Federal Public Service for the Economy, SMEs, Independent Professions and Energy, Statistics and Economic Information Division, rue de Louvain, 44, B-1000 Brussels.
1947, 1961, 1970, 1981 and 1991. The following description refers to the General Socio-Economic Survey of 1 October 2001 (2001 Survey) which replaced the census.
The day of the survey; however, the usual situation of respondents was also taken into account.
a) Total population, by sex and age: Yes
Economically active population by:
b) Sex and age group: Yes
c) Industry and by sex: Yes
d) Occupation and by sex: Yes
e) Status in employment and by sex: Yes
f) Highest educational level: Yes
g) Hours of work: Yes
h) Other characteristics: Yes
Ref. a): Age is defined either in terms of year of birth or age at last birthday; however, most of the available tables are based on the latter method.
Ref. g): Hours of work refers to usual working hours (for people who have a job) and hours actually worked (for people who have a job and are at work) during the reference period.
Ref. h): Information was also collected on the means of transport used to commute, time spent travelling to and from work and the last occupational activity of persons who were no longer working.
a) Economically active population: This includes all persons aged 14 years or over who, on the date of the survey, were either employed or seeking employment (unemployed) according to the definitions given below. The definition also covers professional soldiers.
Notes: In Belgium, although education is compulsory up until the age of 18 years, from the age of 14 years it is possible to enter into an apprenticeship contract.
Given that compulsory military service has been abolished, militia personnel no longer exist.
b) Employment: All persons who replied to the question “To which category of people do you belong?” with “I have a job” were considered to be employed (regardless of their status, and including apprenticeships, even if employment was temporarily interrupted because of illness, leave, a career break, temporary unemployment, and so on).
The following categories were included in this definition:
i) assistants to a self-employed person;
ii) students working part-time;
iii) seasonal or casual workers, provided that they were employed at the time of the survey;
iv) multiple-job holders;
v) apprentices and trainees holding a contract;
vi) persons working voluntarily for non-governmental organizations involved in the area of development cooperation, such as Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).
These categories were identified separately by means of specific questions.
Employed persons were classified by industry, occupation and status in employment. Persons no longer in gainful employment were classified according to their status in employment and the branch or sub-branch of the industry.
a) Industry: Respondents were asked to indicate the address of the enterprise, administration or institution where they worked or which they managed and the nature of the activity undertaken by the establishment (examples were provided to avoid any confusion with the category of occupation). The NACE-BEL nomenclature of economic activity was used to code industry data. NACE-BEL was derived from NACE Revision 1 (140 of the 500 or so classes in NACE Revision 1 were further subdivided in NACE-BEL. At the lowest level, NACE-BEL has nearly 800 headings).
b) Occupation: Based on the question: « What is your exact occupation? » and the request « Please state the grade, title and/or description of your position » (examples were given to avoid any confusion). Occupations were coded using a five-digit coded list of occupations (occupational codes) which was drawn up systematically (specialization or industry) and aimed to be comprehensive. Although specific to Belgium, the list was harmonized with the categories adopted by the International Labour Office (ILO) in the International Standard Classification of Occupations, 1988 (ISCO-88). This list facilitates adjustments or corrections and enables quick conversion to ISCO.
c) Status in employment: Based on the question: “What is (was) your status in employment?” There were 12 possible answers: public administration employee; public administration contract worker; head of an enterprise with an employment contract; other type of employee in the private sector; private sector blue-collar worker, apprentice; head of an enterprise without an employment contract; self-employed person working mainly for a single person or enterprise; other type of self-employed worker, professional worker; assistant (to a self-employed person); domestic worker; other status (for example, local employment agency); without status. The following question was also asked: “If you are an employer, how many people do you gainfully employ?”.
d) Level of education:Based on the request: “Select the highest level of education that you have successfully attained.” There were 11 possible answers: primary education; lower secondary education (first three years): general, artistic, technical, vocational; higher secondary education (last three years): general, artistic, technical, vocational (including apprenticeships in independent professions); post-secondary non-tertiary education (seventh year of secondary education, further vocational secondary education, entrepreneurship in independent professions); tertiary education (short-term, long-term or university education). The Belgian classification has links to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).
- The procedure for collecting data has been changed. During the previous census, the personally addressed forms sent to respondents through the post were collected by census officials. During the 2001 Survey, the personally addressed documents were also sent through the post, but completed questionnaires were returned through the post using an enclosed pre-addressed envelope.
- A reminder (and a letter of thanks for persons who had already replied) was sent to all households. Another reminder was subsequently sent by registered mail to households that had failed to reply or had replied insufficiently to the survey. Households that did not respond to the registered mail were visited by a survey official who reminded them of their obligation to participate in the survey. Administrative costs were envisaged for persons who failed to meet the survey’s requirements.
- Persons requiring help to complete the questionnaires could request assistance either by calling a free phone number or returning the reminder letter sent by registered mail after having ticked the box marked “request for assistance”.
- New (subjective) questions were added concerning health and disabilities and the assistance (other than that provided as part of the job) given to persons with disabilities.
- In 1991, the closed questions used in the forms were processed using an optical reading system. In 2001, the scanned depersonalized data could be brought up on screen for correction.
The organization responsible for disseminating the results is the Federal Public Service for the Economy, SMEs, Independent Professions and Energy, Statistics and Economic Information Division, rue de Louvain, 44, B-1000 Brussels.
The figures relating to the de jure population, by commune, at 1 October 2001, appeared in the Moniteur belge of 28.05.2002.
The first demographic tables have been available since December 2002.
The basic socio-economic data should be available at the end of 2003. Data requiring coding should be available in autumn 2004.
The results of the 2001 Survey are/will be available as publications and photocopies, on diskettes and CD-ROMS and through electronic mail (maximum of 1.44 MB).