REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on implementation of the Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies
Date: 2013-08-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, disclosure of information, employment statistics, job vacancy













EUR-Lex - 52013DC0571 - EN











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52013DC0571

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on implementation of the Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies /* COM/2013/0571 final */









REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL
on implementation of the Regulation (EC)
No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly
statistics on Community job vacancies
(Text with EEA relevance)
1. Introduction
Job vacancy statistics (JVS) provide information on the number of
jobs that are vacant at a given moment in time. They correspond to the part of
labour demand that is not met by labour supply, hence providing key information
on the size and structure of labour market mismatches.
Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and the
Council of 23 April 2008 on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies[1] (‘the JVS Regulation’) establishes
the framework for the production, transmission and evaluation of quarterly job
vacancy statistics.
Article 10 of the
JVS Regulation requires the Commission to report to the European Parliament and
the Council on its implementation by 24 June 2010 and every three years
thereafter. The report should assess the quality of the statistics provided by
Member States and the quality of the European aggregates, and should identify
potential areas for improvement.
This
is the second report that the Commission submits to the European Parliament and
to the Council[2].
It draws upon experience accumulated through the quarterly data transmissions
and documentation provided by the Member States in their annual quality
reports.
Section 2 of this report sets out the
progress made over the last three years in implementing the JVS Regulation. Section
3 assesses the quality of job vacancy statistics. Section 4 focuses
on the European aggregates. Finally, section 5 draws conclusions and
suggests ways in which users’ expectations can be met even better in the
future.
2. Implementation
2.1 Legal framework
To complement the general framework established by the JVS
Regulation, the Commission adopted two implementing Regulations, namely:
·       
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1062/2008[3] that defines the seasonal
adjustment procedures to be applied from the first quarter of 2014 as well as
the structure, contents and transmission dates of the annual quality reports to
be provided by the Member States to the Commission;
·       
Commission Regulation (EC) No 19/2009[4] where the term ‘job vacancy’ is
defined; transmission deadlines are fixed and the time periods to be covered by
the first data transmission are specified. Finally the countries running
feasibility studies and the subjects covered by these are listed in the annex
to this legal act.
In accordance with
the above legislation, all Member States are obliged to deliver time series for
the number of vacancies and number of occupied posts, starting in the first
quarter of 2010, no later than 70 days after the end of the quarter. In
addition, Member States whose number of employees represents more than 3 %
of the EU total must transmit data 45 days after the end of the quarter.
Member States must
provide the numbers of job vacancies and occupied posts for all business units
and for each section of the NACE Revision 2 classification of economic
activities[5].
However, for small
businesses (defined as units with less than 10 employees) and NACE sections O
to S[6] (where the main activities are
public administration, health services and education) the JVS Regulation
provides that those Member States having difficulties in providing data should
carry out feasibility studies.
2.2 Feasibility studies
Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Austria ran the feasibility
studies mentioned above. All of them have delivered the results to Eurostat,
although conclusions diverged as regards the possibility of extending the scope
of JVS in the short term.
Following their
feasibility studies, Spain and Austria immediately moved to cover the full
economy. Denmark has started compiling data for small businesses and Malta has done so for NACE sections O to S. France collects data for small businesses on an annual
basis and is working towards extending the JVS coverage to the non-market parts
of NACE sections O to S. Italy has recorded no tangible progress so far.
The JVS Regulation
requires the Commission (Eurostat) to adopt measures once the results of the
feasibility studies have become available. In line with this requirement, the
Commission is currently reflecting on the appropriate action to be taken.
2.3 Developments since the last report
Since the
first report to the European Parliament and the Council in 2010, Member States
have developed further the collection and transmission of JVS data. The
Commission granted some of them financial support for this purpose, as provided
for in Article 8(1) of the JVS Regulation.
The last round of JVS grants took place in
2012. The grants have supported the beneficiaries in setting up new JVS surveys
or improving existing data collection, for instance through measures to
decrease the response burden.
Since 2010, all
Member States have provided job vacancy statistics. However, some countries, in
line with specific provisions of the JVS Regulation, excluded small businesses
or one or more of the NACE sections O to S, due to difficulties they may have
had when starting to collect the data. 22 Member States now provide data for
the whole economy. For the remaining countries (Denmark, Greece, France, Italy and Malta) there are still coverage gaps relating to small business units or
NACE sections O and/or P to S.
Since 2010,
Eurostat has published the job vacancy rate, i.e. the proportion of vacant
posts in all (occupied + vacant) posts, about 80 days after the reference
quarter (T+80). In 2011, the timeliness of reporting improved considerably as
Eurostat started compiling flash estimates for the job vacancy rate for the European
Union and the euro area. This flash estimate of the quarterly job vacancy rate
for the whole economy is available on the Eurostat website about 50 days after
the end of the quarter (T+50).
In 2012, Croatia extended its JVS collection to cover small businesses in time for its accession on
1 July 2013.
With a view to
exchanging good practices, Member States and Eurostat jointly organised a
series of workshops that addressed quality and dissemination issues as well as
methodological questions, including the calculation of coefficients of
variation for job vacancies. The latest workshop was held in Luxembourg in March 2013.
3. Quality
Quality is
assessed on the basis of the five main dimensions defined by the ‘ESS Standard for Quality Reports’ guidelines[7] namely: relevance, accuracy,
timeliness, coherence/comparability and accessibility/clarity.
3.1 Relevance
The collection of JVS
data is very relevant, as it provides the only harmonised source to measure unmet
labour demand.
Quarterly data on
job vacancies are used within the Commission’s services (Directorate General
for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) and the European Central Bank to
monitor short-term developments in the business cycle and the labour market.
JVS are one of the principal European economic indicators (PEEIs)[8] which have been selected as
tools to monitor infra-annual macro-economic developments.
JVS data are also
used for indicator-based structural analyses carried out in the context of the
Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth[9]. Two JVS-based indicators have
been included in the Joint Assessment Framework, which is the scoreboard used
to monitor progress in the employment-related part of the Europe 2020 strategy.
The relevance of
the JVS would increase further if the existing coverage gaps due to the optional
provision of statistics on NACE sections O to S and small businesses were
closed.
3.2 Accuracy
The calculation of
coefficients of variation for job vacancies is particularly demanding due to
the highly skewed distribution of vacant posts, i.e. most responses tend to be
0. According to the quality reports for the reference year 2011, the
coefficients of variation for Member States’ estimates ranged between one and
seven per cent for the number of job vacancies, with only Bulgaria falling
outside this interval.
Revisions of
estimates are of particular concern to users, and are an important element of
accuracy. The situation is different for the two releases of the job vacancy
rate. Normally information from all Member States is available in the data
disseminated at T+80 days. Therefore the estimates published for the euro area
and EU-27 (T+80 estimates) cover all data received. They are subject to
revisions only when Member States deliver data after the publication deadline.
As a matter of fact, there have been no revisions to the euro area or EU-27
estimates of the job vacancy rate since the third quarter of 2010.
The flash
estimates of the aggregated job vacancy rate for the euro area and EU-27, which
are published at T+50 days, are open for revision by the time the T+80
estimates are released. There have been only limited revisions so far. In the
six quarters 2011Q3 to 2012Q4 in which the flash estimate has so far been
published, the estimate for the euro area has been revised twice (in 2012Q1 by
0.1 percentage point from 1.6 % to 1.7 % and in 2012Q4 by -0.2
percentage points from 1.8 % to 1.6 %), while the EU-27 estimate has
been revised once (in 2012Q4 by -0.2 percentage points from 1.6 % to 1.4 %).
Some Member
States, especially at the beginning of their series, have made significant
revisions to both the number of vacancies and to the number of occupied posts. However,
this had no sizeable impact on the European aggregates, as it primarily
occurred in smaller Member States.
3.3 Timeliness
Member States have
largely met their legal obligations in terms of the timely transmission of JVS
data. In the case of Greece, however, a structural delay materialised. A
roadmap was agreed with this country to resolve the late data-transmission
problem.
Timeliness has
improved since the last report, mainly with the introduction in 2011 of flash
estimates for the euro area and the EU, which are published 50 days after the
end of the quarter, well ahead of the original T+75 days target set under the
PEEI framework. The second estimate covering all Member States has been
published at about 80 days after the reference quarter.
3.4 Coherence and comparability
The coherence of
job vacancies cannot be checked directly as there is no other harmonised source
collected at European level measuring unmet demand on the labour market. While
in many countries vacancies reported to the public employment services are
counted, using these figures for checking coherence of the JVS is problematic
as they suffer from heavy under-coverage and are based on national definitions.
The number of
occupied posts, a variable which is part of the denominator for the job vacancy
rate, should be compared with information coming from other sources, in
particular with the number of employed persons reported in the Labour Force
Survey. Eurostat has agreed with Member States to extend the scope of the
quality reporting correspondingly. Comparisons and subsequent assessments of
differences must take into account conceptual and survey-related differences
between the sources.
As regards
comparability, an important feature is the reference date for which JVS data
are collected in a given quarter. Following Article 2 of
Commission Regulation (EC) No 19/2009, preference is given to collecting
information on a continuous basis or on several dates during the quarter. For
the time being, only twelve Member States and Croatia[10] collect JVS data on several
dates within the quarter. It is recommended that other Member States move to
the same practice to ensure that the estimate for the entire quarter is fully
representative.
Finally, the main
challenge as regards comparability is to have all Member States cover the
entire economy in their job vacancy surveys, i.e. to include small businesses
and NACE sections O to S. As set out in sections 2.2 and 2.3 above, five Member
States still fall short of this objective.
3.5 Accessibility and clarity
Job vacancy
statistics are made available through Eurostat’s usual dissemination channels,
namely the Eurobase online database and the dedicated Statistics Explained
pages on the Eurostat website[11].
The latter provides timely information on the job vacancy rate for both
European aggregates and individual countries, including charts on developments
over time.
Member States
provide annual quality reports in line with Commission Regulation (EC) No 19/2009
which allows Eurostat to update the metadata provided to the users.
The accessibility
and clarity of the job vacancy rate data can thus be considered as good.
4. European aggregates
European
aggregates are currently disseminated only for the job vacancy rate, not for the
absolute number of vacancies. The reason is that the underlying gaps in the coverage
of small businesses and NACE sections O to S directly affect the number of
vacancies, while the overall rate need not necessarily be affected.
However, quality
studies performed in some countries that cover the entire economy, for instance
comparing vacancies in small businesses with those in other sections of the
economy, suggest that this assumption does not fully hold. As a consequence,
there is a risk that the vacancy rate both for the EU and the euro area is
being underestimated.
Despite this
caveat, the quality of European aggregates can be considered as satisfactory. Flash
estimates can also be deemed reliable, with only minor revisions being made
when the final data are released about one month after the flash publication.
5. Conclusions
Much progress has
been made in the past three years to implement JVS legislation and to build
sound statistics in the field of job vacancies.
Country data have
been transmitted in a timely manner and European aggregates have been published
as scheduled. Timeliness improved further in 2011 when Eurostat started
publishing flash estimates. The European aggregates published, for both the
flash and final estimates, have been subject to only minor revisions.
Moreover, some of
the countries that had previously produced more limited coverage of the economy
have increased the scope of their JVS surveys in the recent past.
Nevertheless,
incomplete coverage is still the main reason that JVS data are not used more
widely. It is of the utmost importance that all Member States fully cover the
public sector and small businesses in their quarterly estimates. The Commission
will examine how to improve the situation in this regard, including the possibility
of new legislative initiatives, with a view to ensuring the necessary
improvements.
[1]               OJ L 145, 4.6.2008, p. 234.
[2]               See previous report COM(2010) 421.
[3]               Commission Regulation (EC) No
1062/2008 of 28 October 2008 implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the
European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job
vacancies, as regards seasonal adjustment procedures and quality reports (OJ L
285, 29.10.2008, p. 3).
[4]               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 job
vacancy, the reference dates for data collection, data transmission
specifications and feasibility studies (OJ L 9, 14.1.2009, p. 3).
[5]               Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing
the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and
amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC
Regulations on specific statistical domains (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006,p. 1).
[6]               Covering: Public administration and defence,
compulsory social security (section O), education (section P), human health and
social work activities (section Q), arts, entertainments and recreation
(section R) and other service activities such as activities of membership
organisations, repair of computers and personal and household goods, and other
personal service activities (section S).
[7]               See ‘ESS Standard for Quality Reports’ (available
only in English) at:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/ver-1/quality/documents/ESQR_FINAL.pdf.
[8]               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.
[9]               Communication from the Commission — ‘EUROPE 2020 — a strategy for smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth’, COM(2010) 2020.
[10]             At the time of writing, Croatia is not yet a Member State.
[11]             http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Job_vacancy_statistics.