Information of the Statistics Poland regarding the changes introduced from 2021 onwards into the Badanie Aktywności Ekonomicznej Ludności
(the Polish equivalent of the European survey on the labour force - Labour Force Survey)

The Statistics Poland informs that from the first quarter of 2021 onwards, the changes pursuant to the implementation of the common framework for social statistics, i.e. Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019¹ and its implementing  acts mentioned at the end of the presented note, will be introduced into the Polish Labour Force Survey (LFS).

The description of the hitherto carried out survey has been published, inter alia, in the methodological notebook dedicated to the survey, in the quarterly publications presenting the LFS results  and the module surveys carried out alongside the core LFS:

• https://stat.gov.pl/obszary-tematyczne/rynek-pracy/zasady-metodyczne-rocznik-pracy/zeszyt-metodologiczny-badanie-aktywnosci-ekonomicznej-ludnosci,3,1.html
• https://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/labour-market/working-unemployed-economically-inactive-by-lfs/labour-force-survey-in-poland-ii-quarter-2020,2,38.html
• https://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/labour-market/working-unemployed-economically-inactive-by-lfs/

The changes introduced into the LFS from 2021 onwards, will mostly concern definitions and the  way of specification of particular populations of persons on the labour market – the employed, unemployed and economically inactive, and the scope of  variables dedicated to their additional  characteristic as well as more detailed populations.

• The modifications of the definitions are the effect of implementation of the provisions of the "Resolution on statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization" elaborated in 2013 on the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians in Geneva (ICLS) and recommended for use by the International Labour Organisation (ILO)². Implementation of the provisions of the new Resolution will mainly influence the use of slightly different principles of persons’ classification into the group of the employed, which, in consequence, will have also impact on the population of  unemployed persons and economically inactive persons.
  
  The definitions of employed population will be, inter alia, changed through
   
  • taking into account (including into the employed population):
     
    • unpaid family workers  performing work for family members not belonging to their own households (conducting economic activity outside agriculture or private agricultural farm),
    • persons performing some of their work off-season,
    • persons having a job, albeit not performing work in the reference week (in case of the reasons for some absences  – simplification of the hitherto criteria of  classification of persons among the employed, e.g. persons staying on childcare leave),
       
  • excluding from the employed population:
     
    • self-employed persons employed in private agriculture (farms owned by natural persons) who  allocate the effects of their work exclusively or mainly for own consumption and simultaneously do not have any other job;
       
  • The introduced into the LFS uniformed set of questions, modelled on the European labour force survey, is targeted at improvement of data comparability between countries  - most of all as regards the key issues from the point of view of the survey and presented indicators (it concerns mainly questions serving specification of particular populations according to the status on the labour market based on definitions and criteria used in the labour force survey methodology);
     
  • The revision of the variables included in the LFS consists, inter alia, in:
     
    • introduction of new, consistent with the current needs from the point of view of the labour market analysis (e.g. variables related to migration origin, variables regarding economic and  organisational dependency of self-employed persons, variables concerning health and non-formal education during the last 12 months),
    • removing of some hitherto variables (e.g. concerning the respondent’s situation one year before the survey or some variables related to the characteristic of non-formal education),
    • modifications of some hitherto variables (e.g. lists of answers),  which is, inter alia, related to introduction of standardisation of variables used in social surveys, as well as to the change of the populations covered by a particular variable/entire block of questions.

From 2021 onwards, there have been also introduced modifications regarding module surveys  carried out  with the core Labour Force Survey. According to the provisions of new EU legal acts, alongside the core LFS  there will be  regularly carried out 6 regular subjects of module surveys, each one with 8-yearly frequency (according to the  schedule included in the Regulation 2020/256 concerning multiannual rolling planning). Additionally during the 8-yearly period, the two, the so-called, ad-hoc modules will be conducted, which will be carried out as a new subject – one module in every 4 years (between regular modules). Moreover,  the period of module surveys implementation will be changed – they will be carried out over the entire year on a part of quarterly sample (only on the first wave), which are aimed at elimination of the impact of seasonality on the results (previously these surveys  were carried  out entirely in one, selected quarter, usually the second one).

* * *

The changes, described above, implemented in the LFS, will influence to a great extent the shape of a new survey carried out from the 2021 onwards, mostly the survey tools, particularly as regards the layout and content of the ZD questionnaire addressed to respondents, which constitutes a core part of this survey.

Therefore, the Statistics Poland, has been simultaneously carried out the work targeted at the assessment of the impact of the implemented changes on the breaks in time series comparability for the main indicators compiled on the basis of the LFS. In case the lack of comparability is recognized, the main indicators will be recalculated beginning from the first quarter of 2009 onwards.

* * *

The implementing acts for the  Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 which have a direct impact on the methodology as well as the subjective and objective scope of the LFS from 2021 onwards, are:

• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/257 of 16 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the number and the title of the variables for the labour force domain³
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 of 16 December 2019 specifying the technical items of the data set, establishing the technical formats for transmission of information and specifying the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the labour force domain in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁴
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2181 of 16 December 2019 specifying technical characteristics as regards items common to several datasets pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁵
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/256 of 16 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing a multiannual rolling planning⁶

[1] The complete text of the Regulation is available on the website: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?scope=EURLEX&text=2019%2F1700&lang=pl&type=quick&qid=1607068184285

[2] The new resolution, labelled a milestone of international labour statistics, replaced the hitherto obligatory Resolution concerning statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment, adopted on the 13^th ICLS in 1982, which was in force for 30 years (with introduced in the so-called "meantime" only minor amendments), more information to be found on the website: https://ilostat.ilo.org/about/standards/icls/

[3] The complete text of the Regulation is available on the website: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?scope=EURLEX&text=2020%2F257&lang=pl&type=quick&qid=1607068365574

[4] The complete text of the Regulation is available on the website: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?scope=EURLEX&text=2019%2F2240&lang=pl&type=quick&qid=1607068403345

[5] The complete text of the Regulation is available on the website: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?scope=EURLEX&text=2019%2F2181&lang=pl&type=quick&qid=1607068443218

[6] The complete text of the Regulation is available on the website: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?scope=EURLEX&text=2020%2F256&lang=pl&type=quick&qid=1607068481297

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