1. AES progress report and future plans
Point 6 of the agenda
Meeting of the Education and Training Statistics
Working Group Luxembourg, 8-10 October 2008
Room Quetelet

2. COVERAGE AND SAMPLE SIZES
29 countries from EU, EEC and Candidate countries
Data received represents countries with combined population >350m
Target population of data received > 194m
Over 135, 000 respondents so far.
Sample sizes ranges from about 2,000 to 28,000
Spain, Italy and Poland represent more than half of total sample size
Cyprus had largest sample size in reference to total population

3. METHODOLOGY – SAMPLING AND INTERVIEWS
Standard questionnaire and classification of activities
Sampling: Simple random, stratified simple random, multi-stage stratified, multi-stage, multi-stratified sampling.
Interview: CATI , CAPI or a combination of the two, PAPI face to face
Proxy interviews allowed in only a few countries
Weighting methods by mainly gender and age
AES as stand-alone survey in most countries, few included in other surveys
Reference period - 12 months

4. STATUS OF AES DATA

5. STATUS OF MICRO-DATA
29 sets of micro-data, control tables and quality reports expected
20 sets of micro data received
19 control tables received
15 quality reports received
14 sets of micro data approved
6 sets of micro data under validation
3 sets of micro data at the preparatory stage

6. RESULTS FROM AES PILOT - FED

7. RESULTS – PARTICIPATION RATES IN FED
Significant country differences, 2.3 % %
Systematic higher rates compared with LFS-2003
General high rates among women
High rates among younger age groups
Higher rates among those with tertiary education
Unemployed and inactive participate more
High rates among highly skilled white collar jobs
More participation in densely populated areas

8. Participation in FED – LFS-2003 and AES

9. PARTICIPATION IN FED AND NFE LFS/AES

10. RESULTS FROM AES PILOT - NFE

11. Participation in NFE – LFS-2003 and AES

12. RESULTS - PARTICIPATION RATES IN NFE
High rates of participation ranging from 6.8 % to 69.4 %
Systematic higher rates compared with LFS-2003
No significant gender differences
Less differences among age groups
Respondents with higher education participate more
High rates among the employed
Highly skilled white collar holders participate more
No significant differences in degree of urbanisation

13. Participation and non-participation FED/NFE

14. OTHER RESULTS Minor gender differences in rates of non-participation
Densely populated areas have low non-participation rates
''To do a better job/improve career prospects' dominates reasons for participation in NFE
Social science, business and law has largest share of participants in both FED and NFE
Median cost of participation is higher for lower age groups
Share of instruction hours is also dominated by social science, business and law

15. CHALLENGES, PROBLEMS FROM PILOT
Methodology and quality problems of informal education
Problems with selection of number of activities
Participation in job-related and for private reasons
Low participation rates in certain countries
Comparability with other surveys like the LFS
Missing values in some questions/variables
Not included variables
Non response in some of the modules

16. SUGGESTIONS FROM QUALITY REPORTS
Training of interviewers on concepts and classifications
Review of length and content of questionnaire
Extension of age-range
Inclusion of other variables on skills
Better definition of informal education and training
Job-related and non-job related activities
Duration of activities, months not hours.

17. PLANS FOR DISSEMINATION
Publication of results from first group of countries on the 24th October 2008
First group: AT, BG, CY, DE, EE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HU, IT, LT, LV, NO, PL, SE, SK, UK
Release of anonymised micro-data for research by the end of year
Publication of Statistics in Focus based on results by the end of the year
Gradual update for rest of the countries
Completed data sets by 2009.

18. PLANS FOR FURTHER WORK Analysis and publication of results from pilot
Anonymisation and release of micro-data
Review of pilot and recommendations for next AES
Task Force for further work on AES, mandate and membership
Work towards a Commission Regulation
Development of next AES, questionnaire/manual
Implementation of next AES hopefully latter part of 2011

19. DISCUSSION POINTS
Timing of next AES
AES and EHS
The AES Task Force