Belgium (1) Brussels Capital

1.Series

Title:

Monthly Report on the Labour Market and Annual Statistical Report.

Starting year:

1989.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

Regional Employment Office of Brussels (ORBEM).

Type of agency:

Public service under a regional authority.

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

Region Brussels-Capital.

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

Assisting job-seekers to find jobs;

Assisting employers to find workers;

Vocational guidance;

Other: administration of employment programme, day care centre, language knowledge tests, expert reports on the labour market, etc.

Percentage of job seekers seeking work through the agency:

Not available.

3.The following information is registered about a person:

Name;

Sex;

Social security number (or similar identification number also used by other agencies);

Address of usual residence;

Date of birth;

Nationality;

Educational attainment. Links to ISCED have not been established;

Type of work of past or present job with 2,216 categories distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have not been established;

Type of work of job sought, with 2,216 categories distinguished;

Type of business of present/previous

Employer/workplace, with 66 categories distinguished. Links to ISIC have not been established;

Previous registrations with the agency;

Other: work permit, duration of unemployment, qualifications, aptitudes, vehicle, driving licence, language knowledge, marital status, number of dependent children.

4.Criteria used for inclusion of a person in the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

Being without work (S);

Seeking work (R) and (S);

Availability for work (S);

Age (lower limit: 15 years; upper limit: 65 years) (R) and (S);

Being resident in the country (S).

5.Criteria used for exclusion of a person from the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

Death (S);

Taking up residency abroad (S);

Commencement of a (new) job in the case of placement by the agency or if the agency is informed by the person looking for employment (S);

Participation in an employment promotion scheme, public works programme, etc (S);

Studying or undergoing training (S);

Failure to contact the agency/service following three unanswered letters (S);

Refusal of suitable job offers (S);

Refusal of suitable training offers (S);

End of entitlement to receive unemployment;

Compensation for persons living together: according to article 80, if the duration of unemployment is one and a half times longer than the "regional" average, depending on sex and age category, this will lead to the suspension of compensation for an undetermined period (S);

Receipt of a pension (retirement benefits, etc) (S);

Inability to work, in case of inability of more than 66% (S);

Other: successive absences at communal checking (S).

6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

Persons over 15 years, without employment, available on the job market and looking for employment. In practical terms, this series includes all non-working job-seekers, i.e.:

fully unemployed persons receiving compensation;

young persons (having worked or not previously) receiving a "waiting allowance" while looking for employment;

unemployed persons looking for employment, registered freely (not entitled to receive compensation);

other unemployed persons looking for employment with mandatory registration. This category includes:

certain fully unemployed persons temporarily excluded from receiving compensation, for the duration of their exclusion;

persons presented by public social assistance centres;

certain persons depending on community funds for the social and professional integration of handicapped persons who do not satisfy the conditions for unemployment compensation;

persons having been occupied voluntarily in a part-time job, and who have become fully unemployed;

unemployed persons who give up voluntarily unemployment compensation;

young persons with transitional compensation. They are registered as persons looking for part-time employment.

7.Updating of the registers

The registers are updated monthly.

8.Unemployment rates

Statistics from the registers are used to obtain unemployment rates.

The source of data on employed persons who are part of the denominator of the unemployment rates is official estimates.

9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

Reference period:

Month.

Frequency of production:

Monthly.

Descriptive variables used:

Sex;

Age;

Educational level;

Occupation;

Industry;

Geographic characteristics;

Nationality;

Duration of unemployment.

Form of publication:

On paper, for limited audience;

Machine-readable form, on request.

Agency responsible for publication:

ORBEM.

Title and periodicity of the publication:

Rapport mensuel sur l’évolution du marché de l’emploi (Monthly report on the evolution of the employment market).

10.Methodological information about the statistics

Form of release:

On paper, for limited audience.

Agency responsible for the release:

ORBEM.

11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

Comparisons have been made with unemployment statistics from the labour force survey and the population census.

Frequency of the comparisons:

Occasional.

Publication of the methodology/results of the comparisons:

These have been published.

Title of the publication on the comparisons:

Higher Employment Council: "Comment comptabiliser le nombre de chômeurs? Une grille de lecture des taux de chômage" (How to post the number of unemployed persons? A reading scale of unemployment rates), published by the Federal Ministry of Employment and Labour.

12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

Major changes in legislation, the capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures which had a significant influence on the statistics took place in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2002.