What is to be understood by persons in employment?
Depending on the survey, persons in employment are defined in different ways.
In the context of national accounts, persons in employment are all persons who, either as employees (wage earners, salaried employees, public officials, marginal part-time workers, military personnel) or as self-employed persons or family workers carry out a gainful activity, irrespective of the scope of that activity. In cases where persons have several jobs, only the main activity is recorded.
Detailed definition of persons in employment in the context of national accounts in the relevant article of Statistics from A to Z
The definition of persons in employment by the EU follows the definition of the International Labour Organization (ILO). It largely corresponds to the concept used in national accounting (see above). In accordance with this definition, any person from the age of 15 is considered employed if he/she worked for remuneration for at least one hour in the reference week.
To ensure a harmonised basis of the survey in all Member States of the EU, however, Eurostat includes neither conscripts on compulsory military or community service nor persons in employment who live in institutions. This approach deviates from the definition of ILO. Also, Eurostat regards persons in an employment relationship who have interrupted their work as persons in employment even if the duration of the interruption exceeds three months.
Both sets of figures are based on the definition of the International Labour Organization (ILO). As regards the practical application, however, some groups of persons are defined in a slightly different manner by Eurostat (compare the headline on Persons in employment as defined by the concept of the International Labour Organization). However, the differences in the results can only in part be explained by the above deviations.
The figures of persons in employment as obtained in the context of employment accounts are based on a wide range of statistical sources with the aim to include, if possible, all available data sources in the estimation. Hence, employment accounts are a priority component of studying employment in the context of overall economic development. The figures of the labour force survey are based on a harmonised survey carried out in all Member States of the EU. The goal of the harmonised survey is to ensure international comparability of the employment indicators. In Germany, the labour force survey is conducted as part of the microcensus.
Despite the minor degree of differences in the definitions applied, the results of the labour force survey and the employment accounts differ considerably. This is above all due to the methodological differences between the two types of statistics: (1) Since the labour force survey is a sample survey, it is characterised by a statistical error, namely the random sampling error. As the sample of the microcensus is very large, however, this error is comparatively small as regards the number of persons in employment. (2) The employment definition of the International Labour Organization (ILO) deviates considerably from the common perception as it even defines paid work whose volume reaches not more than one hour per week as employment. For this reason, recording in the context of household surveys can be problematic as respondents may see themselves mainly as pensioners, unemployed, housewives or students and therefore will not indicate minor ancillary activities in the interview. The methodological approach in the context of employment accounts differs in this respect. Information on minor activities is predominantly derived from the data provided by statutory reports on marginal part-time work.
Conclusion: The two figures may differ because the underlying data sources are different. The figure obtained in the context of employment accounts is used to study short-term economic and overall economic trends in employment. The results of the labour force survey are mostly used for European comparisons and also for more detailed analyses of sub-populations.
Labour market