Feasibility report on compiling and documenting an integrated historical data set of EU-LFS data, Deliverable D11.6

This report examines the feasibility of compiling and documenting integrated meta and microdata on Labour Force Surveys (LFS) across European countries. LFSs are one of the most widespread and oldest surveys in Europe. They offer large sample sizes to measure and monitor trends in the labour force. LFSs cover nationally representative populations of individuals nested into households. Eurostat provides access to labour force microdata for 31 countries, yet their dissemination strategy is far from optimal. Requesting data takes several months, researchers cannot customise their samples, and Eurostat collection does not include historical surveys. In this report, we (1) examine the availability of LFS microdata across European countries and the years of first publication and periodicity afterwards; (2) document the current access conditions of LFS microdata in Europe; and (3) check the availability of metadata for LFS microdata in Europe, which entails identifying the questionnaires, codebooks, and corresponding metadata. Work is based on three main sources: (1) contacts with NSI’s representatives who have been asked for the following items: availability, access, and metadata for LFS microdata; (2) information available on the NSI’s websites; (3) other sources such as Eurostat’s website on EU-LFS microdata, Missy and ILO. Results show that LFS microdata are available for most European countries. Eurostat provides access to harmonised LFS microdata but NSIs often hold LFS from earlier years. A potential for further harmonisation exists. Additionally, NSI data sets are likely to have more variables and conceptual detail than the one offered by Eurostat.