Commission Regulation (EC) No 19/2009 of 13 January 2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies, as regards the definition of a job vacancy, the reference dates for data collection, data transmission specifications and feasibility studies (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2009-01-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, Eurostat, data collection, disclosure of information, employment statistics, exchange of information, job vacancy, vacant seat

14.1.2009

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 19/2009

of 13 January 2009

implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on
quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies, as regards the definition of a job vacancy, the
reference dates for data collection, data transmission specifications and feasibility studies

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(a)

‘active steps to find a suitable candidate’ shall include:

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

(i) notifying the job vacancy to the public employment

services;

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 concerning
quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies (1), and in
particular
and
Articles 3(1), 5(1) and 7(1) thereof,

second subparagraph of Article 2(1)

the

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 established a common
framework for the systematic production of quarterly
statistics on Community job vacancies.

Implementing measures are necessary concerning the
definition of the information to be provided and the
for which the information will be
reference dates
collected.

It is also necessary to specify the format, the deadlines
for the transmission of the required data and the date of
the first reference quarter to be transmitted.

In accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No
453/2008,
it is necessary to establish the appropriate
framework of a series of feasibility studies to be carried
out by those Member States with difficulties in providing
data for small units and for certain activities.

(5)

The European Central Bank has been consulted.

(6)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with
Statistical
the
Programme Committee,

opinion

the

of

(ii) contacting a private employment agency/head hunters;

(iii) advertising the vacancy in the media (for example

internet, newspapers, magazines);

(iv) advertising the vacancy on a public notice board;

(v) approaching, interviewing or selecting possible candi­

dates/potential recruits directly;

(vi) approaching employees and/or personal contacts;

(vii) using internships.

(b) ‘specific period of time’ shall refer to the maximum time the
vacancy is open and intended to be filled. That period shall
for which active steps are
be unlimited; all vacancies
continuing on the reference date shall be reported.

Article 2

Reference dates

Member States shall provide data on the number of
job
vacancies and the number of occupied posts, as defined in
Article 2(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 that can
the reference quarter. The
be considered representative for
preferred methods to achieve this are data collection on a
continuous basis or the calculation of a representative average
of data collected for specific reference dates.

Article 3

Data transmission

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1
Definitions related to ‘job vacancy’

For the purposes of applying Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No
453/2008:

(1) OJ L 145, 4.6.2008, p. 234.

1. Within 70 days after the end of the reference quarter,
Member States shall transmit data broken down as specified
in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008,
together
with the corresponding metadata.

Those Member States whose number of employees represents
more than 3 % of the European Community total shall transmit
the aggregate number of vacancies and occupied posts and the
corresponding metadata within 45 days after the end of the
reference quarter.

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Each Member State’s share of the total number of employees in
the EC shall be calculated every five years on the basis of the
average of the four quarters of the previous calendar year. In the
event of accession of new Member States, ad hoc calculations
shall be carried out. The first calculation shall refer to the
calendar year previous to the year of the adoption of this Regu­
lation. The source for the data on employees shall be the
European Union Labour Force Survey provided for by Council
Regulation (EC) No 577/98 (1). Data shall refer to business units
covered by Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008.

in the

transmission deadline

Any changes
countries
exceeding the 3 % threshold for the first time shall be applicable
from the first reference quarter of the year following the calcu­
lation.

for

2.
Corresponding metadata shall refer specifically to infor­
mation regarding methodological or technical events in the
quarter that is needed to interpret the results, and information
about data cells that are deemed not to be sufficiently reliable or
must not be disclosed.

3.
The Member States shall send the quarterly data and
corresponding metadata to the Commission (Eurostat) in elec­
tronic form. Transmission shall comply with appropriate inter­
change
approved by the Statistical Programme
Committee. The Commission (Eurostat) shall make available
detailed documentation in relation to approved standards and
shall supply guidelines on how to implement these standards.

standards

The first data transmission shall relate to the first quarter
4.
of the year following that of the entry into force of this Regu­
lation.

The data series shall be transmitted in the following forms:

(a) unadjusted;

(b) seasonally adjusted,

in accordance with the Commission
Regulation implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 as
regards seasonal adjustment procedures and quality reports;
and

(c) on a voluntary basis, in the form of trend-cycle series.

Article 4

Feasibility studies

The framework for
in
Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 is set out in the
Annex.

the feasibility studies provided for

Article 5

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following
that of
the European
Union.

its publication in the Official

Journal of

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

Done at Brussels, 13 January 2009.

For the Commission

Joaquín ALMUNIA
Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 77, 14.3.1998, p. 3.

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ANNEX

Feasibility study to assess how quarterly job vacancy statistics can be obtained for NACE Rev. 2 sections O, P,
Q, R and/or S

The feasibility study undertaken by a Member State shall cover in particular:

1. the contribution which each of these economic activities makes to the national economy, expressed in terms of

number of companies and employment share or a suitable alternative measure;

2. a description of the similarities and differences in job vacancy structures and developments for these economic

activities compared to the job vacancy structures and developments within NACE Rev. 2 sections B to N.

Options

The different options for obtaining the number of job vacancies and the number of occupied jobs for NACE Rev. 2
sections O, P, Q, R and/or S are to be assessed. The following possible data sources should be taken into account:

(a) existing data collections;

(b) administrative sources;

(c) statistical estimation procedures;

(d) new data collections.

For each option considered, the assessment shall include details of the technical and legal issues involved, including: the
timing of implementation; the expected statistical quality of the results; expected start-up and running costs of data
collection expressed in euro and full-time equivalent persons employed; cost by single unit surveyed; estimates of any
additional burden on businesses; any risk or uncertainties; and particular advantages or disadvantages. Cost and quality
shall be compared with that of the existing data collection for sections B to N.

Recommendation

Based on the assessment of the different options, a recommendation on the most suitable approach shall be proposed.

Implementation

Details of the proposed implementation plan, including the starting and the completion dates of specific stages, shall be
provided.

Member States undertaking feasibility studies

The following Member States shall undertake feasibility studies to assess how the quarterly job vacancy data defined in
Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 can be obtained for NACE Rev. 2 sections O, P, Q, R and/or S:

— Denmark,

— Germany,

— Spain,

— France,

— Italy,

— Malta,

— Austria.

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Feasibility study to assess how the quarterly job vacancy statistics can be obtained from business units with less
than 10 employees

The feasibility study undertaken by a Member State shall cover in particular:

1. the contribution which each firm size class makes to the national economy, expressed in terms of number of

companies and employment share or a suitable alternative measure;

2. a description of the similarities and differences in job vacancy structures and developments for this firm size class

compared to the job vacancy structures and developments in firms with 10 or more employees.

Options

The different options for obtaining the number of job vacancies and the number of occupied jobs for firms with less than
10 employees, are to be assessed. The following possible data sources should be taken into account:

(a) existing data collections;

(b) administrative sources;

(c) statistical estimation procedures;

(d) new data collections.

For each option considered, the assessment shall include details of the technical and legal issues involved, including the
timing of implementation; the expected statistical quality of the results; expected start-up and running costs of data
collection expressed in euro and full-time equivalent persons employed; cost by single unit surveyed; estimates for any
additional burden on businesses; any risk or uncertainties; and particular advantages or disadvantages. Cost and quality
shall be compared with that of the existing data collection for businesses with 10 or more employees.

Recommendation

Based on the assessment of the different options, a recommendation on the most suitable approach shall be proposed.

Implementation

Details of the proposed implementation plan, including the starting and the completion dates of specific stages, shall be
provided.

Member States undertaking feasibility studies

The following Member States shall undertake feasibility studies to assess how the quarterly job vacancy data defined in
Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 can be obtained for business units with less than 10 employees:

— Denmark,

— France,

— Italy,

— Malta.