Eurobarometer 65.3; Special Eurobarometer 261: European Employment and Social Policy

Summary

Provides information on how people feel about the employment situation in Europe and their home countries, and allows for a cross-country comparison. Since in 2011 a very similar Eurobarometer was conducted, perhaps the greatest strength of this survey is the possibility to examine changes over time. Yet, it should be also noted that the latest survey from 2011 has more specific questions related to the current economic crisis.

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Crosssection occasional

Data gathering method
Face-to-face

Access to data

Conditions of access
Access provided through DBK (Datenbestandskatalog) and ZACAT (social science data portal provided by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences), both of which provide free access to complete ISSP data and documentation materials online; users must register online to obtain access and the data is only available for scientific analysis carried out in academic research and teaching. Complete Eurobarometer collections on DVD-R can be ordered online subject to handling charges of 25 € per DVD-R product. The most recent data is labelled “pre-release”, which means the data is restricted because it has not been fully consolidated and checked (data from the fall of 2010 to 2012).

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Questionnaires, tables, metadata, individual variable data, codebooks

Formats available
SPSS, STATA

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Data was collected between May 5th and June 11th, 2006 Sample size: 24,815, anticipated country sample was 1,000

First year of collection
The first Special Eurobarometer survey was conducted in 1970, but this particular survey was first carried out in 2006.

Stratification if applicable
population size, population density and urbanisation

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
Used NUTS II to divide the regional units The then-25 EU Member states participated in addition to Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia

Age range
15+

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
The Eurobarometer main focus is on work and productivity and to a lesser extent on training. It examines perceptions on employment, flexible labour market possibilities and social protection. More specifically, the survey provides data about how people perceive the current labour situation, as well as how they feel about their job prospects and employment security. This Eurobarometer is particularly useful in understanding the perceived security in the work place.

Linkage

Standardisation

Possibility of linkage among databases

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
Any unanswered questions have been marked and noted

Breaks
The survey was organised by the TNS Social Service and partner institutes were responsible for carrying out the surveys in their respective countries. Surveys were translated from English and French into the different countries’ national languages.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
No information about coding is provided.

Governance

Contact information
Dr. Meinhard Moschner, Eurobarometer Data Service
GESIS - Leibniz Institut für Sozialwissenschaften
Unter Sachsenhausen 6-8
50667 Köln Germany Phone: +49 (0221) 47694-460
Email: meinhard.moschner(at)gesis.org
Url: http://www.gesis.org/en/eurobarometer/home/

Timeliness, transparency
Data was collected between May 5th and June 11th, 2006, and was released in October 2006