Belgium (2) Flanders

1.Series

Title:

Registered job-seekers.

Starting year:

1989.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

VDAB (Flemish Service for Employment and Vocational Training).

Type of agency:

Public service under regional authorities.

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

in Flanders.

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

  • Assisting job-seekers to find jobs;
  • Assisting employers to find workers;
  • Vocational guidance;
  • Job-related training.

    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;
  • Citizenship;
  • Nationality/ethnic group;
  • Educational/vocational attainment, with an unspecified number of categories distinguished. Links to ISCED have not been established;
  • Current/past activity status, with an unspecified number of categories distinguished;
  • Type of work (occupation) of past or present job with an unspecified number of groups distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have not been established;
  • Type of work (occupation) of job sought, with an unspecified number of groups distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have not been established;
  • Type of business (industry) of present/previous employer/workplace, with an unspecified number of groups distinguished. NACE, rev.1 is used at the five-digit level to code this variable. Links to ISIC, rev.3 have been established (tabulation categories level);
  • Previous registrations with the agency/service;
  • Other: duration of unemployment.

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

  • Being without work (non-working job-seekers) (R) and (S);
  • Seeking work (all job-seekers) (R) and (S);
  • Availability for work (R) and (S);
  • Age (R) and (S);
  • Citizenship (R) and (S);
  • Previously employed (R);
  • Desired duration of employment and/or number of hours of work sought (minimum duration: one hour) (R).

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

  • Death (R) and (S);
  • Commencement of a (new) job (R) and (S);
  • Participation in an employment promotion scheme, public works programme, etc. (R);
  • Studying or undergoing training (R) and (S);
  • Refusal of a suitable job offer (R);
  • Refusal of a suitable training offer (R);
  • End of entitlement to receive unemployment compensation (non-working job-seekers with unemployment compensation) (R) and (S);
  • Receipt of a pension (R) and (S);
  • Inability to work (R) and (S).

    6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

    1. Non-working job-seekers:

  • Non-working with unemployment compensation;
  • Non-working leaving school;
  • Non-working, free registration;
  • Others.

    2. Working job-seekers:

  • Part-time workers;
  • Full-time workers;
  • Others.

    7.Updating of the registers

    The registers are updated daily.

    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 the Labour Force Survey.

    Definition of employed persons for this purpose:

    Not specified.

    9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

    Series 1:

    Reference period:

    Month.

    Frequency of production:

    Monthly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Occupation;
  • Industry;
  • Geographic characteristics;
  • Previous work experience;
  • Citizenship (nationals/non nationals);
  • Duration of unemployment.

    Form of publication:

  • On paper, for general audience;
  • On a website (www.vdab.be).

    Agency responsible for publication:

    VDAB (Flemish Service for Employment and Vocational Training).

    Title and periodicity of the publication:

    Maandverlag Arbeidsmarkt Vlaanderen (monthly).

    Series 2:

    Reference period:

    Year.

    Frequency of production:

    Yearly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Occupation;
  • Industry;
  • Geographic characteristics;
  • Previous work experience;
  • Citizenship (nationals/non nationals);
  • Duration of unemployment.

    Form of publication:

  • On paper, for general audience;
  • On a website (www.vdab.be).

    Agency responsible for publication:

    VDAB (Flemish Service for Employment and Vocational Training).

    Title and periodicity of the publication:

    Jaarverlag Arbeidsmarkt Vlaanderen (yearly).

    10.Methodological information about the statistics

    Form of release:

  • On paper, for general audience;
  • In machine-readable form, on request;
  • On a website (www.vdab.be).

    Agency responsible for the release:

    VDAB (Flemish Service for Employment and Vocational Training).

    11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

    Comparisons have not been made with unemployment statistics from other sources.

    12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

    There have been no major changes in legislation, capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures which had a significant influence on the statistics.