The collection of data was performed during the period of December 2006 – June 2007. Each data point is coded by the “batch number” for traceability (e.g. to determine the name of the person who supplied the data, contact information and date of transfer) and “source code” for methodological purposes (data collection methodology, measurements explanations, reference period, etc). You can see the source information in the following table:

Country	Institution		Method	NACE Level
Austria	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Austria	Statistics Austria		Structural Business Survey	4
Belgium	National Office of Social Security, Belgium		Business survey	4
Bulgaria	National Statistical Institute, Bulgaria		Enterprise survey	4
Croatia	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Cyprus	Statistical Service of Cyprus		Business Register Survey	3
Czech Republic	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Denmark	Statistics Denmark		Register-based labour force statistics	4
Estonia	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Estonia	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Structural Business Statistics	4
Finland	Statistic Finland		Labour Force Survey	4
France	INSEE, France		DADS	4
Germany	Statistik der Bundesagentur fur Arbeit, Germany		Employment statistics	4
Greece	National Statistical Service of Greece		Labour Force Survey	3
Hungary	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Iceland	Statistics Iceland		Pay As You Earn register	4
Ireland	Central Statistics Office, Ireland		Quarterly National Household Survey	2
Ireland	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Structural Business Statistics	4
Italy	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Latvia	Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia		Survey of enterprises and institutions	4
Lithuania	Statistics Lithuania		Structural Business Survey	4
Luxembourg	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Malta	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Netherlands	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Norway	Statistics Norway		Structural Business Statistics	4
Poland	Central Statistical Office of Poland		Form Z6	4
Portugal	Statistics Portugal		Integrated business accounts system	4
Romania	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Slovakia	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Slovenia	Statistical Office of Slovenia		Enterprise survey	4
Spain	Eurostat, Luxembourg		Labour Force Survey	3
Sweden	Statistiska Centralbyran, Sweden		Register-based Labour Market Statistics	4
Switzlerland	Swiss Statistics		Census of Swiss enterprises	4
Turkey	Turkish Statistical Institute		General Census of Industry and Business Establishments	4
United Kingdom	Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation of Northern Ireland		Census of Employment	4
United Kingdom	Office for National Statistics of United Kingdom		Annual Business Inquiry	4

EU employment data is collected from two different sources: from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and from the Structural Business Statistics (SBS), both administrated by Eurostat. LFS is a quarterly survey given to a sample of the population living in private households. The LFS includes data on at most 3-digit NACE level for most, but not all, NUTS 2 regions. SBS statistics is mainly sourced from business registers and includes structural data over the economy. On NUTS 2 regional level Eurostat only administers data on NACE 2 digit level. 4 digit level data are collected on national level, but not for all NACE categories. The 4 digit level is in turn available for NUTS 1 regions (countries) but not for NUTS 2 regions. In many cases a more detailed data has been obtained from National Statistical Offices, but Eurostat still remains the main source for such countries as Italy, Spain, Czech Republic and Romania.

In the countries where more than one source was used (Austria, Estonia and Ireland), the different sources were used only for different section of the NACE classification, i.e. a code from one classification could not have a parent from another. This was done to combine the data from Structural Business Statistics, which is available on NACE 4-digit level, with 3-digit data from Labour Force Survey for the sections not covered in SBS (e.g. agriculture, public sector, education). There also are two sources in United Kingdom because Northern Ireland has a separate statistical office.