Register-based statistics on the Danish labour market - new possibilities in relation to external user needs

Employment statistics in Denmark Labour Force Survey - EU official source Register-based Labour Force Statistics - national official source socio-economic classification - ILO-guidelines Covers the period Annual register with reference point-in- time at the end of November and population at the start of the following year Very detailed statistics

Linking of employer - employee Job Possibility of combination with other registers at Statistics Denmark using unique identifiers Information on persons Information on establish- ments PIN (Personal identification number) - Firm identifier - Establishment identifier Using information from the Salary Information Register - Period of employment - Job characteristics

Registration of employment period Information for employee to Tax Authorities from Employer : 1.employed the whole year 2.employed one period (from – to) 3.employed several periods: employed on 30th of November (yes/no)

Access to data Statistics published in publications from Statistics Denmark Statbank Denmark External researchers scheme – unidentifiable micro data administered by the Research Service Unit

Past requirements/developments Longitudinal labour market statistics/labour market dynamics - transitions between status observations end of November – IDA database Further subdivisions of the socio-economic groups outside the labour force - subdivision of the group in the Register- based Labour Force Statistics Information on hours worked - Working Time Accounts Foreign workers/transfrontier commuting - nordic cooporation between statistial offices

IDA database - information over time Person Establishment Jobs Establishment Person Jobs Time

Weaknesses of the register Only information on attachment to the labour market at the end of November The quality of the period indications is relatively low, which gives rise to uncertainties in the employment levels for persons at the fringe of the labour market The timeliness of the statistics is not particularly high

Information on the scope of hours worked uncertain statistical data on employment in full-time equivalents uncertain distribution by full-time and part-time employment an element of uncertainty in the classification due to poor priority of main job vs. second job Low quality of information implying:

New data source e-income Replaces the salary information register Monthly reports on all employee jobs, 12 reports instead of one report per year implis better information on duration of each job Information on hours worked Unique identification code for the establishment and person Information on hours worked Information for employees

Another new statistical system; persons who are not in ordinary employment Information on: unemployed persons person in different labour market policy schemes sickness benefit early retirement pension Contains longitudinal data (integrated) which are subject to processing of overlaps from different data sources with start and end dates and information on hours

Integration of the two new data sources Would cover many of the socio-economic states; –employees –unemployed –persons temporarily outside the labour force –early retirement from the labour market Could provide information in full-time equivalents Could ensure better quality in employment statistics qua data subject to processing of overlaps on the basis of several data sources

Identifying external user needs Investigating user needs concerning labour statistics. What we did: labour market seminars individual meetings/dialogues with customers advisory research committees user survey (written and oral hearing)

Need for more timely statistic needs in relation to analyses, monitoring, forecasts, etc. Statistics Denmark’s respons: fast short-term statistics on the basis of e-income as the only source the decision as to compiling fast structural statistics await further examination, –including examination of the supplementary sources on the population’s attachment to the labour market –ensuring the socio-economic classification, etc. Reality: there is a high correlation between: external funding and the possibility of faster structural employment statistics

Need for longitudinal statistics Need for more detailed transitions than from end november to end november gross flows: –transition from education to labour market –impact measurement of the job activation efforts –gross flows, e.g. between: industries sectors job types and career paths (quality of work) geography –retirement from the labour market job mobility (flexicurity) job creation/job destruction

Need for employment in full-time equivalents full-time equivalents defined on the basis of more exact hourly information possibility to relate full-time employed to other full- time equivalent measures (unemployment in full-time equivalents etc.) summable goals for full-time persons, which can be related to the mean population figure

Need for statistics on foreign work/transfrontier commuting analyses of transfrontier commuting analyses of the use of foreign labour would imply more representative statistics with regard to: –regional distribution of employment frequencies, –the number of workplaces in the border regions

The need for a more flexible classification possibility of varying the ILO classification which in relation to some users’ needs, attaches too great importance to employment flexible classification of persons who are in several states at the same time more advanced socio-economic classification (dynamic classification)

Experiences from the dialogue with the users Need for integration of data sources to develop longitudinal based data for the populations attachement to the labour market The work-sharing between the labour market researchers and Statistics Denmark is to be reconsidered: –who is to be responsible for which parts of the data processing and –which consequences will this have on the quality of the primary statistical data Considerations with regard to the number of breaks in the data series Considerations with regard to an expedient use of the economic resources Continuous dialogue and hearing of the users are of importance NSI should be responsible for concepts, but there should be a dialogue with users when new concepts are developed