Vinnumarkaður - 01.09.1996, Qupperneq 29

Synopsis of methods and concepts
27
Labour organisation. A labourorganisation is an interest
organisation of employees with a statutory right to enter into
labour contracts. The respondents themsel ves define whether
or not they are members of such an organisation and which one.
If they are members of more than one labour organisation, only
the union related to their first job is recorded.
Occupation. Occupation of first job and last job is coded
according ISCO-88. as adapted to Icelandic conditions. All
cases are coded at unit group level, but reported at major group
level.
Full-time/part-time employment. A person is fuli-time
employed if he or she usually works 35 or more hours per
week. Part-time employment is 1 -34 usual hours of work per
week.
Working hours. Calculation of average number of actual
hours of work is made only for those employed persons who
worked one hour or more in the reference week in either their
first job or second job. Missing data have been imputed by
multiple regression analysis, using sex, full-time/part-time
employment and occupation as independent variables.
3.1.5. Weighting, estimation of totals and annual averages
Annual averages are calculated from both surveys within the
year. Totals and percentages are estimated by applying
weights to each case. Weights are calculated with Proportion
2.1, where
N = mean population aged 16-74 years,
n = number of respondents,
n*=number of sampled individuals with domicile in Iceland
but residence abroad,
k = sex,
a=agegroups {16,17,18-19,20-24,25-29,.„65-69,70-
73, 74 years1} and
m = {April survey, November survey}.
As estimation of labour union participation is only carried
out in November each year, estimated totals have to be arri ved
at by special weights. These are computed by multiplying the
above weights with Proportion 2.2., where
N '= estimated mean population, using April and Novem-
ber results,
N”= estimated mean population, using only the November
results,
k = sex,
a = age groups ,
I = status in employment {employees, non-employees}
and
t = weekly hours of work.
3.2 Unemployment registration and estimated number
ofman-years
3.2.1 Origin of data
The number of unemployment day s, as registered at the public
unemploy ment agencies, is collected each month by the Social
Ministry - Office of Labour. These data are published each
month in a special bulletin Yfirlit um atvinnuástandið [Em-
ployment Overview]. Since 1986 Statistics Iceland has also
collected quarterly data from the same source on the number
of registered unemployed persons, by length of registered
unemployment, sex and age groups. The reference points are
the end of February, May, August and November each year.
From 1986 to February 1988 the reference day was the last
Friday in the respective month. Since May 1988 the reference
day has been the last working day in the reference month. The
National Economic Institute (NEI) estimates the number of
man-years each year.
3.2.2 Coverage and reliability
Registered unemployment. Registration at a public unem-
ployment agency is a prerequisite for unemployment com-
pensation. Not all unemployedpersons make use of this right.
Self-employed persons and persons not previously in em-
ployment, such as homemakers and students, have limited
compensation rights. Persons may also be registered without
being available for work. These problems diminish the value
of using registration data to estimate true unemployment.
Estimated number of man-years. The NEI’s estimation
of the number of man-years is used to calculate relative
unemployment as registered by public employment agencies.
These estimates are derived from data on the number of
working weeks supplied by the tax authorities. As the
production of these figures tends to be late, the number of man-
yearsin 1995 are the NEI’sownestimates. In 1993 and 1994
the number of working weeks of employees was counted in
selected firms. The total wage outlay for these firms was more
than 70% of all wage outlays in these years. The number of
working weeks for the remaining employees was estimated by
taking into account average wages by economic sector. The
number of working weeks of own-account workers was
estimated by using data from monthly tax returns.
The reference period for the number of man-years is the
whole year. Monthly variations are calculated by using
coefficients which simulate seasonal variations. The distribu-
tion by sex and residence for 1995 is calculated by using the
same proportional distribution as in 1994.
Number of registered unemployed persons by length
of unemployment, sex and age group. Between 1986 and
May 1993 these data were collected front municipalities with
more than 500 inhabitants. From August 1993 all municipali-
ties registering unemployment separately have reported to SI.
Age groups are defined by the calendar year. In February
and May information is collected for the number of unem-
ployed persons who will be 16 years or older at the end of the
year. In August and November the age limit is persons who
will be 15 years or older at the end of the year.
Until August 1993 agency non-response has been higher for
the quarterly data than for the monthly data of registered
unemployment days.
3.2.3 Concepts
Number of man-years. The number of full-time job equiva-
lents, estimated from the number of working weeks during the
year. Two part-time jobs, totalling 26 weeks each, constitute
one man-year. Registered unemployment is calculated in a
similar way and added to the number of full-time equivalents.
Average monthly unemployment. Average monthly
From 1995 the age group 70-74 years has been undivided in the weighting scheme.