For output indicators, information about personal characteristics of participants (gender, age, level of education, household situation, and information about possible disadvantages such as disability) should be collected only once and should reflect the situation on the date that they enter an operation (i.e. on the first day that participants take part in ESF supported operation). At the same time, it is required to collect information about their current (i.e. when entering the operation) labour market status and, for those who are inactive, whether they are currently in education or training. This information may be collected at some point before the start date (e.g. on registration) but any variables which might change (e.g. employment situation, household situation) should be verified on the start date.
Subsequently, only changes regarding the labour market and the educational situation of the participants should be monitored (e.g. whether they found a job or started seeking for one, whether they have gained any qualifications as a result of the operation, and whether or not they are in education or training). For YEI supported operations it is also required to record whether the participants completed the intervention (planned activities) or not and whether they received an offer. This information has to be collected for each participant when leaving an operation (i.e. on the exit date or within 4 weeks of that point).
The above represents two sets of information to be collected for every participant – one when entering the operation and one when leaving. The numbers of participants in each situation are aggregated on an annual basis at the level of investment priority to produce the indicator values that should be reported in each AIR.
Additionally, for representative samples of participants, a further set of observations describing their labour market and educational situation six months after leaving has to be collected and reported twice during the programming period (in the AIR 2018, to be submitted in 2019, and in the final report). This information is used to produce the common longer-term result indicators. For YEI supported operations only, YEI longer-term result indicators have to be reported annually, which requires annual sampling.
Where programme specific indicators are established, any additional data needed for these indicators is required on entering (output indicators) and on leaving the operation (immediate result indicators) or at a certain point in time after leaving the operation (longer-term result indicators).