Skip to content

Statistical presentation

Contact info

Labour and Income, Social Statistics.
Pernille Stender
+45 3917 3404

psd@dst.dk

Get as PDF

Quarterly Labour Force

KAS is an annually individual-based averaging which is calculating the Danish population's affiliation to the labour market quarter. The statistic is among other things also distributed on information about demography and information about the work place for employees. The statistic is published in StatBank Denmark.

Data description

KAS is published annually with an averaging of the populations main attachment to the labour market per quarter in the year.

In KAS the population can be divided into three main groups:

  • Employed persons
  • Unemployed persons
  • Persons outside the labour force

The statistic is published with background information that are attached to either the person or the work place where the person is employed. Information about the person are:

  • demographic information (gender, age, ancestry)
  • educational information (status of education)

The information about the work place are among others: - industry - sector - workplace address

Classification system

KAS is based on the Labour Market Account (LMA). LMA is a longitudinal register which contains information about the populations primary attachment to the labour market on every day of the year. LMA classifies the populations primary attachment to the labour market according to international guidelines from ILO (International Labour Market Organization). The classification is called ICSE (International Classification of Status in Employment). The ILO guidelines is focuses on survey based statistics. The guidelines are therefore operationalized to use for KAS since it is a register-based statistics. The ILO guidelines consist of e.g. a set of rules for prioritizing the main connection to the labour market. The guidelines prescribes that employment has higher priority than unemployment and other activities outside of the labour force. On the basis of these guidelines the key variable in KAS socioeconomic status is thus formed.

Socioeconomic status

Overall the population are divided into three groups:

  • Employed persons
  • Unemployed persons
  • Persons outside the labour force

Employed persons are people who are working at least one hour in the week of reference. The employed are either employees, self-employed or assisting spouses.

Employees consists first of all of persons with a job. That means people who in the reference period are doing paid work for at least an hour. Second of all the group of employees includes persons who are temporarily absent from a job. That means persons who in the reference period are absent (temporarily absent less than 45 days or absent due to sickness, childcare or maternity leave), but have a permanent attachment to an employer. The socioeconomic status for employees follows a level of ability that is based on the classification of occupation DISCO-08. Employees are thus divided into the groups:

  • Employees - managers
  • Employees - upper level
  • Employees - medium level
  • Employees - basic level
  • Other employees
  • Employees, not specified

The level of ability can be obtained by formal education as well as by training and practice. Information about level of ability for persons employed in central, regional or municipal government are gathered from the wage statistics for respectively the central and municipal sector. Information about private employees are either from the wage statistics for the private sector, or formed by imputation based on among others the highest completed education and the industry where the person is employed.

Self-employed and assisting spouses also consist of persons working at least one hour with pay in the reference period. Besides the group consists of self-employed and assisting spouses who are temporarily absent from the job. Self-employed are persons who owns a personally owned business, which is typically a one man-company or a partnership. Assisting spouses are persons who are getting surplus from the company transferred from the spouse. Assisting spouses with wage agreement are included as employees.

Activated persons who are in supported employment and receive payment (A-income) are also calculated as employed. That is e.g. persons in wage subsidies, flex jobs, sheltered jobs or rehabilitation. Persons, who are working as trainees, are not receiving wages and are therefore not calculated as employed.

Employed persons represents together with unemployed persons the economically active population - the labour force.

Unemployed persons include persons who in the reference period are:

  • without a job
  • available to the labour market
  • seeking employment.

Similar to the official unemployment statistics unemployed persons in KAS are calculated as gross unemployed. Gross unemployed consists of activated recipients of unemployment benefits or social assistance, who are considered available for work, and net employed, who are unemployed recipients of unemployment benefits or social assistance considered available for work.

Gross unemployed who are activated in a paid job are calculated as employed in KAS.

Persons outside the labour force consists of various sub groups. A great share of this category is people support supported by social benefits. The larges sub groups are:

  • persons receiving disability pension
  • persons receiving passive cash benefit - passive meaning not available to the labour market
  • persons receiving early retirement pay

If a person is receiving various types of social benefits the type with the most weekly hours are chosen as the primary attachment to the labour market. Besides from these groups persons outside the labour force also includes old-age pensioners; persons enrolled in education; children and youth; and the group "others outside the labour force".

"Others outside the labour force" is a residual group of people that can not be places in a socioeconomic category based on the information available in the registers in Statistics Denmark. Others outside the labour force can e.g. be: stay-at-home woman and men; young people financially supported by their parents; persons who at the time of reference are living of undeclared work; dishearten unemployed who have given up on seeking employment and are not registered as unemployed.

Conditions outside the labour force are prioritized based on the certainty about the underlying information, and on the degree of potential attachment to the labour market. The prioritized order is thus:

  1. Persons receiving social benefits (persons in subsidized employment without salary; guidance and activities upgrading skills; rehabilitation; unemployment benefits; maternity or sickness absence from unemployment; parental leave; cash benefit; cash benefit for foreigners; partly unemployment; early retirement pay and flex benefit)
  2. Persons enrolled in education
  3. Children and youth
  4. Persons receiving old-age pensions or other pensions
  5. Others outside the labour force.

Industrial Classification DB07

The statistic follows the Danish Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities 2007 DB07 (NACE rev. 2/ISIC rev. 4). A description of the classification is available in Danish here.

A conversion into DB07 codes has been made back to 2000.

  • In the period Nov. 2003-Nov. 2007 the statistic follows the Danish Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities 2003 (NACE rev. 1.1./ISIC rev. 3.1.)
  • In the period Nov. 1992-Nov. 2002 the statistic follows the Danish Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities 1993 (NACE rev. 1/ISIC rev. 3).
  • In the period Nov. 1980-Nov. 1992 the statistic follows the Danish Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities DSE77 (ISIC rev. 3).

Sector

KAS can be distributed on sectors according to ESA (November 1994-November 2012) and ESA2010 (November 2008-November 2014).

Municipalities

KAS is published at municipality level in StatBank Danmark.

Sector coverage

The statistic covers all sectors.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Employed persons: The calculation of employed persons in the quarter is an average calculation of the number of employed persons per day in the quarter. A person is therefore included in the calculation with the precise number of days in employment.

Employment rate: The proportion of employed in a given population group.

Economic activity rate: The proportion of employed and unemployed (the labour force) in a given population group.

Statistical unit

Averaging of the number of persons in the population.

Statistical population

The population is persons in the population.

Reference area

Denmark, by Regions, Provinces and Municipalities.

Time coverage

2008 - 2017

Base period

Not relevant.

Unit of measure

Persons.

Reference period

KAS is an annual statistic which provides an average of the population's primary attachment to the labour market for all quarters in the year - i.e. 1.-4. quarter 2008-2016.

Frequency of dissemination

The statistic is published annually.

Legal acts and other agreements

§ 6 in Law about Statistics Denmark.

Cost and burden

KAS is exclusively compiled on the basis of administrative and statistical registers. Therefore there is no response burden.

Comment

More information about KAS on employment