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7. The household section of the Labour Force Survey provides data on employment in families

The data presented in this publication are based on the interview data obtained in the Labour Force Survey. The data collected with the Labour Force Survey are used to compile statistics on labour force participation, employment, unemployment and working hours of the population aged between 15 and 74. The data content of the survey is based on an EU Regulation. In most European countries the Labour Force Survey data are collected from a sample of households, which means that all members of a household living at the same address are interviewed at the same time. Besides Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland are the only other countries where the sample is based on individual persons, i.e. only the target persons drawn into the sample are interviewed.

However, the EU regulation also requires data concerning households and in Finland this has been solved by exploiting the panel nature of the Labour Force Survey. In the Labour Force Survey the same person is usually interviewed five times during 18 months. In addition to the basic interview, a household interview is conducted on the fifth interview round to ascertain the members who belong to the household of the interviewee and the activity of the household members aged 15 to 74 on the labour market. The data obtained in this way enable examinations of, for instance, employment in the family and the joint status of both spouses on the labour market. However, this publication centres only on families whose parents belong to the age group of those aged 20 to 59.

In 2011, the household data comprised approximately 55,000 persons who formed 23,000 households. The household data for the Labour Force Survey have been collected by the present method since 2003 and the data can mainly be published starting from the year 2004.

Source: Labour Force Survey 2011. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Heidi Melasniemi-Uutela 09 1734 2523, Tarja Nieminen 09 1734 3561, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

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Updated 11.9.2012