1. 1 National Job Vacancy Surveys: The Same or Still Different? Anja Kettner and Michael Stops Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg (Germany) European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics Rome, 8-11 July 2008

2. 2 “Job vacancies – a German problem” Germany3,2 Sweden1,2 France0,5 comparison of national job vacancy rates share of unmet labor demand (vacancies) in the total labor demand (vacancies + employees), in percent Source: IW 2006

3. 3 Interpretation by the authors: The high German job vacancy rate means:  Low mobility of unemployed  Low flexibility of unemployed  Inflexibility of public employment agencies  “…Nowhere in Europe more jobs are vacant despite high unemployment…”

4. 4 Job vacancy data in Europe: Something new!  Discussion on the need for data on the total number of vacancies started at the end of the 1990ies  Until that time in most countries only data on registered vacancies were available  Foundation of a Task Force in 2002  First part of an European regulation was adopted in May 2008

5. 5 Job vacancy data in economic research A look at the West German Beveridge Curve Source: The German Job Vacancy Survey, Federal Employment Agency

6. 6 Available national data (EUROSTAT) Indicators, quarterly and yearly Number of job vacancies Two firm size classes Economic sectors Regions Number of employees Job vacancy rate  Not all countries collecting data publish all indicators

7. 7 Quarterly job vacancy rates Source: EUROSTAT

8. 8 The definition of a job vacancy A job vacancy is defined as a post – newly created, unoccupied or about to become vacant – for which the employer (i) is taking active steps to find a suitable candidate from outside the enterprise concerned and is prepared to take more steps and (ii) intends to fill either immediately or in the near future.

9. 9 Covered firms and sectors  All firm sizes and sectors should be represented in the sample  1-9 not in all countries  Only C to K in all countries

10. 10 The role of reference dates: Source: Job vacancies announced in the Internet, collected by the “Jobroboter” of the Federal Employment Agency, between January and March 2008, Represent about 20 percent of all vacancies

11. 11 Source: EUROSTAT

12. 12 Auxiliary information is needed on:  Replacement ratio  Vacancy duration, vacancies difficult to be filled  National labor market policy, macroeconomic environment

13. 13 Conclusion:  No international comparisons at the time being  Structured and detailed information on used methods and error measurement are necessary  Evaluation of different methods is necessary  Additional information on national labor markets is indispensable for an interpretation of the data

14. 14 Thank you for your attention. anja.kettner@iab.de