14.11.2022 valid documentation

Basic data of the statistics

Data description

Wage and salary indices describe the monthly development of the wages and salaries sum paid by enterprises in different industries. The indices are calculated using the data of the Incomes Register, which is an electronic database for income data. It contains all compensations paid in Finland without minimum euro amounts. In addition, Statistics Finland's direct data collection and Business Register are used.

Statistical population

The population of wage and salary indices is all employers that pay wages and salaries. Of enterprises practising business, those classified in Statistics Finland's Business Register under the industries to be examined are included in the calculation. The wages and salaries sum of enterprises serving a group is compiled into the group's industry. The most significant multi-industry enterprises have been divided into so-called kind-of-activity units to improve purity by industry.

Statistical unit

The statistical unit of wage and salary indices is an enterprise, but to improve purity by industry, the most significant multi-industry enterprises are divided into industry-specific units.

Unit of measure

The data of wage and salary indices are published as index point figures. Change percentages are also calculated based on the indices.

Base period

The base year of the time series is 2015 (2015=100).

Reference period

The reference period of wage and salary indices is month. The statistics are published at a lag of six weeks from the end of the statistical reference month.

Reference area

Wage and salary indices are published on the level of the whole country.

Sector coverage

Wage and salary indices are published for the main groups of the following industries: A-X Whole economy, Manufacturing (B, C, D, E), F Construction, G Trade, Other services (H, I, J, L, M, N, R, S), K Financial and insurance activities, P Education (excl. public sector) and Q Human health and social work activities (excl. public sector). In addition to these, wage and salary indices are published for the following sectors: private sector (sector categories 11102-03) and OPQ public sector. Wage and salary indices are also published for several sub-industries in manufacturing, construction, trade and other services: 35 sub-industries in manufacturing, three in construction, 24 in trade and 33 in other services.

Time coverage

Monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual data on wage and salary indices are available on the web pages starting from 1995. The series for the private sector starts from 2005 and two series for the trade industry start from 2010.

Frequency of dissemination

The data of the statistics are published monthly on Statistics Finland's website.

Concepts

Adjustment for seasonal variation

Seasonal adjustment means the estimation of seasonal variation and the elimination of its impact from a time series. The obtained result is a seasonally adjusted time series. The trend of a time series is obtained when both seasonal variation and irregular random variation are eliminated from a time series. Trading or working day adjusted series are in turn obtained when the factors caused by the variation in the number of trading days or weekdays is eliminated from the observation of the original time series. The Tramo/Seats method is used for the seasonal adjustment of time series at Statistics Finland. In the Tramo/Seats method, preadjustment is based on a regression model (which allows for outlying observations, public holidays and the weekday structure) and the seasonal adjustment proper on an ARIMA model constructed for the time series.

Annual change

Annual change is the relative change of the index in comparison with the corresponding time period one year ago (e.g. annual change of total index of consumer prices, i.e. inflation).

Base year

Base year refers to the base point in time of a time series. Mainly years divisible by five are used as a base year but other years can exceptionally be used as a base year. In releases base year is noted, for example, as 2015=100 or 2021=100. The mean for the index point figures of the base year is 100. For example, in monthly indices the index point figures of the months of the base year indicate the breakdown of the examined variable between different months.

Growth review

Growth reviews are analyses that provide information in the form of figures, tables and written descriptions about the breakdown of growth in, say, turnover, sum of wages and salaries or number of employees between enterprises. Growth reviews can be used to ascertain how much small enterprises or local enterprises only operating in their own area influence growth in their respective industry or whether the growth originates from just a few strongly expanding enterprises. The share of growing enterprises of all enterprises in the industry can be examined with growth reviews.

Incentive stock options

Conventional incentive stock options refer to a normal stock option arrangement in which an employee has a right based on his/her employment relationship to subscribe in future for the company's or group's parent company's shares under predetermined conditions.

Index

An index is a ratio describing the relative change in a variable (e.g. price, volume or value) compared to a certain base period (e.g. one year). The index point figure for each point in time tells what percentage the given examined variable is of its respective value or volume at the base point in time. The mean of the index point figures for the base period is 100.

Monthly business indicators

Monthly business indicators are index-format indicators describing turnover, exports, sum of wages and salaries and number of employees that are produced monthly and by industry, and are intended to help in the monitoring of business trends. The production of the indices is regulated by the Regulation on European business statistics.

Original series

An index series from which the effects of factors not related to production have not been removed. Non-productional factors include variations in the number of working days per month and fluctuations in production caused by seasonal variation.

Panel calculation

Panel calculation refers to a calculation method that is used to produce certain statistics on economic trends. If there is not enough source data for the latest examined time periods, as a rule the statistical units with comparative data for both the examined month and the corresponding month of the previous year are taken into account in the calculation. Data on this population, or panel, are used to calculate the change with which an index can be calculated for the examined point in time from the index of the corresponding point in time in the year before.

Revision

Revision means added accuracy of data. The accuracy of data can increase due to changes in the data that are used in calculations or to the availability of new data.

Sales inquiry

The sales inquiry covers around 2,000 most important enterprises in their respective industries from which data on turnover are collected monthly. In addition, data on the sum of wages and salaries are inquired from around 45 enterprises divided into kind-of-activity units, because these are not available from other sources.

The inquiry does not extend to enterprises operating in financing, the public sector, education or health and social care, because turnover data are not produced for them. The inclusion criterion is the size of the enterprise's turnover relative to the turnover of the respective industry.

Seasonal variation

Seasonal variation is variation in a time series within one year that is repeated more or less regularly. Seasonal variation may be caused by the temperature, rainfall, public holidays, cycles of seasons or holidays.

Seasonally adjusted series

A seasonally adjusted series is obtained when the effect of seasonal variation is eliminated from the original time series. The figures of a seasonally adjusted series are mutually comparable and thus it is meaningful to compare two successive observations. A seasonally adjusted series can be used for detecting short-term developments and significant turns of economic cycles.

Sum of wages and salaries

The wages and salaries sum refers to the sum total of the gross wages and salaries paid to employees without incentive stock options.

Tailored trend indicator service

Tailored trend indicators is a charged information service providing fast data by area on e.g. turnover, exports, wages and salaries or numbers of employees. Additional growth reviews can be produced to elaborate on the factors behind development trends. The data on development in business trends can be supplied to the customers monthly, quarterly or annually as agreed.

Tax Administration's self-assessed tax data

The Tax Administration's data on self-assessed taxes contain monthly, quarterly and annual value added tax data. The observation unit is an enterprise. The data on self-assessed taxes cover all enterprises liable to pay value added tax included in the tax account procedure, that is, nearly all entrepreneurial activity in Finland.

Trading day adjustment

Adjustments for trading days take into account different distributions of weekdays and public holidays in the compared months. Trading days could put the sales of an industry above normal in a certain month if the month concerned contains a higher than usual number of Fridays. In other words, the aim in making adjustments for trading days is to remove calendar effects in order to make the index figures for the corresponding months of different years as comparable as possible. However, adjustments for trading days do not remove the effects of monthly seasonal variation.

Trend

Trend describes the long-term development in a time series. A trend series has been adjusted for seasonal and random variations, so that the effects of e.g. weather conditions or short-term labour disputes do not show in it. By contrast, permanent changes, such as growth in demand due to changed taxation, will show in a trend. The direction indicated by the end of a trend should be interpreted with caution. The latter part of a trend indicator may change once it has been updated with data for subsequent months.

Value index

A value index is a measure (ratio) that describes change in a nominal value relative to its value in the base year. The index point figure for each point in time tells what percentage a given value is at that point in time of its respective value at the base point in time. Thus, in monthly statistics the value index point figure for an examined month describes the percentage share of the value of that month of the average monthly value for the base year.

Wages and salaries

Wages and salaries include compensations in money of all employees of the enterprise for work done during the month. Wages and salaries comprise all income taxes and social security contributions collected from employees as well as diverse additional work (overtime work, night work) bonuses and holiday bonuses. Wages and salaries exclude incentive stock options, expenditure arising from the performing of the work and employer's social security contributions.

Accuracy, reliability and timeliness

Overall accuracy

The data of the wage and salary indices cover nearly all business activity in Finland. The latest index figures may become slightly revised as new data accumulate and enterprises report changes to their data. Due to supplementations the data will become updated in releases for over twelve months. The data become revised most during five months from the first release. Data revisions in main industries between different releases and on average in the long term are presented in their own tables on the home page of the statistics.

The measured variable corresponds well with Eurostat’s definitions. The data may contain errors arising from optical reading or data suppliers' mistakes. The data are directed precisely over time and the methods used in the calculation are unbiased. The industry of the enterprise is in line with its main activity. The impact from subsidiary activities has been minimised by dividing the most significant subsidiary activities into their own kind-of-activity units.

Timeliness

The data of wage and salary indices are published at a lag of six weeks.

Punctuality

There is no delay in the publication of the data of wage and salary indices. The publication of the statistics was interrupted exceptionally at the beginning of 2019 because the data derived from the Incomes Register were deficient (http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/ktps/ktps_2019-04-02_uut_001_en.html).

Data revision - practice

The data of the Incomes Register cover nearly all business activity in Finland. The latest index figures may change due to supplementation of the data and data corrections. The data may contain errors arising from optical reading of data or data suppliers' mistakes. The data on wages and salaries are supplemented for twelve months. Therefore, index figures are updated until the data have been fully supplemented. Data revisions in main industries between different releases and on average in the long term are presented in their own tables on the home page of the statistics.

Sampling error

Total data are used in the statistics, whereby sampling errors do not occur.

Comparability

Comparability - geographical

European definitions according to the STS Regulation are used in the production of the statistics, so the data of the statistics are internationally comparable and cover the whole of Finland.

Comparability - over time

The time series of wage and salary indices are temporally comparable starting from 1995. The data of the statistics are recalculated in connection with each release for at least one year. The data of the release are temporally comparable, even though the latest data may become revised due to supplementation of the data.

Coherence - cross domain

Business statistics produced by Statistics Finland can be divided into structural statistics and business trend statistics. The differences in the statistics are caused by their length of the description period, publication delay and the extent of the data content so that the description period and release delay of business trend statistics are shorter and their data content more limited than in the structural statistics. Structural business statistics include structural business and financial statement statistics that describe the structure and activities of enterprises on the annual level. Business trend statistics include monthly trend indicators (turnover and wage and salary indices). Annual statistics are cross-sectional data on business activities in the year in question. By contrast, business trend data have been made temporally comparable as concerns enterprise reorganisations and industry transfers so that the indicators describe cyclical development in each industry in time.

Preliminary and final statistics are yearly published on structural business and financial statement statistics on the annual level. Preliminary data are completed in September of the year following the statistical reference year and final data in December.

Coherence - sub-annual and annual statistics

The monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual data on the wage and salary indices are compiled in the same way so they are congruent.

Coherence -national accounts

The data of the wage and salary indices are used as source data for national accounts.

Coherence - internal

In the wage and salary indices, the wage and salary payments of each calendar month are allocated to the calendar month in question, irrespective of the accounting period of the enterprise. The data of Statistics Finland's Business Register and financial statement statistics comply with the profit and loss account for the accounting period ending in the year in question.

The wage and salary indices cover all employers that pay wages and salaries The wage and salary indices also include wages and salaries paid by general government and non-profit institutions serving households, which are not included in the annual statistics on Finnish enterprises but are published separately. In the calculation of the wages and salaries sum, enterprise openings and closures are taken into consideration as soon as the enterprise starts reporting employer contributions or information about the closure is received. Enterprises that have operated for more than six months during the statistical reference year and have employed more than half a person or had a turnover or balance sheet exceeding an annually specified statistical limit are included in the structural business and financial statement statistics.

Source data and data collections

Source data

Electronic database of the Incomes Register

The index is calculated using the income data derived from the Incomes Register, which from 1 January 2019 replaces the Tax Administration's self-assessed taxation data. The data contain exhaustive data on wages and salaries and earned income at individual level and the data are reported to the Incomes Register in real time, whenever a payment is made.

Direct data collection

Direct data collection covers around 2,000 most important enterprises in their respective industries from whom data on turnover are collected monthly. In addition, data on the wages and salaries sum are inquired from the most significant enterprises divided into kind-of-activity units, because they are not available from other sources. The inquiry does not include enterprises engaged in financial intermediation, the public sector, education or health and social services. The selection criteria are the size of turnover and the number of personnel in the enterprise. Enterprise closures and enterprises with significantly diminished activities are removed from the sample. The sample is supplemented with new enterprises and enterprises that have expanded their activity. The direct inquiry is sent to enterprises at the beginning of the month following the reference month and the form must be returned to Statistics Finland by the 15th day of the month following the reference month. The communication is made electronically and the inquiry form is kept short and clear and it inquires only for necessary information to minimise the response burden on the sampled enterprises. The aim of the formation of the sample is to attain a sufficient industrial coverage with respect to turnover with an optimally small sample size. The average share of the sample in the number of enterprises in each main industry is 0.1 to 7 per cent.

Data collection

Data for Statistics Finland's own data collection are gathered with a web questionnaire. In addition, Statistics Finland has agreed with the Tax Administration that the Tax Administration delivers the Incomes Register data to Statistics Finland. 

The web questionnaire of the inquiry for the sales inquiry has been tested in connection with its introduction and when changes have been made to it. In addition, the non-response rate of the inquiry is monitored monthly.

Frequency of data collection

The data for the wage and salary indices are collected monthly.

Methods

Data compilation

The calculation of the wage and salary indices is based on estimation of change. Data cannot be calculated directly by summing, because the data are incomplete for the latest months; only part of enterprises are included. Comparable observations for the examined month and for the corresponding month of the previous year are compared in the method by observing enterprise reorganisations and changes in reporting practices related to bookkeeping. The indices are recalculated monthly until the data are final.

Data validation

The data of the wage and salary indices are validated in several stages during the statistical process. Systematic errors detected in the data are corrected before calculations. Erroneous data detected during the calculations are corrected or their impact is eliminated. The data are checked at the enterprise level against information about the most significant business reorganisations and changes in the wages and salaries sum, and enterprise openings and closures.

Seasonal adjustment

Seasonal adjustment is a statistical method used to process time series. The method is used to remove variation occurring fairly regularly within a year from the data. The Tramo/Seats method and JDemetra+ software are used in the statistics. In addition, seasonal adjustment is based on the ESS Guidelines on Seasonal Adjustment.

Seasonal variation is often caused by an occurrence not attributable to enterprises, such as variation in weather conditions and seasons, and people's modes of action. More detailed information about seasonal variation in time series and the method used for seasonal adjustment can be found in the report on Seasonal adjustment with the Tramo/Seats method

Documentation on methodology

A more detailed methodological description can be found on the home page of the statistics.

Principles and outlines

Contact organisation

Statistics Finland

Contact organisation unit

Social Statistics

Legal acts and other agreements

The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. The Statistics Act contains provisions on collection of data, processing of data and the obligation to provide data. Besides the Statistics Act, the Data Protection Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics.

Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States.

Further information: Statistical legislation

The statistics on the wage and salary indices are guided by Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

Confidentiality - policy

The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed in accordance with the requirements of the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Violationof data protection is punishable.

Further information: Data protection | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

Confidentiality - data treatment

The limit used for the dominance of the industry is a 70 per cent effect of one enterprise on the industry and the series published as a threshold value must contain at least 30 enterprises.

Release policy

Statistics Finland publishes new statistical data at 8 am on weekdays in its web service. The release times of statistics are given in advance in the release calendar available in the web service. The data are public after they have been updated in the web service.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics at Statistics Finland

Data sharing

The data of the statistics are supplied monthly for the use of national accounts. In addition, the data of the statistics are supplied monthly to Eurostat on the day of their publication and Eurostat releases the data on its web pages.

Other

The tailored trend indicator service produces data on turnover, exports, wages and salaries sum and number of personnel, as well as growth reviews based on customer selections to examine the background of trend development by area and industry from a group of enterprises selected by size category. Further information about the service can be found on the website of the tailored trend indicator service.

Accessibility and clarity

Statistical data are published as database tables in the StatFin database. The database is the primary publishing site of data, and new data are updated first there. When releasing statistical data existing database tables can be updated with new data or completely new database tables can be published.

In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases.

Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish.

Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.

Data revision - policy

Revisions –i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published –are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.

The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.

Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.

User needs

The data are used at Eurostat, the European Central Bank and in international organisations (e.g. OECD and UN) and in Finnish public administration and regional development to monitor and analyse the development of business services. Business and research institutes use the data to assess the development of markets and competitors. Wage and salary indices are used as source data in Statistics Finland’s national accounts.

User satisfaction

Eurostat assesses the data of the statistics yearly.

Quality assessment

The quality of the wage and salary indices is evaluated in several different stages of the statistical process. The statistics are compared quarterly with other statistics on business trends.

Quality assurance

Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The quality management framework of the field of statistics is the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The frameworks complement each other. The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are also compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.

Further information: Quality management | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

The wage and salary indices are official statistics. The Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) are a comprehensive collection of statistics describing the development and state of society. They comprise nearly 300 sets of statistics on 26 different topics. The producers of Official Statistics of Finland have approved a common quality assurance in which they commit to common quality criteria and quality assurance measures. The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice. The good practices followed in the statistics are presented in Statistics Finland's Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics handbook.

User access

Data are released to all users at the same time. Statistical data may only be handled at Statistics Finland and information on them may be given before release only by persons involved in the production of the statistics concerned or who need the data of the statistics concerned in their own work before the data are published.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics

Unless otherwise separately stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer of the data and the owner of the copyright.The terms of use for statistical data.

The data are delivered to Eurostat on the same day as they are released in Finland.

Statistical experts

Service email
palkkasumma@stat.fi
Mikko Toiviainen
Senior Statistician
029 551 3589

The documentation released before 5.4.2022 can be found on the archive pages of the statistics.

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