Relevance
Short-term statistics (STS)
produce early indicators for the industry, construction, retail trade, and
services domains. The main set of indicators produced are those related to
turnover, employment, hours worked, wages and salaries, producer prices and
production. Other indicators are
produced depending on the domain being considered, such as import prices for
the industry domain, building permits for the construction domain, and volume
of sales for the retail trade domain. These
indicators are aggregated by the MIG (Main Industrial Grouping) level and/or
2-digit NACE. The Main Industrial
Groupings consist of a number of NACEs grouped together into categories and are
used only for the industry domain. Such
statistics are compiled under European Framework Regulation (EC) No. 1165/98 as
amended by (EC) No. 1158/2005.
Methodological
description of survey
Data for STS is gathered
by means of paper questionnaires that are sent by post to a sample of resident
enterprises selected from the Business Register. Data on SPEs, government institutions,
enterprises that are resident abroad or are classified as statistically
irrelevant, shipping or aviation in the Business Register are excluded from the
sample. Once the set of all eligible
enterprises is determined, enterprises are divided into strata according to
their NACE, number of employees and turnover value. Enterprises are selected from each strata
ensuring that the most dominant enterprises within each strata are selected.
These questionnaires are
sent on a monthly or quarterly basis, depending on the requirements of the
respective domain. Respondents can also
fill in the questionnaire online. Data
for certain indicators is collected by email and from administrative sources. NACE Rev. 2 is used for the NACE
classification, the CPA classification is used for the breakdown of products,
and the CC classification is used for the types of construction.
Data is mainly expressed
in index form in relation to a given base year.
This means that the index is calculated based on the value of the
variable in the current year when compared to a value of 100 assigned to the
variable in the base period. The
Laspeyres index formula is used. Data
for the building permits is currently transmitted in numeric quantities. STS data is compiled on a monthly or
quarterly basis.
Accuracy
and reliability of data
Information on the accuracy
and reliability of data can be viewed in a dedicated ESMS metadata report available
on the NSO’s metadata website.
Timeliness
and punctuality of data
Data for STS is published
in a News Release on a monthly or quarterly basis. These are accessible on the NSO’s website and
are published on the pre-established date, as scheduled in the Advance
Release Calendar which can be viewed also on the NSO’s website. STS data is also transmitted to Eurostat on a
monthly and quarterly basis.
Accessibility
and clarity of data
STS data can be accessed
from the NSO website via the StatDB
and can also be accessed from Eurostat’s database. An ESMS metadata report is also produced at a
national level and is made available on the NSO’s metadata website. Such a report is also transmitted to Eurostat
on a yearly basis.
Coherence
and comparability/consistency of data
STS data has been
compiled since the year 2000. Up to 2008
indicators were based on NACE Rev. 1.1. From
2009 onwards indicators were published according to NACE Rev. 2. Otherwise, STS data is comparable over time. Moreover, STS data is coherent with National Accounts
data and Structural Business Statistics data.
STS data is also comparable with that of other countries due to the
adoption of common methodological guidelines.
Quarrying Questionnaire
A monthly based questionnaire sent to a fixed sample of quarrying enterprises from the Business Register. These enterprises are included under Section B – Mining and Quarrying under NACE Rev 2.
This monthly questionnaire is sent to approximately 400 manufacturing enterprises in Malta and Gozo from a fixed sample from the Business Register. These enterprises are engaged in activities listed under Section C under NACE Rev 2.
This is a quarterly based questionnaire on construction enterprises (site preparation and building of structures, roofs, canals, roads etc) in Malta and Gozo, for Section F under NACE Rev 2.
This is a monthly questionnaire that considers the industries of electricity generation and water supply in Malta.
This is a quarterly based questionnaire on wholesale and retail trade (including the motor trade) within Malta and Gozo, for NACE activities under Section G of NACE Rev 2. However, turnover figures in this questionnaire are on a monthly basis.
The services questionnaire is also a quarterly based questionnaire and the information collected here refers to those enterprises falling within Sections H, I, J, L, M and N of NACE Rev 2.
The Industrial Producer Price Index is a monthly survey, targeting the manufacturing and energy (water and electricity) sectors. The index monitors the changes in ex-works sale prices of all leading products within a sample of around 70 large enterprises. Sampled enterprises account for over 80 per cent of total industrial turnover.
The scope of the index is to provide a measure of upstream inflation, at producer level, to supplement the measure of inflation faced by the household sector, as provided by the Retail Price Index (RPI) and Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP).
This questionnaire is sent monthly to approximately 130 manufacturing enterprises to collect data on their most representative products produced within the reference period. Together with other data sources within the remit of Short-term statistics, the Index of Industrial Production, which is considered as one of the most important economic indicators, can be compiled.
The STS-Regulations require short-term statistics on building permits under the provisions of Annex B in terms of the number of dwellings and in terms of a size measure. It is the objective of the building permit indicators to show the future development of construction activity. The tracking of building permits provides a relatively simple indication of the short-term future workload of the building side of construction.