Relevance
The
aim of the Labour Cost Survey is to provide accurate, detailed and harmonised
data on enterprises' labour costs. The
survey relates to the labour costs incurred by the employer and asks for
information such as employees' wages and salaries, overtime, bonuses,
allowances, fringe benefits and other labour costs incurred by the employer
throughout the reference year.
The
Labour Cost Survey is carried out in line with European Regulations (EC) No. 530/1999
and (EC) No. 1737/2005.
Methodological
description of survey
The
LCS is carried out once every four years and was carried out for the first time
in 2004. Data collection is carried out
using email and ordinary mail whenever emails of enterprises are not available.
The
target population of this survey comprises enterprises employing 10 or more
persons and operating in NACE Sections B to S excluding Section O. This implies that relatively all types of
economic activities are included in the target group except for agriculture and
fishing activities, and public administration-related enterprises, activities
of households as employers, undifferentiated goods and services-producing
activities of households for own use and activities of extra territorial
organisations and bodies(NACE A, O, T, U).
Sample
selection is made using stratification by optimal allocation. The NACE sections and employment groups are
used in order to create the strata, and then a random sample of enterprises is
chosen from each stratum.
Accuracy
and reliability of data
Information
on the accuracy and reliability of data can be viewed in a dedicated metadata
report available on the NSO’s metadata website.
Timeliness
and punctuality of data
At
a national level, the ‘Labour cost survey’ news release is published on the
NSO’s website as scheduled in the Advance Release Calendar every four years.
LCS
data is submitted to Eurostat within a period of 18 months from the end of the
reference year.
Accessibility
and clarity of data
The
national LCS news release is available on the NSO’s website.
A
quality report is compiled and sent to Eurostat every four years following data
collection and a similar report is available on the NSO’s metadata
website.
Coherence
and comparability/consistency of data
National
concepts applied for LCS are in line with European concepts since the
definitions outlined in Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1737/2005 are applied. In terms of the statistical units which are
covered for LCS, data is collected from legal units which are recognized as
having autonomous management and an independent accounts system. At NUTS 1 level the whole country is
represented therefore information could be collected from enterprises which are
recognized to be legal units by the Business Register.
Comparability
over the years may be affected by changes in classifications. From reference year 2008 onwards the NACE
Rev. 2 classification has been adopted.
Previously NACE Rev. 1.1 was used.
Coherence tests
between National Accounts, Structural Business Statistics data, and Labour Force
Survey estimates are carried out.
National Accounts information relates to all companies operating in the particular
sectors whereas LCS data refers to companies that employ 10 or more employees. Variations between National Accounts and
Labour Cost Survey figures are the result of the micro business effect (under
10 effect) which is taken into account in the National Accounts averages but is
missing in the LCS estimate.
Questionnaire | Metadata