Special Data Dissemination Standard
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| The Data: Coverage, Periodicity, and Timeliness | |
| Coverage characteristics | 5.1.1 Statistical presentation Estimates of employment in the European quarterly national accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts 1995 (ESA95). National accounts measure employment alongside other variables such as GDP, output, compensation of employees, etc. ESA95 (chapter 11) defines employment in line with International Labour Organisation criteria. Employment covers employees and the self-employed. Employment can be measured in persons, in jobs, in full-time equivalents and in hours worked. Eurostat publishes quarterly persons estimates for the European Union and the euro area. Two geographical scopes of employment can be considered: employment by units resident in the economic territory (called domestic scope) and employment of resident households (called national scope). Eurostat publishes both quarterly, including a breakdown by employee/self-employed. In addition, the domestic employment is also published with a breakdown by 6 industries. The methodology used by Eurostat to estimate quarterly national accounts employment is the same as for the other variables of European quarterly national accounts like GDP, compensation of employees, etc. More data on European quarterly national accounts are available on Eurostat's website ("Data" / "Economy and finance" / "National Accounts") at: Notes: |
| Periodicity | 4.1.1 Periodicity QuarterlyNotes: |
| Timeliness | 4.1.2 Timeliness 75 days for domestic employment and 105 for national employment According to the ESA95 regulation and amendments to this regulation, Member States have to transmit quarterly data to Eurostat within 70 days after the end of the reference quarter. National data are published immediately after their reception from Member States. Coverage is usually not complete within the delays stated, but increases with subsequent releases. Notes: |
| Access by the Public | |
| Advance dissemination of release calendar |
5.1.3 Advance release calendar The precise date of data release is disseminated on the website at http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat. An Advance Release Calendar is also available on the Euro Area page of the DSBB. National data are published by the National Statistical Institutes (NSI) following national dissemination calendars. Please consult NSI's websites to get national dissemination calendar. Links are given on the Eurostat website. National data are published by Eurostat immediately after their reception. Flexibility Notes: |
| Simultaneous release to all interested parties |
5.1.4 Simultaneous release Data are disseminated simultaneously to all interested parties through a database update and on Eurostat's website. |
| Integrity | |
| Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including those relating to the confidentiality of individually identifiable information |
0.1.1 Responsibility for collecting, processing, and disseminating statistics Rules on statistical compilation National Accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA 1995) adopted in the form of a Council Regulation dated 25 June 1996, N° 2223/96 and originally published in the Official Journal L310 of the 30/11/1996. |
| Identification of internal government access to data before release |
1.2.2 Internal governmental access to statistics prior to release National Accounts data are forwarded routinely to the European Central Bank. Part of the data may be circulated within the European institutions, especially the European Commission and the European Central Bank ahead of official release. |
| Identification of ministerial commentary on the occasion of statistical releases |
1.2.3 Attribution of statistical products There are no official comments from Eurostat at the time of the release of the European aggregates. Eurostat itself does not provide other comment than the text of the news release, if any. Comments may or may not be made by the European Commission or European Union Member States. For information on any comment possibly made by the Commission, please refer to http://europa.eu/press_room/. For further information on any comments possibly provided by National Statistical Institutes, National Central Banks or National Governments on their own data, please refer to their web sites (Links are given on the Eurostat website). |
| Provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology |
4.3.1 Revision schedule Starting from June 2006, Eurostat publishes a first quarterly estimate of (domestic) employment in national accounts 75 days after the end of the reference period (‘t+75 days’). There is a second estimate after t+105 days, published together with the second regular GDP release. There is no specific employment News Release at t+105 days; the employment figures are presented in an additional new table in the GDP News Release. As compared to the first employment estimate, the second one is based on more information and will include breakdowns by economic activity (6 NACE categories) and by labour status (employee/self-employed). In the t+105 days release, a first estimate of quarterly national employment is released too. Euro area and EU employment figures for earlier quarters are revised in both first and second employment estimates. Quarterly National Accounts data are subject to continuous revisions. This is particularly true for the European aggregates, for which revisions to national data are superimposed on each other. Data are also subject to revision when annual data are published, in order to ensure consistency between quarterly and national figures. For Quarterly National Accounts estimates, major causes of revisions are: · Revisions in annual accounts. · Revisions of raw basic statistics used by member states in compiling quarterly accounts. · Revisions in methods of seasonal adjustment. · Revisions of estimation model for the Euro-zone and the European Union. 1.2.4 Advance notice of major changes in methodology, source data, and statistical techniques. Major changes in methodology will usually be the result of legislation, and therefore announced in the Official Journal of the European Communities and other publications. |
| Quality | |
| Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics |
5.2.1 Dissemination of documentation on concepts, scope, classifications, basis of recording, data sources, and statistical techniques Eurostat decisions and guidelines are explained in the ESA95 or the Handbook of Quarterly National Accounts. For ESA95, see the link given above under “Rules on statistical compilation”. The Handbook may be obtained in pdf format from the Eurostat web site or following this direct link. 5.2.2 Disseminated level of detail Metadata are also available on Eurostat website at: |
| Dissemination of component detail, reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness |
4.2.1 Internal consistency Quarterly national accounts may be checked against the corresponding annual series, which are also available from Eurostat’s website in the main aggregates, breakdowns and auxiliary indicators domains. In addition, the annual series may offer more details, as for instance more detailed industry breakdowns, and some series may only be available on annual level. Note however, that for flow series, the sum of quarters usually compares to the annual value, whereas for stock series usually the average compares to the annual value. Most of the national data used in the calculation of euro area and European Union aggregates have originally been published by the National Statistical Institutes (NSI). These data may also be used for cross-checking. Most are disseminated via the NSI's websites. Forecasts (usually three quarters ahead) for European GDP are provided by the Commission’s General Directorate Economy and Finance (ECFIN). These are published in a separate news release the same day as quarterly GDP releases. 4.2.3 Intersectoral and cross-domain consistency In certain cases, data from other domains of economic statistics, i.e. balance of payments statistics, industrial statistics, household budget statistics or external trade statistics can be used for cross-checking purposes. |