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Labour market status, LFS (interview)

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows the population’s labour market status, e.g. how many persons are employed, unemployed (LFS unemployed) or outside the labour force. The Labour Force Survey is an interview survey that is compiled according to the same principles as in the rest of the EU. This means that, in the Labour Force Survey, the population’s labour market status is based on information provided by the respondents themselves. The results are thus internationally comparable.

Introduction

In the Labour Force Survey, the main variable is the persons’ labour market status. The population is broken down into two main groups, i.e. persons in the labour force and persons outside the labour force. Persons in the labour force are composed of two groups, employed persons and unemployed persons (LFS unemployed). Other persons are categorised as outside the labour force.

Labour market status in the Labour Force Survey is especially useful:

  • for describing the population’s labour market status, i.e. how many are employed, unemployed or outside the labour force broken down by e.g. age and sex
  • in connection with transverse analyses
  • in connection with international comparisons.
Documentation

Labour market status in the Labour Force Survey

In the Labour Force Survey, the main variable is the persons’ labour market status, based on the respondents’ own reporting. In general, the population can be broken down into two main groups – persons in the labour force and persons outside the labour force. Persons in the labour force are composed of two groups, employed persons and unemployed persons (LFS unemployed). Other persons are categorised as outside the labour force. See the definition of employed persons in the Labour Force Survey and of unemployed persons (LFS unemployed) in the labour force survey.

About the Labour Force Survey 

The purpose of the Labour Force Survey is to focus on the population’s affiliation with the labour market, e.g. how many persons are employed, unemployed (LFS unemployed) or outside the labour force. In addition, the Labour Force Survey includes many other types of information, which are not usually found in registers – e.g. how many employees are working part time, how many hours do men aged 30-40 typically work, or how many elderly people outside the labour force would like to have a job.

The Labour Force Survey complies with the guidelines of the International Labour Organization (ILO) for statistics on the population’s labour market status. The LFS is the Danish contribution to Eurostat’s Labour Force Survey, and all EU countries and a vast number of other countries make labour force surveys based on the same guidelines. This is why the LFS is the best Danish survey for international comparisons of labour market statistics, as made by both Eurostat and the OECD.

The Labour Force Survey has been conducted every year since 1984, and from 1994, all weeks throughout the year. In 2007, the survey sample was broadened substantially. The Labour Force Survey is Denmark’s most comprehensive interview survey. It is made quarterly and is based on a sample. Approximately 72,000 Danes aged 15-89 participate in the survey each year.
Read more about the method, questionnaire and key concepts of the Labour Force Survey
 

Documentation of statistics

Get an overview of the purpose, content and quality of the statistics. Here you can find information on the sources that the statistics are derived from, what the statistics contains and how often it is published.

Key figures


Related content in Labour market status, LFS (interview)

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Daniel F. Gustafsson
Phone: +45 39 17 35 89

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