Ministerio de Transportes, Movilidad y Agenda Urbana

Directorate-General for Economic Planning and Budgets.

Subdirectorate-General for Economic Studies and Statistics

LUIS GONZALEZ TURNER

MINISTERIO DE TRANSPORTES, MOVILIDAD Y AGENDA URBANA

Paseo de la Castellana 67, C-408

28071 MADRID - SPAIN

RAFAEL SANCHEZ DE RIEVERA MOSET

MINISTERIO DE TRANSPORTES, MOVILIDAD Y AGENDA URBANA

Paseo de la Castellana 67, C-420

28071 MADRID - SPAIN

The Construction Sector Costs Index (Índice de Costes del Sector de la Construcción, ICSC), is a short-term indicator that measures economic trends in the construction sector. The ICSC provides information corresponding to variables 320, 321 and 322 of Annex B to Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short-term statistics.

Construction trends are gauged on the basis of production, which is defined as all of the work and resources invested by an undertaking in the performance of activities for the construction of complete dwellings, office buildings and commercial premises, and of other public buildings, agricultural structures, etc., and the construction of civil engineering projects such as motorways, roads, streets, bridges, tunnels, railway lines, airports, ports and other hydraulic works, irrigation and drainage systems, industrial installations, gas pipelines, oil pipelines and electrical lines, sporting installations, etc., using manpower and intermediary inputs for the purpose.

Basic index data are obtained for each product and aggregated data are obtained for each type of building project. In both cases, the data are monthly and annual

Until 2008, construction activities were included in NACE-93 in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 on short-term statistics, which lays down a common framework for the production of Community statistics for all of the countries of the European Union and for a series of short-term indicators for industry, construction and services making it possible to analyse the development of the economy.

Since 2009 the NACE 93 Rev.2 classification system has been used.

Sections B, C and F of NACE-2009

Manpower

Manpower is defined as the efforts made by the undertaking's workers to create a product.  These efforts are measured in terms of the cost of the performance of the work, i.e. the labour cost.

Labour cost

This is defined as the cost incurred by the employer for the employment of human resources, i.e. the employment of manpower.

This labour cost includes salary costs and other costs or non-salary costs.

The salary cost includes all of the payments, in cash or in kind, received by workers from the undertaking in exchange for the labour services provided.

The other costs or non-salary costs include the non-salary payments and mandatory social security contributions.

Intermediary inputs

These represent the goods and services used to produce final goods and services.

Type of building project

The aggregated index is obtained for the various types of building project in the construction sector: construction, building in general, residential building, non-residential building, refurbishment and civil engineering.

Weightings

The weightings of the cost index represent the significance of each product in relation to all of the products included in the index. Two types of weighting are obtained for the cost index: with manpower and without manpower.

In both cases the weightings concern a dual classification: for each product and for each type of building project.

Basic index

This is the index from which the aggregated indices are obtained.

Two types of basic indices are obtained: the index of the intermediary inputs for the products included in sectors B and C of NACE-2009 and the basic manpower index for the construction undertakings and activities included in NACE-2009.

The index for the intermediary inputs is the IPRI and the labour index is obtained from the quarterly survey of labour costs.

Aggregated index

Using the weightings for each type of project, the basic indices are weighted to produce the aggregated indices.

The aggregated indices are obtained for each type of building project

The products included in Sections B and C of NACE 93 Rev. 2 and the labour costs.

The statistical population includes 43 products from the activities included in Sections B and C of NACE-2009.

Covers the entire national territory.

The cost indices are published every month.

There are various series of indices:

Series of indices with base year 1990, NACE 93 Rev. 1. From 1980 to January 2008.

Series of indices with base year 2005, NACE 93 Rev 2. Series from January 2005 - April 2013.

Current publications: Series of indices with base year 2015, NACE 93 Rev. 2. Series from January 2005. Linked series from January 2005-December 2009.

The base period is the year 2015.

In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 the base is changed every five years. 

Reference period for prices

This is the period used for the calculation of the basic indices and coincides with the base period, the year 2015.

Reference period for weightings

This is the reference period for which the weightings of the aggregated index are obtained. It is the year 2015.

The weightings are updated every five years when the base year for the index is updated.

Not available because the price indices have no unit of measure.

This is the period for which the index is calculated: in this case, the month.

The gathering, processing and dissemination of data from statistical operations for State purposes is governed by the provisions of Law 12/1989 of 9 May 1989, on the Public Statistical Function (LFEP) and the Fourth Additional Provision of Law 4/1990 of 29 June 1990. Under the LFEP, the National Statistical Plan is the primary instrument for organising the Government's statistical activity and contains the statistics to be produced over the four-year period by the Government departments or any other bodies responsible to the Government and those to be prepared with the total or partial participation of the Autonomous Communities and Local Corporations under cooperation agreements with the State statistical services or, as appropriate, in compliance with the provisions of the legislation. All statistics included in the National Statistical Plan are for State purposes and are mandatory. 

The construction cost index is based:

• REGULATION (EU) 2019/2152 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics
• COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics

The construction cost index consists of summary statistics obtained from the results of the IPRI and of the quarterly labour costs survey, both sets of statistics drawn up by the National Statistics Institute.

The construction cost index is sent to Eurostat only.

Law 12/1989 on the Public Statistical Function prohibits the statistical services – in this case, the -Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda – from disseminating or making available in any other manner of individual or aggregated data that could lead to the identification of previously unknown information concerning a person or body. Moreover, European Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics provides for the need to establish common principles and guidelines to guarantee the confidentiality of the data used to produce European statistics and the access to these confidential data, taking account of technological progress and the needs of users in a democratic society.

The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda takes all the logical, physical and administrative measures necessary to ensure effective protection of confidential data from collection to publication.

During data processing, data enabling direct identification are kept for only as long as is strictly necessary to guarantee the quality of the processing.

When tables of results are published, the information is analysed in detail to prevent any deduction of confidential data about the statistical units. When micro-data files are transmitted, the data are always anonymised.

The construction cost index is a statistical operation included in the national statistical plan and is thus subject to the Law on the Public Statistical Function of 9 May 1989. Accordingly, the data included therein are protected by statistical secrecy at all stages of their preparation.

The data are released on the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda website in accordance with an established release calendar.

Data are released with a two-month lag, so that the data released in month t correspond to month t-2.

The release calendar is published on the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda  website and is enclosed as an annex.

Calendario de disponibilidad de las estadísticas | Ministerio de Transportes, Movilidad y Agenda Urbana (mitma.gob.es)

Data are released simultaneously to all interested parties in accordance with the release calendar. At the same time, the data are published on the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda website Portada | Ministerio de Transportes, Movilidad y Agenda Urbana (mitma.es). Tailor-made orders are also sent to registered users. Some users can receive embargoed information as specified in the https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-catalogues/-/KS-02-18-142

The data are disseminated on a monthly basis.

Not applicable

All information relating to the Construction Sector Costs Index is published on the Ministry of Public Works website. The following publications can be found there:

- Methodological notes

- Annex. NACE-2009 products

- Monthly series

- Availability timetable

All of these publications can be consulted at the address provided in the annex.

Historical data and other studies is the system used by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to store all of its statistical information and disseminate it online. It contains all of the information produced by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda electronic format. It is basically organised using a thematic classification. The basic unit is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities leading to the obtaining of statistical results for a given sector or theme from individually-collected data, and can be consulted at the following address:

https://www.mitma.gob.es/informacion-para-el-ciudadano/informacion-estadistica/anuario-estadisticas-de-sintesis-y-boletin

Depending on the statistical operation, users can order specially tailored micro-data files for scientific research purposes. Once the viability of the orders has been examined, users may be granted access to the information under strict conditions of confidentiality.

In the case of the construction costs index, the microdata are not accessible to the public.

There is the possibility of ordering tailored information via the functional mailbox. When such orders are processed, restrictions relating to confidentiality or precision are taken into account.

The data prepared from the Construction Costs Index are sent to Eurostat every month.

Documentation on methodology can be consulted at:

Base year 1990:

Nota metodológica de indicadores de costes de la construcción | Ministerio de Transportes, Movilidad y Agenda Urbana (mitma.gob.es)

Base year 2005:

Nota metodológica de índices de costes del sector de la construcción (mitma.gob.es)

Base year 2010:

https://www.mitma.gob.es/recursos_mfom/pdf/467131E3-F078-490C-97A5-79A7242C7222/119494/NMICSC.pdf

Base year 2015:

https://www.fomento.gob.es/informacion-para-el-ciudadano/informacion-estadistica/construccion/indice-de-costes-del-sector-de-la-construccion/indice-de-costes-del-sector-de-la-construccion-cnae-2009-base-2010

Until May 2012, based on Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 on short-term statistics, amended by Regulation (EC) No 1158/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2005, the European Commission (Eurostat) assessed the quality of the data transmitted and reported on the quality of European statistics to the European Parliament and the Council every three years. To that end, each country provided the information requested by the Commission.  Eurostat would provide information on the main quantitative indicators, calculated on the basis of the data provided by the Member States.

From 2013, similar processes will continue to be applied for quality assessment.

However, there is as yet no national report on quality assessment for this indicator.

The quality assurance framework for the statistics of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda is based on ESCoP, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-catalogues/-/KS-02-18-142 produced by Eurostat. ESCoP sets out 15 principles, grouped into three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with a series of indicators enabling it to be measured. For quality assessment, various tools provided by EUROSTAT are used: the indicators referred to above, self-assessment (DESAP), peer review, quality audits and user satisfaction surveys.

The framework Regulation (EC) No 1165/1998 stipulates that the quality of the data produced by each Member State and sent to Eurostat must be constantly assessed.

The data initially provided at t+60 are very reliable and show low volatility relative to the definitive data provided at t+150.

The survey responds to the information needs of the main users of which the following are of particular note:

• Ministries and other public bodies
• Autonomous Communities
• Businesses
• Researchers and universities
• Press and specialist media
• Private individuals

Each of these users has different needs according to the destination and use of the information required. For this reason, tailored information is frequently provided.

The parties responsible for the ICSC are in constant contact with the main users when they express a specific need for information.

There is no specific user satisfaction survey for the ICSC.

The ICSC is prepared for the NACE-2009 levels to three and four digits in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 on short-term statistics

Statistics used in the production of the ICSC are designed in such a way as to guarantee the reliability and accuracy of the indices and data calculated.

Timely, accurate statistic is determined by the timely, accurate source information used : Industrial Price Index. More information about Annual Industrial Products Survey is available here :

http://www.ine.es/dynt3/metadatos/es/RespuestaDatos.html?oe=30049

Not applicable

Not applicable

The ICSC is a published with a two-month lag relative to the reference month.  Advance data are made available to Eurostat within the regulatory timeframes.

The results of the index are published in accordance with the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda release calendar for statistics, which can be consulted at the following address:

https://www.fomento.gob.es/informacion-para-el-ciudadano/informacion-estadistica/calendario-de-disponibilidad-de-las-estadisticas

Each publication was issued on the date announced in the release calendar.

The ICSC data are obtained at national level, meaning that geographical comparability is pointless.

In addition, at European level the comparability between countries is guaranteed by the Regulation on short-term statistics, which confers homogeneity in statistics across all European Union countries that disseminate the same information for their respective geographical spheres and industrial sectors.

The base for the ICSC has changed several times since it was first drawn up. 

Changes to the base were made in such a way as to guarantee the continuity of the series and there are thus no breaks in the series of data.

To date, the data obtained from the Construction Costs Index have not been compared with surveys or results from national accounting.

The components of the index represent the various levels into which the construction sector is divided.

Indices are obtained for each sector of construction and for construction as a whole, in accordance with specific aggregations and weightings for the different sectors of construction in order to guarantee coherence between construction as a whole and each component of the construction sector.

The labour cost survey used to calculate the manpower element did not entail any additional burden. It is a survey prepared by the INE and updated data can be consulted via the INE website every month.

No person/hour cost is calculated.

Total construction costs remain provisional for t + 150 days after the reference period.

Material costs remain provisional for t + 150 days after the reference period.

Labor costs under construction remain provisional for t + 150 days after the reference period.

Total construction costs remain provisional for t + 150 days after the reference period.

Material costs remain provisional for t + 150 days after the reference period.

Labor costs under construction remain provisional for t + 150 days after the reference period.

The data used to prepare the ICSC are obtained from the IPRI and from the Quarterly Labour Costs Survey.  

Data are collected on a monthly basis.

Data from the Industrial Products Index (Indice de Productos Industriales, IPRI) prepared by the National Institute of Statistics are sent to the Subdirectorate-General for Economic Studies and Statistics of the

Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda by email. For information on the IPRI, see:

http://www.ine.es/dynt3/metadatos/es/RespuestaDatos.htm?oe=30051

Labour data are downloaded directly from the National Institute of Statistics website. These data correspond to base year 2012 and, with the appropriate calculations, are converted to base year 2015. For information on the Quarterly Labour Costs Survey, see:

https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/es/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736045053&menu=metodologia&idp=1254735976596

The ICSC is prepared using a computer application designed for this purpose by the Ministry of Public Works. Each month, the INE sends IPRI data to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda. These data are entered into the application to prepare the cost index for the relevant month.

Once the application has calculated the index a check is made to ascertain that only the indices for the last three months have been amended. The rest of the indices calculated must correspond to those published previously. If this is not the case, the data entered in the application are revised.

Once corrected, they are aggregated using the appropriate weightings and all of the tables of indices and variations are obtained.

1. Calculation of indices.

Two types of indices are obtained:

Index for intermediary inputs: this is obtained from the IPRI and the weightings of the intermediary inputs. It can be considered a weighted average of simple indices in which the weightings used correspond to the base period. It is a Laspeyres index.

Manpower index, which is a simple index.

Construction Costs index, which is the aggregated index using weightings relative to the base period. It can be assimilated to a Laspeyres-type index.

2. Calculation of weightings

Three types of weightings are calculated:

Weightings for each product and type of project without manpower, during the base period. These are the ones used to calculate the index of construction costs without manpower, classified by type of project.

Weightings for each product and type of project with manpower.  These are the ones used to calculate the index of intermediary inputs with manpower.

Weightings for all products with manpower, by type of project. It is these that are used to obtain the aggregated index of construction costs, classified by type of project.

Not applicable

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