ESSNET ON CONSISTENCY OF CONCEPTS AND APPLIED METHODS OF BUSINESS AND TRADE-RELATED STATISTICS

WORK PACKAGE 2: 2011 PROJECT ON TARGET POPULATION, FRAMES, REFERENCE PERIOD, CLASSIFICATIONS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

Session 1: Economic globalization and statistical business registers

Some results on the inquiry undertaken by the ESSnet Consistency on the use of the statistical business registers in the production of European business statistics

UNECE Meeting of the Group of Experts on Business Registers, Geneva, 2-4 September 2013

Norbert Rainer, Statistics AustriaJoseph Keating, Central Statistical Office, Ireland

|slide 2Content

Issue of consistency

Organisational structure of ESSnet on Consistency of concepts and applied methods of business and trade-related statistics

Topics and objectives of Work package 2

Questionnaires as basis for the inventory phase

Some results of the questionnaire on the business registers

Some preliminary conclusions

|slide 3Requirements for consistency

Horizontal consistency:

Comparability between various statistical domains

•Statistical units•Target population•Frame•Classifications•Definitions•Reference period

Vertical consistency:Comparability between the sum of Member States

data and the European aggregate

|slide 4Topics of Work package 2

• Target population: definition and implementation of the target population in each statistical domain;

• Sampling frames: definition and implementation of the survey frames for each statistical domain, consistency with frames for other business statistics domains;

• Reference period: implementation of the reference period requirements in each statistical domain;

• Classifications: coverage, level of application, special aggregates, size classes in each statistical domain and in comparison with other business statistics domains.

|slide 5Organizational structure of ESSnet on Consistency

Work packages Coordinator Partners Time schedule

WP 1: Statistical Units IT AT, FR, IE, LV

January 2011- December 2012

WP 2: Target population, frames, reference period, classifications and their applications

AT DE, IE, IT*, LT, LV, SE,UK

January 2012- December 2013

WP 3: Characteristics and definitions SE CH, DE, EE,

IE, GR, IT, SI, May 2012 –

December 2013

*) Until February 2013

|slide 6Main objectives of WP 2

Inventory of the implementation of target population, frames, reference period, classifications and their applications in Member States

Identification of inconsistencies

Evolution and assessment of inconsistencies

Proposals of necessary adjustments

Starting basis: “External Study an Detail Evaluation of the Legal Acts in the Areas of Statistics which were identified by Member States as Areas of Revision, by Josef Richter, Christian Engelage, Peter Thomas, submitted to Eurostat, July 2010

|slide 7Development of tailored questionnaires

Statistical domains covered:

- Statistical Business Register- Structural Business Statistics- Business Demography- Short Term Statistics; PRODCOM- Structure of Earnings; Labour Cost Survey- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); Foreign Affiliates

Statistics (FATS)- ICT; R&D; Innovation- Job vacancies

|slide 8Target population

Article 3 of the European Business Register Regulation (No 177/2008) defines the scope of the business registers: all enterprises carrying on economic activities contributing to gross domestic product (GDP), and their local units

Cut-off thresholds for the administrative data sources:

- Each country (29 responses) use on average 4.9 administrative sources,

- VAT is by far the most commonly used administrative source, followed by Personal Income Tax and Social Security data

- 41% of the countries reported to have issues of under coverage, 31% of over coverage

- 38% of the countries made an estimate of register coverage in relation to the target population

|slide 9Time lag and frequency of updating

Time lag between the administrative sources recording the event and the event being recorded on the business register – share of countries

Business start-ups

Business closures

Changes in employment/turnover

Changes in activity

Changes in structure

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

< 1Month1-3 months4-6 months 7-12 months>12 monthsnot known

|slide 10Time lag and frequency of updating

Frequency of updating using administrative sources:

- 45% of the countries update the register by using VAT data on a monthly basis, 7% on a quarterly basis

- Countries using social security data: 43% of the countries update the register on a monthly basis, 29% on a quarterly basis

- Due to the character of the source Personal Income Tax and Corporate Tax, data are mostly used on an annual basis

|slide 11Derivation of NACE and sector coding

Information available to allow NACE coding of units on business registerNumber

of countries

%age Responses

a. NACE Rev. 2 supplied by administrative source 25 86% 29

b. NACE Rev 1.1 or earlier supplied by administrative source 12 41% 29

c. Business description 16 55% 29

d. Special coding survey 12 41% 29

e. Other survey returned data 23 79% 29

f. Classification code from a system other than NACE 6 21% 29

g. Unit self codes directly on the business register 3 10% 29

h. Internet research 18 62% 29

e. Other - please specify 6 21% 29

|slide 12Derivation of NACE and sector coding

Information available to allow the coding of the institutional sectors

Numberof

countries

%age Responses

a. Code provided by administrative source 4 14% 29

b. Code provided by commercial source 1 3% 29

c. Code calculated by rule based system 19 66% 29

d. Code allocated through returned survey information 6 21% 29

e. Other - please specify 7 24% 29

|slide 13Employment and turnover variables

Derivation of employment variable for new units

Numberof countries

%age Responses

a. Administrative source 22 76% 29

b. Survey source 14 48% 29

c. Imputed from different variable, e.g. turnover per head ratio

5 17% 29

d. Other - please specify 5 17% 29

|slide 14Employment and turnover variables

Derivation of turnover variable for new units

Numberof countries

%age Responses

a. Administrative source 24 83% 29

b. Survey source 13 45% 29

c. Imputed from related variable 5 17% 29

d. Other - please specify 1 3% 29

|slide 15Sampling Frames

Frozen frames are over 4 times as commonly used as live frames by business domains as a source for sampling

Number of countriesSelected business domains Live frame Frozen frame

Structural business statistics 5 21

Short term statistics 6 18

PRODCOM 5 14

Structure of earnings/labour costs 0 21

Inward FATS 2 17

Outward FATS 2 13

FDI 3 7

|slide 16Sampling Frames

Frequency of frozen extracts from the business register

Numberof countries

%age Responses

a. Annually 20 69% 29

b. Quarterly 2 7% 29

c. Monthly 9 31% 29

d. Other - please specify 7 24% 29

|slide 17Sampling Frames

Provision of information on changes in the register for those surveys using frozen extracts from the business register

- 71% of the countries provide information on changes in the register for those surveys using frozen extracts

- About 30% of the countries provide information on births and deaths, NACE changes and changes in employment data on a monthly basis, about 10% on a quarterly basis

- However, about 60% of the countries reported that they provide such changes on an annual basis only, or on request, or each statistical domain has direct access to the data

|slide 18Feedback to the statistical business register

Feedback from the surveys on units in the business register and how frequently

- Most survey domains provide feedback to the business register

- Domains with highest feedback shares are Structural Business Statistics and Short Term Statistics; domains with the lowest feedback shares are Vocational Training, FDI, Job Vacancies, business demography, ICT and R&D

- In two thirds of the countries feedback from Structural Business Statistics is provided on an annual basis; also in half of the countries Inward FATS provides feedback on an annual basis

- Short Term Statistics and PRODCOM delivers feedback mainly on a subannual basis

|slide 19Feedback to the statistical business register

Kind of information provided as feedback from the survey to the business register

- In about 80% of the countries Structural Business Statistics feedback information on the NACE code, in about 60% information that a unit has ceased its activity, as well as information on location/address and on the structure of the unit

- For Short Term Statistics and PRODCOM the feedback structure is quite similar

- The other domains mainly provide information on NACE code, whether a unit has ceased its activity and information on location/address; however their feedback share is lower than for the domains listed above

- Feedback on employment and turnover is mainly an issue for Structural Business Statistics and Short Term Statistics

|slide 20Treatment of conflicts between survey data and administrative data

How such data conflicts are dealt with

- Feedback from surveys have priority, unless information from administrative source is more up-to-data, or in other specific cases

- Data are again checked with all available information and if necessary the respective enterprise is contacted

- Priority rules depending on source and variable are applied- Internal group of survey and BR experts

|slide 21Treatment of conflicts between survey data and administrative data

Is priority given to a specific survey / domain …

… when resolving conflicts in NACE classification

… when resolving conflicts in employment values

… when resolving conflicts in turnover values

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

YesNo

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

YesNo

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

YesNo

|slide 22Some preliminary conclusions

Consistency goal:

Comparable high-level quality of the coding of the statistical units

Importance of the activity coding

Coding concepts

Information basis and applied methodology

Changes of the activity code and quality of the coding

Growing importance of the sector classification

Guidelines for implementation

|slide 23Some preliminary conclusions

Consistency goal:

Achievement of high-quality statistical business registers maintained considering the needs of the statistical surveys / domains

Quality criteria of statistical business registers

Quality issues:

• Thresholds / coverage

• Timeliness

• Other

|slide 24Some preliminary conclusions

Consistency goal:

Statistical business registers as backbone of the business statistics system

A single statistical business register covering

• all statistical units relevant for the various surveys

• all economic activities

• all relevant stratification variables

|slide 25Some preliminary conclusions

Consistency goal:

Use of the statistical business registers as central frame for all business statistics domains in a coordinated way

Coordinated provision of survey frames

Use of central survey frames in all business statistics domains

Coordination between business register and business statistics on

• Concepts and requirements of survey frames

• Practical implementation

• Treatment of changes and frame errors

• Survey feedback

|slide 26Further information

External Study: Detail Evaluation of the Legal Acts in the Areasof Statistics which were identified by Member States as Areas of Revision

http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/external-study-detail-evaluation-legal-acts

ESSnet on Consistency of Concepts and Applied Methods of Business and Trade-Related Statistics

http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/consistency-0

ESSNET ON CONSISTENCY OF CONCEPTS AND APPLIED METHODS OF BUSINESS AND TRADE-RELATED STATISTICS

WORK PACKAGE 2: 2011 PROJECT ON TARGET POPULATION, FRAMES, REFERENCE PERIOD, CLASSIFICATIONS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

Please address queries to:

Contact data:

Norbert Rainer

Guglgasse 13, 1110 Viennaphone: +43 (1) 71128-7703

fax: +43 (1) 71128-7053norbert.rainer@statistik.gv.at

Thank you for your attention!