Please note that the date you requested in the address for this web page is not an actual date upon which a change occurred to this item of legislation. You are being shown the legislation from , which is the first date before then upon which a change was made.
ANNEX IIU.K. Flowcharts on the order of questions on employment and unemployment in the questionnaire
1.The national questionnaire shall be structured according to the following flowcharts to ensure sufficient comparability between countries. The flowcharts only cover the labour status module of the questionnaire, which relates to the questions on labour status according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition (employment, unemployment or outside the labour market).U.K.
2.The labour status module shall be at the beginning of the national questionnaire, after the questions on the demographic characteristics.U.K.
3.Questions on main activity status (self-perceived) shall be collected after the labour status module. The main activity status shall be collected by interview and neither derived from other variables nor imputed from registers.U.K.
4.A flowchart is the graphical representation of the information flows through the questions in the questionnaire. It aims to define the information and concepts to be covered but does not impose any constraint in terms of number, translation and wording of the questions. Notes to the flowchart are integral part of the flowchart.U.K.
5.The flowcharts will not be amended for at least 5 years after the entry into force of this Regulation.U.K.
6.The flowcharts contain different elements which are defined as follows:U.K.
A block represents a single set of information to be requested in the questionnaire by means of one or more questions. It contains the concepts on which information is to be collected. The concepts covered in one block can be asked in any country-defined order. It appears as a rectangular box:
A submodule represents a set of blocks covering the same matter. It appears as a rectangular box with rounded short sides:
An outflow represents the actual information collected in the block and the consequent flow towards other blocks. It appears as an arrow and a box:
A filter represents a set of information based on external data. Its outflows depend in this case on external information. It appears as a rhombus with its outflows:
An intermediate classification represents the intermediate result of the flow according to the ILO definition. It appears as an oval with light background and black text:
A final classification represents the final result of the flow according to the ILO definition. It appears as an oval with dark background and white text:
The end represents the end of the flows in the flowchart. It appears as a parallelepiped shaped box:
7.In each block the number of questions asked to collect the requested information can be customised by Member States. However, the content of the information to be collected cannot be expanded, i.e. questions that are not directly related to the information requested or the concept covered in the concerned block cannot be introduced.U.K.
8.The box in the outflow can contain one or more items, separated by semicolon, having the same end-flow. Every item must be reported in the questionnaire and can be represented by one or several possible answers. However, an item can be dropped if justified by the national context (national law or circumstances). The order of the items in the questionnaire cannot be changed unless specified in the flowchart. No new outflows can be added.U.K.
9.Questions can be added at the end of each submodule, between submodules or after a (intermediate or final) classification element, when justified by the national context and when this has no significant impact on the labour status classification according to the ILO definition. By way of exception, questions can be added on small jobs or casual work and on the production of agricultural goods intended for sale or barter, if needed in a given national context to better fulfil the ILO definition of employment.U.K.
10.The labour status module contains different submodules, each covering a particular strand of labour status according to the ILO definition. The information flows among the submodules are set out in a meta-flowchart that represents the entire labour status module.U.K.
11.The meta-flowchart of the labour status module is defined as follows:U.K.
12.The flowchart for the submodule ‘At work’ and its associated notes is defined as follows:U.K.
Notes: U.K.
BlockW1: U.K.
Work should be understood as any activity undertaken by persons to produce goods or to provide services for use by themselves or others. Work ‘for pay or profit’ refers to work carried out as part of a transaction in exchange for remuneration payable in the form of wages or salaries for time worked or work done, or in the form of profits derived from the goods and services produced through market transactions. The term ‘pay’ covers money or payment in kind, whether taxable or not.
Specifying ‘for pay or profit’ is the preferred option. Nevertheless, if justified in a given national context, alternative wording like ‘as paid employee or self-employed’ can be used as long as it describes the same concept. If the term ‘profit’ is too difficult to translate, asking more than one question can be used as a solution. As the least preferred option, if it is clear in a given national language that the goal is to identify those who worked for remuneration, the term ‘profit’ can be omitted and only the term ‘for pay’ kept.
Member States where Block W1 does not cover all types of jobs, in particular the small jobs or casual work and the production of agricultural goods intended for sale or barter, can include additional questions on these specific types of work.
BlockW2: U.K.
Work undertaken by a family worker is to be understood as being unpaid. If the work for a business owned by a family member is paid, then the outflow from BlockW1 should be ‘yes’.
Each Member State can choose whether it first asks about unpaid work done as family member or about absence. If the question about unpaid work done as family member is asked first, the question about absence is only mandatory for those who answer ‘no’ to this first question.
In contrast, if the question about absence is asked first, it should not only be checked whether those declaring not being absent from work were working as unpaid family workers in the reference week, but also whether those declaring an absence from work were working as such in the reference week. By way of exception, the ‘Absence from work’ submodule can be asked before the question on unpaid work done as family member, if relevant in a given national context. In this situation, the question on unpaid work done as family member will be asked only to all those classified as ‘not employed’ in the ‘Absence from work’ submodule.
13.The flowchart for the submodule ‘Absences from work’ and its associated notes are defined as follows:U.K.
Notes: U.K.
BlockA1: U.K.
‘Parental leave’ is the interruption of work to bring up or look after a young child. It can be taken either by the mother or by the father. This category covers both persons on statutory parental leave (legal, if existing, or contractual) and the self-employed. In certain national contexts, special leave to take care of a child of young age (‘care leave’) can also be considered as parental leave.
The respondent should be in employment (employee, self-employed) at the beginning of the period of absence. If the parental leave period directly follows another period of absence, the status (i.e. in employment or not) at the beginning of the overall period should be considered. If the respondent was not in employment at the beginning of the period of leave, the absence cannot be considered as parental leave.
In case of consecutive periods of absence, the main reason of absence during the reference week should be chosen.
‘Seasonal work’ refers to a job situation where the economic activity (production of goods or provision of services) of the economic unit is completely halted for a recurring and a, more or less, specific period of the year. The interruption of the economic activity should not be related to any particular or exceptional situation (bad weather, lack of customers, etc.) but should relate to standard factors occurring at repeated and long periods of the year. In that sense, seasonal work alternates between a long period of work and a long period of leave, within a given year. In this situation, the period of leave is defined as the off-season period.
‘Job-related training’ for employees refers to any training where one of the three following statements is true:
the participation of the employee is required by the employer,
the training takes place inside normal paid working hours and not during any kind of leave,
the training is directly connected to the current job, and is paid by the employer or the employee continues receiving a remuneration from the employer.
For the self-employed, job-related training should be connected to their activities.
Block A2: U.K.
‘Any job-related income or benefit’ means any income or benefit the respondent would not be entitled to receive if they did not have a job at the moment of starting this period of absence, regardless of their employment status (employee or self-employed). If the person is entitled to receive this income or benefit but has chosen not to receive it, they should be considered as having received it.
The income or benefit can be paid by either the employer or the social security, or both. It includes any compensation of wages (e.g. job-linked parental leave allowance or social security contributions) but excludes benefits that the person would receive even without a job (e.g. family allowances). If the employer continues to pay the social contributions for the person taking parental leave, even if a salary is no longer being paid, the person should be considered as continuing to receive a job-related income or benefit.
Job-related income or benefit may not be proportional to the income received just before the beginning of this period of absence. A flat rate can be considered as a job-related income or benefit as long as the person is entitled to receive it because of the hold job. Consequently, the income or benefit can either be granted at a flat rate or as a percentage of the last salary.
An exception to Article 8 paragraph 2 and Article 9 paragraph 1 of this Regulation is that external information (rather than interview results) can be used as a data source for this Block A2 if the entitlement to a job-related income or benefit can be unambiguously determined.
An important factor to consider is whether the respondent has a guarantee that they can return to their job at the end of their parental leave.
Block A3: U.K.
If the respondent did not work during the reference week but was regularly engaged in work-related activities or duties (e.g. maintenance, renovation, etc.) during the off-season, they should be considered as being employed. However, administrative tasks are not considered as work-related activities or duties.
Block A4: U.K.
The ‘don’t know’ option is only proposed in proxy interviews.
The expected total duration only refers to the main reason for the absence. For example, for individuals on parental leave, the length of the absence should exclude the maternity/paternity leave.
The expected total duration of the absence, as evaluated by the respondent, should be recorded. The respondent may rely on a particular law or agreement, but will generally answer according to their self-perception.
If the respondent does not know if the total duration of their absence is shorter or longer than 3 months, they should consider the time between the beginning of the absence for that reason and the end of the reference week.
14.The flowchart for the submodule ‘Second or multiple jobs’ is defined as follows:U.K.
15.The flowchart for the submodule ‘Search for employment (for not employed persons)’ and its associated notes are defined as follows:U.K.
Notes: U.K.
Block S1: U.K.
The ‘don’t know’ option is only proposed in proxy interviews.
Block S2: U.K.
Having already found a job includes seasonal workers who are not at work during the reference week (off-season) but expect to return to their seasonal job at the end of the off-season.
The ‘yes and started working between reference week and interview date’ option is proposed only if the interview date does not directly follow the reference week.
Block S4: U.K.
The ‘don’t know’ option is only proposed in proxy interviews.
Block S5: U.K.
The list of options for the main reason for not looking for work includes:
no suitable job is available [it must remain in first position];
education or training;
own illness or disability;
care responsibilities;
other family reasons;
other personal reasons;
awaiting recall to work (lay-off) [can be dropped if irrelevant];
other reasons; or
don’t know.
Apart from first option, the order of possible responses can be decided by country according to national considerations. If the category ‘laid off workers’ does not exist in a country, the outcome ‘awaiting recall to work’ can be skipped in the national questionnaire.
‘Care responsibilities’ is limited to own children, partner children and to ill, elderly or incapacitated relatives. Persons caring for friends, for non-relatives or as volunteers should be classified in ‘other personal reasons’.
Block S6: U.K.
The list of options for the main reason for not wanting to work includes:
education or training;
own illness or disability;
care responsibilities;
other family reasons;
other personal reasons;
retirement;
other reasons; or
don’t know.
The order and split of possible responses can be decided by country according to national considerations.
‘Care responsibilities’ is limited to own children, partner children and to ill, elderly or incapacitated relatives. Persons caring for friends, for non-relatives or as volunteers should be classified in ‘other personal reasons’.
16.The flowchart for the submodule ‘Active job search methods (for not employed persons)’ and its associated notes are defined as follows:U.K.
Notes: U.K.
Block M1: U.K.
The order of the questions is flexible. Member States can choose the number of questions in the sense that at the first ‘yes’ answer this Block M1 can be closed, but if a Member State wishes to go further and collect information on all nine methods it is free to do so. Member States can also split any required information into several questions.
The ‘asked friends, relatives or acquaintances’ option includes asking about job opportunities, asking for help in creating and updating a CV online or for help to prepare for a test or an interview.
The ‘contacted a public employment service’ option refers to the respondent’s job-search-related contacts, and not applying for unemployment benefits.
The information should be collected through closed questions. There should be no reclassification from open questions.
17.The flowchart for the submodule ‘Availability to work (for not employed persons)’ and its associated notes are defined as follows:U.K.
Notes: U.K.
Block V1: U.K.
If the respondent already said that they found a job, this Block can be rephrased as ‘could start the job within 2 weeks from the reference week’.
Block V2: U.K.
The list of options for the main reason for not being available to start working within 2 weeks include:
education or training;
own illness or disability;
care responsibilities;
other family reasons;
other personal reasons;
other reasons; or
don’t know.
The order and split of possible responses can be decided by country according to national consideration.
If the respondent already gave an answer in Block S5, that answer can be copied in Block V2. In such a case, the two additional answer categories in Block S5 ‘no suitable job is available’ and ‘awaiting recall to work (lay-off)’ can be recoded in Block V2 as ‘other reasons’.
‘Care responsibilities’ is limited to own children, partner children and to ill, elderly or incapacitated relatives. Persons caring for friends, for non-relatives or as volunteers should be classified in ‘other personal reasons’.
18.To reduce unnecessary burden, simplified rules are defined in the form of minimum required information to be asked by age group:U.K.
People aged 15 to 69 are interviewed using the whole ‘labour status module’ in all interviews/waves according the applied rotation scheme.
People aged 70 to 74 are asked about the whole ‘labour status module’ in the first interview/wave and in the following interviews/waves as long as they are classified as being in the labour force at the previous interview. People aged 70 to 74 and classified as being outside the labour force at the previous interview can either be re-interviewed or their answers can be copied from the last available interview.
People aged 75 to 89 are asked only about the submodules ‘At work’, ‘Absences from work’ and ‘Second or multiple jobs’ in the first interview/wave. From the second interview, people aged 75 to 89 can either be re-interviewed or answers can be copied from the last available interview or from external sources if more relevant in a given national context.
Persons who are unable to work due to long-standing health problems are asked about the whole ‘labour status module’ in the first interview/wave and in the following interviews/waves as long as they are classified as being in the labour force at the previous interview. Persons who are unable to work due to long-standing health problems and are classified as being outside the labour force at the previous interview can either be re-interviewed or theiranswers can be copied from the last available interview.