Structural Business Statistics

Eurostat Metadata in SDDS format: Base Page

 

Geographical area

 European Union (EU27), EU Candidate countries, Norway, Switzerland                          

Data category

 Structural business statistics (SBS)                           

Last update of this document (see notes)

30 April 2007

Last certification (see notes)

30 April 2007

 

Data

Access by the public

Integrity

Quality

Dissemination Formats

 

Summary Methodology

 

Contact

Eurostat, Statistical Office of the European Communities,
Guy Vekeman, Unit G1, Structural business statistics
L-2920 Luxembourg

For any question on data and metadata, please contact:
EUROPEAN STATISTICAL DATA SUPPORT

 

The Data: Coverage, Periodicity and Timeliness

Coverage
(data characteristics)

Short description

 SBS covers the NACE Rev 1.1 sections C to K, which are organized in four annexes, covering Industry (sections C-E), Construction (F), Trade (G) and Services (H, I, K). Financial services are covered in three specific annexes and separate metadata files have been compiled.

Main characteristics (variables) of the SBS data category:

§       Business Demographic variables (e.g. number of enterprises)

§       “Output related” variables (e.g. Turnover, Value added)

§       “Input related” variables

-    labour input (e.g. Employment, Hours worked)

-    goods and services input (e.g. Total of purchases)

-    capital input (e.g. Material investments)

Several important derived indicators are generated in the form of ratios of certain monetary characteristics or per head values.

SBS characteristics are defined in the Commission Regulation (EC) No 2700/98 of 17 December 1998, and amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1670/2003 of 1 September 2003.

·         Monetary data are expressed in millions of €. Click here for annual average exchange rates vis-à-vis the euro.

·         Per head values are expressed in thousands of € per head.

·         Per hours values are expressed in € per hour.

·         Ratios of monetary variables are expressed in percentages.

·         Employment variables are expressed in units for individual countries, but in hundreds for European aggregates

Annual enterprise statistics: Characteristics collected are published by country and detailed on NACE Rev 1.1 class level (4 digits), though some classes or groups in 'services' (NACE Rev 1.1 sections H, I, K) have been aggregated.

Annual enterprise statistics broken down by size classes: Characteristics are published by country and detailed down to NACE Rev 1.1 group level (3-digits) and employment size class. For trade (NACE Rev 1.1 Section G) a supplementary breakdown by turnover size class is available.

Annual regional statistics: Four characteristics are published by NUTS-2 country region and detailed on NACE Rev 1.1 division level (2-digits) (but to group level for the trade section).

More information on the contents of different tables: the detail level and breakdowns required is defined in Commission Regulations (EC) N° 2701/98 and amended by N°1614/2002 and N°1669/2003.

Development programs exist for specific topics: click here.

SBS data are collected primarily by National Statistical Institutes (NSI). Regulatory or controlling national offices for financial institutions or central banks often provides the information required for the financial sector (NACE  Rev 1.1 Section J)   

Time coverage

  1995 is the first reference year for SBS implementation. From 1995 till 1998 was a transitional period for SBS implementation. The data set is more complete and comparable starting from reference year 1999. European aggregates are available for most important characteristics and tables from reference year 1999 onwards. 

Periodicity

 Annual, however, some specific sector information is available only on a multi-yearly basis.

Timeliness

 Final data ought to be sent to Eurostat 18 months after the end of the reference period (T). Preliminary data should be sent to Eurostat 10 months after the end of the reference period. Some Member States still do not meet these Regulation deadlines.

Preliminary data are normally released at T+12 and most definitive data at T+22. European aggregates (final data only) may be released with an additional time-lag. While calculating EU totals, estimates for missing countries characteristics, may be needed.

Access by the Public

Advance dissemination of release calendar

 Not applicable

Simultaneous release to all interested parties

Data are disseminated simultaneously to all interested parties through a database update and on Eurostat's website (see Dissemination formats page for details)

Integrity
(transparency of practices and procedures)

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including those relating to the confidentiality of individually identifiable information

Rules on statistical compilation

 Council Regulation No 58/97 concerning structural business statistics. Legal texts relevant for SBS are available on “Business Methods”. The 'background' section on the dedicated website also contains the links to the legislation applicable.

Regulation on statistical confidentiality

Council Regulation (CE) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 (OJ No L 52/1) and Council Regulation (EURATOM, EEC) no 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of the data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (OJ No L 151/ 1) stipulates the detailed rules used for receiving, processing and disseminating the confidential data.

Identification of internal access to data before release

 Not relevant

Identification of commentary on the occasion of statistical releases

 Not relevant

Provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology

 Definitive data replace preliminary data as soon as they are available.

As far as the method used for the production of SBS preliminary data is concerned, most countries use auxiliary sources such as Short Terms Statistics combined with the latest available SBS data. The alternative is to gross up the sample at an early stage of the survey.

Definitive data are sometimes revised as well, e.g. further to the implementation of a new (and improved) survey strategy, the latest technique being used to revise old data.

Quality
(information the user needs to assess data quality)

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and types of data sources used in preparing statistics

 Recent and detailed information on the statistical system and the SBS survey strategy of individual member states (MS), candidate countries (CC) or European Economic Area countries (NO, CH) is available.

National methodology reports and some yearly quality reports, referring to 1998-2004, of MS and NO are available here.

Dissemination of component detail, reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that support cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness

 Comparisons over time and across countries are sometimes limited by methodological factors: summary of main issues.

Non confidential national and EU data are released at the finest possible level of detail. Yet the general principle “the higher the level of aggregation (the more aggregated the data), the better the quality” applies to SBS. Detailed data for small countries have to be used with a certain caution.

Data on Structural business statistics can be found in the following related domains:

Regional statistics, environmental protection expenditure statistics, research and development, labour cost statistics, labour force survey, European business trends, short-term statistics.

In these collections data similar to SBS can be found. It should be noted that methodological differences exist which can explain inconsistencies. Apparent inconsistencies between SBS data and the data from labour cost statistics, labour force survey and short term statistics have been examined.

The OECD also collects and disseminates enterprise statistics in its new Structural Business Statistics Database, containing the database known as SSIS (Structural Statistics for Industry and Services) and SEC (Statistics by Enterprise Size Class).In order to reduce the response burden on member countries and to harmonise SBS data collections between Eurostat and OECD, the OECD sources since 2004 data from Eurostat for EU countries (according to the terms of a "Memorandum of Understanding" signed by both organisations). Comparable data on other OECD countries is collected by the OECD and made available to Eurostat.

Notes:

 European aggregates (EU-25 till statistical year 2004 and EU-27 from 2004 or 2005 onwards) are calculated and disseminated twice a year for most characteristics of the main series broken down by economic activity and for some characteristics of the series broken down by size class.  Missing data are signalled by a colon. This can be due to confidentiality constraints in which case a flag (c) is added.

Whenever those aggregates do not rely on a full coverage, estimates can be published. In these cases such data are flagged with either one or some of following flags.

·         e : Estimated value (precise within ± 1 % unless also flagged 'u')

·         i :  Values refer to rounded estimates based on non-confidential data. Note difference between aggregates and components can due to rounding.

·         u : Unreliable or uncertain data: (Estimation error from ± 1 % to ± 5 %)   

 

Dissemination Formats

Hardcopy

 

News release:

News releases on line

Publications:

 Yearly: European Business – Facts and Figures; pocketbook on Business in Europe

Frequently: Statistics in Focus on sector specific or more general topics

More information on publications:

 On the Eurostat Website dedicated to European Business  

Other:

 None 

Electronic

 

On-line or database.

Please consult free data on-line or refer to contact details

Internet address:

 Dedicated website on European Business links to PDF versions of all documents also available in hardcopy.

NewCronos tables on SBS

ESTAT home page: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

CD ROM:

 Included in the hardcopy of the yearly publication: Panorama of the EU on European Business

Other:

 None

 

Notes

Last update: Date of most recent update of these metadata.

Last certification: Date of most recent certification by the author on the accuracy of these metadata.

 

 

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