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Economically Active Population Survey

• 1Contact
  • 1.1Contact organisation
    National Statistics Institute of Spain
    
  • 1.5Contact mail address

    Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid

    
    
• 2Metadata update
  • 2.1Metadata last certified
    13/02/2025
  • 2.2Metadata last posted
    28/01/2025
  • 2.3Metadata last update
    13/02/2025
• 3Statistical presentation
  • 3.1Data description

    The Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS) offers quarterly and annual data on the labour market in Spain.

    The main characteristics measured by the survey are the following:

    Employment according to demographic variables (sex, age, nationality, marital status, education), professional status, underemployment, working hours, type of working day, type of contract, having more than one job, etc.

    Unemployment according to demographic variables, characteristics of the previous job, search methods, search duration, etc.

    Quarterly information as well as average annual information is provided for these variables.

    Besides the aforementioned information, there is an annual publication of information regarding ‘sub-sample variables’: studies sector, specific work conditions (shifts, weekend jobs, persons who work in the establishment, supervision responsibilities etc) and the characteristics of the last job of the unemployed persons with previous professional experience.

    From 2009, the survey incorporated the salary decile of the main job as an additional sub-sample variable, coming from the link between the selected sample and administrative sources of the social security and fiscal administration (Spanish Tax Administration Agency, Treasury of Comunidad Foral de Navarra via the Statistics Institute of Navarra).

    Different types of supplementary information is also provided, however, it is specifically worth mentioning the different annual modules added to the survey since 1999.

  • 3.2Classification system
    • CNAE-2009, secciones
      A   Agricultura, ganadería, silvicultura y pesca
      B   Industrias extractivas
      C   Industria manufacturera
      D   Suministro de energía eléctrica, gas, vapor y aire acondicionado
      E   Suministro de agua, actividades de saneamiento, gestión de residuos y descontaminación
      F   Construcción
      G   Comercio al por mayor y al por menor; reparación de vehículos de motor y motocicletas
      H   Transporte y almacenamiento
      I   Hostelería
      J   Información y comunicaciones
      K   Actividades financieras y de seguros
      L   Actividades inmobiliarias
      M   Actividades profesionales, científicas y técnicas
      N   Actividades administrativas y servicios auxiliares
      O   Administración Pública y Defensa; Seguridad Social obligatoria
      P   Educación
      Q   Actividades sanitarias y de servicios sociales
      R   Actividades artísticas, recreativas y de entretenimiento
      S   Otros servicios
      T   Actividades de los hogares como empleadores de personal doméstico; actividades de los hogares como productores de bienes y servicios para uso propio
      U   Actividades de organizaciones y organismos extraterritoriales
    • CNO-11, primer nivel
      1   Directores y gerentes
      2   Técnicos y profesionales científicos e intelectuales
      3   Técnicos y profesionales de apoyo
      4   Empleados contables, administrativos y otros empleados de oficina
      5   Trabajadores de los servicios de restauración, personales, protección y vendedores
      6   Trabajadores cualificados en el sector agrícola, ganadero, forestal y pesquero
      7   Artesanos y trabajadores cualificados de las industrias manufactureras y la construcción (excepto operadores de instalaciones y maquinaria)
      8   Operadores de instalaciones y maquinaria, y montadores
      9   Ocupaciones elementales
      0   Ocupaciones militares
        .
    • Comunidades y Ciudades Autónomas
      01   Andalucía
      02   Aragón
      03   Asturias, Principado de
      04   Balears, Illes
      05   Canarias
      06   Cantabria
      07   Castilla y León
      08   Castilla - La Mancha
      09   Cataluña
      10   Comunitat Valenciana
      11   Extremadura
      12   Galicia
      13   Madrid, Comunidad de
      14   Murcia, Región de
      15   Navarra, Comunidad Foral de
      16   País Vasco
      17   Rioja, La
      18   Ceuta
      19   Melilla
    • Estado civil 2
      1   Solteros/Solteras
      2   Casados/Casadas
      3   Viudos/Viudas
      4-5   Separados/Separadas y Divorciados/Divorciadas
    • Provincias
      02   Albacete
      03   Alicante/Alacant
      04   Almería
      01   Araba/Álava
      33   Asturias
      05   Ávila
      06   Badajoz
      07   Balears, Illes
      08   Barcelona
      48   Bizkaia
      09   Burgos
      10   Cáceres
      11   Cádiz
      39   Cantabria
      12   Castellón/Castelló
      13   Ciudad Real
      14   Córdoba
      15   Coruña, A
      16   Cuenca
      20   Gipuzkoa
      17   Girona
      18   Granada
      19   Guadalajara
      21   Huelva
      22   Huesca
      23   Jaén
      24   León
      25   Lleida
      27   Lugo
      28   Madrid
      29   Málaga
      30   Murcia
      31   Navarra
      32   Ourense
      34   Palencia
      35   Palmas, Las
      36   Pontevedra
      26   Rioja, La
      37   Salamanca
      38   Santa Cruz de Tenerife
      40   Segovia
      41   Sevilla
      42   Soria
      43   Tarragona
      44   Teruel
      45   Toledo
      46   Valencia/València
      47   Valladolid
      49   Zamora
      50   Zaragoza
      51   Ceuta
      52   Melilla
    • Relación de parentesco 1
      1   Persona de referencia
      2   Conyuge o pareja
      3   Hijo/Hija
      4-7   Otro pariente
      8-9   Persona no emparentada
        .
    • SL0 - Situación en relación con la actividad 4
      1.1   Ocupados
      1.2   Parados
      2   Inactivos
    • Tipo de administración
      1   Central
      2   Seguridad Social
      3   Comunidad Autónoma
      4   Local
      5   Empresa e Institución Pública
      O   Otro tipo
        .
    • Tipo de contrato indefinido
      1.1   Discontinuo
      1.2   Permanente a lo largo del tiempo
    • Tipo de contrato o relación laboral
      1   Indefinido
           1.1   Discontinuo
           1.2   Permanente a lo largo del tiempo
      2   Temporal
           2.1   Cubre la ausencia total o parcial de otro trabajador
           2.2   De aprendizaje, formación o práctica
           2.3   En periodo de prueba
           2.4   Estacional o de temporada
           2.5   Eventual por circunstancias de la producción
           2.6   Para obra o servicio determinado
           2.7   Verbal no incluido en las opciones anteriores
           2.O   Otro tipo
        .
    • Tipo de contrato temporal
      2.1   Cubre la ausencia total o parcial de otro trabajador
      2.2   De aprendizaje, formación o práctica
      2.3   En periodo de prueba
      2.4   Estacional o de temporada
      2.5   Eventual por circunstancias de la producción
      2.6   Para obra o servicio determinado
      2.7   Verbal no incluido en las opciones anteriores
      2.O   Otro tipo
    • Tipo de jornada en el empleo buscado
      1   A tiempo completo
      2   A tiempo completo pero aceptaría a tiempo parcial
      3   A tiempo parcial
      4   A tiempo parcial, pero aceptaría a tiempo completo
      5   La que encuentre
        .
  • 3.3Sector coverage

    All categories of CNAE, NCO and NCE are covered.

  • 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
    • Economic activity
      Economic activity of the local unit in which the individual performs his or her main professional activity.
    • Wage-earners or freelance workers
      Have worked during the reference week for at least one hour in exchange for a salary or wage, in cash or in kind or have had a job but have not not worked due to being temporally absent from work during the reference week. In this case, in order ot regard the person as employed, it is necessary to be closely linked with his or her employment, and for the total period absent to be less than or equal to three months or, where this is greater, for the percentage of the wage received to be 50% or more.
    • Dedicado a las labores del hogar (situación autopercibida/autodeclarada)
      Personas que declaran que sin ejercer alguna actividad económica, se dedican a cuidar su propio hogar sin contraprestación económica alguna
    • Age
      Age in years refers to the number of birthdays reached by the reference date, in other words, the age last birthday.
    • Employment
      A set of tasks and duties performed, or meant to be performed, by a person, in her or his job post.
    • Permanent employment
      A contract or employment relationship must be considered permanent if there are no objective criteria for the termination thereof, even it it is only carried out during certain periods of the year, but with the assurance that it will be repeated every year (discontinuous permanent contracts).
    • Main employment
      If a person simultaneously maintains more than one employment relationship during the reference week, only one of them will be considered the main employment, as the other such relationship(s) shall be considered secondary employment. The interviewee shall select the main employment according to her or his judgement. In case of doubt, the person shall opt for that on which s/he regularly spends the most working hours, or which provides her/him the greatest income or benefit.
    • Temporary employment
      In temporary employment, the end of an employment relationship or contract is determined by objective conditions, such as the expiry of a certain term, the performance of a given task, the reincorporation of an employee that had been temporarily replaced, the performance of a probationary or training period, or the substitution of part of the work not performed by partially-retired persons. In the case of a limited-duration work contract, the conditions corresponding to its termination are generally mentioned in the contract.
    • Legal marital status
      Legal marital status is defined as that which every individual has in accordance with marriage legislation (or marriage uses) of the country (in other words, the legal situation).
    • Estudiante (situación autopercibida/autodeclarada)
      Se considera estudiante a toda persona que declara que su actividad única (o principal) consiste en la adquisición de una instrucción sistemática de cualquier nivel y tipo de estudio, incluyendo como tal la preparación de oposiciones.
    • Household according to residence criterion
      A human group formed by one or more persons who regularly reside in a family dwelling for the entire year or most of it. There does not necessarily have to be kinship relations among the members of the group.
    • Effective Hours
      This will comprise the hours worked during normal working hours, the time used in the workplace waiting or remaining available, as well as short rest periods at the workplace, breaks for a sandwich lasting under an hour. This does not include holidays, public holidays, absences due to illness and other paid reasons, as well as time not worked due to being affected by a labour force adjustment plan; nor does it include time spent travelling to or from the l o workplace, or meal breaks lasting more than an hour.
    • Usual Hours
      The reference period to be taken into account will be at least the last 4 weeks prior to the Sunday of the reference week, and at the most the last 3 months, not taking into account possible periods of absence.
      Where this period is not readily identifiable, it will be accepted as an approximate:
      - The number of hours stipulated by contract for your main activity, during the reference week (for those with a contract) plus overtime expected excluding time pent travelling to or from the workplace and meal breaks lasting more than an hour,
      - The average hours actually worked in the last 4 weeks, plus hours absent from work in the last 4 weeks.
      If the person has been absent for an extended period (over three months), for example maternity leave, usual hours will be those corresponding to the period prior to the absence.
    • Incapacidad laboral permanente (situación autopercibida/autodeclarada)
      Personas que declaran que se encuentran indefinidamente incapacitadas, tanto si han trabajado o no anteriormente e independientemente de si reciben una pensión por incapacidad.
    • Jubilado (situación autopercibida/autodeclarada)
      Persona que declaran no trabajar y disfrutar de una pensión de jubilación vitalicia o retiro, obtenidos por su actividad económica anterior al cesar en el trabajo a causa de su edad.
    • Active employment search methods.
      The following employment search methods are considered to be active:
      - Having contacted a Public Employment Office with one of the following objectives: to register for the purpose of finding work, obtain information regarding possible job offers and due to having received a job offer from the office.
      - Having contacted a private employment office or signed up at a labour exchange - Having requested employment directly from a businessperson or presented one's resume - Having sought employment through friends, relatives or a union - Having placed or answered an ad or job advertisement (including online) - Having seen or listened to an ad or job advertisement (including online) - Having sought land, locales or materials to set up on one's own - Having sought financing or having carried out paperwork in order to obtain permits or licences to establish oneself - Having taken an exam or had a job interview
    • Inactive employment search methods.
      The following employment search methods are considered to be inactive:
      - The person has contacted a Public Employment Office for one of the following purposes:
      - To renew or update her or his registration - Other reasons, other than: registering in order to find work, obtaining information on possible job offers, having received a job offer from the office and renewing or updating her or his registration - To wait for the results of a job application - To wait for the results of a public examination - To wait for a call from a Public Employment Office - Other methods, specify:
    • Citizenship
      Citizenship is defined as the particular legal bond between an individual and his/her State,, acquired by birth or naturalisation, whether by declaration, option, marriage or other means according to the national legislation.
    • Employees
      Employees are all those persons aged over 16 years old who, during the reference week were employed by others, wage-earners, or performed freelance work pursuant, freelance workers.
    • Ocupados (situación autopercibida/autodeclarada)
      Los ocupados son todas aquellas personas de 16 años o más que, durante un período de referencia dado (semana de referencia, período actual...) declararon tener un empleo por cuenta ajena, asalariado, o ejercieron una actividad por cuenta propia, trabajadores por cuenta propia.
    • Unemployed persons
      All those persons aged over 16 years old who, during the reference week were:
      
      a) out of work, in other words, they had no paid employment or freelance work,
      
      b) available for work, in other words, available to carry out a job as an employee or freelance work within the two weeks following the reference week,
      
      c) actively jobseeking during the month prior to the Sunday of the reference week.
      
      Persons are also considered unemployed when they are out of work but are about to start a new job within the three months subsequent to the reference week and are currently available for work. Therefore in this case it will not be necessary to demand active jobseeking as a necessary condition for being unemployed.
      
      The search methods considered active are to be found listed in the European Commission Regulation 1897/2000.
    • Parados (situación autopercibida/autodeclarada)
      Parados son todas aquellas personas de 16 años o más que, durante un período de referencia dado (semana de referencia, período actual...), declararon encontrarse desempleados o buscando un empleo.
    • Income receivers
      They are all those who:
      - Are in employment or
      - Are benefict recipients, it is:
      o They are retiree or took early retirement or they receive any other type of pension or
      o They receive some kind of unemployment allowance
    • Active population or active persons
      The active population comprises employed and unemployed persons during the reference week.
    • Inactive population or inactive persons
      The economically inactive population comprises all persons 16 years old and older who do not classify as employed, unemployed or population counted separately during the reference week.
    • Resident population
      The population resident in a given geographical scope is defined as those persons who, on the reference date, have established their usual residence therein.
    • Sex
      Sex refers to the biological sex of the person. According to the WHO, "sex" refers to biological and physiological features defining to men and women, whereas "gender" refers to the roles, behaviour, activities and attributes constructed socially that a specific culture regards as appropriate for men and women. In accordance with this description, the WHO regards "man" and "woman" as sex categories, whereas "male" and "female" are gender categories.
    • Situación en relación con la actividad económica
      Se refiere a la situación en que queda clasificada cada persona según su relación con la actividad económica: activo (ocupado o parado) o inactivo (jubilado, estudiando, incapacitado para trabajar, etc.), basada en los criterios OIT.
    • Situación principal autopercibida/autodeclarada en relación con la actividad económica.
      Se refiere a la situación principal en que se clasificaría cada persona según la propia percepción de su relación con la actividad económica: ocupado, parado, jubilado, estudiante, incapacitado para trabajar, dedicado a las labores del hogar u otras situaciones.
    • Professional Status
      The definition is based on the ILO resolution regarding the International Classification of the Employment Situation (15th CISE, 1993). The two essential dimensions for the concept of professional situation are economic risk and authority.
      The basic distinction is the one that exists between wage earners and freelance workers. Wage earners are all workers whose type of work is defined as paid employment: work whereby the holders have implicit or explicit employment contracts (verbal or in writing), for which they receive basic payment that does not depend directly on the income of the unit for which they work (this unit may be a corporation, a non-profit organisation, a government unit or a household). Some or all instruments, capital goods, information systems and/or premises used by the holders belong to third parties, and the holders may work under the direct supervision of or in accordance with the strict directives established by the owner or persons employed by the latter. (Persons with ¿paid employment¿ are usually paid with salaries or wages, but may also be paid by means of commissions on sales, efficiency payments, premiums or payments in kind such as food, lodgings or training).
      Freelance work is that employment whereby payment depends directly on profits (or on the potential to make profit) deriving from goods and services produced (in these jobs it is regarded that self-consumtion forms part of profits). Freelance workers make operational decisions that affect the company, or delegate those decisions, but retain responsibility for the well-being of the company. (In this context, the company includes the operations of a single person.)
      Wage earners with a determined duration job/contract are those employees whose main work will end after a pre-termined period of time has elapsed, or after a period of time which is unknown from the outset, but defined by means of objective criteria, such as the completion of a task or the end of the period of absence of the worker who is being temporarily replaced.
    • Underemployment due to insufficient hours
      They are employed persons who would like to work more hours, who are available to work more hours and whose effective working hours in the reference week are less than the number of hours usually worked by employed persons working full-time in the same branch of activity as that in which the underemployed person develops the main job.
    • Activity rate
      The activity rate is defined as the quotient between the total number of active persons and the population aged 16 years old and over.
    • Wage rate (or lack thereof)
      This is the quotient between the number of wage earners and the total number of employed persons.
    • Employment rate
      This is the quotient between the total number of employed persons and the population aged 16 years and over.
    • Unemployment rate
      The unemployment rate is the quotient between the number of unemployed persons and the number of active persons. Calculated for both sexes and for each sex separately.
    • Temporary Rate
      This is the quotient between the number of wage earners with a temporary contract and the total number of wage earners.
    • Part-time work rate
      This is the quotient between the number of employed part-time employed persons and the total number of employed persons.
    • Specific activity rate
      The specific activity rate for a specific age interval is the quotient between the number of active persons in that age range and the population corresponding to said interval. Ti (activity) = Ai/ Pi, i <= 16 [i,i + k) age interval with amplitude k Ti= specific activity rate for interval [i,i + k) Ai= number of active persons in the interval [i,i + k) Pi=population in the interval [i,i + k) It is generally calculated for both sexes and for each separately. Intervals are usually every fifteen or every ten days.
    • Specific employment rate
      The specific employment rate for a specific age interval is the quotient between the number of employed persons in those ages and the population corresponding to the interval. Ti (employment) = Oi/ Pi, i <= 16 [i,i + k) age interval with amplitude k Ti= specific job rate for interval [i,i + k) Oi= number of employed persons in the interval [i,i + k) Pi= population in the interval [i,i + k) Generally calculated for both sexes and for each sex separately. Intervals are usually every fifteen or every ten days.
    • Specific unemployment rate
      The specific unemployment rate for a specific age interval is the quotient between unemployed persons aged between the years established in the interval and the active population in said interval. Ti(unemployment) = Di/ Ai, i <= 16 [i, i+k) age interval with amplitude k Ti= specific unemployment rate for interval [i,i + k) Di= number of unemployed in the interval [i,i + k) Ai= number of active persons in the interval [i,i + k) Generally calculated for both sexes and for each sex separately. Intervals are usually every fifteen or every ten days.
    • Global activity rate
      Global activity rate: This is the quotient between the total number of active persons and the total population. Calculated for both sexes and for each sex separately.
    • Global employment rate
      Quotient between the total number of active persons and the total population. Calculated for both sexes and for each sex separately.
    • Type of working day
      The typical weekly working day at work may be full time or part time.
      
      The distinction is based on the interviewee's opinion, though it must be taken into account that part-time work can never exceed 35 hours weekly, and full-time work cannot be under to 30 hours weekly, and full-time work must be equal to or over 30 regular hours each week.
    • Types of contract or employment relationship
      Contracts or employment relationships may be permanent or temporary.
    • Freelance workers
      Have worked during the reference week for at least one hour in exchange for personal gain or family earnings or have had a job but not working due to being temporarily absent from it during the reference week due to illness, an accident, holidays, public holidays, bad weather or other reasons involving there continuing to exist a strong link between the person and his or her company.
      Family assistance is included in this category.
    • Main family dwelling
      A family dwelling is considered main when it is used all or most part of the year as the regular residence.
    • Retired Person
      Person who no longer works and receives a pension.
    • Province ( Article 141.1 of the Spanish Constitution)
      The province is a local institution with its own legal status, determined by grouping municipalities and dividing territories in order to fulfil State activities. Any alteration in the provincial limits is to be approved by the General Courts by means of constitutional law.
  • 3.5Statistical unit

    Main family dwellings, within the national territory and persons residing in them.

  • 3.6Statistical population

    It includes the set of main family dwellings within the national territory as well as all persons residing in them.

    
    It therefore does not include group households, since the persons who live in a group household and are linked with a private household are indeed considered part of the statistical population.

    
    Foreigners are included if they are going to live in Spain for over a year (except persons in the military or foreign diplomats).

  • 3.7Reference area

    As per the survey, all statistical units located within the territory of the Spanish state, are object of research.

    Data are provided at national, regional or provincial level.

  • 3.8Time coverage

    The Economically Active Population Survey of Spain was first published in 1964, and it referred to some quarters of each year up to 1968. Between 1969 and 1974 it was six-monthly and from 1975 it was quarterly. In 1999 the survey was redesigned as a continuous survey that would provide quarterly results. Since 2005, besides the quarterly results and annual averages of the four quarters, the survey also offers annual results of structural variables analysed in a sub-sample of the survey, distributed throughout the entire year.

    Quarterly results are available electronically since 1976 in the ’Main Results’ section of the survey and in the ‘Detailed Results’ section since 1987.

  • 3.9Base period

    The last great methodological change ocurred in the first quarter of 2002, when the interpretation of the concept "active search of employment" changed.

• 4Unit of measure
  • 4.1Unit of measure

    Most of the published data are presented in absolute values and are measured in thousands (people or hours) except those related to average number of hours, that are measured in hours, and those related to wages, measured in euros.

    Data are also published on percentages and rates.

• 5Reference period
  • 5.1Reference period

    1. Reference period for publishing survey results: Quarters and years (annual averages, sub-sample variables and ad hoc modules).

    2. Reference period for information collection: The EAPS measures a person's situation during the reference week (that is, the week prior to the theoretical week of the interview). Nevertheless, some questions have special reference periods, such as:

    -The search methods, the special features of the working day as well as those of the current studies, which refer to the four weeks prior to the interview.

    - Availability to work, which refers to the two weeks after Sunday of the reference week.

    - The age of the interviewee or the registration in the employment office, which refer to Sunday of the reference week.

    Data referred to the period: Trimestral A: 2025 TRI: I

• 6Institutional mandate
  • 6.1Legal acts and other agreements

    The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2025-2028, approved by Royal Decree 1525/2024, of  3 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2025-2028. (Statistics of the State Administration).

    
    

    The Economically Active Population Survey, which provides information for the European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS), is subject to union regulations that rule the LFS. Currently, the most relevant ones are the following:

    - REGULATION (EU) 2019/1700 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 10th of October of 2019, which establishes a common framework for European statistics related to persons and households.

    - COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2019/2240 of 16th of December of 2019 as well as other delegated and implementing regulations, which establish the variables for the labour force domain, the definitions to be used and the periodicity for the Labour Force Survey variables that should be transcoded from the first quarter of 2021 onwards.

  • 6.2Data sharing
    The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.
    

    Regarding the ‘wages’ variable, its information is obtained from administrative registers coming from the General Treasury of the Social Security, Spanish Tax Administration Agency and the Treasury of Comunidad Foral de Navarra.

    The need to provide information on the ‘wages’ variable is included in the European Parliament and Council Regulation 2007/1372, of October 23 2007.

• 7Confidentiality
  • 7.1Confidentiality - policy

    The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society

    
    
  • 7.2Confidentiality - data treatment
    INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.
    

    The direct identification data is not saved with the statistical information after the data collection stage.

• 8Release policy
  • 8.1Release calendar

    The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.

    
    
  • 8.2Release calendar access

    The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)

    
    
  • 8.3User access

    The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice

    
    
• 9Frequency of dissemination
  • 9.1Frequency of dissemination

    Data frequency is doubled: quarterly for the most of the variables and annual for the group of sub-sample variables and ad-hoc modules. Therefore dissemination frequency is quarterly and annual.

• 10Accessibility and clarity
  • 10.1News release

    The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web

    
    
  • 10.2Publications

      The following sections are available on the INE website, within the section dedicated to the EAPS:

      - Last data, which contains the last press release, deseasonalised variation rates and the data dissemination calendar.

      - Results, with the following sub-sections:

    Quarterly results which include:

    - National results broken down by population, economically active persons, employed persons, unemployed persons, economically inactive persons and  households.

    - Results by Autonomous Communities broken down by population, economically active persons, employed persons, unemployed persons and economically inactive persons.

    - Results by province broken down by population, economically active persons, employed persons and economically inactive persons.

    - Other results, which include various results with National Classification of Occupations 1994 (CNO 94), others with National Classification of Economic Activities 1993 (CNAE 93) and retrospective tables by nationality.

    - Sampling errors and assessment of results

                  Annual results which include:

    - Averages of the four quarters of each year calculated for the population, economically active persons, employed persons, unemployed persons and economically inactive persons; all at national level and also calculated for a selection of tables by Autonomous Community. They also include various results with National Classification of Occupations 1994 (CNO 94), others with National Classification of Economic Activities 1993 (CNAE 93) and retrospective tables by nationality. Information regarding sampling errors is also published.

    - Sub-sample variables with the results of this type of variables classified by sections:

       Education and training

       Work conditions

       Professional experience and job search

       Persons who have changed their residence 1 year ago

    - Wage decile of the main job including results on the wage decile and the approximate calculation of the average wage.

        Special Modules with information on modules from 1999 to 2012.

         Analysis and study which include:

    - Assessment of the EAPS quality

    - Comparison of employment and unemployment data

    - Classification link. Retrospective occupation and economic activity tables

    - Effect of EAPS changes since 2005

    - Re-estimation of the unemployment series according to the 2002 EAPS definition.

    - Revision of the effect of the new 2001 unemployment definition

    - Other studies among which there are: the updating of the 1995-1996 section, the analysis of the 2005 EAPS effects, coherence of NC-EAPS employment estimates and the EURAREA Project regarding the estimation in small areas. 

         Microdata

    -Methodology, which contains:

    Standardised metadata report

    File on the Inventory of the Statistical Operation

    Document on the description of the survey

    Document on the design and assessment of the data quality

    2005 Questionnaire

    Other methodologies (of the sub-sample variables of the wage decile, of the special modules)

    Classifications

    -Publications, which contains:

    Catalogue of publications

    INE Figures Leaflets

    Work documents

    -Links, which contains links to:

    Other sections in INEbase (Statistics on the flows of the Economically Active Population and projections on economic activity rates)

    European data on the European Community Labour Force Survey.

    Related videos

     

  • 10.3On-line database

    INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.

    
    

    Quarterly and annual results available for the EAPS:

    According to the structure detailed in the “Results” section of the previous point (10.2 Publications) every quarter the number of employed persons, unemployed persons, economically inactive persons and the economic activity rate etc., are published. They are: (1) broken down at national, regional (Autonomous Community) and province level, and the rest of variables included in the EAPS questionnaire, (2) Information on sampling errors and non-sampling errors, (3) data series prior to 2005.  

    There is also publishing of annual data for the reference year for the main indicators that are shown in the aforementioned quarterly series and the information on sampling errors and non-sampling errors.

    In the “Annual results ", there are specific results regarding sub-sample variables, including the tables of the main occupation decile.

    The indicator associated with the number of data table consultations in 2023 is AC1=2,246,406.

    The indicator associated with the number or queries to the methodology in 2023 is AC2=5,695.

  • 10.4Micro-data access
    A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section
    

    The variables of the EAPS microdata files are harmonised in a standard way, and can be downloaded for free on the INE website.

     

  • 10.5Other

    It is possible to request customised information from the INE Information Area. When processing these requests, limitations regarding confidentiality or accuracy are taken into account.

  • 10.6Documentation on methodology

    The website of the Economically Active Population Survey provides a detailed description of the methods and concepts used as well as other documents related with the survey. Specifically, there is a documento that includes all the changes for 2021 in the Methodology section.

    AC3=100%

     

  • 10.7Quality documentation

    A report that assesses the quality of the EAPS data is published annually. It provides information on the obtained response rate, sampling errors of the estimates as well as results of the repeated EAPS survey which analyses the quality of the information obtained in the interview.

    Annual quality reports regarding the EAPS as a source of the LFS of Spain are compiled for Eurostat. A report on the quality of the LFS is presented to the European Parliament every three years. The reference year of the last one is 2017. Sections 10.6 to 17 of this document are the user-oriented quality report for this operation.

• 11Quality management
  • 11.1Quality assurance

    Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.

    
    

    The EAPS is designed to assure a continuous assessment of the data quality. The control of invalid values on the online questionnaire, supervision and checking field work, the repeated survey performed on part of the interviewees are examples of permanent monitoring of the information flow.

    The errors detected in the centralised processing of information are included in a report every quarter. This report is sent to the different collection centres so that they have accurate indications on the mistakes that were made.

  • 11.2Quality assessment

    The Economically Active Population Survey is regarded to be of a great quality. Its sampling size allows offering indicators up to provincial level within reasonable sampling errors. The harmonised methodology that is used, allows reliable comparisons at an international level and gives an extremely valuable, linked and integrated measure on the labour market, including socio-demographic information (educational level, type of household) that no other statistical source provides with such conceptual detail.

    The statistical information on the EAPS labour market may be compared with the other important sources on employment and unemployment coming from administrative registers (social security affiliation, public employment offices, company results). See section Comparison of employment and unemployment data, in section "Analyses and studies" included in "Results".

    Regarding the limitations of the survey, it is important to point out those that are inherent to the statistical operations by sampling, such as non-response and the previously mentioned sampling errors or variation coefficients of the estimates. In both cases, they remain within reasonable limits. Detailed information on sampling errors is offered periodically in the result tables published in INEBASE as well as periodic reports on the quality assessment of the survey

• 12Relevance
  • 12.1User needs

    Among the users of the survey, the following are worth mentioning:·

    Ministries (Economy, Employment, Education, etc.) and other public organisations (Bank of Spain., Economic and Social Council, observatories, etc.)

    Territorial administrations (Autonomous Communities, Provincial Council, City Councils)

    Researchers and academic world

    Non-profit companies and institutions (Company research services, foundations, associations, etc.), trade unions and employers' organisations.

    Press and specialised media

    Individuals

    Whether through the link of the EAPS with the LFS or directly, there is a large number of foreign institutions and individuals who use it. Some of the most important are Eurostat, OECD, United Nations, IMF, etc.

    The different users have a wide range of needs, which go from knowing the general evolution of the labour market (integration, labour market segmentation, etc.) to specific topics of interest (equality between women and men, educational indicators, etc.).

    Maintaining homogeneous series and measuring the effect of the changes in the survey are other aspects that are highly requested by users.

    All requests for quarterly or annual information are fulfilled as long as the sample size allows it.

  • 12.2User satisfaction

    The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013,  2016 and 2019 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...

    On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click  next link)

     

    
    

    There is no specific EAPS user satisfaction survey, however, the User Satisfaction Survey (USS) does indicate the satisfaction level of the labour market user group.

    Data requests of the EAPS are treated occasionally and are practically completely satisfied in time and shape, providing the sample allows the requested breakdowns.

  • 12.3Completeness

    The EAPS satisfies all the requirements established in the national and international regulation regarding labour market statistics addressed to households.

    The Economically Active Population Survey is included in the European Union Labour Force Survey, which is ruled by the Regulations no. 577/98 of 9 March 1998 and no. 2257/2003 of 25 November 2003 and by Comission regulations no. 1897/2000 of 7 September 2000 and 430/2005 of 15 March 2005. It also complies with the regulations corresponding to the annual ad-hoc modules

    To sum up, the survey provides all the information required by the regulations, therefore the rate of available compulsory results R1=100%.

• 13Accuracy and reliability
  • 13.1Overall accuracy

    The INE publishes the reports that allow assessing the users' problems associated with the errors that occur during the statistical process, such as field work incidences, the response rate, the evaluation of the interviewers, the results of the evaluation survey, etc. For further information see “Standard quality report of the product - Quality assessment – Accuracy” and also see “EAPS quality assessment” .

    Usually due to the intrinsic characteristics of the EAPS, there is less response regarding the groups that are most difficult to find in a permanent dwelling. Hence, for example, the sample of elderly persons is overrepresented in the sample; there is a higher response of persons with Spanish nationality than those of a foreign nationality, etc. The application of calibration techniques since 2005 has solved this problem greatly.

  • 13.2Sampling error

    The variation coefficients of the main variables are disseminated in the survey publication and in the corresponding quality reports.

    The sampling error indicator refered to the estimates of the fourth quarter of 2024 is:

    A1(Employed persons)=0.33%, A1(Unemployed persons)=1.77%, A1(Active persons)=0.26%

    For further details, see the item regarding sampling errors within the Results section of the EAPS website .

  • 13.3Non-sampling error

    The unit non-response rate in the fourth quarter of 2024 is A4=17.46%

    For more information regarding the assessment of non-sampling errors, the user is referred to the aforementioned annual assessment report of the survey.

• 14Timeliness and punctuality
  • 14.1Timeliness

    The data is published the month after the reference quarter, therefore the time that elapses from the reference period to the publication of the figures is 23 to 30 days, time required to complete the collection of information for the period in question and carry out all subsequent data cleaning and revision operations to obtain a final file that is coherent and directly usable for calculating estimates.

    The indicator of the time lag of the final results is TP2=23 to 30 days.

  • 14.2Punctuality

    Survey results are published in accordance with the short-term statistics publication calendar of the INE

    Therefore, the indicator of punctuality of data delivery is TP3=100%, as the publication calendar is fulfilled.

• 15Coherence and Comparability
  • 15.1Comparability - geographical

    The use of definitions from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the strict application of definitions and concepts of the European Union Labour Force Survey, which is collected in the regulations, allows to compare the EAPS results by Autonomous Communities and by Provinces with those of similar surveys in other countries.

  • 15.2Comparability - over time

    The Spanish EAPS was carried out in the second quarter of 1964 for the first time. Up to the second quarter of 1976, the survey underwent different changes (in design, periodicity,...). There was a break in the series between the second and third quarters of 1976. From 1964 to the second quarter of 1976 only hard copies of the documents are available.

    From the third quarter of 1976, the main indicators may be considered homogeneous since the basic methodological history has been the same despite the changes occurred in the survey throughout more than 40 years. Furthermore, links for the main variables have been provided when the implemented methodological changes have produced breaks in the series.

    In particular, for the 'Total Employment' series, data is comparable since its beginning, on the third quarter of 1976.

    For the following series: 'Total Unemployment', 'Total Active Population' and 'Total Inactive Population', due to the change in the definition of unemployment that took place in the Survey in 2001, data is comparable since the first quarter of this year (2001).

    Therefore, the indicator of length of comparable time series for the fourth quarter of 2022 is:

    CC2(employed persons)=194, CC2(unemployed persons)=96, CC2(active persons)=96, CC2(inactive persons)=96.

    INE Internet databases disseminate the quarterly series from the third quarter of 1976.

  • 15.3Coherence - cross domain

    The EAPS follows the concepts and definitions established by the International Labour Organization and the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat). There are other sources of information on the labour market in Spain, such as workers' affiliation to Social Security or the number of unemployed persons registered in public employment services, which allow offering alternative estimates of employment and unemployment, respectively. The results of these sources, which have an administrative origin, are different from the results obtained from the EAPS, as a consequence of their different nature and the methodology applied in each case.

    Nevertheless, employment estimates are generally consistent with the data in the social security registers once the differences between both sources are taken into account. EAPS estimates usually offer a greater level of employed persons. This is coherent with the concepts applied in the survey, given employment in the EAPS is intended to be measured exhaustively (having worked one hour during the reference week is enough to be classified as an employed person), however not all persons who have worked few hours are affiliated to Social Security.

    The methodological change in 2005 improved the measurement of jobs for few hours a week. This increased the estimate of the number of employed persons.

    The comparison between the figures of registered unemployment and estimated unemployment by the survey provides a similar pattern of their evolution over time but also shows considerable discrepancies in the total estimates.

    These discrepancies are mainly due to the different definitions associated with registered unemployment (Ministerial Order of 11 March 1985 - Official State Gazette 3/14/85) and EAPS unemployment (ILO Definitions and concepts / Eurostat).

    For further details, users shall check the Comparison of employment and unemployment data section, in the Analyses and Studies folder.

    The use of various results provided by the different statistical sources does not indicate a coherence problem, but presents measurements of reality from different points of view.

  • 15.4Coherence - internal

    The estimates of the “Main EAPS indicators" have complete internal coherence, since they are based on the same microdata set and are calculated using the same estimation methods.

    The annual results are calculated as the average of the quarterly results, therefore they are totally consistent.

    Regarding the annual subsample variables, the data is re-weighted in order to guarantee the coherence of the main indicators that are obtained as the quarterly average of employed, unemployed and economically active persons by age group and sex (see annex 1 of Reg. 430/2005). The total figures of employment, unemployment, economic inactivity and foreign population at NUTS2 level (Autonomous Communities) are also coherent with the quarterly averages in Spain.

• 16Cost and burden
  • 16.1Cost and burden

    In the 2025 annual Program, the estimate of the necessary budget appropriation to finance this statistical operation is 11,409.42 thousand euros.

    The average duration of the interviews performed in a household is 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the type of interview (only with quarterly variables or with structural variables as well) and the interview method (personal or telephone).

• 17Data revision
  • 17.1Data revision - policy

    The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).

    This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow:  routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.

    
    

    The data are final when they are published for the first time and are not subject to revision.

     

  • 17.2Data revision - practice

    EAPS data is final from the moment they are officially published.

    If errors are detected and the data shall be modified, an explanatory note is added to the information in order to inform users that the data has been changed. When possible, the users are directly informed about these errors.

• 18Statistical processing
  • 18.1Source data

    Tea Economically Active Population Survey covers the entire national territory and approximately 99% of the population. The survey is addressed to family dwellings, and therefore does not include persons who live in group households (hotels, convents, prisons, etc.) The survey is carried continuously, at the rate of 5,000 interviews a week. The sample contains 65,000 dwellings per quarter and approximately 180,000 persons, that is, 0.4% of the population. The Economically Active Population Survey follows the ILO methodology.

    Sample size and design: The sample comprises 65,000 families interviewed each quarter - 0.4% of the sampling fraction. The final sample unit is the postal address of the dwelling.

    Sample framework: The sample framework is the list of 32,000 census areas (or sections), into which Spain is divided for statistical and electoral purposes, and the list of postal addresses of each section. Each census section is a piece of well-defined land with perfectly delimited borders. The maximum size of each section is 2,000 voters. The sample is made up of 3,822 sections and an average of 18 households per section (22 in large provinces).

    Updating method of the sample framework: A complete update is carried out (every ten years) when the information on the last population census is available. A partial update with the information on the electoral census is carried every two years.

    Rotation system: 1/6 of the dwellings are changed each quarter. The section is updated before the new dwellings are selected. The overlap of two consecutive quarters is 5/6 and between the same quarters of two consecutive years it is 2/6. A family is interviewed for six consecutive quarters at the most.

  • 18.2Frequency of data collection

    The EAPS is a continuous quarterly survey.

  • 18.3Data collection

    Data collection: The first EAPS interview is a personal interview. The second and subsequent interviews are telephone interviews, except if it is not possible or the dwelling prefers a personal interview. All interviews are carried out with a laptop or personal computer. Since 2005, the CATI system is used for subsequent interviews. Since 2020 it is allowed to carry out the survey via Internet or CAWI system.

    Survey organisation: There are 52 provincial offices throughout Spain, which have permanent personnel that carry out the work regarding the personal interviews performed in that territory. There are also seven centres in which computer assisted telephone interviewing is carried out, which cover all the sample in subsequent interviews. The information available in each provincial office or telephone interviewing centre is sent to to the central office in Madrid every week. In the Autonomous Community of Galicia, field work is shared with the Galician Statistics Institute (IGE).

    Duration of field work: Most interviews are performed during the week after the reference week. There is a maximum period of six week to obtain information from absent households.

  • 18.4Data validation

    A filtering system is used for data entry in which errors or inconsistencies are detected. Afterwards, a second filtering process is applied to each collection centre and lastly, a centralised filtering is carried out in which the errors detected in the main variables are corrected manually and the rest of variables are filtered automatically.

  • 18.5Data compilation

    Up to the year 2001 ratio estimators were used, taking the population resident in main family dwellings as the auxiliary variable, subtracted from the "Current Population Estimates" (nowcasts, based on the census data as well as the vital and migration statistics) compiled by the National Statistics Institute.

    Since 2002, re-weighting techniques are applied to the ratio estimators so as to adjust the estimates of the survey to the information coming from external sources.

    The auxiliary variables used as external sources from that moment on are:

    - Population 16 years of age or over, by age and sex groups, at Autonomous Community level (22 groups).

    - Population 16 years of age or over by province

    - Population under 16 years of age, by age and sex groups at Autonomous Community (6 groups).

    - Population under 16 years of age by province.

    From 2005, the following is added to these auxiliary variables:

    - Population 16 years of age or over by Spanish of foreign nationality at Autonomous Community level.

    Since 2014 the following variables are added to the re-weighting:

    - Households by size at Autonomous Community level (5 groups)

    - Population 16 years of age or over, by age and sex groups, at province level (6 groups).

    Since 2021 the changes in the auxiliary variables are the following:

    - For the total population by age and sex groups at Autonomous Community level, there are still 28 groups, but in this case 15-year-olds become part of the 16 to 19 group, for both sex, instead of belonging to the 10 to 14 group, as until 2020.

    - By Spanish and foreign nationality at Autonomous Community level, the population of 15 and over will be considered instead of that of 16 and over, as until 2020.

    - For the total population by age and sex groups by province, there are still 8 groups, but in this case 15-year-olds become part of the 16 to 29 group, for both sex, instead of 0 to 14, as until 2020.

    As the concept of household is no longer the same as that of dwelling in the EPA since 2021, given that from then on it is based on the common budget of the members that compose it, for the re-weighting, instead of the household variable, the dwelling by size at the Autonomous Community level (4 groups because the groups that correspond to four and to five and more defined in 2014 are joined in one that covers the four and more ones) is used.

    “Regarding the treatment of incidences:

      - Since the second quarter of 2020, in the second and subsequent waves, refusals, absentees and inaccessibles are no longer imputed by assigning them the information they provided in the previous interview.

      - Since the first quarter of 2021, refusals in the first wave are no longer substituted by other dwellings of the same section.”

  • 18.6Adjustment

    Seasonal adjustments: They started to be applied from the first quarter of 2013 for the employed persons and unemployed persons series.

    Metadatos desestacionalizacion 2025_EN.xls
• 19Comment
  • 19.1Comment

    Methodology LFS