Statistical Yearbook of the Czech Republic

      The labour force sample survey (LFSS) used by the CZSO is a source of information on the labour market. The survey provides information collected in households of respondents. Methodology of indicators measured by the LFSS is in line with definitions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted by the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians held in October 1982 as a basis for direct international comparability of labour market characteristics in various countries. At the same time, the implementing methodology of Eurostat, which explains the contents of particular market characteristics, is respected.

      The tables show average figures of a respective year. Differences between the totals and the sums of individual figures are due to the fact that it is the total that is rounded and is not any sum of rounded individual figures.

      The sample includes about 25 thousand dwellings in the Czech Republic (over 0.6% of all permanently occupied dwellings), in which over 65 thousand respondents of all age groups are surveyed. Almost 54 thousand of them are aged 15+. Included in the LFSS are all persons usually living in the sampled dwellings, irrespective of the type of their stay. The LFSS is a continuous survey, whose results are evaluated and published every quarter.

      Before 2000, all the LFSS data were re-weighted by the age distribution of the population obtained from common demographic statistics, the last known development of natural increase and migration balance being taken into consideration. The LFSS data for 2001 and later years have been re-weighted to correspond to the age distribution of the population projected for individual mid-quarters on the basis of the Population and Housing Census 2001 and then according to the final demographic statistics as at 1 January 2001 and the ends of 2001 and 2002. This calculation approach corresponds best to the circuit of persons included in the survey (permanently residing population, foreigners with long-stay over 90 days).

      The comparison of the labour force structures between 2002 and the preceding years is affected, to some extent, by last methodological changes in the LFSS. Since 1 January 2002, the LFSS questionnaire fully harmonized (including the order of questions for respondents) with the EU standard has been in use. The question about the economic activity of respondents in the reference week is priority. If a respondent stated that he/she worked at least 1 hour in the reference week, he/she is strictly classified, according to the ILO methodology, as a person in employment. Compared to the structure of the questionnaire used before 2002, when the so-called main status was of primary concern, the current questionnaire entitles us to assume that the number of positive answers to the question about the employment in the reference week is higher. Due to the necessity to maintain anonymous and voluntary participation of citizens in the LFSS, the CZSO cannot directly compare the established data with other sources such as records of the employment offices. The development of the difference between the numbers of job applicants registered at the employment offices and of job applicants measured by the LFSS suggests that the impact of the change in the questionnaire decreased the number of the unemployed in the LFSS by 30 to 50 thousand persons.

      Labour force includes all persons who are aged 15+ and satisfy the requirements for classification to the category of employed or unemployed persons.

      Economically inactive persons are children up to 15 and persons aged 15+, who fail to comply with requirements for inclusion in labour force.

      The employed are all persons who are aged 15+ and were in paid employment or self-employment in the reference week. Whether their working activity is permanent, temporary, seasonal or occasional, or their job is the only (main) or second (additional), or whether they are single or multiple jobholders, makes no difference. For the purpose of the survey, the concept of the work is interpreted as the work done for at least one hour per reference week. Included among the employed are also apprentices who receive wages, salaries or remuneration according to the same principle as other persons. Similarly, students, homemakers and other persons primarily engaged in non-economic activities, who were in employment in the reference week, are also classified to the employed. On the other hand, the group of the employed excludes persons on child-care (parental) leave, whose position is of a different character according to ILO methodology. Distinguished between are all employed persons in the national economy and persons employed in the civilian sector (excluding members of armed forces). The employed are classified to industries according to the economic activities of their workplaces, which is why the numbers here differ from the numbers of the employed presented in the other chapters of the Yearbook, because the latter are measured by the enterprise method.

      Employees and members of producer cooperatives are considered as the paid employed, in accordance with the ILO methodology.

      Employees are all persons with a formal job attachment, irrespective of whether they work in the reference week or not. The formal job attachment refers to employment contracts (work contract, appointment or election under current legislation), various contracts for work and, as the case may be, other contractual relations outside the domain of labour law. According to the ILO, the paid employed category also embraces regular and temporary members of the armed forces, and this group of persons is included in total employment in the national economy.

      The self-employed with employees (employers) and without employees (own-account workers) are persons employed in own enterprises. Considered as employed in own enterprises are also family workers irrespective of hours they worked in the reference week.

      The underemployed - all persons in paid employment or self-employment, whether at work or not in the reference week, who work part-time or usually less than 40 hours a week and wish to work more hours. Persons not working for more than four weeks are excluded.

      One (main) jobholders - refers to the total number of actual persons employed in the national economy or in the civil sector.

      Second (additional) jobholders - refers to the additional working activity of persons who have two or more jobs. They are included among persons who have a one (main) job.

      The unemployed all persons who are aged 15 or more and who concurrently meet all three of the following conditions in the reference period:

• are out of work - i.e., they are neither employed for pay nor self-employed,
• are actively seeking employment. "Actively" implies seeking work through a public employment office or a private employment agency, seeking employment by applying to the employer directly, seeking employment through relatives or friends, studying advertisements in newspapers and journals, taking steps to establish one's own business, applying for work permit or license, or any other active seeking employment,
• are ready to take up a job - i.e., they are available to carry out paid employment or self-employment immediately or within two weeks.

      Persons not satisfying at least one of the three conditions above are classified as employed or economically inactive (depending on other particular characteristics). The table below shows methodological differences between unemployed persons measured by LFSS and registered by employment offices.

      The unemployed with experience of work are persons who have already had employment - i.e., persons who do not seek their first job after completing their process of education/training. The structure shown in the respective table excludes persons who completed their education more than 8 years ago.

      General unemployment rate (ILO) is an indicator calculated from LFSS results and complying with international definitions and recommendations. It is derived as the unemployed/total labour force percentage.

      Specific unemployment rates refer to indicators showing unemployment broken down by age or another structure of population. The nominator includes the unemployed, whereas the denominator includes total labour force for a given population group (e.g., aged 25-29), for which the specific unemployment rate is calculated.

      Participation rate is derived according to ILO and Eurostat methodology. It is the share of total labour force in the total number of persons at working and post-working age (i.e., population aged 15+).

      Since 1998, the LFSS has been taken in calendar and not seasonal quarters. Consequently, LFSS historical data were converted to correspond to calendar quarters, for which they are also published. For this reason, the data released in the Statistical Yearbooks brought out before 1998 are not comparable with the data released later.

      The data for 2001 released in this Yearbook differ from those for the same year released in the Statistical Yearbook of the ČR 2002, because the LFSS results were adjusted retroactively according to the demographic data derived from final results of the Population and Housing Census 2001.

      Other detailed data on the Czech labour market, broken down in accordance with the new territorial setup of the country, are shown in the following CZSO publication brought out according to the CZSO Catalogue of Publications 2003 (group 3 - LABOUR, SOCIAL STATISTICS, subgroup 31 - Labour and Wages):

• "Employment and Unemployment in the Czech Republic as Measured by the Labour Force Sample Survey" (Czech version and English version) - quarterly, June, August and November 2003, and February 2004