Skopje, 17 August 2022 (MIA) - The only valid category is the resident population and it is in line with all UN standards that apply to all countries in the world and has been accepted by Eurostat as well, the State Statistical Office (SSO) head Apostol Simovski tells MIA when asked about what data should be used by the Ministry of Information Society and Administration when harmonizing the data for the Balancer web tool. “As a country, we decided to count the non-resident population category because we have a problem with emigration and that data should be used to create policies to reduce emigration and possibly people to return, but they cannot be part of any other category of population,” Simovski said. When asked by the MIA if the Ministry of Information Society and Administration contacted them regarding the Census data, Simovski said that they were contacted last week and that they gave them an answer. “The Ministry of Information Society and Administration contacted us by phone last week and we told them that the only category they should consider is the resident population,” Simovski said. As for whether they were asked how to use the data on the citizens who were counted through the registers, Simovski said that they were given a clear answer to that as well, adding that those seven percent are undeclared and will remain in the group of others. Simovski also added that according to the Constitution, citizens have the right not to answer about their ethnicity. The Ministry of Information Society and Administration told MIA on Tuesday that when harmonizing the data from the last Census, and in relation to employment in the public sector in accordance with the principle of fair and equitable representation that is carried out with the methodology for planning employment in the public sector, the data was taken into account as a basis obtained from the total number of registered persons. The law on public sector employees which began to be implemented in 2015, provides a mechanism for achieving the constitutional principle for equitable and fair representation of members of the communities, at the level of each of the institutions in the public sector, based on the needs of the institutions presented in the annual employment plans. In 2016, the methodology for employment planning in the public sector was adopted, according to which each institution will have to prepare an annual employment plan and implement employment procedures in accordance with the annual plan. A web tool available on the website https://balancer.mioa.gov.mk/ has been developed, through which the distribution of planned new employment is carried out electronically, according to principle of fair and equitable representation.