Germany
Title of the survey:
Micro-census (Mikrozensus)/European Union Labour Force Survey.
Organization responsible for the survey:
Planning and conduct of the survey:
Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) and State Statistical Offices (Statistische Landesämter).
Analysis and publication of the results:
Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) and State Statistical Offices (Statistische Landesämter).
Topics covered:
Employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work (usual hours of work, hours actually worked), income (net individual income, net household income, pensions, main sources of livelihood), informal sector employment, duration of employment (change of establishment during the last year, duration of fixed-term contracts, duration of employment with present employer), duration of unemployment, occasional workers (casual jobs, small jobs), industry, occupation, status in employment, education and qualification levels, second jobs.
Coverage of the survey:
Geographical:
Whole country.
Population groups:
The survey covers the whole resident population of Germany, including the non-civilian population and persons living in institutions or
group living quarters. Excluded are foreign diplomats and members of foreign armed forces.
Availability of estimates from other sources for the excluded areas/groups:
Not applicable.
Groups covered by the survey but excluded from the published results:
As a matter of principle, estimates for population groups below a size of 5,000 persons are not published separately because the sampling error of such estimates is considered too high.
Periodicity:
Conduct of the survey:
Annual.
Publication of results:
Annual, plus advance reporting.
Reference periods:
Employment:
One week, i.e. the last holiday-free week of April.
Seeking work:
Four weeks prior to the date of the interview.
Availability for work:
Two weeks following the date of the interview.
Concepts and definitions:
Employment:
Persons aged 15 years or over who were employed during the reference week, irrespective of whether the employment was their main or a secondary activity, and of whether the job was undertaken regularly or occasionally.
Included are:
- contributing family workers at work during the reference week;
- persons engaged in temporary work or subsidiary activities and employed in small jobs (i.e. jobs of less than 15 hours per week, or with an income below the threshold for social security contributions);
- full- or part-time workers seeking other work during the reference period;
- persons who performed some work for pay or profit during the reference week but who were subject to compulsory schooling, or retired and receiving a pension, or registered as job seekers at an employment office, or receiving unemployment benefits;
- full- time students working full- or part-time;
- part-time students working full- or part-time;
- paid apprentices and trainees;
- persons engaged in the production of goods for own final use;
- members of the armed forces (career members, volunteers and conscripts); and
- persons on civilian service equivalent to military service.
Also included are persons with a job or enterprise, who were temporarily absent from work during the reference week because of
- illness or injury,
- vacation or annual leave,
- maternity or paternity leave,
- parental leave,
- absence without leave,
- labour management dispute, or
- bad weather, mechanical breakdown, etc.
Contributing family workers temporarily absent from work during the reference week are considered employed if they usually work in the enterprise.
Excluded are:
- unpaid apprentices and trainees;
- participants in employment promotion schemes;
- persons on educational or training leave, unless they worked during the reference week;
- persons on unpaid leave initiated by the employer, if such leave corresponds to a dismissal;
- persons rendering unpaid or personal services to members of their own household; and
- persons engaged in volunteer community or social service work.
Unemployment:
Persons aged 15 years or over who were without work during the reference week, and who are actively seeking work or had actively sought work during the four weeks prior to the date of the interview. A distinction is made between unemployed persons currently available for work (i.e. available to start work within the two weeks following the date of the interview) and other unemployed persons.
Included are:
- persons who have already found work and who will start working soon;
- persons trying to establish their own enterprise;
- persons actively seeking work who were subject to compulsory schooling or retired and receiving a pension;
- full- time students actively seeking full- or part-time work;
- part-time students actively seeking full- or part-time work;
- unpaid apprentices and trainees actively seeking work;
- participants in employment promotion schemes actively seeking work; and
- seasonal workers not employed during the off-season and actively seeking work.
Excluded are persons without work who are not actively seeking work, unless they have already found a new job.
Underemployment:
Time-related underemployment:
Employed persons seeking a second job and employed persons seeking a job with more hours of work.
Inadequate employment situations:
Employed persons seeking a job with better conditions of work.
Hours of work:
Usual hours of work per week and hours actually worked during the reference week. Both are asked for the main job and the second job (if any).
Employment-related income:
Income from paid employment:
Can only be derived approximately. Questions are asked on the: (a) main source of livelihood (one category is employment); (b) receipt of pensions and public transfers by type; (c) amount of net monthly individual income and of net monthly household income by income classes. Employees are identified through a question on status in employment (see 8.3).
Income from self-employment:
Can only be derived approximately. Questions are asked on the: (a) main source of livelihood (one category is employment); (b) receipt of pensions and public transfers by type; (c) amount of net monthly individual income and of net monthly household income by income classes. Self-employed persons are identified through a question on status in employment (see 8.3).
Informal sector:
Defined on the basis of questions on occupation and branch of economic activity of the main job and the second job.
Usual activity:
The following is referring to main activity. Though this topic is not covered by the survey, three retrospective questions are asked regarding the situation one year before (activity status, status in employment, and branch of economic activity).
Classifications:
Branch of economic activity (industry):
Title of the classification:
National Classification of Branches of Economic Activity 1993 (Klassifikation der Wirtschaftszweige - WZ93), micro-census version (three digits).
Population groups classified by industry:
All employed persons, as well as unemployed or economically inactive persons.
Number of groups used for coding:
Three-digit codes. Information on the number of groups not provided.
Links to ISIC:
The classification corresponds to the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE, Rev. 1).
Occupation:
Title of the classification:
National Classification of Occupations (Klassifikation der Berufe), version derived for the micro-census 1992.
Population groups classified by occupation:
All employed persons, as well as unemployed or economically inactive persons.
Number of groups used for coding:
Information not provided.
Links to ISCO:
ISCO-88, at the three-digit level.
Status in employment:
Title of the classification:
National classification of status in employment (Gliederung nach der Stellung im Beruf).
Population groups classified by status in employment:
All employed persons, as well as unemployed or economically inactive persons.
Groups used for classification:
(a) self-employed persons in agriculture, forestry and fishing; (b) self-employed persons in other branches of economic activity; (c) contributing family workers; (d) civil servants; (e) salary earners; (f) wage earners; (g) apprentices in recognized commercial and technical occupations; (h) apprentices in recognized industrial occupations.
Links to ICSE:
Information not provided.
Education:
Title of the classification:
National classification of levels of educational attainment and vocational training (Gliederung nach dem allgemeinen und beruflichen Bildungsniveau).
Population groups classified by education:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Groups used for classification:
Information not provided.
Links to ISCED:
ISCED-1997.
Sample size and design:
Ultimate sampling unit:
Household, institution or group living quarter.
Sample size (ultimate sampling units):
About 350,000 households or 820,000 persons (including those living in institutions or group living quarters).
Overall sampling fraction:
1.0 percent of the population.
Sample frame:
Area frame based on the Population Census 1987 (for states of the former German Democratic Republic: based on the Population Register). Results are adjusted to current population benchmark data by sex and nationality (German/foreign).
Updating of the sample:
The sample is updated every year in adding a sample of the newly constructed buildings to it.
Rotation:
Scheme:
Sample households, institutions or group living quarters participate in the survey four times during four consecutive years. Every year, one fourth of the sample households, institutions or group living quarters is rotated out of the sample and replaced by new ones entering the sample.
Percentage of units remaining in the sample for two consecutive survey rounds:
75 percent.
Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:
Four.
Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:
Four years.
Field work:
Type of interview:
Participation in the survey is compulsory. Respondents can choose between questionnaires to be completed by themselves or questionnaires completed by interviewers. Selfcompleted questionnaires are filled in using the paper-and-pencil method. Interviewers use computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI) or the paper-and-pencil method. For foreigners not speaking German, the self-completed questionnaire is available in several foreign languages.
Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:
Each sample area contains nine households in average.
Duration of field work:
Total:
Three months (May-July) for personal interviews and six months (May-October) for self-completed questionnaires.
Per sample area:
Information not provided. The duration of interviews depends on the size of the households. On average, the interviews take about 20 minutes per household.
Survey organization:
A permanent survey organization exists with interviewers being mainly used for this survey.
Number of field staff:
About 7,000 interviewers employed by the State Statistical Offices (Statistische Landesämter).
Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:
Ultimate sample units, which cannot be contacted or which are cases of total non-response for other reasons, are not replaced by others.
Estimation and adjustments:
Total non-response rate:
About 4 percent.
Adjustment for total non-response:
Yes, using the hot-deck method to impute missing records.
Imputation for item non-response:
Yes, for a few variables, using the hot-deck method to impute missing values.
Adjustment for areas/population not covered:
Not applicable.
Adjustment for undercoverage:
Yes.
Adjustment for overcoverage:
Yes.
Adjustment for seasonal variations:
Not applicable.
History of the survey:
Title and date of the first survey:
The first micro-census was conducted in 1957.
Significant changes or revisions:
From 1957 to 1974, in addition to the 1 per cent annual sample, three small subsamples (0.1 per cent) were drawn. Since 1968, the European Labour Force Survey is integrated in the micro-census. Other major changes to the survey were made in 1990 after the 1987 Population Census and after the reunification of Germany. A new sample, based on the 1987 Population Census results was introduced.
Documentation and dissemination:
Documentation:
Survey results:
(a) Statistisches Bundesamt, Fachserie 1: Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit, Reihe 3: Haushalte und Familien (annual); (b) Statistisches Bundesamt, Fachserie 1: Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit, Reihe 4.1.1: Stand und Entwicklung der Erwerbstätigkeit (annual); (c) Statistisches Bundesamt, Fachserie 1: Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit, Reihe 4.1.2: Beruf, Ausbildung und Arbeitsbedingungen der Erwerbstätigen (annual).
Survey methodology:
The above-mentioned publications include methodological information on the survey.
Dissemination:
Time needed for initial release of survey results:
There is a timelack of nine months between the field work and the publication of results.
Advance information of public about date of initial release:
There is no fixed date for release of the survey results. Usually, the release of the data is announced to the public by means of a press release which presents the first results of the survey.
Availability of unpublished data upon request:
Yes, but not necessarily free of charge.
Availability of data in machine-readable form:
Most of the data can be made available in electronic form.
Website:
http://www.destatis.de/.