Impact of the methodological redesign, the Covid-19 crisis and the new EU-regulation on the microcensus 2021 results
A completely new IT system was set up for the redesigned microcensus from 2020; its introduction was accompanied by technical problems. Individual technical challenges continued in the 2021 survey year. Together with the partially ongoing effects of the corona pandemic, these led to restrictions in the survey conduct. Taken together, however, the effects were much less strong than in 2020 - analysis limitations may still occur in deep technical or regional breakdowns.
The average non-response rate for the final results of the 2021 microcensus is approximately 14% at the federal level (first results approx. 17%). This value is considerably lower than in 2020 (approx. 38%; final result approx. 35%). Thus, there is an improvement in the quality of the annual results in 2021 compared to 2020.
Impact on Labour Market Results
The introduction of new European regulations in the Integrated European Social Statistics and the Labour Force Survey in 2021 influence the measurement of employment in the microcensus and in the integrated EU Labour Force Survey (LFS). In Germany, the requirements of the EU Implementing Regulation 2019/2240, which aims to harmonize inputs for determining the ILO employment status and thus a binding procedure for all EU member states, have the greatest impact. This changes the key questions on ILO employment status and reorganizes the approach. The changed order of the questions and new answer categories in some central questions influence the response behaviour of the respondents.
Overall, the adjustments lead to changes in the results that mark a break in the time series in the 2021. This limits their comparability with previous years.
The articles „Die Erfassung der Erwerbstätigkeit unter den neuen europäischen Rechtsgrundlagen ab 2021“ and„Erfassung der Erwerbstätigkeit ab 2021 in Mikrozensus und Arbeitskräfteerhebung. Auswirkungen auf die Ergebnisse.“ (Wirtschaft und Statistik, 3/2023) provide detailed explanations of the changes and, where possible, a quantification of the effects.