EUROPA

SUMMARY

National authorities and Eurostat cooperate to produce European statistics in order to compare labour costs and earnings in the European Union (EU).

Every four years, Eurostat produces statistical reports in these fields. They are used to develop European policies for enterprises and employees, and to analyse growth and economic and social cohesion in the EU.

Types of information collected

Regarding the level and composition of labour costs, the information must enable statistics to be produced on:

• the enterprise or production unit on which the employees depend, and particularly on the region of settlement, its size and its sector of activity;
• total annual labour costs (wages and salaries, social contributions, vocational training costs, etc.);
• the average annual number of employees, including part-time employees and apprentices;
• the annual number of hours worked and paid.

Concerning the structure and distribution of earnings, the information to be collected must include data on:

• the enterprise or the local unit on which the employees depend, particularly on elements such as the form of economic and financial control and the type of collective agreement applied in the enterprise, etc.;
• the employee (sex, age, occupation, level of education and training, length of service, full-time or part-time, type of employment contract;
• gross earnings and hours of work.

Data collection and processing of results

The competent national authorities define the appropriate methods for collecting the information and ensure that employers comply with the obligation to supply the information within the fixed deadlines. However, surveys conducted in enterprises are optional if precise estimates can be produced from other appropriate sources.

The national authorities must process the replies in a coherent manner so that the results are comparable. The results are forwarded to Eurostat within a period of 18 months from the end of the reference year.

Context

Before the adoption of this Regulation, statistical information on earnings and labour costs was available only in certain Member States, which did not make reliable comparisons at European level possible.