Labour Force Survey

Summary

Strengths: The survey provides long time series data for for a very large sample. It also follows international standards. Weaknesses: Changes in collection methods (from personal to telephonic interview) after the first wave.

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Survey different

Data gathering method
Telephone
Face-to-face
Other: Wave 1: CAWI, CAPI or CATI. Wave 2 to 5: CATI, address sample (work circumstances only first wave).

Access to data

Conditions of access
Cannot be downloaded directly.

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Anonymised microdata

Formats available
SPSS (default)

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Data collection ongoing since 1971 (1971-2012), with a total sample size of 62,000 households in 2011. Data collection is scheduled to continue at some point in the future. The survey covered work circumstances from 1997-2005, and educational attainment from 1996-2011.

First year of collection
1971

Stratification if applicable
Two-step stratification: 1) sample of municipalities 2) sample of addresses. Weighting model uses age, sex, region, country of origin and type of address.

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
Dutch population in non-institutional households

Age range
Population aged 16 and over

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
Detailed study of: Labour market participation, retirement, labour market position, job attributes, unemployment, level of education, Work circumstances (stress, physical, noise, use of computer screen), attained education level.

Linkage

Standardisation
Internationally harmonised standards.

Possibility of linkage among databases
Linkable to other person databases through anonymised personal number.

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
Survey errors.

Breaks
Break in 2001 due to the introduction of a rotating panel.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection

Governance

Contact information
Department of Labour, Income and Living conditions
Statistics Netherlands
Henri Faasdreef 312
2492 JP Den Haag Netherlands Phone: Infoservice: 003188 570 70 70
Email: info(at)cbs.nl
Url:

Timeliness, transparency
Data is collected on a quarterly and annual basis. Since 2001, the data is available 2 months following collection.