Abstract
Since January 2011 Statistics Austria publishes monthly unemployment rates according to international definitions. Data stem solely from the Labour Force Survey and do not include any further information like national unemployment figures. Monthly unemployment rates are based on an adopted weighting scheme derived from the standard weighting schemefor quarterly data. This procedure allows computing flash as well as final monthly unemployment estimates. Flash estimates are available in time to be used for Eurostat’s harmonized unemployment statistics which are part of the Principle European Economic Indicator set. Eurostat publishes monthly unemployment rates for the whole population as well as for some subgroups. Unadjusted values, seasonally adjusted values and trends components are available in the Eurostat’s data warehouse ‘new cronos’. Most of Austrians(non-adjusted) monthly unemployment series (based on LFS data only) show no seasonal pattern and rather high volatility, especially series of small subgroups are quite erratic. Standard seasonal adjustment techniques recommended by Eurostat do not fit the specific Austrian situation. Therefore a new approach which is a compromise between the needs of Eurostat and the available data is pursued. Instead of applying seasonal adjustment techniques, trend calculations are carried out. Trend components are used as (seasonally)adjusted values.
Highlights
The harmonized monthly unemployment rate is one important Principal European Economic Indicator (PEEI) monthly published by Eurostat
Austrian unemployment figures were estimated by Eurostat, partly based on data from Statistics Austria (STAT)
Since 2011 Eurostat receives the premade estimates calculated by Statistics Austria, based on Labour Force Survey (LFS) data only
Summary
The harmonized monthly unemployment rate is one important Principal European Economic Indicator (PEEI) monthly published by Eurostat. Austrian unemployment figures were estimated by Eurostat, partly based on data from Statistics Austria (STAT). With reference month January 2011 another major change in the estimation of Austrian harmonized monthly unemployment rates followed. Since 2011 Eurostat receives the premade estimates calculated by Statistics Austria, based on LFS data only. This article describes the new estimation process It starts with a review of the used dataset, a short summary of the estimation approach previously used by Eurostat, and an overview of the new concept, goes on to the description of the monthly weighting procedure, and the estimation of unemployment figures, and ends with a discussion of the time series adjustments and an evaluation of the results based on the new estimation process
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