Comparability

Comparability - geographical

RAS follows the international guidelines from the International Labour Organization (ILO) for estimating the population main attachment to the labour market. The ILO guidelines are however pointed towards survey-based statistics (the Labour Force Surveys), where the person itself provides the information about the connection to the labour market. Since RAS on the other hand is based on register data, the ILO guidelines are adjusted for use for RAS. It is therefore recommended that the Labour Force Surveys (LFS) are used for international comparisons, while RAS is mainly used to illustrate national structures.

Comparability over time

RAS was first published in 1981 with data on the populations attachment to the labour market at the end of November 1980.

Data break The time series 2008-2012 was revised several times in the period 2010-2014 and there were therefore several breaks. In 2015, RAS switched to using the Labour Market Accounts as a data source and RAS was revised back to 2008. The time series from 2008 is now fully comparable. In particular, the data breach between 2007 and 2008 has a significant impact on comparability. In isolation, the data breach caused employment to fall by 35,000-50,000. It was not possible to make a double calculation, as the previous data basis ceased to exist (transition from the Central Information Form Database to eIncome).

In 2003 (November 2002) there is a data break in the time series. Changes on the labour market had created a need for different alterations in the statistic. At the same time better data sources made the alterations possible. Therefore Statistics Denmark was able to publish an improved statistic. The alterations in the statistic caused among other things a change in the order of priority for persons in more than one condition. For example the priority for persons who receive early retirement pay and worked at the same time was changed.

Before 2008 the data source for employees was the Salary Information Register (COR). This register was based on reports from employers to the tax authorities. Here the employer had the possibility to report that the employee had been employed during the whole year. If that was not the case the employer should report the starting date and the ending date of the period in which the person had been employed. However, Statistics Denmark supposes that employers have reported that the person has been employed during the whole year in to many cases, which resulted in a employment level that was to high.

From November 2008 the eIncome-register replaced COR as the data source for employment for employees. That causes a larger data break. The eIncome-register is based on monthly information from employers. That implied that the information concerning the period of employment got a higher quality. It also implied that the level of employment got lower due to the transition to the eIncome-register.

Changes in Danish Industrial Classifications In 1993 the classification changes from DSE77 to DB93. In 2003 it changes to DB03, and in 2008 to DB07. Read more about the changes and the classification here.

Changes in sector code The sector information from 2008 onward is based on ESA 2010. For the period from 1995 (Nov. 1994) to 2012, the sector information is based on ESA, allowing for dual reporting between 2008 and 2012. In StatBank, Denmark, the sectoral tables are published for the period 1997 (Nov. 1996) to 2006 (Nov. 2007) based on ESA, and from 2008 onward based on ESA 2010.

Changes in classification of occupation The level of skills for employees are determined by DISCO-08, which is reported to the wage statistic. From 2010 the classification is changed, which means that the level for 2008-2009 are based on DISCO-88, while it from 2010 is based on DISCO-08. The changes are due to changes in the international classification behind: ISCO. The change causes the number of employees on highest level to increase with about 200,000 persons, while the number of employees on the middle level dropped proportional. The change had impact on among other large groups of employees all pedagogic work, some nursing work and some from the financial sector.

Municipal reform RAS is published on municipal level in the StatBank. From November 2006 the statistic is published on the new municipals after the structural reform. In the period November 1980-November 2006 the statistic is made up on the municipals before the structural reform. November 2016 is therefore published with data from both before and after the reform.

Coherence - cross domain

The number of people employed and unemployed in RAS deviates from other statistics. You can read more about the differences bellow:

Employment in Businesses (EiB) The EiB and RAS have a common definition of the stock of employees at the end of November, but there are some jobs that are included in RAS and not in EiB and vice versa. Firstly of all the person's primary connection to the labour market is calculated in RAS, while EiB includes both a person's most important job as well as other jobs the person may have at the end of November. Secondly, unlike RAS, the EBS also includes jobs for people who work in Denmark and live abroad. Thirdly EiB only includes self-employed, who are liable to pay VAT or payroll tax or are employers, while RAS also includes employed who have the largest income during the year from self-employment. In the fourthly EiB only includes jobs in businesses with a certain minimum activity. Businesses with activities under a defined threshold are not included in the EiB.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) LFS is an interview study. LFS uses the same by ILO internationally defined concept of employment as RAS. Since the ILO guidelines is pointed at survey-based statistics as LFS, the guidelines is adjusted to use for RAS. For that reason there are considerable deviations between LFS and RAS. If the socioeconomic status of employed persons is considered, there are relatively more self-employed and assisting spouses in LFS. The reason for this is among other things that people, who are share- or stockholders in the company where they are employed, are classified as an employee in RAS, while they often will describe themselves as self-employed when asked in the LFS. The same goes for assisting spouses with wage agreement, who in RAS are classified as employees. The distribution of the employees by skills also differs significantly between the two statistics.

Public Employment Statistic (PES) The PES calculates the average number of jobs and the number of full-time employed persons each quarter within the public sector. The number of jobs includes all the jobs that the person has in the public sector at a given time. This means that the number of jobs is substantially higher than the number of persons employed in RAS.

Employment Statistic for Employees (ESE) The ESE calculates the full-time employment and the number of employees on a quarterly basis. The calculation of full-time employment means that the level of employment in ESE will be lower than the level of employment in RAS. On the other side the number of employees is higher than in RAS. The reason is that some of the employees are classified as self-employed in RAS. That is the case when a person has a job as employee and at the same time is self-employed and the person works the most hours as self-employed.

Unemployment statistic The average full-time unemployment in the unemployment statistic is generally higher than the unemployment in RAS. There are two reasons for this; firstly unemployment is calculated in full-time equivalents in the unemployment statistic. Secondly, a portion of the gross unemployed are calculated as employed in RAS. The reason for this is that they are activated in a measure, where they are receiving wages. In such cases, they are classified as employed according to the international guidelines for employment statistics. In addition, a portion of the gross unemployed are calculated as employed in RAS. The reason for this is that they are activated in a measure, where they are receiving wages. In such cases, they are classified as employed according to the international guidelines for employment statistics.

Labour Market Account (LMA) Since April 2015 the LMA has been the data foundation for RAS. In that context RAS was revised back to November 2008.

The Working Time Account (WTA) In the working time accounts, employment is calculated as an average over the year and employees living abroad are also included. This means that the level deviates from RAS.

Coherence - internal

RAS is based on the Labour Market Account (LMA) which is compiled on a number of different sources. RAS is the result of an inventory at the end of November in LMA.