CELEX: 51981PC0549
Language: en
Date: 1981-10-05
Title: Draft COUNCIL DIRECTIVE (EEC) relating to the organization by the Member States of surveys on the earnings of permanent and seasonal workers employed in agriculture (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (81) 549
Vol. 1981/0167
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                             COM(81)549 final
                                             Brussels . 5 October 1981
                               Draft
                       COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ( EEC )
         relating to the organization by the Member States of
         surveys on the earnings of permanent and seasonal
                                                           «
         workers employed in agriculture
            ( submitted to the
  COM ( 81 ) 549 final
 ---pagebreak---                                       ;                       covn 5'4 ø
  In order to perform certain ta?ks assigned" to it under the Treaty , the Com­
mission must have informatior: on the current status and trends of earnings
in the Community countries . It thsrefore requires' comparable statistics on
these matters for all sectors of economic activity .
As a result of the activities of the Working Party for Statistics on Earir.ngs
in Agriculture , which is composed of representatives of the national admii . -
istrations , employers and labour ,         Community surveys of the earnings 01
permanent workers employed in agriculture were conducted from 1974 to 1980
( 1 ). These surveys provided comparable data on the level and "distribution of
earnings , the number of hours paid and the existence or absence of benefits
in kind , taking into account certain personal data on wage earners such as
age , sex and occupational qualifications ( 2 ). The results of these surveys
have been published ( 3 ) .
As regards the organization of future Community surveys of the earnings of
workers employed in agriculture , the Council and the Commission have agreed
to set up a permanent system on the basis of a Directive .
Moreover , the Joint Committee on the social problems of agricultural wage
earners expressed an opinion in this connection on 6 May 1981 , in which it
called for the setting up of a definitive Community 'instrument to ensure the
rrgulnr publication of comparable data, on the earnings of permanent full-time
and purt-time workers and of seasonal workers ( at maximum intervals of 2 years )
( 1 ) Council Regulations ( EEC)' No 677/74 of 21 March-1974 ( OJ No L 83 of 28
      March 1974 , pp 4-5 ), No 1103/75 of 28 April 1975 ( Oj'No L 110 of 30 April
      1975 , pp 2-3 ), No 1035/76 of 30 April 1976 ( 0J No L 118 of 5 May 1976 ,
      pp 3-4), No 847/77 of 25 April 1977 ( 0J No L 104 of 28 April 1977 , p. 5 )
      and No 3112 /80 of 27 November 1980 ( 0J No L 326 of 2 December 1980 , pp
      6-7 ).
( 2 ) The surveys for 1977 to 1979 , which were carried out with "a reduced sample
      and confined to male workers , were concerned only with trends in income
      during this period .
( 3 ) EUR0STAT , Earnings in agriculture
                 – 1974   ( Social Statistics No 5/1975
                 - 1975 )
                 -y 1976 ) Separate publication
                 - 1977 )
                 - 1978 ) Hourly earnings - Hours of work , vol . 1-1979 ( 1977 )
                 - 1979 ) 2-1979 ( 1978 ) and 2-1980 ( 1979 )
                 - 1980     The results will be included in a separate publication . .
 ---pagebreak---                                     - 2 -
Consequently , the procedures for organizing future surveys were decided on
by the Working Party for Statistics on Earnings in Agriculture at its meet­
ing on 17 March 1981 .
Thus the survey will be conducted every two years from 1982 onwards . It
will relate to workers of both , sexes belonging to the following categories :
permanent full-time workers , permanent part-time workers and seasonal work­
ers . The inclusion of the two last-mentioned categories , which were not
taken into consideration in the earlier surveys , will be -decided on by the
Commission in collaboration with the relevant national statistical s'ervices
and will apply   only to the Member States in which there is a large or sub­
stantial number of such workers . The Statistical Office has prepared a
Community definition of these three categories of agricultural workers ,
largely on the basis of information supplied by ths Member States on this
subject .
                                                             \
 ---pagebreak---                                 Draft
                          0OUK0IL »S-iWiOTIVfi ( BEO )
relating to the organization by the Member States of surveys on the
earnings of permanent and seasonal workers employed in agriculture
                    I
THE COUNCIL OP        EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                   'V
                    1
Having regard to |he Treaty establishing the European Economic Community ,
and in particular * Article 213 thereof ,
                /       '      ' ί    ■
Having regard to the draft Directive submitted by the Commission ,
Hhareas , in order to carry out the tasks assigned to it under the Treaty ,
in particular those Bet out in Articles 2 , 39 , 117 ? 118 , 119 and 122
thereof , the Commission needs to know the earnings situation and trends
in the Member States }                                 ,
Whereas such statistical data as do exist within the Member States on
the earnings of agricultural workers do not at present permit valid
comparisons to be made, and . whereas it is , consequently , necessary to
conduct a specif io Community survey based on uniform definitions and
characteristics }
Whereas the Commission needs regular , comprehensive data on earnings,
and whereas it is therefore necessary to include all categories of
agricultural workers of both sexes in the surveys }
Whereas , however , since the number of agricultural workers in certain
categories is very low in several Member States , it is desirable to
adopt a selective approach }
Whereas it is possible and also more economical to carry out such
surveys by random sampling , and whereas , in order to obtain results of
uniform accuraoy , it is neceessry to keep within a fixed margin of error
of observation , which should be as low as possible ?
 ---pagebreak---    h'harafta i/n .La ». • - . ••• /{ ./ vs • • '       erris,;      for granting Community
   financial contributions to Me-ber States for the purpose of conducting the
   surveys rsferrsd. to in this Directive }
  HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE
                                                 Article 1
            As     from 1982 , Member States shall undertake a survey in alternate years
  of the actual earnings of male and female workers employed in agriculture }
  the survey shall cover permanent full-time and part-time workers and
  seasonal workers .
(
  The Commission , after consulting                    the statistical authorities of the
  Member States , shall determine the categories of agricultural workers
  who , on the basis of their relative importance , are to be included in the
  survey in each country .                                            ,
                                                           *
  The Commission , after consulting the appropriate Working Party , shall
  define the      aforementioned categories of agricultural workers ."
                                                 Article 2
  The survey provided for in Artiole 1 shall be conduoted on tfye basig of
  statistical data relating to the months of September , October or November
  in' the case of permanent workers , and to months selected by the Commission,
  in oooperation with the national statistical authorities of the Member
  States , in the case of seasonal workers .                        '
                                                 Article 3
  The survey provided for in Article 1 shall cover all holdings which employ
  permanent and/or seasonal workers and which engage in activities as
  specified and defined under Class 01 of the General Nomenclature of
  Economic Activities in the European Communities (NACE ), with the
  exception of holdings the activities of which are mainly or exclusively
  directed to creating and maintaining gardens and parks , to hunting or
  to activities ancillary to agriculture .
                                                 Article 4
  The survey provided for in Article 1 shall be carried out by Random
  sampling . Member States shall take all appropriate measures , in particular
  with regard to the sample base , to maintain or , if necessary , to improve
  the quality of the survey results .
 ---pagebreak---                                    Aï-tieie 5     respect ot   „
 The survey shall consist of the collection in / each permanent or seasonal
 worker* of all data 'relating to gross cash earnings for the month or months
 referred to in Artiole 2 , the existence              of benefits in kind ,
 the nature of the work performed , the basis on which earnings are
 calculated and the number of hours paid , as well as sex, age and job
 categories .
                                   Article 6
The Commission shall > after consulting the statistical authorities of
 the Member States ,        determine the technical details of the survey
 and the arrangements for transmitting the results to the Commission .
                                                               m
                                   Artrcle 7
The Member States shall receive * in respect of the first three surveys ,
a flat-rate sum for each holding surveyed . This sum_ shall be charged
against appropriations allocated for this purpose in the budget of the
European Communities .                          -
                               ^
                                   Article 8
This Directive is addressed to the Member States .
 ---pagebreak---                               FINANCIAL RECORD
1.   Relevant budget heading ; Art . 264
2.  Title of budget heading : Draft Council Directive ( EEC ) on the organiz­
    ation of a survey on the earnings of workers employed in agriculture .
3.  Légal basis : Council Directive ( EEC )
    Objective and justification of the project : to set up , after a series
    of 'complete' and 'light * annual surveys , a permanent system of sur­
    veys which will allow more detailed comparisons of the level and the
    distribution of the earnings of workers in agriculture , at two-yearly
    intervals , and to follow developments in this respect . The information
    must be collected directly at the agricultural holdings by the statis-
                  (■                      -                       v »
    tical services of the Member States .
5.  Financial implications of the project ( in ECU )
5.0 In respect of expenditure : As stated in Article 7 of the draft Direct­
    ive , the Member States will receive a lump sum in respect of each hold­
    ing covered for carrying out the three initial surveys . These costs
    will be charged against the appropriations provided for this purpose
    in the budgets of the European Communities for 1982 , 1984 and 1986
    ( Article 264 , 'Statistical surveys and studies' ).
    The Community contribution covers only part of the total cost of the
    surveys carried out by the national statistical offices .
5.1 Method of calculation : It is proposed to calculate the flat rate con-    •
    tribution to Member States on the basis of an amount of 12 ECU per unit
    covered . Taking account of the number of holdings to be covered (+ 56000 )
    the sum chargeable to the budget of the European Communities can be es­
    timated , for each of the three surveys covering the ten Meirhcr States ,
    at 672 000 ECU . This estimate is based on the following breakdown of
    the sample by countries ( figures for the 1980 survey in brackets ):
 ---pagebreak---                                           Units                        ECU
Germany                              9000        ( 8823 ) a )   108000     ( 105876 )
France                              12000      ( 10000 )      , 144000     ( 120000 )
Italy                               15000      ( 10000 )        180000     ( 120000 )
Netherlands                          2450        ( 2450 )        29400       ( 29400 )
Belgium                              1750        ( 1750 )        21000       ( 21000 )
Luxembourg                            250          ( 250 )        3000         ( 3000 )
United Kingdom                       2000        ( 1820 )        24000       ( 21840 )
Ireland                              2530        ( 2530 )        30360       ( 30360 )
Denmark                           . 6000      *-16000 )          72000       ( 72000 )
Greece                               5000          ( - )         60000           ( - )
TOTAL                              ■65980     ( 43623 )         671760     ( 523476 )
a ) Actual number that took part in the last complete survey in which this
    country participated ( 1976 ).