Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung

Method

Sample

The basic overall sample of the survey consists of all companies/administrations with at least one employee subject to social security contributions. Each year a disproportional, layered random sample of roughly 75,000 companies and administrations is extracted from this basic overall sample using the address list of employee statistics of the Federal Employment Agency. The layering of the sample takes place according to 28 economic branches, 8 different sizes of establishments (number of employees subject to social security contributions) and the 16 Federal States.

Written survey in the IVth quarter of the year

In the fourth quarter of the year all companies/administrations in the sample receive a letter containing a questionnaire and a short explanation of the survey. The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) has assigned the survey to the institute Economix Research & Consulting in Munich. All establishments receiving the letter are asked to fill out the questionnaire and return it to the institute by the beginning of November. Companies and administrations which do not react to the letter are asked to take part in the survey a second time in writing.

Surveys by telephone in the Ist, IInd and IIIrd quarters

In the Ist, IInd and IIIrd quarters, brief telephone interviews are conducted with the companies and administrations to update developments in the demand for labour. On average these telephone surveys only last five minutes.

Extrapolation

The data supplied by the companies and administrations participating is extrapolated to the economy as a whole by an iterative method. This permits statistically underpinned statements to be made about developments in the demand for labour and about the course of job-filling processes in individual branches and regions, as well as for different sizes of establishment. By using different weighting concepts, developments can be shown that are not stamped by individual examples – as so often in the media – but can be regarded as being representative of a particular branch/region, etc.

Publications and advisory policy

The results of the surveys are published and commentated on in the form of an IAB press release at the latest six weeks after the end of the quarter. In addition to this the results of the written survey of the IVth quarter are extensively published and commentated on in the course of the following year. The data made available by the survey are of high relevance to IAB's role in providing policy advice at both the Government and Federal State levels as well as in Europe. Along with this they are used in research analyses.