Statistics Finland

Prices and Wages

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New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

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New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

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New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

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New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

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New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

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New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

National SES

National Structure of Earnings data are compiled from detailed information on over 1.30 million employment relationships, which when scaled to the level of the whole population represent approximately 1.64 million employment relationships. The statistics have been published since 1995 and they cover normally private sector enterprises with at least 5 employees and all public sector wage and salary earners.

The statistics are based on sector-specific basic earnings data, which in the private sector are collected primarily by Finnish employer organisations (9 410 enterprises). The data collected by employer organisations are supplemented with a sample survey conducted by Statistics Finland among industries in which the rate of unionisation of enterprises remains under 70 per cent (2 420 enterprises). As regards to the public sector, Statistics Finland collects the data from the local government sector and the State Treasury from the central government sector. The Provincial Government of Åland collects data on the autonomous territory of the Åland Islands. Data on different sectors are combined into a single database and common earnings concepts and classifications are defined for all wage and salary earners irrespective of their collective agreement or form of remuneration. After the database has been formed, the data of the SES are supplemented
with the data from other registers. For example, information on a wage or salary earner’s education is obtained from Statistics Finland’s Register of Completed Education and Degrees, and information on an employee's workplace establishment is updated against basic data in employment statistics. In addition, the extensive study on earnings structure conducted every four years (SES) contains data from registers kept by organisations outside Statistics Finland, such as the Tax Administration and the Social Insurance Inst itution.

Data source by proportion of organised employers in the private sector

Structure of Earnings Survey 2010 (Eurostat)

Finnish Structure of Earnings Survey for 2010 is based on national Structure of Earnings Statistics. The data file supplied to Eurostat includes a 25% sample (random sample) of employments in national earnings data (315 803) employments and 45 589 local units ). The data content of Structure of Earnings Survey is based on Council Regulation no. 530/1999 and the Commission regulation no. 1738/2005. Data includes all mandatory variables.

Data for top managers of private sector enterprises and air transport personnel, which are not part of the national data, have been obtained from administrative registers.

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The public sector data are comprehensive census data which do not need to be adjusted for non-response. The private sector data are scaled to the level of the population using a survey frame formed from Statistics Finland’s Business Register. The estimator assigns more weight to observations from those enterprises whose stratum had the biggest non-response measured with number of employees.

Estimation is performed so that the frame for unionised enterprises and the frame for non-unionised enterprises in the sample industries are estimated separately by stratum. The strata is formed according to the enterprises’ size category and industry. As the survey frame is sampled before the statistical reference time, a separate stratum is formed of the new enterprises with at least 5 employees which are added to the frame. The weighting coefficient of increase of this stratum is 1.

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New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

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Structure of Earnings Statistics (SES) are used in Finland among many different kinds of users. Normally SES -data is needed in examinations of levels and differentials of earnings and it is used as a basic data in various studies.

Ordinary users need often tabulated earnings information classified by economic activity, occupation, gender, region and age. Academic researchers need also tabulated information, but they need many times longer time series as well. Because of the large scale of variables and long time series available the latest discussions have also related to the versatile use of individual earnings data. International information services, such as the surveys of Eurostat (Gender Pay Gap and Annual earnings), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or the International Labour Organization (ILO), also utilise data from the national SES.

By and large users have been satisfied with the form of Finnish SES -data.

Most of all discussions have related to some coverage problems and also to the availability of individual earnings data. National SES -data covers enterprises with at least five salaried persons. In addition to small enterprises some minor groups are also missing (Conscripts etc.).

Mainly all necessary variables occur, but in some studies it might be useful if we could offer more exact information about employees’ duty, task and competence, as well more exact information about the composition of earnings.

National SES

The scope of the statistics does not extend to the top management of private sector enterprises nor cover enterprises, whose main activity belongs to the industries of agriculture, forestry and fishery, private households employing domestic staff or extra-territorial organisations and bodies. In addition to previously mentioned groups, wage and salary earners whose gender could not be determined are also excluded from the statistics.

Structure of Earnings Survey 2010 (Eurostat)

Data supplied to Eurostat does not cover enterprises under 10 employments and enterprises, whose main activity belongs to the industries of agriculture, forestry and fishery, private households employing domestic staff or extraterritorial organizations and bodies. However optional NACE section O is part of the delivered data.

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Please refer to the attached document Relative Standard Errors.

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The survey frame in national SES-data is built up on national enterprise register data and it refers to the middle of the reference year. In year 2010 the survey frame included 31 504 enterprises. The base data for organised employers (captured by employer organisations) contain also earnings data from some enterprises that were not included or not synchronised in the original survey frame. Most of these respondents were either new or growing enterprises. These enterprises were considered as an under coverage of the frame if the number of employment captured from these employers met the level of the national survey frame, 5 employees. The data were added to the base data without any weighting, by using a coefficient of 1.

In total individual National SES-data the average coefficient was 1.25. In public sector the coverage was 100 percent so there was no need to do any adjustment for non-response. Non-synchronisation between the data and the survey frame may influence the quality of the statistics through data estimation.

The data covers also those local units in activities defined in the regulation that do not belong to enterprises included in the survey frame (activity exclusion).

Finland’s Structure of Earnings data (delivered to Eurostat) can fulfil almost all coverage needs, that SES-regulations require. However some minor groups, like Conscripts, are missing.

No specific measures for over coverage were conducted. The over coverage ratio was deemed insignificant.

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Because the basic data for the Structure of Earnings Statistics is obtained from a number of different sources, the statistical reference month varies to some extent. This may influence the numbers of wage and salary earners and thereby also the sizes and types of earnings. Updating the data from various registers may also have some influence on their reliability. As synchronising of the data in the registers is accomplished using enterprise and personal ID keys, some employees may remain unsynchronised due to data and timing differences.

The validity of the production process and the representativeness of the reference period have been ensured by comparing the SES -data (the gross monthly earnings for the reference month plus periodic bonuses for the year) to annual taxable gross earnings for the same persons in administrative data. For example the annual taxable gross earnings for those in the same fulltime employment for the full year were 1.2 per cent lower compared to the calculated gross annual earnings based on SES. The reason for this is a consequence of reference period. Usually earnings in October are a bit higher compared to earlier calendar months. 

The survey frame was formed from national enterprise register. The frame was updated to take into account the changes in enterprise structure by the middle of the reference year.

Some bias may also occur in the published average earnings, because small enterprises and their top management in the private sector are excluded from the national statistics.

Data captured by Finnish employer organisations covered about 83 percent of all organised enterprises with over 100 employment relationships. For small enterprises the coverage was smaller than that. For unorganised enterprises (data collected by Statistics Finland) the coverage was about 80 percent of all enterprises in the survey (2 420 enterprises).

The estimation weights have been calculated as an inverse of the realised sampling probability. The influence of unit non-response errors is being reduced by using itemised sampling strata by 42 activities and 5 classes by the number of employees. In year 2006 the average coefficient for non-response in private sector was 1.42 and in total data 1.24 (individual data).

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The quality of the national base data has been controlled during the whole data processing from the data capturing to publishing by branch-specific checking and validation rules. The validation has been mainly based on imputation of missing or conflicting variables. Observations not accepted by the national or Eurostat-validation process have been usually rejected. In general their share has been insignificant.

Because the production process of national Structure of Earnings data has many processing steps and the base data has been captured mainly by Finnish employer organisations the imputation rates for certain variables cannot be calculated. However we may say that the rates would be small-sized, because the quality of the base data has been controlled faithfully during the data capturing and the whole production process.

Modelling is not used in SES 2010.

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The data refer to the last quarter of 2010. Yet the reference period may slightly differ by sector and branch. For example in most of the service sector the data refer to October. Data for manual workers in manufacturing depict the situation in the whole last quarter and in the local government sector the data refer to October. Data for non-manual workers in manufacturing have been collected from December instead.

The Structure of Earnings statistics are annual statistics and they describe the situation in the last quarter of the statistical year concerned. In this case the data depict the last quarter of the year 2010. The data on annual earnings depict the total earnings for a whole year 2010 from a certain employment relationship. The data of the structural statistics derive from final data on wages and salaries by employer sector and from many type of registers. The released data is final. The Structure of Earnings Statistics are published twice a year on Statistics Finland’s Internet pages. In addition, a printed publication is produced once a year. The first results of national Structure of Earnings Statistics were published by internet release in November 2011 (11 months after targed date) and second results in April 2012. First results dealt with earnings classified by occupation, gender and education. Second results dealt with earnings classified by economic activity and region.

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The crucial data processing dates were:

• The national survey frame for private sector enterprises was created by September 2010 and after that, the data capturing started for unorganised enterprises. Enquiry for local government sector began in October 2010.
• The branch-specific data based on enterprise surveys was captured and controlled by August 2011. Public sector data (local government sector and central government sector) was final by June 2011.
• National Structure of Earnings data had been completed in April 2012, i.e. branch-specific survey data had been processed and harmonised into one single database.
• The data for top managers of private sector enterprises were created from administrative registers by end of May 2012.
• National Structure of Earnings data had been completed by data from administrative registers (annual earnings, months employed, unpaid absence etc.) by the by end of May 2012.
• The data for a sub-sample of 308 162 employment was delivered to Eurostat in the end of June 2012.
• The quality evaluation report was supplied to Eurostat in the end of December 2012.
• The first results of national Structure of Earnings statistics were published nationally by release in November 2011 and second results in April 2012.
• The national publication including Structure of Earnings Statistic for year 2010 was complete in November 2012.

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The definitions applied follow the European practise as closely as possible and the geographical comparability is in order.

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National SES

National Structure of Earnings Statistics has been annually compiled since 1995. During years 1995–2000 the concepts and definitions were practically kept unchanged. Data for years 2001–2005 make another comparable time series.

Most important revisions from 2000 to 2001:
a) The new Classification of Occupations 2001
b) Method to classify part-time and full-time employees
c) The definition of the local unit
d) Periodic payments by results
e) Working time
f) The formula for calculating the gross monthly earnings

In the 2006 Structure of Earnings Statistics hourly earnings have been calculated for the first time for teachers in the local government sector and the calculations have included also the local government sector wage and salary earners with reduced wages. In addition to these revisions we have also made some minor updates to our production processes, for example to the method of calculating special payments of shift work and adjustment for non-response.

Due to the above-mentioned revisions the data for time period 2006 - 2010 are not entirely comparable with data for earlier years. Revisions are made to maintain and improve the comparability – both internationally and between employee groups.

Structure of Earnings Survey 2010 (Eurostat)

Finnish Structure of Earnings Survey 2010 differ from SES 2006 at least by the scope and coverage of employees. In SES2010 data for air transport activities, which are not part of the national data, have been formulated for the first time.

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Because the data of the Structure of Earnings Statistics derive from the data on wages and salaries, they can be best compared with Statistics Finland’s employer sector-specific statistics on wages and salaries. In certain circumstances the comparison between SES and the Index of wage and salary earnings, income distribution statistics and National Accounts gives also useful information. However, there are both conceptual and methodological differences between these statistics. The Index of wage and salary earnings describes earnings for regular working hours, while the Structure of Earnings Statistics depict total earnings. In addition, the delimitations and definitions of wage and salary earners differ when comparing different statistics.

As regards to the number of wage and salary earners, the data of the Structure of Earnings statistics can best be compared with the employer sectorspecific statistics on wages and salaries, income distribution statistics and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The numbers of wage and salary earners are
nearly identical when compared with employer sector-specific statistics on wages and salaries, but a certain degree of disparity in coverage becomes evident in comparisons between the Labour Force Survey and the Structure of Earnings Statistics. The coverage of the basic data of the Structure of Earnings Statistics may be lessened by the timing of the inquiry, concepts and definitions used, and the fact that the data on wages and salaries may not cover all employees of a certain employer.

The quantity comparison between Structure of Earnings Statistics and LFS in 2006

However, with respect to changes in the proportions of different wage and salary earner groups, such as full-time and part-time employees, successful comparisons between the structure of earnings statistics and the Labour Force Survey can be made and they offer quite useful information on the numbers of wage and salary earners.

The gross annual earning compar ison between Structure of Earnings Statistics and National Accounts by NACE section in 2010

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The data of the Structure of Earnings Statistics are published as a statistical release twice a year on Statistics Finland’s Internet pages and once a year as a printed publication in the Wages, Salaries and Labour Costs publication series, e.g. Structure of Earnings 2010 In addition, tables for the StatFin
online service are published from these statistics.

The Structure of Earnings publication can be ordered from the Statistics Finland’s Sales Service. Appendix tables of the publication are also available in electronic format.

Online database can be found in Finnish at http://www.stat.fi/til/pra/tau.html

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Micro data is not available as ready to use version. Users can order datasets with desired variables but usually they need to have accurate research plan and also license. Data protection is always very strict in these cases.

The data is only disseminated via Statistics Finland's web page. 

Most of the metadata used in the production of Structure of Earnings Statistics are available from Statistics Finland’s internet pages and publication. Users can ask for the metadata also directly from responsible unit Wages, salaries and labour costs. Certain metadata concerning employees are also available from employment statistics, the Register of Completed Education and Degrees and the Business Register. The data concerning annual earnings and employees’ employment relationships may be obtained i.a. from registers of the Tax Administration and the Social Insurance Institution.

Experts in Statistics Finland write on a regular basis articles based on Structure of Earnings Statistics. These articles are published on different media. Any information (e.g. data tables) published in media must inform Statistics Finland as a source. Experts in Statistics Finland has also written a brochure about the statistics and kept courses about salaries and labour costs.

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