1. Eurofound surveys: Next sampling
Tadas Leoncikas
Research manager
DSS meeting, Eurostat
3-4 April 2014

2. What is Eurofound? A tripartite European agency
Comparative socio-economic research
Budget of EUR 20.6m (2014)
115 people in Dublin and Brussels combined
Established in 1975
Tripartite nature: one representative from the government, employers organisation and trade union in each of the 28 EU Member States, plus four representatives from the European Commission.
Eurofound’s budget : EUR including the general subsidy (EUR 20,210,000) and services revenues (EUR 240,000)
More than 80% of total financial resources devoted to Eurofound’s core activities: “the development and dissemination of knowledge”

3. Monitoring living and working conditions: Surveys and Network of observatories
European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS)
1990/91; 1995/96; 2000; 2005; 2010; 2015
European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS)
2003; 2007/8; 2011/12; 2016
European Company Survey (ECS)
2004; 2009; 2013
Network of European Observatories (NEO): in EU 27 + Norway
We collect and analyse up-to-date information on developments in the area of
industrial relations,
working conditions and
restructuring
You find this information in the form of updates on the web pages of the observatories, but also in the annual reports we produce, for example on wage developments, working time developments or on restructuring.
Eurofound builds on its various tools and expertise to provide a comprehensive picture of trends in Europe.
Since 2011, findings from the surveys, from our observatories and from case-study and action research have been primarily used to analyse the impact of the crisis that Europe is experiencing.
Let me give you just three short examples of how our research can provide answers to some of the burning questions associated with the crisis.
Firstly, on the impact of the crisis on living conditions and quality of life of European citizens.
Note: ERM data can be analysed by region. Example: Announced job losses / gains
in large scale restructurings in NE England (NUTS: UKC),
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4. Multidimensional nature of quality of life
Quality of life domains surveyed:
Subjective wellbeing
Health and mental wellbeing
Living standards
Work-life balance
Public services
Trust and tensions
Participation and exclusion
Topic: quality of life = overall level of well-being of individuals
Assessed in terms of outcomes and experiences (objective), but also how people feel about their lives (subjective)
Core focus on domains of employment, economic resources, family, housing, community and health – and specifically on the inter-relationships between domains (e.g. work and family, health and economic situation)
Addresses the quality of society – in terms of quality of services and environment, social capital and societal relations.
3rd EQLS:
73 questions
183 items
Multi-wave integrated data set freely available
at UK Data Service

5. 3rd EQLS secondary analysis reports
Our research output is guided by our Work Programme From Crisis to Recovery. The evolution of social, health and material inequalities are examined for their impact on well-being, levels of trust and the perceived quality of society.
The latest reports look at subjective well-being in Europe
The Quality of society and public services report explores how Europeans perceive the quality of their communities and societal relations and their public services. It looks at such aspects of society as trust in institutions and other people, perceived tensions between social groups, attitudes towards migrants and the effects of the economic crisis on social inclusion and social cohesion.
The report Social inequalities examines the distribution of freedoms and opportunities among individuals and population subgroups in Europe. It reports on social inequalities in four critical areas of life: health, standard of living, productive and valued activities, and individual, family and social life.
Quality of life in Europe: Trends 2003– Executive summary This report explores patterns of stability or change in quality of life of the EU population aged 18 and over over the last decade. Particular attention is paid to differences between the Member States (EU12) joining the EU since 2004 and the older Member States (EU15) and between countries that have been more or less affected by the economic crisis. Specific attention is also paid to the situation of people in vulnerable situations: people on low incomes, elderly people in the EU12, single parents and the long-term unemployed.
The policy briefs:
Household over-indebtedness in the EU: The role of informal debts looks at issues around borrowing money from relatives and friends, in the context of overall debt problems in Europe;
Political trust and civic engagement during the crisis examines the challenges for the EU of political disenchantment and the need to let citizens know that their voice counts. It also explores the connection between trust and active participation, such as volunteering.

6. Life satisfaction in Europe SMT - online

7. Example: Life satisfaction by income quartiles, for respondents with no arrears versus those with 4 arrears

8. Inactive women willing to have work if they could choose working hours
Example: Social statistics & EF survey data combined

9. European Quality of Life Survey
Three waves: 2003, 2007 and (next – 2016)
3rd EQLS – 34 countries: EU28, TR, MK, IS, ME, RS, XK
Residents (18+)
Register based stratified random sampling
Random route if no register available
Stratification by urbanisation and region
43636 interviews
interviews per country
Response rate (RR3) 41.3% (EU27) & 44.7% (non-EU)
38 minute face to face interviews at peoples’ homes
25 languages and 13 language variants
Quality assurance substantially enhanced
Topic: quality of life = overall level of well-being of individuals
Assessed in terms of outcomes and experiences (objective), but also how people feel about their lives (subjective)
Core focus on domains of employment, economic resources, family, housing, community and health – and specifically on the inter-relationships between domains (e.g. work and family, health and economic situation)
Addresses the quality of society – in terms of quality of services and environment, social capital and societal relations.

10. Sampling frames Number of countries, by survey
EWCS
2010
EQLS
2011
EWCS 2015
EQLS 2016
Population register 9 7
Address register 4
Enumeration via random route 21 18 ?

11. Sampling in Eurofound surveys
Fieldwork, including sampling, contracted out
Insisting on use of good quality registers (coverage of min 95%), and using enumeration where those are not available
Innovation applied in EWCS-2010 and EQLS-2011: separation of sample enumeration and interviewing
Potential issues:
Not choosing the best sampling frame
Not using the most recent sample

12. Deadwood in sampling frame by country and frame type (3rd EQLS)

13. Towards more synergies
in European surveys?
EQLS 2016:
Sample top-up?
At country level
At regional level: (DG REGIO, Regional governments)
Reliable samples from reliable sampling frames
Advice on quality of the registers
Access to sampling frames
Samples
Thank you!

15. Background information ESTAT – EF: current exchange
Meetings of the Directors of Social Statistics (observer)
Working Group on Living Conditions (EU-SILC group)
Expert group on Measuring Quality of Employment coordinated by UNECE/ILO/Eurostat (EF was involved in task force since 2005, and in this expert group since 2012)
Expert group on Quality of life indicators ( )
Task force to prepare the 2015 LFS ad-hoc module on work organisation and working time arrangements
Task Force for the 2016 SILC ad-hoc module on access to services (since November 2013)
Also: EF research visits; 2013 renewal of the agreement on data access in process