The information collected covers the paid workforce at 31 December.

The survey gives information about the gender of the workforce, status (incumbents, non incumbents, subsidised employment), employment terms (full time, part time), the principal or secondary nature of the job and the framework (hierarchical category of the agent, and the sector: administrative, technical, cultural, etc.).

The survey mainly covers local public or semi-public bodies. The following are excluded from the scope of the survey:

1) general or specialised hospitals, regional hospital management agencies, autonomous hospices and retirement homes, consular bodies (surveyed by other statistical departments);

2) private local action bodies (OPAL) (which do not have many local civil service staff members);

3) local public educational establishments (EPLE): lycées, collèges, etc (so that the scope of the survey fits with the outlines of the local civil service);

4) certain (department-level) medical/social establishments, in particular for protected, disabled or non-adapted children, which are part of the hospital administration, whether or not they are autonomous.

The survey covers Metropolitan France, the four overseas departments, and the territorial collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (surveyed since 1989).