Selected indicators - methodical notes

Labour Force Sample Survey (LFS)

The Labour Force Survey has been fully aligned with the new EU legislation on Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS) since 2021. In order to fully harmonize with the new EU legislation, several measures have been taken in the LFS, the most important of which are to adjust the sampling frame before weighting on collective households, switch to integrated weights at the level of households and its members, innovate questionnaires, introduction of an upper limit for employed person up to 89 years, exclusion of persons performing activation work from employed persons, transfer of persons on parental leave from non-employed to employed presons; renaming economically inactive people to people outside the labour force.

Methodology of the LFS indicators fully corresponds to the ILO recommendations and the Eurostat definitions.

Economically active population (labour force) - persons aged 15 to 89 years (before 2021 persons aged 15 and over) that are employed or unemployed. From the 1st quarter 1997 to the 4th quarter 2005, conscripts on compulsory military service were included in the LFS.

Employed persons are defined as all persons aged 15 to 89 years (before 2021 persons aged 15 and over) who during the reference week:

• worked at least one hour of work for pay or profit (full-time or part-time job, permanent, temporary, casual or seasonal job) including employed persons working abroad up to 1 year, cross-border commuters, persons working under agreements on work performed outside employment relationship works,
• had a job but did not work due to illness, holiday, working time arrangements or compensation of overtime, maternity or parental leave, job-related training, off-season, layoff, strike and lock-out except for persons on long-term leave from work,
• the employed persons also include contributing (unpaid) family workers in a family business or on a family farm.

Employees - persons who work for a public or private employer and who receive compensation in the form of wage, salary or another remuneration.

Members of productive co-operatives - persons who are members of agricultural and productive co-operatives and have formal job attachment in the co-operatives.

Self-employment jobs - self-employed with employees (employers), self-employed without employees (own-account workers) and contributing (unpaid) family workers in a family business or on a family farm. The members of producers´ co-operatives are included too (agricultural or productive co-operatives) as self-employed without employees.

Underemployed¹⁾ - persons who are working part-time, wishing to work more and available to start new job within two weeks.

Unemployed - all persons aged 15-74 who were

1. not working for pay or profit during the reference week,
2. actively seeking work during the last four weeks or who found a job to start within a period of at most 3 months,
3. able to start work in the next two weeks following the reference week.

The following are considered as active search methods: contacted a public employment office or a private personal agency, asked relatives, friends or acquaintances, placed, answered or studied job advertisements, placed or updated CVs online, direct application to the employer, taken a test, interview or examination, made preparations to set up a business.

Note: The Eurostat definition of unemployment is harmonised under Commission Regulation (EC) N° 1897/2000.

Duration of unemployment - is defined as the shorter of the following two periods: the duration of search for work, or the length of time since the last employment.

Persons out of labour market (economically inactive population) aged 15 and over - all persons aged 15 years and over who are not classified as economically active. They are defined as persons who were not working for pay or profit during the reference week and were not actively seeking work during the last four weeks or who were actively seeking work during the last four weeks but were not able to start work in the next two weeks following the reference week (students, apprentices, pensioners, persons keeping household, persons on parental leave, persons in re-training course, or in non-formal learning, discouraged workers).

Persons out of labour market (economically inactive population) in total - economically inactive population aged 15 and over and children aged up to 15 years.

Economic activity rate (Participation rate) - economically active persons as a percentage of the population aged 15 to 89 years (before 2021 persons aged 15 and over).

Economic activity rate by age - the percentage of persons aged 15 and over in certain age group who are economically active.

Employment rate - persons in employment as a percentage of the population aged 15 to 89 years (before 2021 persons aged 15 and over).

Employment rate by age - the percentage of the population in certain age group who are employed.

Employment rate by education - the percentage of the population with concrete level of education who are employed.

Unemployment rate - unemployed persons as a percentage of the economically active population.

Unemployment rate by age (specific unemployment rate) - the percentage of economically active persons in certain age group who are unemployed.

Unemployment rate by education (specific unemployment rate) - the percentage of economically active people with concrete level of education who are unemployed.

Enterprise statistics on labour

Data sources concern all economic activities and cover:

• enterprises with 20 and more employees incorporated in the Business register; in organizations of financial intermediation and in all non-profit organizations irrespective of the number of employees, as well as enterprises with less than 20 employees which have a turnover of 5 million EUR and more (quarterly questionnaires: Prod 3-04, Pen P 3-04, Pin P 3-04, Poi P 3-04, Práca/A 2-04);
• enterprises up to 19 employees incl. incorporated in the Business register (quarterly questionnaire Práca/B 2-04);
• estimates of the number of entrepreneurs unincorporated in the Business register conducting business in the main activity and their employees.

Average number of employed persons covers employees and entrepreneurs.

Average registered number of employees includes permanent and temporary employees who are in working relationship to the organization (in cooperatives where working relationship is part of the membership), irrespective of their presence or absence in work, e.g. due to sickness, holiday and also employees who did not work e.g. due to downtime, strike, lockout. Short-time workers are covered as well. Persons on maternity leave, apprentices and trainees, persons working on the basis of the special non-employee agreements are excluded.

Job Vacancy Rate is calculated according to the formula:

• Job Vacancy Rate in % = number of job vacancies / number of occupied posts + number of job vacancies x 100

Job Vacancy is defined as a paid post (newly created, unoccupied or about to become vacant) for which the employer is taking active steps to find a suitable candidate from outside the enterprise concerned and is prepared to take more steps and for which the employer intends to occupy. Active steps to find a suitable candidate include are as follows: notifying the job vacancy to the public employment services, contacting a private employment agency/head hunters, advertising the vacancy in the media (internet, newspapers, public notice board); direct recruitment of possible candidates and use of trainees for job vacancy.

An occupied post that becomes vacant due to long-term absence (regular and additional maternity leave) and long-term sickness (more than 4 weeks) is considered to be the job vacancy as well. In the case of a reservation of the job vacancy for a concrete candidate, who has not started work yet, this is no longer a job vacancy but this is not still considered as an occupied post. An occupied post is a paid post within an organization to which its employee has been assigned. Usually, the number of occupied posts is equal or less comparing to the registered number of employees in physical persons. Posts in the user firms, which have hired employees from temporary-work agencies, are considered to be occupied and/or vacant in those agencies. In the branches with a multi-shift operation (e.g. manufacturing, trade, services) the working post occupied by several employees is counted as the one post. If the working post is occupied partly (e.g. two shifts occupied in a tripleshift operation, the third shift is unoccupied) and employer intends to take active steps to occupy it, this post is considered to be vacant. Otherwise, that working post is occupied.

Average number of occupied posts or job vacancies (unoccupied posts) per quarter is calculated as an arithmetic average of number of job vacancies or occupied posts of the last day of each month in the reference quarter. Example of the calculation: as of January 31 the organization had 100 occupied posts, as of February 28 it was 120 occupied posts, as of March 31 the organization had 101 occupied posts. In the first quarter, the average number of job vacancies was according to formula (100 +120 +101)/3 = 107.

Note: ¹⁾A revision of definition of underemployment since the 1^st January 2011