Secretariat estimates for the total economy based on the European Labour Force Survey. Estimates of annual working time per employed persons are based on Spring or second quarter estimates of the European Labour Force Survey (EULFS) as the main source of data for various components of working time (overtime, hours worked in additional jobs, usual working hours lost due to sickness, maternity leave, etc.). As the data from the EULFS correspond to one single reading in the year, annual leave taken by employees is likely to be underestimated. This requires, therefore, the use of external sources for hours not worked due to public holidays and annual leave. A correction is also made to account for an estimated 50 per cent underreporting of hours lost due to sickness absences and maternity leave, on average, in EULFS.

In sum, estimates of annual hours actually worked per worker are obtained by multiplying average weekly hours worked by workers by the number of actual weeks worked during the year (taking different sources of work absences into account, such as, annual leave, public holidays, sickness, maternity, parental leave and any other work absences). For dependent employees, these estimates of annual working time take into account the number of public holidays and annual leave reported in the EIRO report on "Working time developments - 2005" (see http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2006/08/update/tn0608101u.htm). Estimates of annual leave and public holidays for self-employed are derived from EULFS.