Structure of earnings survey 2010 (earn

Structure of earnings survey 2010 (earn_ses2010)

National Reference Metadata in ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure (ESQRS)

Compiling agency: Central Statistics Office, Cork, Ireland

Eurostat metadata

Reference metadata

1. Contact
2. Statistical presentation
3. Statistical processing
4. Quality management
5. Relevance
6. Accuracy and reliability
7. Timeliness and punctuality
8. Coherence and comparability
9. Accessibility and clarity
10. Cost and Burden
11. Confidentiality
12. Comment
Related Metadata
Annexes (including footnotes)

For any question on data and metadata, please contact: Eurostat user support

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1. Contact

Top

1.1. Contact organisation

Central Statistics Office, Cork, Ireland

1.2. Contact organisation unit

National Employment Section

Methodology Division

1.5. Contact mail address

National Employment Survey

Methodology Division
Central Statistics Office,
Cork Ireland

2. Statistical presentation

Top

2.1. Data description

[Not requested]

2.2. Classification system

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

2.3. Coverage - sector

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

2.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

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

2.5. Statistical unit

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

2.6. Statistical population

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

2.7. Reference area

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

2.8. Coverage - Time

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

2.9. Base period

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

3. Statistical processing

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3.1. Source data

(a) – Sample Fractions by NACE Rev.2

Enterprises in SES 2010* in comparison to Business Register
NACE Rev.2 Sector	No. of Enterprises in SES 2010 sample	No. of Enterprises in SES 2010 Population^$	Sample Fraction	Business Register Enterprise Nos.
NACE Rev.2 Sector	Nos.	Nos.*	%	Nos.
B-E Industry	618	20,766	3	14,306
F Construction	422	17,386	2	40,459
G Wholesale and retail trade	1072	29,378	4	43,981
H Transporation and Storage	144	5,733	3	10,572
I Accommodation and Food Services	405	18,402	2	16,511
J Information and communication	188	6,058	3	10,057
K-L Financial, insurance, etc.	205	4,398	5	16,955
M Professional, scientific & technical	413	9,410	4	30,801
N Administrative and support services	179	6,765	3	11,789
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642)	3,646	118,295	3	195,431

Footnote

^$Enterprises with 3 or more employees

* Employees in the SES 2010 only include the following:

Employees worked 10 or more hours per week

Employees worked 50 or more weeks per year

3.2. Frequency of data collection

[Not requested]

3.3. Data collection

[Not requested]

3.4. Data validation

[Not requested]

3.5. Data compilation

[Not requested]

3.6. Adjustment

[Not requested]

4. Quality management

Top

4.1. Quality assurance

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

4.2. Quality management - assessment

[Not requested]

5. Relevance

Top

5.1. Relevance - User Needs

The NES (National Employment Survey) carried out by the CSO collects information for the SES (Structure of Earnings Survey) and provides the data required under EU Regulation (EC) No. 1738/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2005 for the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES), forwarded to Eurostat every 4 years.

The NES Business Survey was carried out annually between 2003 and 2009. In 2010 the NES was produced from administrative data sources as a result of budgetary restrictions.

The objective of the NES was to provide, at national level, very detailed structural information on workplace issues, including earnings and factors influencing earnings, which other short-term earnings surveys could not provide. Factors influencing earnings include: occupation, educational attainment, age group, length of service and nationality, as well as other factors that go towards explaining differences in rates of hourly and annual earnings.

The NES is also the main source of earnings for the Gender Pay Gap and for Median earnings which are required both at EU and National level on an annual basis.

The Irish Government requested the CSO to provide an up-to-date comparison of the earnings of the public and the private sectors. In Ireland, as in other EU-Member States the comparison of the earnings of the public sector and the private sector has been for use in discussions on public sector wage levels. Data sources are central to undertaking any analysis. In Ireland, the CSO’s NES, was identified as an appropriate source for undertaking the comparison of the earnings of the public sector and the private sector, see Foley & O’Callaghan[1] and Kelly et al [2].

The main users of the NES survey are the following:

Government Departments
European Union/Eurostat
International Organisations e.g. OECD
Research institutes – e.g. ESRI, Universities
Professional Bodies
The general public
Trade Unions
Other CSO sections

User Needs

The main user needs are a breakdown of average earnings in the main Classifications e.g. NACE, Occupation etc; Median earnings and Gender Pay Gap requirements.

Researchers main needs are analysis of the Research Microdata files (RMFs) for macroeconomic research. Extensive research has been published from the NES RMFs on Gender; Nationality; Public/Private Wage Gap; Earnings levels in the economy; etc.

[1] Investigating the Public-Private Wage Gap in Ireland Using Data from the National Employment Survey 2007. Foley, Patrick; O'Callaghan, Fiona - Dublin: Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, Vol.XXXIX, 2009/10, pp23-52.

[2] Kelly, E., McGuinness, S., & O‟Connell, P. (2009b). “The Public-Private Sector Pay Gap in Ireland: What Lies Beneath?”. ESRI Working Paper No. 321 (October). Dublin, Ireland: The Economic and Social Research Institute.

5.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction

Researchers are assisted with infrastructural support to work on the RMFs. The staff team in the Earnings Analysis Section liaise with the researchers and provide technical support. Researchers are very satisfied with the level of support and a large body of research has been carried out by researchers involved in policy issues and macroeconomic research. Most researchers renew their access to the RMFs on an annual basis.

5.3. Completeness

[Not requested]

5.3.1. Data completeness - rate

[Not requested]

6. Accuracy and reliability

Top

6.1. Accuracy - overall

[Not requested]

6.2. Sampling error

None

6.2.1. Sampling error - indicators

See the attached document Coefficients of variation for Total Gross Monthly Earnings & Hours Worked per Month.

Annexes:
Coefficients of variation for Total Gross Monthly Earnings & Hours Worked per Month

6.3. Non-sampling error

None

6.3.1. Coverage error

Difference between the Reference and Study Population

The SES 2010 was constructed from Administrative data sources, namely the NES 2009 and Revenue 2009 and 2010 Annual Earnings trends. For accuracy of earnings trends the SES 2010 did not include employees working less than 10 hours per week nor less than 50 weeks in the year. This cohort of employees was considered too volatile to monitor trends in income changes between 2009 and 2010. This has resulted in under-representation of employees in Sectors which have a high proportion of part-time and casual staff (e.g. Food & Accommodation Services, Retail, etc.).

The enterprises in the SES 2010 only include those with 3 or more employees. Therefore some sectors such as Professional Services (e.g. Doctors, Solicitors, etc.) may be under represented as there is a high proportion of sole traders and private practices in these sectors.

6.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate

n/a

6.3.1.2. Common units - proportion

[Not requested]

6.3.2. Measurement error

n/a

6.3.3. Non response error

n/a

6.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate

[Not requested]

6.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate

[Not requested]

6.3.4. Processing error

n/a

6.3.4.1. Imputation - rate

n/a

6.3.5. Model assumption error

SES 2010

The NES 2009 survey was used to construct the SES 2010 data by applying Revenue Commissioners income changes to the NES 2009 data. An analysis of employees’ net incomes from Revenue Commissioners data was carried out to calculate the percentage change in incomes between 2009 and 2010. This percentage change was then applied to the 2009 NES data to create the NES 2010 data. Therefore the NES 2010 hours worked are unchanged from the 2009 NES data, but the earnings have been adjusted to follow Revenue Commissioners income trends.

The standard approach for comparisons is to match the data for employees who work for 10 or more hours per week and work for 50 or more weeks per year. Also employees whose Revenue Commissioners net income in 2010 were outside a 40% range of their 2009 Revenue Commissioners net income were excluded; as large changes in Net incomes may be the result of pension contributions varying from year to year. This is the criteria under which the SES 2010 data is analysed. Short-term earnings statistics showed that hours worked remained relatively unchanged between 2009 and 2010.

6.4. Seasonal adjustment

[Not requested]

6.5. Data revision - policy

[Not requested]

6.6. Data revision - practice

[Not requested]

6.6.1. Data revision - average size

[Not requested]

7. Timeliness and punctuality

Top

7.1. Timeliness

T+19 months delivered to Eurostat

7.1.1. Time lag - first result

[Not requested]

7.1.2. Time lag - final result

[Not requested]

7.2. Punctuality

Key dates:

August 2011 – NES 2009 Published
Sept 2011 to Dec 2011 – Preparation of Research microdata files and fulfilling EU & National data requirements for 2009 NES data.
Jan 2012 – Analysis of administrative data sources (NES 2009 and Revenue Commissioner’s P35 files) to provide SES 2010 data
July 2012 – Deliver SES 2010 data to Eurostat
Oct 2012 – Publish ‘National Employment Survey 2009 and 2010 Supplementary Analysis (an econometric report on the Public/Private Sector wage Gap).
Oct 2012 to Feb 2012 – Analysis of Public Sector Pension Levy Econometric analysis for Troika

7.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication

[Not requested]

8. Coherence and comparability

Top

8.1. Comparability - geographical

National concepts have been defined as close as possible to European concepts, all classifications and definitions are as stated in the regulation.

8.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient

[Not requested]

8.2. Comparability - over time

There has been a significant change in the data provision method for the SES 2010 from the previous structure of earnings survey. The methodology has also changed as outlined above as the data for SES 2010 was provided entirely from Administrative data sources.

8.2.1. Length of comparable time series

[Not requested]

8.3. Coherence - cross domain

(1) Employee Numbers

Coherence with the structure of employees in the QNHS (Quarterly National Household Survey – the labour force survey) for the same reference period

The QNHS includes all employees in the state while the SES includes only those with greater than 3 employees. This is most evident in economic sectors where there are a large proportion of small businesses such as in Retail, Hotels & Restaurants and the Construction industry. The breakdown into full-time and part-time employment proved problematic in that employers may have stated that the employee was working full-time hours but the employee classified themselves as part time. The NES is calibrated with the QNHS to take account of these factors. However the SES 2010 excludes those working less than 10 hours per week and less than 50 weeks in the year as outlined above.

Employees in SES 2010 in comparison to QNHS

NACE Rev.2 Sector	No. of Employees in SES 2010 sample	No. of Employees in SES 2010 Population	Sample Fraction	QNHS Totals
NACE Rev.2 Sector	Nos.	Nos.*	%	Nos.
B-E Industry	8,795	185,000	5	225,000
F Construction	2,487	55,337	4	65,500
G Wholesale and retail trade	8,753	168,908	5	237,300
H Transporation and Storage	1,956	52,518	4	72,600
I Accommodation and Food Services	2,091	64,806	3	104,200
J Information and communication	2,049	52,228	4	61,400
K-L Financial, insurance, etc.	3,904	75,366	5	90,500
M Professional, scientific & technical	3,472	55,715	6	68,500
N Administrative and support services	1,604	35,515	5	53,000
O Public administration & defence	4,351	88,077	5	102,500
P Education	3,778	106,731	4	143,600
Q Health & social work	7,311	171,615	4	226,000
R-S Arts, entertainment, other services	2,055	45,377	5	^$73,800
Total	52,606	1,157,194	5	1,523,900

Footnote

* Employees in the SES 2010 only include the following:

Employees worked 10 or more hours per week

Employees worked 50 or more weeks per year

$ Includes NACE Sectors R to U

(1) Gross Annual Earnings

The values for gross annual earnings in the SES 2010 only include employees working 50 or more weeks per year and 10 or more hours per week. The individual employee gross annual earnings are grossed up to the enterprise and then grossed up to the NACE sector. This differs from the EHECS (Earnings Hours and Employment Costs Survey) where the average annual earnings is calculated by dividing the wage costs for the enterprise by the number of employees and grossing this figure up to the NACE Sector to get the quarterly earnings; the average of the four quarterly earnings are then used to compile the average annual earnings.

Mean Annual Earnings in 2010 by NACE Rev.2

NACE Rev. 2	SES 2010	EHECS*
	Total annual earnings	Total annual earnings
	€	€
Industry (B to E)	42,918	42,196
Construction (F)	37,389	37,150
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	28,897	26,097
Transportation and storage (H)	39,186	36,686
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	24,002	16,949
Information and communication (J)	47,149	49,068
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	56,627	51,342
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	43,592	41,597
Administrative and support service activities (N)	32,333	24,945
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	45,712	48,755
Education (P)	45,560	43,868
Human health and social work activities (Q)	36,169	37,909
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	29,894	25,043
Total	39,114	36,117