Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 (repealed)Show full title

Article 4 U.K. Survey characteristics

1. Data shall be provided on:

(a) demographic background:

• (a) sequence number in the household,

• sex,

• year of birth,

• date of birth in relation to the end of the reference period,

• marital status,

• relationship to reference person,

• sequence number of spouse,

• sequence number of father,

• sequence number of mother,

• nationality,

• number of years of residence in the Member State,

• country of birth (optional),

• nature of participation in the survey (direct participation or proxy through another member of the household);

[F1 (b) labour status:

• [F1 (b) labour status during the reference week,

• continuing receipt of wages and salary,

• reason for not having worked though having a job,

• search for employment for person without employment,

• type of employment sought (self-employed or employee),

• methods used to find a job,

• availability to start work;

(c) employment characteristics of the main job:

• (c) professional status,

• economic activity of the local unit,

• occupation,

• supervisory responsibilities,

• number of persons working at the local unit,

• country of place of work,

• region of place of work,

• year and month when the person started working in current employment,

• involvement of public employment service in finding the current job,

• permanency of the job (and reasons),

• duration of temporary job or work contract of limited duration,

• full-time/part-time distinction (and reasons),

• contract with a temporary work agency,

• working at home;

(d) hours worked:

• (d) number of hours per week usually worked,

• number of hours actually worked,

• number of hours of overtime in the reference week,

• main reason for hours actually worked being different from usual hours;]

(e) second job:

• (e) existence of more than one job,

• professional status,

• economic activity of the local unit,

• number of hours actually worked;

(f) visible underemployment:

• (f) wish to work usually more than the current number of hours (optional in the case of an annual survey),

• looking for another job and reasons for doing so,

• type of employment sought (as employee or otherwise),

• methods used to find another job,

• reasons why the person is not seeking another job (optional in the case of an annual survey),

• availability to start work,

• number of hours of work wished for (optional in the case of an annual survey);

[F1 (g) search for employment:

• [F1 (g) type of employment sought,

• duration of search for employment,

• situation of person immediately before starting to seek employment,

• registration at public employment office and whether receiving benefits,

• for person not seeking employment, willingness to work,

• reasons why person has not sought work,

• lack of care facilities;]

[F2 (h) education and training:

• [F2 (h) participation in formal education or training during previous four weeks

  • level,

  • field;

• participation in courses and other taught learning activities during previous four weeks

  • total length,

  • purpose of the most recent course or other taught activity,

  • field of the most recent taught activity,

  • participated in most recent taught activity during working hours;

• educational attainment

  • highest successfully completed level of education or training,

  • field of this highest level of education and training,

  • year when this highest level was successfully completed;]

(i) previous work experience of person not in employment:

• (i) existence of previous employment experience,

• year and month in which the person last worked,

• main reason for leaving last job or business,

• professional status in last job,

• ecoomic activity of local unit in which person last worked,

• occupation of last job;

(j) situation one year before the survey (optional for quarters 1, 3, 4):

• (j) main labour status,

• professional status,

• economic activity of local unit in which person was working,

• country of residence,

• region of residence;

(k) main labour status (optional);

[F3 (l) wages from the main job;]

(m) technical items relating to the interview:

• (m) year of survey,

• reference week,

• interview week,

• Member State,

• region of household,

• degree of urbanisation,

• serial number of household,

• type of household,

• type of institution,

• weighting factor,

• sub-sample in relation to the preceding survey (annual survey),

• sub-sample in relation to the following survey (annual survey),

• sequence number of the survey wave[F1 ;]

[F4 (n) atypical working times:

• [F4 (n) shift work,

• evening work,

• night work,

• Saturday work,

• Sunday work.]

2. A futher set of variables, hereinafter referred to as an ‘ad hoc module’, may be added to supplement the information described above in paragraph 1.

A programme of ad hoc modules covering several years shall be drawn up each year according to the procedure laid down in Article 8:

• this programme shall specify for each ad hoc module, the subject, the reference period, the sample size (equal to or less than the sample size determined according to Article 3) and the deadline for the transmission of the results (which may be different from the deadline according to Article 6),

• the Member States and regions covered and the detailed list of information to be collected in an ad hoc module shall be drawn up at least twelve months before the beginning of the reference period for that module,

• [F1 the volume of an ad hoc module shall be limited to 11 variables.]

3. The definitions, the edits to be used, the codification of the variables, the adjustment of the list of survey variables made necessary by the evolution of techniques and concepts, and a list of principles for the formulation of the questions concerning the labour status, are drawn up according to the procedure laid down in Article 8.

[F4 4. On a proposal from the Commission, a list of variables, hereinafter referred to as ‘ structural variables ’ , may be identified from among the survey characteristics specified in paragraph 1 which need to be surveyed only as annual averages with reference to 52 weeks rather than as quarterly averages. This list of structural variables, the minimum sample size and the survey frequency will be drawn up in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 8. Spain, Finland and the United Kingdom may survey the structural variables with reference to a single quarter during a transition period until the end of 2007.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Regulation (EC) No 2257/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2003 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community to adapt the list of survey characteristics (Text with EEA relevance).

F2 Substituted by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2104/2002 of 28 November 2002 adapting Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1575/2000 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 as far as the list of education and training variables and their codification to be used for data transmission from 2003 onwards are concerned.

F3 Substituted by Regulation (EC) No 1372/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community (Text with EEA relevance).

F4 Inserted by Regulation (EC) No 2257/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2003 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community to adapt the list of survey characteristics (Text with EEA relevance).