1. This news release comprises a number of business cycle indicators showing the quarterly evolution of the market of goods and services in the industrial sector. It records the evolution of turnover, employment, wages and salaries, and hours worked over long periods of time. The objective of these indicators is to measure the market activity in the industrial sector. These indicators are compiled as a “five-year chain-linked index”. The current base and reference years are 2015. The results are compiled and published according to the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community, NACE Rev. 2.

In line with Article 7 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, this is the final news release wherein indices will be disseminated with base year 2015=100. Commencing with reference period January 2024, all indices will undergo a re-basing and re-referencing process, transitioning to the new base year of 2021=100. Consequently, direct comparisons of indices will be impractical, nonetheless percentage changes will remain a valid metric for analysis.

 

2. The data is collected by means of a monthly questionnaire which is sent to a representative sample of enterprises categorised within the industrial sector. The data is then grossed up to represent the entire industrial population.

 

3. For the scope of the index calculation, NACE divisions 09, 12, 15, 19, 24 and NACE groups 27.5 and 30.9 are excluded because of their negligible activity.

 

4. The calendar and seasonal adjustments for this release are done directly on quarterly indices. These indices cannot be compared directly to the indices published by Eurostat, since quarterly adjusted European aggregates are calculated from monthly adjusted series, which are provided by the Member States.

 

5. Calendar adjustment is a statistical method for removing the calendar effect from an economic time series. The calendar effect is the variation caused by the changing number of particular weekdays or holidays in different months or other time periods (quarters, years). The number of working days for a given quarter may depend on the timing of certain public holidays, the possible overlap of certain public holidays and non-working days and the occurrence of a leap year. This method is used to compare the data with that of the same quarter of the previous year.

 

6. Working day adjustment is the part of calendar adjustment which focuses on the changing number of working days (Monday to Friday) in the various months/quarters and their effect on statistical indicators for these months/quarters.

 

7. Seasonal adjustment removes variations which include effects due to quarter lengths, holidays and particular events such as Christmas. Statistically, seasonal adjustment takes place after a time series has already been cleared of calendar effects by way of working-day adjustment. This method is used to compare data with that of the previous quarter.

 

8. The objective of Main Industrial Groupings (MIGs) is to provide an activity breakdown of industry (NACE Rev. 2 Sections B, C, D and E). These regroup all the activities between Sections B to E and cover economic activities of companies in the quarrying, manufacturing, water and energy sectors. There are four MIGs, namely intermediate goods, energy, capital goods and consumer goods, of which the consumer goods grouping is further broken down into durable consumer goods and non-durable consumer goods.

 

9. Definitions:

●  Turnover: Includes total sales and other income presented in current prices and is expressed net of VAT. 

●  Wages and salaries: Covers wages and salaries including bonuses, weekly allowances (cost of living allowances), overtime and national social security contributions by employees. It does not include employers’ social security charges.

●  Employment: Covers all persons employed, regardless of whether they are part-time or full-time, and includes paid employees, working proprietors and unpaid family workers. Employment is not working-day adjusted since the number of employees does not depend on the factors that make up the working-day effect.

● Hours worked: Covers total amount of hours actually worked; regular working hours and hours worked during overtime, during nights, Sundays or Public holidays. Hours worked but not paid are also considered.

 

A distribution of the aggregation weights by variable and main industrial grouping is presented in the following table.