Glossary

Employee as an individual who works for a public or private employer and who in return receives compensation in the form of wages, salaries, fees, gratuities, payment by results or payment in kind. Professional military staff are also included.

An employer is a person who operates his or her own unincorporated economic enterprise or engages independently in a profession or trade and hires one or more employees.

Method of obtaining candid opinion of employers by giving them an opportunity to anonymously answer queries raised in a questionnaire.

Enterprises can be classified in different categories according to their size; for this purpose different criteria may be used (e.g. number of persons employed, employees, balance sheet total, investments,...), but the one most common in a statistical context is number of persons employed: • micro enterprises: fewer than 10 persons employed; • small enterprises: 10 to 49 persons employed; • medium-sized enterprises: 50 to 249 persons employed; • large enterprises: 250 or more persons employed. The number of persons employed should not be confused with employees or full-time equivalents; 'persons employed' includes employees but also working proprietors, partners working regularly in the enterprise and unpaid family workers.