Labour Force Survey – About data recording and the purpose of data collection

An essential requirement for developing employment policy is a deep understanding of the labour market, including the number of people working in various areas of the economy, the time they spend on work in general, the number of unsuccessful job seekers, and the number of people who wish to find work and the chances they have based on their skills, qualifications and family obligations.

Some questions about the situation on the labour market can be answered using existing records and data collected from institutions and companies. There are many others, however, that can only be answered by asking the population for information directly. This allows us to learn for example how many people are gainfully employed, and how many people are currently unable to work for various reasons (studies, family obligations, etc.) but can be assumed to become job seekers in the near future. Similarly, this way we can gain information about the cumulative effect and weight of the various employment-related problems and unemployment issues in various family compositions. The Labour Survey intends to answer these and other similar questions.

The overall aim of the Labour Survey (LS) is to continuously assess the rates of employment and unemployment and map their characteristics. Additionally, the survey covers the appraisal of working-age people who are currently not present on the labour market, and their characteristics.

Similar data collection activities are taking place in all Member States of the European Union, and Eurostat will aggregate the country data to calculate national and European indicators.