METHODOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
Data source
The data shown in the announcement was calculated from the data collected from the Labor Force Survey (LFS).
The labor force survey is the main and basic source of information about the state of the labor market in the Republic of North Macedonia.
This research collects data on the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of households according to the methodology of the International Labor Organization (employed persons, unemployed persons and persons outside the labor force), data on employees by occupation in current, additional and previous jobs, working hours, unemployment data and educational characteristics.
The survey complies with EU regulations and the Eurostat methodology prescribed for the EU-LFS (EU - Labor Force Survey). The survey is mandatory at the EU level and is a reference source of data that enables monitoring and comparability of labor market data at an international level.
Historical overview
The labor force survey in the Republic of North Macedonia was conducted for the first time in 1996 as an annual survey. The results were published annually.
Since 2004, the survey has been conducted continuously every week, that is, households are surveyed continuously throughout the year. The State Statistics Office processes and publishes the results on a quarterly basis.
From the beginning of 2019, data collection with paper questionnaires was abandoned and replaced by new CAPI and CATI collection methods.
From the beginning of 2021, the new Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 entered into force, with the application of which Regulation (EC) no. 577/98, which was the basic legal basis for conducting research, but we started working from 2023 according to the new regulation.
Data collection
The Labor Force Survey is a panel survey conducted every week. Each household selected for the sample is surveyed four times during the one and a half years according to a 2- (2) -2 rotation scheme. In other words, households are surveyed in two consecutive quarters, dropped from the sample in the next two quarters and resurveyed in two more consecutive quarters. Thus, it is possible to track the flow of people in the labor market over time, both quarterly and annually. Each household selected in the sample receives a letter from the State Statistics Office on the day of the survey.
The CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) method is face-to-face interviewing using laptops. Thus, all sampled households that were selected for the first time and those households that do not have a telephone/mobile phone or do not wish, for any reason, to be surveyed by telephone, were surveyed.
The CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) method is a telephone interview conducted at the CATI CENTER. In this way, all the households that declared in the first survey that they want to be surveyed by phone are surveyed.
In line with this, enumerators visit households every week and conduct survey interviews at selected addresses, lasting on average twenty minutes. Pursuant to the Law on Official Statistics (Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia No. 31/20), the confidentiality of all information provided by respondents about themselves and their household members is guaranteed. The collected data is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
Basic principles and definitions
The Labor Force Survey measures the economic activity of the population over a short observation period of one week.
The reference period is every week during the year.
The target population are all persons who live in private households and form the population of the Republic of North Macedonia.
The working population consists of persons aged 15 to 89.
Employees are persons aged 15 to 89 who in the reference week:
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worked at least one hour for wages or compensation in money or in kind, including unpaid helping of family members.
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were temporarily absent from work or from their own business due to annual leave, redistribution of working time, illness, maternity or paternity leave or training (school) related to the work they usually perform.
Accordingly, a pensioner, a housewife, a student or a person who is not formally employed can also be classified as an employed person.
The following are also considered employees:
- persons on parental leave when they receive and/or are entitled to work-related income or parental allowance or if their parental leave lasts three months or less
- seasonal workers in the off-season period in case they continue to regularly perform work tasks, which does not include fulfilling legal, tax or administrative obligations.
- persons temporarily absent from work for some other reason, when the total expected duration of absence is three months or less
- farmers who produce agricultural goods mostly intended for sale or exchange.
Employed persons are classified according to their position as employees, self-employed persons and unpaid family members who help.
Employees are persons who work for an employer in the public or private sector and receive compensation in money or in kind for their work.
Self-employed are persons who manage a business entity and employ one or more employees and persons who work for their own account and do not employ employees.
Unpaid family workers are persons who are not employed or self-employed, who work in a business entity owned by a family member and do not receive compensation for their work. They can also be relatives who do not live in the same household as the owner of the family business.
Unemployed are people aged 15 to 74 who meet the following three criteria:
a) were not employed in the reference week;
b) will be available for employment or self-employment in the following two weeks from the end of the reference week;
c) in the past four weeks, they actively sought employment or self-employment or found a job that they will start working on in the next three months from the end of the reference week.
The active population (labor force) consists of employed and unemployed persons.
Inactive population (people outside the labor force) are people who belong to one of the following categories:
a) persons aged 15 to 89 who were neither employed nor unemployed in the reference week
The activity rate is the percentage share of the active population (labor force) in the working population.
The employment rate is the percentage share of employees in the working population.
The unemployment rate is the percentage share of the unemployed in the active population (labor force).
In some tables, it may happen that the total amount does not correspond to the sum of individual items due to rounding.
Changes to the 2023 Labor Force Survey
Definition of employment
Until 2022, people aged 15 to 79 are employed, and from 2023 it is people aged 15 to 89.
Temporarily absent from work who will return to work after the expiration of the reason for absence from 2023 are classified as employees only if the total expected duration of their absence is 3 months or less, i.e., if they continue to receive a salary or compensation for their work during of the absence. Until 2023, all those temporarily absent from work who will return to work after the end of the reason for the absence (regardless of the reason for the absence) are classified as employed persons.
Persons on parental leave from 2023 are classified as employees only if they receive and/or are entitled to work-related parental allowance, i.e., if their parental leave lasts 3 months or less. Until 2022, all persons on parental leave are classified as employed persons.
Seasonal workers who did not work in the reference week (off-season period) of 2023 are classified as employed persons if they continue to regularly perform work related to seasonal work, which does not include the fulfillment of legal, tax or administrative obligations. Until 2022, seasonal workers were classified as employed if they had an agreement/agreement with the employer to return to the same job at the start of the new season and/or if they continued to receive at least 50% or more of their salary. or offseason compensation.
Persons who produce agricultural products, whose production is mostly intended for consumption in their own household, were classified as employed persons until 2022, and from 2023 they are excluded from employment. Only if their agricultural production is mainly intended for sale or exchange, such as persons are classified as employed.
Unpaid family workers who do work for family members are classified as employed persons from 2023 even if they do not live in the same household as relatives who own a trade/business/farm, and until 2022 were classified as employed persons only if they lived with them in the same household.
Design of Survey
In order to improve the comparability of data between countries, a single, strictly prescribed and coordinated order of questions in the questionnaire was applied to define the key research categories (employed, unemployed and persons outside the labor force).
Furthermore, new issues were introduced (e.g., issues related to migration, economic and organizational dependence of the self-employed, etc.). Certain previous questions have been removed.
Furthermore, certain sets of questions have been significantly changed, such as the set of questions about working hours (in addition to usual and working hours in the reference week, from 2023, agreed working hours are also monitored, etc.). Also, the previous position of a certain set of questions in the questionnaire has been changed.