1. Draft implementing act on Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) Item 3
Draft implementing act on Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) Item 3.5 of the draft agenda
DSS Meeting 23 and 24 May 2019

2. Background
Agreed by LAMAS Monthly unemployment statistics Option 1: monthly unemployment figures Option 2: monthly unemployment inputs Option 3: monthly unemployment estimates

3. Exchange of views forms: overview
Articles
Agreement
Article 1 (subject matter)
29/29
Article 2 (definitions)
27/29
Article 3 (data requirements)
Article 4 (transmission deadlines)
25/29
Article 5 (back series)
Article 6 (sources and methods)
Article 7 (transmission standards)
Article 8 (quality monitoring)
28/29
Article 9 (entry into force)
2//29

4. Exchange of views forms: general comments
Decision on option not taken on option
Derogation request: to be managed in June
Incorrect legal bases in the act
Need of a coordinated approach between Eurostat and Member states on the dissemination of the first data and the communication to the users
CH: No change in the IA (to be seen if we grant them a derogation)
PL: No change. I could not find any wrong reference in the draft. I will check with Hanna.
IT: OK. No change
NO: OK. Amend the annex and specify that the quality monitoring concerns SA data only.

5. Article 2 (definitions)
Metadata to be provided even when administrative data are sent to Eurostat as input to monthly unemployment
Metadata for ADMIN are mentioned in Art. 6.1
Quality monitoring concerns the final indicator only (not ADMIN inputs)
Requirement for reference month too strict for countries using option 1 (pure LFS information)
Amend the text to relax the requirements for the LFS reference month
HU: No change. Metadata for ADMIN are mentioned in Art As regards quality monitoring, it should concern the final indicator only (not ADMIN inputs).
SE: OK. Amend the text to relax the requirements for the LFS reference month. The only constraints should be (1) to cover all full weeks of a calendar month and (2) to be consistent with LFS quarters.

6. Article 3: data requirements
Countries using 3MMAs
Forecast the last month (problematic)
Move to other method
Derogations to be asked to adapt to the new IA
HU: No change. See article 2
NO: No change. Countries using 3 MMAs should change method unless they forecast the last month (as PT) which is not recommended either (ref. quarter instead of ref. month) => Derogations to be asked by 3 MMA countries to adapt to the new IA.

7. Article 4: transmission deadlines
Doubts about being able to keep the deadlines: derogations to be asked if needed
Art. 4 to be deleted (Transmission deadlines) as already defined in Annex V of the IESS Regulation
FR-IESS is too vague (ref. / calendar month)
Need to specify deadline depending on option
The reference month November to be sent latter (Eurostat publication at the end of the first week of January
Text to be amended
Very slight (1 day) and rare (1 / 60 months) deviation
To be dealt with a derogation
HU, NO: No change. Derogations to be asked
SI: No change. It is needed to specify the transmission deadline in the IA. FR-IESS is too vague (ref. / calendar month)
PT: OK. Amend the text (=> 31 DEC)

8. Article 5 (back series)
Data availability for break free time series?: needed for high policy requests. Length of back series is imposed by MIP
Compulsory transmission from reference month of May 2021 (together with data of January to April 2021)
In between, transmission on optional basis – Eurostat currently reflecting on dissemination strategy (interrupt/light NR)
CZ: No change. The length of back series is imposed by MIP. CZ should ask a derogation.

9. Article 6: sources and methods
Decision not yet taken on which method will be used for the calculation of monthly unemployment figures
Need for data with trend estimation AND data with seasonal adjustment ?
For comparability and quality monitoring, Eurostat must collect SA and trend separately. The one to be published as headline indicator is to be decided with the country concerned
HU: No change
DE: No change. For comparability and quality monitoring purposes, Eurostat must collect SA and trend separately. The one to be published as headline indicator is to be decided with the country concerned.

10. Article 8 (quality monitoring)
Quality of overall monthly unemployment rate according to the ILO concept to be monitored continuously, not only every three years: no, too much overlap with a monthly quality monitoring.
Annex IV or/and article 8: monitoring indicators based on seasonally adjusted data(SA), not-SA data or trend data? Annex to be amended to specify that the quality monitoring concerns SA data only
HU: No change. There would be too much overlap with a monthly quality monitoring.

11. Article 9 (entry into force)
Very short time before the entry into force of the regulation
HU: No change. Derogation to be asked.