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Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Methodology and quality
  3. ESMS metadata
  4. Job vacancies and labour turnover

Job vacancies and labour turnover

Statistical activity code: 21104

1. Contact
1.1. Contact organisation

Statistics Estonia

1.2. Contact organisation unit

Economic and Environmental Statistics Department

1.3. Contact name

Argo Tarkiainen

1.4. Contact person function

Analyst

1.5. Contact mail address

51 Tatari Str, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia

1.6. Contact email address

argo.tarkiainen [at] stat.ee

1.7. Contact phone number

+372 625 9294

2. Metadata update
2.1. Metadata last certified

10/02/2023

2.2. Metadata last update

10/02/2023

3. Statistical presentation
3.1. Data description

Job vacancies; occupied posts; rate of job vacancies; number of engaged employees; rate of engaged employees; number of left employees; rate of left employees by economic activity (sections identified by an alphabetical code in EMTAK)

Quarterly data (rate of job vacancies, distribution of number of job vacancies and occupied posts) by county and by type of owner

3.2. Classification system

Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK)

Type of owner

Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev.2

Classification of activities used for the publication of the data:

A - Agriculture, forestry and fishing

B - Mining and quarrying

C - Manufacturing

D - Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply

E - Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities

F - Construction

G - Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles

H - Transportation and storage

I - Accommodation and food service activities

J - Information and communication

K - Financial and insurance activities

L - Real estate activities

M - Professional, scientific and technical activities

N - Administrative and support service activities

O - Public administration and defence; compulsory social security

P - Education

Q - Human health and social work activities

R - Arts, entertainment and recreation

S - Other service activities

3.3. Sector coverage

Economically active units – enterprises, institutions, organisations (excl. economic units without employees)

3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

Number of dismissed employees – the number of dismissed employees in the quarter.

Number of engaged employees – the number of engaged employees in the quarter.

Number of job vacancies – the number of job vacancies at the end of the month (quarterly average): newly created, unoccupied or to become vacant paid post a) for which the employer is taking active steps and is prepared to take further steps to find a suitable candidate from outside an enterprise/institution/organisation concerned and b) which the employer intends to fill either immediately or within a specific period of time.

Number of left employees – the number of left employees in the quarter. The number of left employees includes the number of dismissed employees.

Number of occupied posts – the number of paid posts within an enterprise/institution/organisation to which an employee has been assigned at the end of the month (quarterly average). Employee is a person with whom a contract has been concluded for a fixed or unfixed period (incl. contracts of seasonal work); a person working under employment contracts, service contracts and Public Service Act. Also included are persons listed in subsection 2 (2) of the Public Service Act and the following persons listed in subsection 2 (3) of this Act: President of the Republic, a member of the Government of the Republic, a judge, the Chancellor of Justice, the Auditor General, the Public Conciliator, a member of the local government council, a rural municipality or city district elder.

Rate of dismissed employees – dismissed employees as a proportion of occupied posts.

Rate of engaged employees – engaged employees as a proportion of occupied posts.

Rate of job vacancies – the share of job vacancies in the total number of jobs (including job vacancies).

Rate of left employees – the left employees as a proportion of the occupied posts.

Employees with an employment contract, a service contract and working under the Public Service Act are included.

3.5. Statistical unit

Economic unit

3.6. Statistical population

Economically active units – enterprises, institutions, organisations (excl. economic units without employees)

FRAME

List of economically active units (excl. economic units without employees).

The list is generated from the Business Register for Statistical Purposes

3.7. Reference area

Estonia as a whole

Counties – quarterly data (rate of job vacancies, distribution of vacant and occupied posts)

3.8. Time coverage

Job vacancies and occupied posts 2005–…

3.9. Base period

Not applicable

4. Unit of measure

Number of posts

5. Reference period

Quarter

6. Institutional mandate
6.1. Legal acts and other agreements

DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1062/2008 of 28 October 2008 implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies, as regards seasonal adjustment procedures and quality reports

Commission Regulation (EC) No 19/2009 of 13 January 2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies, as regards the definition of a job vacancy, the reference dates for data collection, data transmission specifications and feasibility studies

Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies

OTHER LEGAL ACTS

Not available

OTHER AGREEMENTS

Not available

7. Confidentiality
7.1. Confidentiality - policy

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

The treatment of confidential data is regulated by the Procedure for Protection of Data Collected and Processed by Statistics Estonia (in Estonian). See more details on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Õigusaktid.

8. Release policy
8.1. Release calendar

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month).

8.2. Release calendar access

Calendar

8.3. User access

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

9. Frequency of dissemination

Quarterly

10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1. News release

The news release “Job vacancies and labour turnover” once a quarter. The news release can be viewed on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Uudiskiri (in Estonian).

10.2. Publications

Not published

10.3. Online database

Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat under the subject area “Economy / Wages and salaries and labour costs / Job vacancies and labour turnover / Short term statistics” in the following tables:

PAV011: Job vacancies and occupied posts, employees hired and separated by economic activity (quarterly)

PAV013: Population, sample, respondents, response rate of the job vacancies survey by economic activity (quarterly)

PAV014: Job vacancies and occupied posts by county (quarters)

PAV015: Job vacancies and occupied posts by kind of owner of an enterprise (institution, organisation) (quarters)

10.4. Microdata access

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes.

10.5. Other

Not used

10.6. Documentation on methodology

Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:145:0234:0237:EN:PDF

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1062/2008 of 28 October 2008 implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies, as regards seasonal adjustment procedures and quality reports.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:285:0003:0008:EN:PDF

Commission Regulation (EC) No 19/2009 of 13 January 2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies, as regards the definition of a job vacancy, the reference dates for data collection, data transmission specifications and feasibility studies.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:009:0003:0006:EN:PDF

10.7. Quality documentation

Quality Report submitted to Eurostat. Data on the population, sample and respondents and error estimates are published in the Statistical Database.

11. Quality management
11.1. Quality assurance

To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

11.2. Quality assessment

Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

12. Relevance
12.1. User needs

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications

The Government of the Republic

12.2. User satisfaction

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. All results are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section User surveys.

12.3. Completeness

In compliance with the rules (regulations)

13. Accuracy and reliability
13.1. Overall accuracy

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness.

13.2. Sampling error

As initial data have partly been collected with sample survey, all end results include sampling errors. Sampling errors can be estimated. Estimates of the sampling errors of all published figures are calculated using the CLAN software package. For the basic figures, the standard errors are published. With the help of standard errors, one can obtain confidence intervals.

Example.

The number of job vacancies were 17,140 and standard error was 493. The relative error is 493/17,140 × 100 = 2.9%. 95% probability confidence interval is obtained subtracting from and adding to 17,140 the double standard error: 493 × 2 = 986; 17,140 - 986 = 16,154; 17,140 + 986 = 18,126. The true number of job vacancies was between 16,154 and 18,126 with probability of 95%.

13.3. Non-sampling error

The response rates in different groups are published in the Statistical Database.

14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1. Timeliness

The data are published within 70 days of the end of the reference quarter (T + 70).

14.2. Punctuality

The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

15. Coherence and comparability
15.1. Comparability - geographical

The definitions and classifications used in Estonia comply with international definitions and classifications ensuring international comparability of the data.

15.2. Comparability - over time

The data are comparable over time since 2008.

Since 2018, the data of the employment register of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board have been used instead of the labour turnover (vacant and occupied posts) data collected with a questionnaire.

15.3. Coherence - cross domain

The statistics on job vacancies and labour turnover are indirectly related to other statistics in the same field. Coherence issues (differences in coverage, definitions and/or methodology) should be taken into account when comparing data related to the same variables from different sources (Wages and Salaries Survey).

15.4. Coherence - internal

The outputs of the statistical activity are coherent. The higher-level aggregate data are calculated on the basis of detailed data according to calculation rules.

16. Cost and burden

17. Data revision
17.1. Data revision - policy

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia.

17.2. Data revision - practice

The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available.

18. Statistical processing
18.1. Source data

SURVEY DATA

Total population is 81,500 objects. The sample includes 1,875 objects per month and 5,125 objects per quarter.

As a sampling frame, the statistical profile based on the database of the Ministry of Justice Centre of Registers and Information Systems is used; the statistical profile is updated every year and a stratified simple random sample is drawn. Enterprises, institutions and organisations with at least 50 employees are completely enumerated. The remaining part of the population is divided into two: enterprises with 1–9 employees and enterprises with 10–49 employees.

Since 2018, the population has included economic entities with at least one salaried employee; earlier the population was formed on the basis of economic entities with at least one employed person. In addition, since 2018, non-profit organisations and foundations with less than 50 employees have been included in the population.

From 2020, only those enterprises with at least 50 employees are included in the whole sample. Previously, there were also state and local government units with less than 50 employees.

ADMINISTRATIVE DATA

Data on occupied posts and labour turnover are received from the employment register of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board.

DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES

Since 2018 data are collected with questionnaire “Wages and salaries and labour force” (statistical activity 21101 “Wages and salaries”).

18.2. Frequency of data collection

Monthly

18.3. Data collection

Data are collected and the submission of questionnaires is monitored through eSTAT (the web channel for electronic data submission). The questionnaires have been designed for independent completion in eSTAT and include instructions and controls. The questionnaires and information about data submission are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Questionnaires.

Starting from 2018, it is possible to submit wages and salaries and labour costs data directly from accounting software.

Data are collected with the monthly official statistics questionnaire “Wages and salaries and labour force”.

The data from the Tax and Customs Board are received via X-Road and an FTP-server.

18.4. Data validation

Arithmetic and qualitative checks are used in the validation process, including checking that the population coverage and response rates are as required, comparison with the data of previous periods or other surveys and with administrative data sources.

18.5. Data compilation

In the case of missing or unreliable data, estimate imputation based on established regulations will be used. The data of the enterprises that did not submit the questionnaire are replaced in the census part. The initial data of the stratum investigated by sample survey are extrapolated as follows: the expansion rate is the ratio between the volume of the population of entities in the particular economic entity investigated by sample survey and the number of respondents, which is multiplied by the data of every entity investigated by sample survey. Such extrapolation includes dealing with non-response in the stratum of enterprises investigated by sample survey: it is assumed that among the non-respondents of each stratum there are relatively as many economically active units as among the respondents of this stratum. For each such hypothetical entity, average indicators are calculated on the basis of active respondents. The completely enumerated stratum is not extrapolated, but the missing data of non-respondents are imputed before processing. The missing data of non-respondents with less than 100 employees are imputed by using the hot deck method – the missing data of the entity are imputed by the data of the nearest similar entity preceding in the data file. If the number of employees of a non-respondent is larger than 100, the missing data of this entity are imputed by the data of the previous period of the same entity.

Variables and statistical units which were not collected but which are necessary for producing the output are calculated. New variables are calculated by applying arithmetic conversion to already existing variables. This may be done repeatedly, the derived variable may, in turn, be based on previously derived new variables.

Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This includes aggregating the data according to the classification, and calculating various statistical measures, e.g. average, median, dispersion, etc.

The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional indicators.

18.6. Adjustment

Time series are seasonally adjusted.

19. Comments

Since 2018, the samples and questionnaires (1085, 1380, 1364, 1379) of statistical activities 21101 “Wages and salaries” and 21104 “Job vacancies and labour turnover” are merged.

Since 2018, the population includes economic entities with at least one employee (previously the population was based on persons employed), non-profit associations and foundations with less than 50 employees are added to the population and the sample has been optimized.

Since 2018, data are requested with new questionnaire 1462 “Wages and salaries and labour force”, while previously questionnaires 1085 “Wages and salaries” and 1380 “Wages and salaries by county” were used. Since 2018, the labour force movement data are filled in but obtained directly from the employment register.

Until 2018 the number of occupied and vacant posts was published as on the 15th date of the middle month of the quarter, but as of 2018 the quarterly average number of occupied and vacant posts is published as at the end of the month.

Contacts

+372 625 9300
stat [at] stat.ee
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