Home > Statistics > Labour force survey > Concepts and definitions

Concepts and definitions

Active population

Persons who were employed or unemployed during the survey week belong to the active population. The concept of labour force can also be used of the active population.

Activity rate

The ratio of those in the active population to the population of the same age. The concept of labour force participation rate can also be used of the activity rate.

Annual hours actually worked per employed

Annual hours actually worked per employed are a mathematical concept, derived by dividing the number of all hours worked in a year by the annual average of employed persons. Thus is obtained the average annual hours actually worked per employed. Annual hours actually worked can also be calculated separately for employees.

Annual hours worked

See annual hours actually worked per employed

Contract-based weekly working hours

The employees’ contract-based weekly working hours are based on a written or oral employment contract. Working hours can also be defined in the general collective agreement. If the employment contract states the minimum number of hours, contract-based weekly working hours refers to them. If a person has annual working hours, total working time, a zero-hour contract, piecework or commission work, he/she is not considered to have contract-based weekly working hours.

Employed

A person is employed if he/she has been in employment at least one hour for pay or entrepreneurial income during the survey week. Persons temporarily absent from work during the survey week are also classified as employed if the reason for absence is maternity or paternity leave, earnings-related parental leave, own illness, holiday or working hour arrangements or if the absence lasts for under three months.

Employee

An employee is a person who works and receives pay or compensation for it. Employees are classified into workers and salaried employees.

Employer sector

Employed persons are classified by employer into public and private sectors. The public sector is further divided into central government and local government. The employer sector is determined on the basis of the data on the job or enterprise in the Business Register. The classification of the employer sector is based on the official Classification of Sectors 2012.

Employment rate

The ratio of employed persons to the population of the same age. The employment rate of the total population is calculated as the ratio of 15 to 64-year-old employed persons to the population of the same age.

Entrepreneur

Self-employed persons are those who are engaged in economic activities on their own account and at their own risk. Self-employed can be self-employed with employees or without employees, such as own-account workers or freelancers. A person acting in a limited company, who alone or together with his/her family owns at least one half of the company, is counted as self-employed.

Evening work

Evening work is work made between 6 and 11 pm.

Fixed-term job

Employees with an employment contract for a fixed term, for a trial period, or for carrying out certain tasks are considered as being in temporary employment.

Full-time work

Employees or self-employed persons who report they work full-time in their main job are classified as full-time workers. The definition is not based on any hour limits, but on the respondent's own idea of the work being full-time.

Hired work/Temporary agency work

An employment relationship in which the employee works through an agency providing or hiring labour force.

Hours actually worked per week

Hours actually worked per week are the number of hours worked by an employee, self-employed or unpaid family worker in the survey week. Hours actually worked per week are inquired separately on main and secondary jobs. Included are also paid and unpaid overtime hours. On the other hand, holidays, mid-week holidays and absences for other reasons (e.g. sickness) shorten hours actually worked per week.

Hours actually worked per year

Hours actually worked per year are the sum of hours worked by all employed persons, or the actual work input. It can be calculated by month, quarter or year. Hours actually worked include hours at main and secondary jobs as well as paid and unpaid overtime hours.

Inactive population

The economically inactive population consists of persons who are not employed or unemployed during the survey week. The concept of persons not in labour force can also be used of the inactive population.

Industry

The industry is defined for the main and secondary jobs of employed persons according to the employer's establishment or the industry of one's own enterprise. Statistics Finland's Standard Industrial Classification is used in the definition of industry.

Labour force

See Active population

Labour force partisipation rate

See Activity rate.

Laid off

In the Labour Force Survey, a person is defined as laid off if he or she has been completely absent from work in the survey week (also from a secondary job) and in the interview reports temporary lay-off as the reason for the absence. The person can be laid off either for a fixed period or for the time being. In the Labour Force Survey, a laid-off person may be defined either as employed, unemployed or economically inactive (http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2013-08-20_men_006_en.html).

Long-term unemployed

Long-term unemployed is a person who has been continuously unemployed during the survey time for 12 months or longer.

Main job

The main job is the only or primary job of an employed person. If there are several jobs, the main job is the one on which the person spends most time. The division of main and secondary jobs is based on the respondent's own reporting.

Night work

Night work is work made between 11 pm and 6 am.

Non-employed

Non-employed is a person that is unemployed or in the inactive population.

Not in labour force

See Inactive population

Occupation

Data on occupations are based on the interviewees' own reporting in the Labour Force Survey. The occupation of an employed person is defined according to the occupation in the main job. The occupation of an unemployed person is determined according to the situation before unemployment. In the Labour Force Survey the occupation is classified according to the classifications of occupations used at Statistics Finland.

Overtime ratio

The ratio of those working paid overtime hours in the survey week to all employed persons.

Overtime work

Overtime work is made by an employee in addition to agreement-based working hours. Overtime may be unpaid or paid, for which compensation is received either in pay or as time off.

Part-time work

Employees or self-employed persons who report they work part-time in their main job are classified as part-time workers. The definition is not based on any hour limits, but on the respondent's own idea of the work being part-time.

Persons at work/not at work

An employed person who was at work at least on one day in the survey week is counted as being at work. An employed person who was temporarily absent from work during the whole survey week because of holiday, sickness or lay-off period, for example, is counted as not being at work.

Private sector

The private sector comprises those whose employer is a company (including state majority-owned or municipality-owned companies), a private person, an enterprise, a foundation, a cooperative or an association, and those who are self-employed or own-account workers. Non-profit institutions, such as the church and parishes, are also included in the private sector.

Public sector

The public sector includes central government and local government. The central government sector includes state administration, universities, the Social Insurance Institution, unincorporated state enterprises and social security funds. Municipalities and joint municipal authorities comprise the municipal administration, the municipal school system, as well as the unincorporated service institutions and establishments of municipalities and joint municipal authorities, such as health centres, hospitals, day-care centres and unincorporated enterprises of municipalities and joint municipal authorities.

Secondary job

Work performed by the employee or self-employed person in addition to the main job. The secondary job is the job on which the person uses less time compared with the main job. The division of main and secondary jobs is based on the respondent's own reporting.

Secondary job rate

The ratio of those working at secondary jobs in the survey week to all employed persons.

Self-employed employer

A self-employed person employing paid labour force.

Self-employed without employees

A self-employed person or an own-account worker with no paid labour force.

Share of young people not working, studying or performing compulsory military service

The "share of young people not working, studying or performing compulsory military service" used by Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey describes the share of young people aged 15 to 24 who are not working, studying for a degree or qualification, attending course training or performing military or non-military service compared to the entire age group.

The figure of Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey differs slightly from the almost corresponding NEET rate used by Eurostat. NEET is an abbreviation of "Not in Employment, Education or Training". The figure published by Eurostat is based on data where the population does not include young people performing military or non-military service.

Shift work

Shift work is work in which shifts change regularly according to an agreed rota of time periods. If the person permanently works only a specific shift, such as night shift, he/she is not counted as a shift worker.

Sickness day

Absence from the main job in the survey week because of the employed person's own sickness or accident. Half days are also included.

Socio-economic group

Employees are classified according to socio-economic group into upper-level and lower-level employees and manual workers. Self-employed persons can be grouped into self-employed without employees, self-employed with employees and unpaid family workers. Statistics Finland's Classification of Socio-economic Groups is used in the classification.

Status in employment

Status in employment classifies employed persons into those in paid employment, that is, into employees and self-employed and unpaid family workers. Self-employed persons can also be grouped into self-employed without employees and self-employed with employees. For an unemployed person the status in employment is defined according to the job preceding unemployment.

Unemployed

A person is unemployed if he/she is without work during the survey week (not in paid employment or working as self-employed), has actively sought employment in the past four weeks as an employee or self-employed and would be available for work within two weeks. A person who is without work and waiting for an agreed job to start within three months is also classified as unemployed if he/she could start work within two weeks. Persons laid off for the time being who fulfil the above-mentioned criteria are also counted as unemployed.

Unemployment rate

The unemployment rate is the ratio of the unemployed to the active population (labour force) of the same age, i.e. employed and unemployed persons. The unemployment rate of the total population is calculated as the ratio of 15 to 74-year-old unemployed persons to the active population (labour force) of the same age.

Unpaid family worker

Person working without pay in an enterprise or on a farm owned by a family member.

Usual weekly working hours

An employed person's usual weekly working hours are normal or average weekly working hours in the main job. For employees usual weekly working hours include customary paid or unpaid overtime work. Absences, such as holidays or sickness absences, have no effect on usual weekly working hours.

Work attendance rate

The ratio of persons at work to the total number of employed persons.