Multi-faceted Germany: employment results
In spring 2013, the first employment results compiled in the 2011 Census will be published. For administrative districts, municipalities and towns with over 10,000 inhabitants, a first insight into the working life of the people living in Germany will then be given, providing basic information on employment.
The information on employment was collected by means of the questionnaire of the household survey (questions 30 – 46) for the first release date. There, questions were asked, for example, on the occupation performed, the economic branch and the place of work. Information on self-employment, which is not available in any register, was also obtained through the questionnaire. For the first release date, the data collected in the household survey are expanded and published. Information is then available on the activity status, the status in employment, the place of work and the economic branch for municipalities with 10,000 or more inhabitants.
The occupation data will be available for the second release date in early 2014 and will be evaluated on the basis of the current national and international classifications of occupations (KldB 2010 and ISCO-08). In addition, the data from the Federal Employment Agency and from public employers will be included in the publication. To calculate the results, the latter are counted, adding the results of the expanded data from the household survey. This will produce detailed and comprehensive information on the activity status and on the distribution of persons in employment among the various economic branches (e.g. agriculture, forestry and fishing or construction, construction of buildings, civil engineering) for all administrative districts, municipalities and towns with 10,000 or more inhabitants.
Employment as defined by the International Labour Organization
Germany is obliged to transmit the data on the population’s activity status – as obtained in the 2011 Census – to the European Union in accordance with the ILO concept. This allows to provide internationally comparable information on employment in the EU. As data on the activity status according to the ILO definition are not available in any register, the data were collected through the household survey questionnaire.
It was asked whether the respondent worked for at least one hour in the past week. According to the ILO definition, everyone aged 15 or over is considered employed if they worked for remuneration or as self-employed or as a family worker for at least one hour in a one-week reference period. Also, persons formally having a job and only temporarily not having performed the job within the reference period are considered employed.
According to the ILO definition, anyone is considered unemployed if they were not employed, but actively sought work in the four weeks preceding the survey and would be able to take up employment within two weeks. The volume of time of the work sought is not relevant. The definition of unemployed differs from the definition of registered unemployed according to the Social Code. According to the Social Code, people are considered unemployed if they are registered with an employment agency or a relevant municipal institution and seek a job of at least 15 hours per week.
