IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/offsta/v32y2016i2p405-431n10.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Do the Germans Really Work Six Weeks More than the French?” – Measuring Working Time with the Labour Force Survey in France and Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Körner Thomas

    (Federal Statistical Office Germany, 65180 Wiesbaden, Germany.)

  • Wolff Loup

    (Ministére de la culture et de la communication, 182 rue Saint Honoré, 75033 Paris cedex 01.)

Abstract

Measuring working time is not only an important objective of the EU Labour Force Survey (LFS), but also a highly demanding task in terms of methodology. Against the background of a recent debate on the comparability of working time estimates in France and Germany, this article presents a comparative assessment of the measurement of working time in the Labour Force Survey obtained in both countries. It focuses on the measurement of the hours actually worked, the key working-time concept for short-term economic analysis and the National Accounts. The contribution systematically analyses the differences in the measurement approaches used in France and Germany in order to identify the methodological effects that hinder comparability. It comes to the conclusion that the LFS overstates the difference in hours actually worked in France and Germany and identifies question comprehension, rounding, editing effects, as well as certain aspects of the sampling design, as crucial factors of a reliable measurement in particular of absences from work during the reference week. We recommend continuing the work started in the European Statistical System towards the development of a model questionnaire in order to improve cross-national harmonisation of key variables such as hours actually worked.

Suggested Citation

  • Körner Thomas & Wolff Loup, 2016. "“Do the Germans Really Work Six Weeks More than the French?” – Measuring Working Time with the Labour Force Survey in France and Germany," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 32(2), pages 405-431, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:offsta:v:32:y:2016:i:2:p:405-431:n:10
    DOI: 10.1515/jos-2016-0022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jos-2016-0022
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jos-2016-0022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Iiris Niemi, 1993. "Systematic error in behavioural measurement: Comparing results from interview and time budget studies," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 229-244, November.
    2. Susanne Wanger, 2013. "Arbeitszeit und Arbeitsvolumen in Deutschland – Methodische Grundlagen und Ergebnisse der Arbeitszeitrechnung," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 7(1), pages 31-69, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yee Kan, Â Man & Gershuny, Jonathan, 2006. "Infusing time diary evidence into panel data: an exercise in calibrating time-use estimates for the BHPS," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-19, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5j2m1g6i7j8pnapkjvifl6e30f is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Merz, Joachim, 2009. "Time Use and Time Budgets – Improvements, Future Challenges and Recommendations," MPRA Paper 16304, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Alireza Nili & Mary Tate & David Johnstone, 2019. "The process of solving problems with self-service technologies: a study from the user’s perspective," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 373-407, June.
    5. Ralf Münnich, 2013. "Vorwort des Herausgebers," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 7(1), pages 1-3, August.
    6. Winter, James C. & Darmstadt, Gary L. & Davis, Jennifer, 2021. "The role of piped water supplies in advancing health, economic development, and gender equality in rural communities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    7. Costa-Font, Joan & Fleche, Sarah & Pagan, Ricardo, 2024. "The labour market returns to sleep," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    8. Yee Kan, Â Man, 2006. "Measuring housework participation: the gap between ‘stylised’ questionnaire estimates and diary-based estimates," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    9. Pierre Walthery & Jonathan Gershuny, 2019. "Improving Stylised Working Time Estimates with Time Diary Data: A Multi Study Assessment for the UK," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1303-1321, August.
    10. Susanne Wanger & Roland Weigand & Ines Zapf, 2016. "Measuring hours worked in Germany – Contents, data and methodological essentials of the IAB working time measurement concept [Die Berechnung der geleisteten Arbeitsstunden in Deutschland – Inhalte,," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(3), pages 213-238, November.
    11. Man Kan, 2008. "Measuring Housework Participation: The Gap between “Stylised” Questionnaire Estimates and Diary-based Estimates," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 86(3), pages 381-400, May.
    12. Ragni Kitterød, 2001. "Does the recording of parallel activities in Time Use Diaries affect the way people report their main activities?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 145-178, November.
    13. Philip S. Brenner & John DeLamater, 2016. "Measurement Directiveness as a Cause of Response Bias," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 45(2), pages 348-371, May.
    14. Michael Kevane & Leslie Gray, 1999. "A Woman's Field Is Made At Night: Gendered Land Rights And Norms In Burkina Faso," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 1-26.
    15. Michael Bittman & Paula England & Nancy Folbre & George Matheson, 2001. "When Gender Trumps Money: Bargaining and Time in Household Work," JCPR Working Papers 221, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    16. Simon Bittmann, 2015. "Ressources économiques des femmes et travail domestique des conjoints : quels effets pour quelles tâches ?," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01309219, HAL.
    17. Weigand Roland & Wanger Susanne & Zapf Ines, 2018. "Factor Structural Time Series Models for Official Statistics with an Application to Hours Worked in Germany," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 34(1), pages 265-301, March.
    18. Christina Boll & Julian Leppin & Nora Reich, 2014. "Paternal childcare and parental leave policies: evidence from industrialized countries," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 129-158, March.
    19. Joachim Merz, 2009. "Zeitverwendungsforschung und Mediennutzung," FFB-Discussionpaper 76, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)), LEUPHANA University Lüneburg.
    20. Petra Klumb & Meinrad Perrez, 2004. "Why Time-Sampling Studies Can Enrich Work–Leisure Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 67(1), pages 1-10, June.
    21. Marta Palczyńska & Maja Rynko, 2021. "ICT skills measurement in social surveys: Can we trust self-reports?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 917-943, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:offsta:v:32:y:2016:i:2:p:405-431:n:10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.