Estonian Labour Force Survey Ülle Pettai Leading Statistician Social Surveys Service Population and Social Statistics Department

Ülle Pettai Statistics Estonia  Statistics Estonia is a government agency at the area of administration of the Ministry of Finance  The main task of Statistics Estonia is to provide the customers with reliable and objective information service on economic, demographic, social and environmental situation and trends in Estonia  Official statistics is in compliance with international classifications and methods

Ülle Pettai Key customers of Statistics Estonia  Government institutions  Local governments  Research and educational institutions, libraries  Media  Companies, associations, foundations, etc  Statistical organisations of other countries and Eurostat

Ülle Pettai Statistical surveys  For providing the information service, official statistical surveys are conducted  A survey means the whole process necessary for producing statistics of a certain field — data collection, processing and publication of statistics  About 150 surveys are conducted annually  Data are collected from registers, enterprises/ organisations and households  Household surveys: Estonian Labour Force Survey, Estonian Social Survey, Household Budget Survey etc

Ülle Pettai Purpose of the Labour Force Survey Purpose of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is to get overview about:  economically active population (labour force)  employment  unemployment  changes in the labour market

Ülle Pettai International comparability  The Estonian Labour Force Survey (ELFS) is based on the methodology of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and recommendations of Eurostat, which guarantees the comparability of the data to other countries  The Labour Force Survey of the European Union (EU) is based on the corresponding regulations of the EU, according to which all Member States are obliged to conduct the Labour Force Survey and forward the data to the Eurostat

Ülle Pettai History of the LFS  European Union LFS since 1960s  Estonian LFS (ELFS) since 1995 first survey, conducted in January-April  ELFS conducted in the 2nd quarter, Eurostat’s requirements  ELFS continuous survey i.e reference weeks are spread throughout the whole year and the results are for the quarters and year

Ülle Pettai Sample of the ELFS  The ELFS is a household sample survey in which the data are collected from the people  The Population Register is used as a sample basis  All the working-age members (aged 15-74) of the sampled person’s household are interviewed  Since 2000 sampled households are interviewed four times, during two consecutive quarters and after a two quarters period again during two consecutive quarters (2-2-2 rotation scheme)  ~5,000 persons are interviewed per quarter (~20,000 per year)

Ülle Pettai The ELFS data collection  The ELFS data collection field works are conducted by the Data Collection Department of Statistics Estonia (~60 interviewers)  Before 2003: only face-to-face PAPI-interviews (paper and pencil), paper questionnaires were entered in the office  Since 2003: 90% PAPI, 10% CAPI (computer assisted interviews)  Since 4 th quarter 2005: 100% CAPI  Blaise-software is used for CAPI, data are sent by interviewers to the office electronically (via Internet)

Ülle Pettai Questionnaire of the ELFS  Main questionnaire  Ad hoc modules  Eurostat’s ad hoc modules  National ad hoc modules

Ülle Pettai Main questionnaire of the ELFS  Section A — Interviewer’s remarks  Section B — Household characteristics  Section C — Labour status during the reference week  Section D — Main job  Section E — Second jobs  Section F — Underemployment  Section G — Previous work experience of person not in employment  Section H — Job seeking  Section I — Changes during the previous year  Section J — Studies  Section K — Background information

Ülle Pettai Eurostat’s ad hoc modules in the ELFS  2001 Length and patterns of working time  2002 Health and ability to work  2003 Lifelong learning  2004 Work organisation and working time arrangements  2005 Reconciliation of work and family life  2006 Transition from work to retirement  2007 Accidents at work and work-related health problems  2008 Labour market situation of migrants  2009 Transition from school to working life

Ülle Pettai National ad hoc modules in the ELFS  2002 Long-term unemployment  2002 Dwelling and change of residence in  2002 Transition from school to working life  2003 Health  2003 Working conditions  2004 Cultural consumption  2006 Health and ability to work  2008 Health and ability to work  2009 Accidents at work and health problems

Ülle Pettai Main results of the LFS  Indicators about economic acitiveness of population: labour status (employed, unemployed, inactive), labour force participation rate  Employment indicators: employment rate, structure of employment, full- and part-time work  Unemployment indicators: unemployment rate, long-term unemployment rate, status before unemployment  Educational indicators: educational level of population, life- long learning  etc

Ülle Pettai Definitions Employed — a person who during the reference period: worked and was paid as a wage earner, an entrepreneur or a free-lancer; worked without direct payment in a family enterprise or on his / her own farm; was temporarily absent from work. Unemployed — a person who fulfils the following three conditions: he or she is without work (does not work anywhere at the moment and is not temporarily absent from work); he or she is currently (in the course of two weeks) available for work if there should be work; he or she is actively seeking work.

Ülle Pettai Definitions  Employment rate – the share of the employed in the working age population  Unemployment rate — the share of the unemployed persons in the labour force (total of employed and unemployed persons)

Ülle Pettai Main indicators from the LFS Indicators in the EU Employment Strategy (Lisbon Strategy) on the basis of the LFS:  Target: to increase the employment rate of population aged 15–64 to 67% in 2005 and to 70% in 2010, for women 57% in 2005 and 60% in Actually in Estonia: 69.5% in 2008, for women 66.3%.  Target: to increase the employment rate for older people (aged 55–64) to 50% in 2010 Actually in Estonia: 62.2% in 2008

Ülle Pettai Employment rate of population aged 15–64

Ülle Pettai Employment rate of women aged 15–64

Ülle Pettai Employment rate for older (55–64) people

Ülle Pettai Employment rate for youth (aged 15–24)

Ülle Pettai Unemployment rate

Ülle Pettai Unemployment rate for youth (aged 15-24)

Ülle Pettai Unemployment rate from different sources

Ülle Pettai Publishing the data of the ELFS  data are published 45 days after the reference quarter  data are available simultaneously to all interested parties at 9:00 on the day of release by issuing a news release "Employment and Unemployment“  At the same time, the data are published in the statistical database on the web site of the Statistics Estonia web.2001/I_Databas/Social_life/databasetree.asp web.2001/I_Databas/Social_life/databasetree.asp

Ülle Pettai Publishing the data of the ELFS  On the web site of the Statistics Estonia  On the web site of the Eurostat  Publications of the Statistics Estonia: “Tööjõud. Labour Force. 2004” “Tööturg. Labour Market. 2005” “Tööturg arvudes. Labour Market in Figures. 2006” ”Pilk tööellu. A Glimpse into the Working Life. 2008” “Eesti statistika aastaraamat. Statistical Yearbook of Estonia”

Thank you!