Setting out in STILE: Finding the Invisible Workforce

A new project is soon to be launched, building on and extending some of EMERGENCE'S work on statistical indicators of eWork.

The project is STILE, which is led by HIVA, the Belgian-based, Hoger Instituut voor de Arbeid under the leadership of Monique Ramioul.

The EMERGENCE team at HIVA, University of Leuven, organisers of the 2002 Conference. Left to right: Johan Dejonckheere, Geert van Hootegem and Monique Ramioul

Some other existing EMERGENCE partners are also involved in STILE:

• IES, the Institute for Employment Studies in the UK
• IRES, the Istituto Ricerche Economiche e Sociali in Italy
• Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Science, ISB, Hungary.

Additional partners include CAMIRE, Estadistica y Analisis in Luxembourg; the Institut für Arbeidsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, IAB in Germany; Stichting Organisatie voor Strategisch Arbeidsmarktonderzoek, OSA, in the Netherlands; and in Ireland, the Central Statistics Office and Cork Telework Centre. For outside the EU, the project will be supported by experts in eWork indicators including Joanne Pratt, Director of Joanne H Pratt Associates.

STILE aims to innovate methodologies for the statistical monitoring of the European labour market in the eEconomy, in order to contribute to the efficient functioning of the European labour market and to the prevention of social exclusion. It is the explicit project strategy to involve users in a systematic and direct way and to formulate strategies for European convergence in the statistical monitoring of the labour market in the eEconomy.

The project team place great stress on dissemination, so watch this space for results as the work unfolds. STILE will carry out detailed studies on:

• extended coding of the Community Labour Force Survey for the disclosure of e-work
• update sectoral codes (NACE rev. 1) to include e-enterprises
• updating occupational codes (ISCO 88) to include e-work
• developing methodological benchmarks and a module for existing organisational panel surveys to take into account ICT-related labour market issues
• developing a module for the labour force survey to monitor telework
• an analysis of sectoral mobility in ICT industries, using Eurostat LFS and administrative data
• profiling ICT-related occupations, including required qualifications, training needs, type of contracts and likely future developments; and benchmarking them according to regional differences in ICT penetration.

STILE will also develop user-friendly dissemination tools. There will be a project website and newsletter, and a concluding European conference targeted at policymakers, scientists, representatives of statistical bodies and all relevant users.