1. Data Collection for Sub-national Statistics (Labour Market Areas)
Yrjö Palttila
Kick-off meeting, 5 April 2016, Luxemburg

2. Contents Background of the action Objectives of the action
Finland’s current travel-to-work areas (1)
Finland’s current travel-to-work areas (2)
Finland’s current travel-to-work areas (3)
Improve IT tools to facilitate the implementation of the method
Assess the feasibility of implementation of the EU method
Define LMAs based on the EU method
Final technical report and the use of the results of the project
The planned timetable of the Finnish LMA project
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

3. Background of the action
In the background of the action is the need for comparable functional areas in EU-wide territorial policy analyses
The NUTS cross-national regions cover the whole EU territory, but they are usually regional administrative areas, which are the result of historical circumstances
The present national definitions of travel-to-work areas are not consistent in different countries
One of the EU-wide efforts for comparability of functional areas has been the Urban Audit’s Larger Urban Zones (LUZ) (or Functional Urban Areas, FUA)
LUZ-areas are often based on commuting around cities, but the basis of the LUZ definitions used to vary between countries
Besides LUZ-areas do not cover all the travel-to-work areas
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

4. Objectives of the action
To familiarize with the R script of the EU (TTWA) method
To encode the TTWA algorithm from R language to SAS language
To define the Finnish Labour Market Areas (LMAs), which are based on the harmonised definition
To compare the proposed Finnish LMAs with Finland’s current national travel-to-work areas
The results of the action will be documented
The task does not include defining of cross-border LMAs
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

5. Finland’s current travel-to-work areas (1)
On 1 January 2015, the classification contained 41 travel-to-work areas comprising a total of 224 municipalities
93 municipalities lay outside travel-to-work-areas
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

6. Finland’s current travel-to-work areas (2)
Bases on the data on commuting in the register-based employment statistics
A municipality is considered to be a central municipality if at least one municipality commutes to it, and fewer than 25 per cent of its employed persons commute to areas outside the central municipality
A surrounding municipality belongs to the travel-to-work area if at least 10 per cent of its labour force commute to the central municipality
However, the municipality can belong to only one travel-to-work area; it belongs to that travel-to-work area to which is commuted more
The municipality can also belong to a travel-to-work area through some other municipality
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

7. Finland’s current travel-to-work areas (3)
The notes of LMA Study 2012 concerning Finlands national method:
A. It is a core-based hierarchical clustering procedure with a very simple linkage criterion: only the links between central elements of each cluster are considered.
B. Contiguity is not a restriction and non-contiguous travel-to-work areas are accepted (only a few cases in practice).
C. Travel-to-work areas do not have to fulfil any criteria apart from having a central municipality and a hinterland (no minimum / maximum levels for self-containment, population or area).
D. Travel-to-work areas with very low self-containment could be created, as the aggregated flows are not considered. For the same reason, municipalities could be assigned to travel-to-work areas to which few total workers commute, despite having stronger aggregated dependence to other neighbouring travel-to-work areas.
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

8. Improve IT tools to facilitate the implementation of the method
Statistics Finland is using the “SAS for Windows” statistical program
the aim is to encode the TTWA algorithm from R language to SAS language
the structure of the languages is quite different
we are looking for a person who would know the R language well enough
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

9. Assess the feasibility of implementation of the EU method
the first aim is to assess the feasibility of implementation of the EU method
the second aim is to assess the feasibility of the adaptation of the current method of Finland’s national travel-to-work areas to the proposed method
when the results of testing the EU (TTWA) method and defining Finnish harmonised LMAs have been completed, the implementation of the harmonised definition of LMAs will be considered
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

10. Define LMAs based on the EU method
the aim is to test the EU (TTWA) method and define Finnish LMAs, which are based on the harmonised definition, and draw up documentation of the exact method used and the characteristics of the LMAs produced
the register-based Employment Statistics of Statistics Finland, which are updated every year, will be used as source data
the data of Employment Statistics include both the municipality code of a person’s place of residence and the municipality code of his/her working place
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

11. Final technical report and the use of the results of the project
The report on implementation of the action will give an overview of the results and deliverables provided
The results of the project will be used in analysing the potential use of Finland’s harmonised LMA’s and Finland’s current travel-to-work areas.
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

12. The planned timetable of the Finnish LMA project
Starting date June 2016 (M)
Planned duration of the action months
Task 2. Improve IT tools to facilitate the implementation of the method; Deliverable: Improved IT tool --- M + 3 months
Task 3. Assess the feasibility of implementation of the EU method; Deliverable: Feasibility study --- M + 9 months
Task 4. Define LMAs based on the EU method; Deliverable: The lists of the LAU2s --- M + 15 months
Presentation of the results of the project --- M + 18 months
Final technical report on implementation of the action and financial statement --- the closing date of the action + 60 days
5 April 2016
Yrjö Palttila

13. Yrjö Palttila Kick-off meeting, Luxemburg, 5 April 2016