Italy
Title of the survey:
Rilevazione Trimestrale sulle Forze di Lavoro.
Organization responsible for the survey:
Planning and conduct of the survey:
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT).
Analysis and publication of the results:
ISTAT.
Topics covered:
Employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work,, duration of employment and unemployment, discouraged workers, industry, occupation, status in employment, education/qualification, second jobs.
Coverage of the survey:
Geographical:
Whole country.
Population groups:
Resident non-institutional persons aged 15 years and over, living in private households.
Availability of estimates from other sources for the excluded areas/groups:
No information.
Groups covered by the survey but excluded from the published results:
No information.
Periodicity:
Conduct of the survey:
Quarterly.
Publication of results:
Quarterly.
Reference periods:
Employment:
One fixed week.
Seeking work:
Fixed four weeks period.
Availability for work:
Fixed two weeks period.
Concepts and definitions:
Employment:
Persons aged 15 years and over who declare to be employed and those who declared not to be in employment but have worked at least one week during the reference week. Also included in the employed are: a) full or part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
b) persons who performed some work for pay or profit during the reference week but were subject to compulsory schooling, retired and receiving a pension, registered as jobseekers at an employment office, receiving unemployment benefits; c) full and part-time students working full or part-time; d) unpaid family workers at work during the reference week; e) volunteers and career members of the armed forces.
Unemployment:
Persons aged 15 years and over who have no employment during the reference week and who seeks a job, made at least one active search action during the reference week (4 weeks) and are available to start working within 2 weeks as well as persons who are not looking for a job because they have already found one which will start in the future.
Underemployment:
Time-related underemployment:
Persons in employment who would have liked to work additional hours during the reference week and would have been available to work additional hours in the reference week.
Inadequate employment situations:
No specific definition but the Italian labour force survey collects data on employed persons looking for another job or on reasons for looking for anther job (afraid to lose actual job; fixed-term job; looking for second activity; looking for better conditions, etc.).
Hours of work:
Usual and actually worked hours in the main job during the reference week as well as hours actually worked in the second activity during the reference week.
Employment-related income:
Income from paid employment:
Not applicable.
Income from self-employment:
Not applicable.
Informal sector:
Not applicable.
Usual activity:
No information.
Classifications:
Branch of economic activity (industry):
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by industry:
Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience.
Number of groups used for coding:
60 at the 2-digit level.
Links to ISIC:
ISIC-Rev.3.
Occupation:
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by occupation:
Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience.
Number of groups used for coding:
35.
Links to ISCO:
ISCO-88.
Status in employment:
Title of the classification:
National classification.
Population groups classified by status in employment:
Employed and unemployed persons with previous work experience.
Groups used for classification:
Employee, employer, own-account worker, family worker and member of a cooperative for the employed; employee, self-employed with employees, self-employed without employees and family worker for the unemployed.
Links to ICSE:
ICSE-1993.
Education:
Title of the classification:
ISCED-97.
Population groups classified by education:
All persons.
Groups used for classification:
No education attainment; primary education (level 1); lower secondary education (level 2); upper secondary education (level 3); post-secondary non-tertiary education (level 4); tertiary education (level 5); post-graduate education (level 6).
Links to ISCED:
ISCED-97.
Sample size and design:
Ultimate sampling unit:
Household.
Sample size (ultimate sampling units):
75,000 households each quarter.
Overall sampling fraction:
0.35 per cent of resident families each quarter.
Sample frame:
Municipal registers.
Updating of the sample:
In April of each year.
Rotation:
Scheme:
2-2-2.
Percentage of units remaining in the sample for two consecutive survey rounds:
50 per cent.
Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:
4.
Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:
15 quarters.
Field work:
Type of interview:
Face to face basis: paper and pencil personal interview.
Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:
No information.
Duration of field work:
Total:
No information.
Per sample area:
No information.
Survey organization:
Permanent.
Number of field staff:
1,351 supervisors and 3,000 interviewers.
Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:
Yes.
Estimation and adjustments:
Total non-response rate:
5 per cent.
Adjustment for total non-response:
Yes.
Imputation for item non-response:
Yes
Adjustment for areas/population not covered:
No.
Adjustment for undercoverage:
Yes.
Adjustment for overcoverage:
Yes.
Adjustment for seasonal variations:
Yes for employment by geographical area and economic activity, for unemployment and unemployment rates by geographical area and for labor force by geographical area.
History of the survey:
Title and date of the first survey:
Rilevazione Nazionale delle Forze di Lavoro 1959.
Significant changes or revisions:
1977; 1984: sample drawn from the 1981 Population Census; beginning second quarter of 1992: methodology revised and lower age limit refers to persons aged 15 years and over instead of 14 years previously.
Documentation and dissemination:
Documentation:
Survey results:
Press releases (quarterly); Annual results.
Survey methodology:
Idem.
Dissemination:
Time needed for initial release of survey results:
About 3 months.
Advance information of public about date of initial release:
Yes.
Availability of unpublished data upon request:
Yes.
Availability of data in machine-readable form:
Yes.
Website:
http://www.istat.it/.