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Correction in the length of the unemployment period

In the spring of this year, an error in the length of the unemployment period was discovered, going back to January of 2021. The error was twofold, one part being in the derivation of the variable and the other part where questions were incorrectly skipped during the interview. Both types of error were limited to people who has already found and is awaiting a new job, which begins within three months. This is more frequent among young people and during the summer.

The error concerning the derivation of the variable applied to respondents whom during the previous interview were looking for jobs but during the following interview had found a job that starts within three months. For these respondents the question, of how long they had been looking for a job before they found the upcoming job was asked correctly. But the answer was not included in the derivation of the length of the unemployment period.

The other error occurred when a respondent was not a jobseeker (nor awaiting a job) during the previous interview but was awaiting a new job, to begin within three months, in the following interview. During these inteviews, the question regarding how long they had been seeking a job before they found their new job, was skipped. Data on the duration of unemployment period has been imputed for these respondents. Since they were not jobseekers during the previous interview a value between 1-13 weeks has been imputed (since there is always 13 weeks between interviews).