Poland
Title of the survey:
The Labour Force Survey.
Organization responsible for the survey:
Planning and conduct of the survey:
Central Statistical Office, Labour Statistics Division.
Analysis and publication of the results:
Central Statistical Office, Labour Statistics Division.
Topics covered:
Employment, unemployment, underemployment, hours of work, wages, duration of employment, duration of unemployment, discouraged workers, occasional workers, industry, occupation, status in employment, educational level, second jobs.
Coverage of the survey:
Geographical:
Whole country.
Population groups:
All persons aged 15 years and over, who are members of private households selected for the survey, including members absent from the household for less than two months abroad for such reasons as traveling for business, etc. and those absent for more than two months such as sailors, fishermen, etc. Excluded are:
1. persons living in collective households (e.g., workers' and students' hostels, boarding schools, army barracks, old age pensioners homes, etc.);
2. inmates of penal and mental institutions;
3. member of private households staying for more than two months abroad;
4. temporary guests staying for less than two month in a given household;
5. foreigners.
Availability of estimates from other sources for the excluded areas/groups:
Not available.
Groups covered by the survey but excluded from the published results:
Not available.
Periodicity:
Conduct of the survey:
Continuous.
Publication of results:
Quarterly.
Reference periods:
Employment:
One week (moving reference period).
Seeking work:
Four weeks (the reference week being the 4th week).
Availability for work:
Two weeks (the reference period plus the following week).
Concepts and definitions:
Employment:
Persons aged 15 years and over who during the reference week:
- performed some work for at least one hour for pay or profit as hired employees, worked on their own farm or ran their own business outside agriculture, helped without pay (contributing family workers) in running a family business outside agriculture;
- did not perform any work for reasons such as sickness, vacation, leave, stoppages in the enterprise, strike, bad weather conditions, etc. but had a formal job attachment as employee or self-employed (employer or own-account worker).
Also considered as employed are apprentices in paid occupational training or preparation contracts paid by their future employer (whether private or public) during the contractual training period. It also includes:
- persons on temporary lay-off without pay and on unpaid leave initiated by the employer;
- full and part-time workers seeking other work during the reference week;
- persons who performed some work for pay or profit during the reference week, but were subject to compulsory schooling or were full or part-time students working full or part-time; were retired and receiving a pension; registered as job seekers at an employment office or receiving unemployment benefits;
- participants in employment promotion schemes;
- persons engaged in production of goods for own final use;
- all members of the armed forces, including persons doing civilian service equivalent to military service.
Unemployment:
Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed by the above criteria during the reference week, were available for work during the reference week or the week which followed, and had actively looked for work for four weeks (the reference period being the fourth week) and been involved in concrete action directed towards finding work. Persons who did not look for work because they had already found it and were waiting to start a new job within a 30-day period are included.
It also includes:
- persons who were making an effort to establish their own business or private practice;
- seasonal workers awaiting seasonal work;
- persons retired and receiving a pension;
- persons subject to compulsory schooling;
- full and part-time students seeking full or part-time work.
Underemployment:
Time-related underemployment:
Persons working part-time because of economic reasons (e.g. work stoppages, compulsory leave, impossibility to find a full-time job. (Currently work is being carried out to change the definition according to the new ILO Definition.)
Inadequate employment situations:
Not applicable.
Hours of work:
Actual number of hours worked in all (main and additional) jobs by a person during the reference week.
Employment-related income:
Income from paid employment:
Net monthly earnings from full-time paid employment, referring to the main job and relating to the month preceding the reference week.
Income from self-employment:
Not applicable.
Informal sector:
Not applicable.
Usual activity:
Not applicable.
Classifications:
Branch of economic activity (industry):
Title of the classification:
Not available.
Population groups classified by industry:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Number of groups used for coding:
35 groups.
Links to ISIC:
ISIC-Rev.3.
Occupation:
Title of the classification:
Not available.
Population groups classified by occupation:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Number of groups used for coding:
371 groups.
Links to ISCO:
ISCO-88.
Status in employment:
Title of the classification:
Not available.
Population groups classified by status in employment:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Groups used for classification:
Four groups: Employee, Employer, Own-account workers, Unpaid family worker.
Links to ICSE:
ICSE-1993.
Education:
Title of the classification:
Not available.
Population groups classified by education:
Employed and unemployed persons.
Groups used for classification:
Six groups: Primary school and incomplete primary, basic vocational, general secondary, vocational secondary, post secondary, tertiary.
Links to ISCED:
ISCED-76 and ISCED-1997.
Sample size and design:
Ultimate sampling unit:
Dwelling.
Sample size (ultimate sampling units):
24,400 dwellings. The total quarterly elementary sample consists of four independent e-samples (for short).
Overall sampling fraction:
Differentiated territorial allocation, approximately 1/2,000 registered dwellings for urban areas and 1/1,818 for rural areas.
Sample frame:
The sample is derived from the CSO Register of geographical statistical units, enumeration districts (EDs), groups of EDs or census clusters and housing units from the national census. This register is updated annually, taking into consideration information about dwellings newly built, demolished or converted into nonresidential one as at the 1st of January.
Updating of the sample:
It is a consequence of the yearly updating of the frame.
Rotation:
Scheme:
Four rotation groups called elementary samples (e-samples for short): in a given quarter, the sample comprises two e-samples surveyed in the previous quarter, one new e-sample introduced into the survey for the first time and one e-sample introduced in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The quarterly four e-samples rotate according to the 2-(2)-2 scheme, i.e. a housing unit remains two consecutive quarters in a sample, leaves it for two quarters and returns again for another two consecutive quarters before leaving the sample definitively.
Percentage of units remaining in the sample for two consecutive survey rounds:
50 per cent.
Maximum number of interviews per sample unit:
4 times.
Length of time for complete renewal of the sample:
5 quarters.
Field work:
Type of interview:
Personal or telephone interviews using paper and pencil.
Number of ultimate sampling units per sample area:
1,880 dwellings.
Duration of field work:
Total:
Not available.
Per sample area:
One calendar week.
Survey organization:
A permanent survey staff has been created in order to implement the new continuous survey methodology.
Number of field staff:
About 300.
Substitution of non-responding ultimate sampling units:
No.
Estimation and adjustments:
Total non-response rate:
11.6 per cent.
Adjustment for total non-response:
Yes.
Imputation for item non-response:
No.
Adjustment for areas/population not covered:
Yes.
Adjustment for undercoverage:
No.
Adjustment for overcoverage:
No.
Adjustment for seasonal variations:
No.
History of the survey:
Title and date of the first survey:
Labour Force Survey, 1992.
Significant changes or revisions:
The quarterly survey was suspended in 2nd and 3rd quarters 1999. The survey changed from the periodical to a continuous observation as of the 4th quarter 1999.
In May 1994, application of the economic classifications was linked to the international ones.
Documentation and dissemination:
Documentation:
Survey results:
Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Poland. The following publications: Labour Force Survey in Poland, (Information and statistical papers) (in English); Quarterly Information on the Labour Market Developments (in Polish/English); Quarterly Economic Activity of the Population (in Polish); and Economic Activity and Unemployment in Poland (in Polish). (Periodicity: quarterly).
Survey methodology:
Labour Force Survey in Poland.
Dissemination:
Time needed for initial release of survey results:
Same quarter.
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 on diskette and by email.
Website:
http://www.stat.gov.pl/.