), (d) and (g) of Article 4(1) are replaced by the following:

"(b)

(c)

(d)

(g)

labour status:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

labour status during the reference week,
continued receipt of wages and salary,
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;

employment characteristics of the main job:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

professional status,
economic activity of the local unit,
occupation,
supervisory responsibilities,
number of persons working at the local unit,
country of place of work,
region of place of work,
year and month when the person started working in current employment,
involvement of public employment service in finding the current job,
permanency of the job (and reasons),
duration of temporary job or work contract of limited duration,
full-time/part-time distinction (and reasons),
contract with a temporary work agency,
working at home;

hours worked:
-
-
-
-

number of hours per week usually worked,
number of hours actually worked,
hours of overtime in the reference week,
main reason for hours actually worked being different from usual hours;

search for employment:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

type of employment sought,
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,
reasons why person has not sought work,
lack of care facilities."

(2) The following point (n) is added in Article 4(1):

"(n) atypical working times:

-
-
-

shift work,
evening work,
night work,

6

-
-

Saturday work,
Sunday work."

(3) The following paragraph 4 is added in Article 4:

"4. On a proposal from the Commission a list of variables, hereinafter referred to as
structural  variables,  may  be  identified  from  among  the  survey  characteristics
specified  in  paragraph  1  which  need  to  be  surveyed  only  as  annual  averages  with
reference  to  52  weeks  rather  than  as  quarterly  averages.  This  list  of  structural
variables,  the  minimum  sample  size  and  the  survey  frequency  will  be  drawn  up
according to the procedure laid down in Article 8."

(4) Article 4(2), third indent is replaced by the following:

"- the volume of an ad hoc module shall be limited to eleven variables."

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

Article 2

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For the European Parliament
The President

For the Council
The President

7