Register-Based Labour Force Statistics

Contact info

Labour and Income, Social Statistics.
Pernille Stender
+45 24 92 12 33

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The purpose of the RAS statistic is to provide a description of the Danish population's affiliation to the labour market. The affiliation is compiled at the end of November and is published annually. The first time RAS was published it concerned the populations connection to the labour market end November 1980.

Statistical presentation

RAS is an annually labour market statistic based on the labour market affiliation for the resident population in Denmark on the last working day in November. The connection to the labour market for the people resident in Denmark is divided into three socioeconomic main groups which are employed, unemployed and people outside the labour force. The statistic is among other things also distributed on information about demography, education and information about the work place for employees. The statistic is published in StatBank Denmark and data is also available trough the Division of Research Services in Statistics Denmark.

Statistical processing

RAS is based on the Labour Market Account (LMA) which is a longitudinal register. RAS is done by taking a status (on the populations primary attachment to the labour market) on the last working day in November based on LMA. However with LMA it is also possible to take a status on arbitrary days in the year, and AMR can also be used for various process analysis etc.

Relevance

The register based labour force statistic (RAS) is primarily been used to structural analysis of the labour market, because the statistic has a very detailed level of information. Many external as well as internal users are using the statistic.

Accuracy and reliability

RAS is a register based total count of the people resident in Denmark, and the statistic uses the Labour Market Account (LMA) as data source. That first of all means that RAS doesn't contains the same uncertainties as statistics based on surveys. Second of all the data foundation for RAS provides a better opportunity to illuminate the labour market than before. RAS consists of a series of data sources which are integrated, corrected, and harmonized, and can therefore illuminate the populations attachment to the labour market significantly better than the single statistics can.

Timeliness and punctuality

As of the publication of the figures calculated at the end of November 2018, the publication takes place at two tempi. In tempi one, the socio-economic categories outside the workforce are not subdivided. This publication takes place 11 months after the reference date. Publication in tempi takes place 15 months after the reference date. Here the groups outside the workforce can be subdivided.

Comparability

The first version of the RAS statistics includes the population resident in Denmark as of the 1 January 1981 and its attachment to the labour market at the end of November 1980. The statistic has been compiled once every year since. New and better data foundations and changes in the labour market have however caused a number of data breaks over time, which have influence on the possibility of comparing data over time. Since RAS is based on administrative registers with national distinctive marks, it is very difficult to compare the statistic in an international level.

Accessibility and clarity

The statistics is published in Statbank Denmark: Labour market status (RAS) and Employed persons (RAS).

For further information go to the subject pages Labour market status (RAS) and Employed persons (RAS).