ESENER-PSR 2009 - European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

content, but often (also) practical difficulties of surveying certain parts of the economy are
decisive for this exclusion.
For the ESENER 2009, it was decided to include practically all sectors of activity, with the
following exceptions which are mostly of a negligible quantitative importance as regards the
universe of the survey (i.e. establishments with at least 10 employees):
“Agriculture, forestry and fishing” (NACE Rev.1.1 A and B respectively NACE Rev. 2
A).
The quantitative importance of the agricultural sector is varying widely within the 30+
countries to be surveyed: While in most of the larger industrialized countries like Germany,
the Netherlands or the United Kingdom the proportion of all people in gainful employment
to be classified within this sector is well below 3%, in some Mediterranean, Eastern or
Central European countries the share is still considerably higher (29,5% 8 in Romania,
26,4% in Turkey and 14,7% in Poland) and far from being negligible. Yet, in most of these
countries only a very small proportion of establishments within the agricultural sector
surpass the size-limit of 10 employees 9 . Moreover, in most countries the vast majority of
those people working in the agricultural sector are family members 10 . The working-time
regimes, forms of payment etc. of these family members are hardly comparable to those
of other, dependent employees. For these reasons, it was decided that it would not be
worthwhile to face the enormous access problems which in most countries exist for
interviews in the agricultural sector.
“Activities of households as employers” (NACE Rev. 1.1 P respectively NACE Rev.
2 T).
The vast majority of “establishments” of this size consists of only one person, only
extremely few of them surpass the 10+ threshold 11 .
“Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies” (NACE Rev. 1.1 Q
respectively NACE Rev. 2 U).
For large parts of this sector (embassies etc.), it is hardly possible to get any interviews
due to internal regulations which prohibit employees to take part in external surveys of any
kind. Contacting such establishments for interviews would lead to an extremely high rate
of refusals. In view of the specific conditions under which these diplomatic units work and
in view of their low quantitative importance this sector of activity was excluded from the
survey universe.
Not excluded from the survey universe, in turn, are those sectors which are commonly
attributed to “the Public Sector”. The denomination “Public Sector” refers to all establishments
8 Figures from the Labour Force Survey 2007, taken from the Eurostat website
9 According to data of the Labour Force Survey 2004, for example, only 1% of the people working in
the “Agriculture, Hunting and Forestry” in Greece and 5% of those in Poland were working in units
larger than 9 employees.
10 The share of family members among the workforce in this sector is about 90% EU-wide, in Greece it
is as high as 99%. Numbers on the agricultural sector taken from: Statistical Yearbook Agriculture
1992-2001, Chapter 4.14
11 According to figures of the Labour Force Survey 2004.
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