Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Unit C2 - National Accounts - production
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
5 Rue Alphonse Weicker
L-2921 Luxembourg
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
16 January 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
16 January 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
16 January 2025
3.1. Data description
National accounts employment data are compiled in accordance with European System of Accounts - ESA 2010 as defined in Annex B of the EU regulation 2023/734, which amended the European system of regional and national accounts (ESA 2010). The transmission programme defines compulsory data transmissions from September 2014 onwards. ESA 2010 is aligned with the international statistical standard - the SNA 2008 - published by the United Nations. Further information is presented on Eurostat's website.
The ESA 2010 distinguishes 2 employment concepts: national and domestic concept. The national concept measures the number of resident persons in employment while the domestic concept refers to employment in resident production units irrespective of the place of residence of the employed person. The domestic concept is consistent with GDP and other national accounts variables.
Three employment measurements are presented in the tables:
number of persons (THS_PER)
number of hours worked (THS_HW)
number of jobs (THS_JOB)
The first two measurements are compulsory for the Member States to provide to Eurostat, whilst number of jobs are sent on a voluntary basis (as well as number of full-time equivalents).
Eurostat publishes European aggregates expressed in persons and in hours worked. Employment data is provided for total employment (EMP_DC), and also broken down into employees (SAL_DC, which are working by agreement for another resident unit and receiving remuneration) or self-employed (SELF_DC, which are sole or joint owners of unincorporated enterprises in which they work).
The national accounts employment data are presented in the following tables:
Quarterly data
namq_10_a10_e
Employment by NACE A*10 industry breakdown
namq_10_pe
Population and employment
Annual data
nama_10_pe
Population and employment
nama_10_a10_e
Employment by NACE A*10 industry breakdown
nama_10_a64_e
Employment by NACE A*64 industry breakdown
Tables namq_10_pe and nama_10_pe present population and employment in national concept, in persons and at total economy level.
3.2. Classification system
The standard followed is the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010), which is an internationally compatible EU accounting framework for a systematic and detailed description of an economy. The ESA 2010 was published in the Official Journal on 26 June 2013. From September 2014 the data transmission from Member States to Eurostat follows ESA 2010 rules. The classifications applied are:
Economic activity
ESA2010 uses aggregation levels of the NACE Rev.2 classification to define industry breakdowns (NACE stands for Nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les Communautés Européennes). NACE Rev.2 is a classification of economic activities widely used in statistics and in other domains. Requirements for the transmission of NACE Rev.2 series have been specified in the Commission Regulation (EC) No 715/2010 of 10 August 2010.
Quarterly employment data are available at NACE Rev.2 A*10 breakdowns. Annual employment data are available at NACE Rev.2 A*10, A*21 and A*64 breakdowns.
For a complete list of classifications used, please refer to:
- ESA 2010 Chapter 23 'Classifications';
- the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 2010) transmission programme, as outlined in annex B of EU regulation 2023/734, which amended the European system of regional and national accounts (ESA 2010);
Employment data refer to the whole economy and breakdowns by industry up to NACE A*64. Breakdowns by sectors are provided in the non-financial sector accounts.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The data provided by Member States are available for total economy (which includes market and non-market sectors), and by economic activity (ranging from total economy to industry breakdowns in NACE Rev.2).
The following are brief definitions of concepts and variables from the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). In general, the ESA 2010 which was published in the Official Journal as Annex A of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, may be referred to for more detailed explanations on methodology.
In summary, the key concepts are population and employment. They are important economic indicators in their own right, and they also serve in the construction of derived indicators, turning monetary aggregates from absolute into relative indicators and thus allowing the comparison of economies of very different size.
Population consists of all persons, nationals or foreigners, who are permanently settled in the economic territory of the country, even if they are temporarily absent from it. A person staying or intending to stay at least one year is considered to be settled on the territory. By convention, the total population excludes foreign students and members of foreign armed forces stationed in a country.
Employment covers all persons engaged in some productive activity (within the production boundary of the national accounts). Employed persons are either employees (working by agreement for another resident unit and receiving remuneration) or self-employed (sole or joint owners of unincorporated enterprises in which they work).
For information on the units of measure, please see section 4.
National and domestic concept are described in section 3.1.
3.5. Statistical unit
National accounts aim to capture economic activity within the domestic territory. They combine data from a host of base statistics, and thus they have no common sampling reference frame. The elementary building blocks of ESA 2010 statistics are statistical units and their groupings. ESA 2010 defines two types of units, institutional units and local kind-of-activity units (ESA 2010, 1.54).
3.6. Statistical population
The national accounts population of a country consists of all resident statistical units (institutional units or local KAUs, see section 3.5). A unit is a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of predominant economic interest on the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (one year or more) in economic activities on this territory.
Consistently with the domestic concept, persons employed in resident units are included, regardless of age or where the person is resident. All persons engaged in a productive activity, within the production boundary of national accounts, should be covered (this includes conscripts, people living in collective households, seasonal and cross-border workers etc).
3.7. Reference area
Eurostat publishes national accounts employment data for European Union, euro area, EU Member States, EFTA and candidate countries.
Eurostat estimates the aggregates for the EU and the euro area. All other data are produced by the statistical offices of the respective countries. For further information on country data you may also refer to National Statistical Institutes and National Central Banks (links given on the Eurostat web site).
EU Member States and EFTA countries have legal obligations to submit their data to Eurostat as defined in the European System of Accounts ESA 2010 transmission programme of data. These data are the inputs for Eurostat's estimates of EU and the euro area.
3.8. Coverage - Time
In general, the ESA 2010 transmission programme requires data starting in 1995 (years) and 1995Q1 (quarters). European aggregates are calculated starting in 1995.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Population, employment in persons and hours worked are typically expressed in thousands of their respective units (e.g. persons, hours). For this purpose, definitions of population and labour inputs must be consistent with the ESA concepts.
Basic units of measure:
Total population of a country consists of all persons, national or foreign, who are permanently settled in the economic territory of the country, even if they are temporarily absent from it. For an annual estimation of the population an annual average of head counts will provide an appropriate basis for estimating national accounts variables (THS_PER).
Employment covers all persons engaged in productive activity that falls within the production boundary of the national accounts (EMP_DC). Persons in employment are either employees (SAL_DC, working by agreement for a resident unit and receiving remuneration) or self-employed (SELF_DC, sole or joint owners of unincorporated enterprises in which they work) (THS_EMP). Persons having more than one job are classified in the job or economic activity that constitutes their principal activity.
Total hours worked represents the aggregate number of hours actually worked as an employee or self-employed person during the accounting period, when their output is within the production boundary (THS_HW).
Total number of jobs represents the aggregate number of jobs during the accounting period. A job is defined as an explicit or implicit contract between a person and a resident institutional unit to perform work in return for compensation for a defined period or until further notice (THS_JOB).
Other units of measure that are also presented:
PCH_PRE_PER, PCH_PRE_HW, PCH_PRE_JOB represents the % change over the previous period. In the case of annual data, this is the % change with respect to the previous year.
PCH_SM_PER, PCH_SM_HW, PCH_SM_JOB represents the % change over the same period of the previous year (for quarterly data).
PCH_TOT_PER, PCH_TOT_HW, PCH_TOT_JOB are expressed in % in relation to total employment. It shows the relative importance of different industrial breakdowns over time.
I15_PER, I15_HW, I15_JOB show the data as index series, 2015=100.
The reference period is the calendar year or quarter.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) which was published in the Official Journal as Annex A of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, amended by Council Regulation (EU) 2023/734 of 15 March 2023.
The European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) transmission programme is covered in Annex B of the Council Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, amended by Council Regulation (EU) 2023/734 of 15 March 2023.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Data received via the transmission programme are shared with other institutions in accordance with specific agreements, notably with the ECB and the OECD. A Protocol for co-operation between Eurostat and the OECD in the area of National Accounts signed in June 2024 specifies agreed data exchange and data validation arrangements. These data are published in Eurobase in the naid_10 collection.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
If Member States transmit data with a confidentiality flag or an embargo date, these data are not disseminated until the confidentiality flag is removed in a subsequent data transmission or the embargo expired.
8.1. Release calendar
Eurostat has a precise time schedule for the release of its calculations of European aggregates in the area of quarterly national accounts that is accessible via its website.
Eurostat releases of European annual accounts aggregates are not covered by a pre-announced release calendar, but annual accounts that are also covered by the quarterly accounts are usually updated on the occasion of new quarterly releases (which are released according to a pre-announced calendar), and figures for a new year usually become available with the first release of quarterly accounts for the fourth quarter of the reference year.
National data are published by the National Statistical Institutes (NSI) following their dissemination calendars. Please consult NSI's websites to obtain national dissemination calendars (links are given on the Eurostat website). National data are published by Eurostat soon after their reception after processing and quality monitoring.
8.2. Release calendar access
Indicative publication dates for main data releases are published on the Eurostat website.
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
The transmission requirements for each dataset are defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) transmission programme. Quarterly data should be transmitted by the Member States at 2 months after the reference quarter (namq_10_a10_e). Each quarter Eurostat releases the following European (EU and euro area) employment aggregates:
Flash estimates at 45 days after the reference quarter: The only variable estimated is the growth rate for total employment in persons (both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted) for the last quarter. Back series are not revised. Country data are sent on a voluntary basis and published on the website (if not confidential).
Regular estimates: both quarterly and annual employment data are estimated with a revision of the whole time series. European aggregates for employment in persons and hours worked (by NACE A*10) are released after about t+65 days and 110 after the end of the quarter. Main findings for the T+65 are presented in a news release, which includes country data. The T+110 database release is associated with a Statistics Explained article.
Detailed annual employment data by industry, up to NACE A*10, are requested by t+2/9 months (nama_10_a10_e) and by industry, up to NACE A*64, are requested by t+9/21 months (nama_10_a64_e). The European aggregates are published in October each year.
Quarterly employment data is published in Statistics Explained at around t+110 days, and annual employment data in April every year.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Please consult the respective section of Eurostat’s public database. Estimations of quarterly (and annual) European aggregates for employment are updated in line with the regular quarterly estimates (see 10.1).
Member States’ data are published shortly after their transmission. Quarterly data should be transmitted by t+2 months after the respective quarter (for details see ESA 2010 transmission programme). Many Member States also send a limited data set earlier than the deadline (flash estimates), while certain Member States revise employment data at around T+90 days.
Please consult NSI's websites to get national dissemination calendars.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Apart from the accompanying press release, there are no official comments from Eurostat at the time of the release of the European aggregates. Comments may or may not be made by the European Commission or European Union Member States.
For information on any comment possibly made by the Commission, please refer to Latest press releases. For further information on any comments possibly provided by National Statistical Institutes, National Central Banks or National Governments on their own data, please refer to their web sites (links are given on the Eurostat web site Eurostat).
Quality is assured by strict application of ESA 2010 concepts and by thorough validation of the data delivered by countries.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
ESA 2010 data transmissions are subject to regular quality assessment reviews. Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 (ESA 2010 Regulation) specifies that the data covered by that Regulation is subject to the quality criteria, namely relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence, as set out in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Member States are to provide the Commission with a report on the quality of the transmitted data on national and regional accounts. The modalities, structure, periodicity and assessment indicators of the quality reports on data transmitted have been specified in a Commission Implementing Regulation 2016/2304 of 19 December 2016. The implementation of the quality reporting and assessment exercise started in 2017 and is carried out annually. As part of the annual exercise, Eurostat assesses the results, prepares and publishes an overall assessment based on the national quality reports and other available information.
The Commission also, on a 5 year basis, reports to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the ESA 2010 Regulation, including the quality of data on national and regional accounts. The first of such reports was published in 2018. The latest report was published in 2023.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Employment data has a prominent role in national accounts, by showing the evolution of labour input into the production process and enabling the calculation of labour productivity, unit labour costs and other derived indicators.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
National accounts employment data are a key instrument for economic analysis.
12.3. Completeness
Completeness rates of ESA data transmissions are assessed in annual quality reports.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Eurostat assesses the accuracy of national data by systematically applying validation checks to all national accounts’ transmissions of countries. In addition, Eurostat is performing an annual assessment of the accuracy regarding country data reported to Eurostat under ESA 2010 transmission programme. In the framework of the quality reports quarterly and annual revision rates of several key variables in the transmission programme (including employment data) are calculated.
Eurostat also calculates growth rate triangles for total employment in persons from which revisions (and thus accuracy) can be derived for the euro area and the EU.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
National accounts data should become available to users as timely as possible, taking into account the frequency of the data (annual or quarterly), the character of the data (info on the structure of an economy or on conjuncture developments) and an adequate balance between accuracy and timeliness.
Member States should transmit national accounts data to Eurostat upon national publication and/or in line with the deadlines specified in the transmission programme of the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010).
The ESA 2010 transmission programme defines the required timeliness for all national accounts tables, see the overview of tables on p.63. For employment data, quarterly data should be sent at t+2 months, while annual data should be sent at t+2, t+9, and t+21 months, depending on the dataset.
Aggregated euro area and EU national accounts data are compiled by Eurostat for selected tables and variables. The time to compile the European aggregates varies: the employment flash for the euro area and EU is published within 1 working day after reception of country data, while for the regular quarterly euro area and EU main employment aggregates estimations, 5 working days are needed.
14.2. Punctuality
Good practice requires that the dates on which national accounts data become available are pre-announced and that the pre-announced publication dates are met.
National accounts data transmissions in the framework of the ESA 2010 transmission programme should be punctually delivered to Eurostat at the timeliness defined in the transmission programme or on the day of release at national level, whatever comes first.
Eurostat releases its estimates of European aggregates in line with the pre-announced release schedule (see release calendar in dedicated section). Member States' data are revised according to national schedules, and revisions are applied to Eurostat’s online database as soon as they become available to Eurostat.
The punctuality of transmissions is usually very high and is reported in the annual ESA quality reports.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The geographical comparability of national accounts in Member States of the EU is generally insured by the application of common definitions laid out in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). Worldwide geographical comparison is also possible as most non-European countries apply the SNA 2008 guidelines, and ESA 2010 is consistent with SNA 2008.
15.2. Comparability - over time
As the data for all reference periods are compiled according to the requirements of the ESA 2010, national accounts data are generally comparable over time.
However, time series can sometimes have breaks in the series, for example due to changes in the source data, reducing the comparability over time. Still, these breaks are rare and are indicated. Moreover, countries are strongly encouraged to reduce such breaks during a major benchmark revision. For more information, please see section 17.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Within the system of national accounts, consistency between different domains is satisfied. For this reason, the consistency of national accounts data on employment between annual and quarterly data, as well as across various breakdowns, is generally ensured.
However, in practice full consistency may not always be possible and temporary discrepancies might occur as a result of vintage differences.
15.4. Coherence - internal
In between Eurostat releases, Member States may revise their figures; Eurostat publishes the new Member States' accounts shortly after reception but does not recalculate the EU accounts until the next scheduled EU release. Geographical coherence may thus be lost for a brief period. In turn, a certain stability of annual aggregates is assured, and annual and quarterly EU aggregates will by default be coherent.
Employment data is fully consistent across NACE activities, ensuring that the sum of all economic sectors aligns with total employment. Additionally, consistency is maintained between employees and self-employed, with their sum matching total employment.
Annual national accounts are produced from a large variety of data sources with varying degrees of timeliness, taking up to three years or more in the case of structural sources. As users need national and international data as fast as possible, particularly on certain key aggregates, data are produced using data sources that are more readily available. When more complete source data are obtained, the statistics are updated to incorporate the new information.
Revisions of macroeconomic statistics are necessary to improve data quality. To minimise the inconvenience for data users, the European Statistical System (ESS) and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) try to strike the right balance between incorporating the necessary statistical revisions and maintaining an acceptable degree of consistency across domains and countries. To this end, the two systems have worked together to draw up the HERP.
According to HERP, a distinction should be made between 'routine' revisions and 'major' or 'benchmark' revisions.
Routine revisions
Routine revisions refer to the changes made to the economic data published initially and to its subsequent releases for a particular reference year.
According to the guidelines laid down in HERP, annual estimates are usually revised retrospectively for up to four years to incorporate annual data sources as well as changes following Excessive Deficit Procedure and Own Resources notifications, although the policy allows unlimited revisions for transmissions at t+9 months. Some countries are obliged to publish the initial annual data for reference year t-1 in the second calendar quarter of the year instead of the third quarter.
The sequence of publications/revisions regarding annual data, in calendar year t, is as follows:
Quarter 1: First estimate of annual data for year t-1, usually corresponding to the sum of the quarterly figures released;
Quarter 2: First possible revision of annual data for year t-1 to include revisions of quarters of t-1;
Quarter 3: First estimate of annual data for year t-1 based on both annual and first available sources;
Quarter 4: Exceptional revisions of annual data for year t-1 may be carried out to take into account changes following Excessive Deficit Procedure and Own Resources notifications (GNI Committee).
According to the principles of HERP, the maximum depth of revisions in each quarter is 4 years, as the majority of NSIs work on a cycle of 3-4 years after which the data can be considered final. However, all years may be open to revisions during the third quarter of the year and during benchmark revisions.
HERP requires that national revision practices are aligned across statistical domains. This implies that annual routine revisions are carried out with identical timing and depth of revision across all statistical domains, to eliminate vintage differences as a source of inconsistencies. This part of the policy is also important in the context of ensuring consistency between national accounts and BOP/IIP. HERP requires at least one point in time where cross-domain consistency must be achieved; namely, in the 3rd quarter when annual revisions are also carried out.
In addition, HERP covers domains with annual and quarterly data reporting frequencies and requires alignment between quarterly and annual tables. HERP requires that all countries align their quarterly and annual frequencies across all domains, at least, in the third quarter.
Benchmark revisions
Benchmark revision is carried out at much longer time intervals. Its purpose is to incorporate the main new data sources and major changes in international statistical methodology (such as ESA 2010 or BPM6). In benchmark revision, many years are open for revision in order to create the longest possible consistent time series.
Disseminating the results of a benchmark revision always involves revising all, or at least a large part of the time series. HERP requires that benchmark revisions result in break-free series at least for the timespan required on a mandatory basis by the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme. Breaks in the series should be temporary and appropriately flagged with the ‘B’ flag.
The coordination and communication of benchmark revisions are prepared well in advance. Benchmark revisions are publicly announced in advance of the release date, at least a quarter in advance for annual and quarterly statistics. The actual release of the results of a benchmark revision are accompanied by sufficient documentation that allows users to appropriately assess the new presentation of the macroeconomic and/or social situation.
Eurostat plays a central role in the communication of European harmonised benchmark revisions. Information is published on the Eurostat website. The impact of benchmark revisions is analysed in statistical publications and presented to various technical fora, including key users and policy makers.
Non-scheduled revisions take place on an ad-hoc basis, outside the European harmonised approach. While there is no comprehensive set of recommendations agreed at EU level for when non-scheduled revisions, good practices regarding metadata and communication on non-scheduled revisions are discussed in the "Practical guidelines for revising ESA 2010 data".
Since they could confuse users and thus damage user confidence in official statistics, non-scheduled revisions should always be an exception and should be avoided where possible. If the benefits of carrying out a non-scheduled revision are assessed as clearly outweighing the disadvantages of waiting to integrate the results into a forthcoming benchmark revision, there should be a clear communication strategy.
Non-scheduled revisions may be often related to errors. Reported errors are assessed for seriousness to determine whether they should trigger a correction of already disseminated data.
Reported errors in national data that are deemed to be significant are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated. Corrections for other errors in national data are most often carried out in connection with the regular scheduled data dissemination/ regular revision. The EU aggregates are revised according to the pre-announced release calendar. Errors in national data have rarely a substantial impact on aggregates.
National Statistical Offices and National Central Banks agreed to gradually implement the HERP. The level of adherence to the guidelines of Member States' revision policies is regularly monitored through the ESA 2010 quality reporting.
Information on adherence to HERP and the national revision policies is available at this website : (Data revision).
17.2. Data revision - practice
The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision practice of the domain listed under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy).
Routine revisions for annual data
National accounts data at country level are subject to continuous routine revisions as new input data becomes available. Countries’ data are revised according to country schedules, and revisions become visible in Eurostat's online database as soon as new data is transmitted to and validated by Eurostat.
Countries’ revisions will typically result in revisions of the European aggregates, which are derived from these data, but updated estimations of the European aggregates are only released on specific dates. Annual data may be revised twice every quarter with the release of quarterly figures (65 days and approximately 110 days after the end of the reference quarter). The dates are pre-announced in the release calendar on Eurostat's website (see 8.2). On these occasions, previously published figures are subject to revision for all variables and all years. The depth of revisions observed for the aggregates depend on the depth of revisions of national data.
Data may be published even if they are missing for certain variables and/or countries or flagged as provisional or of low reliability. They are replaced with final data once transmitted and validated. European aggregates are updated according to the pre-announced release calendar. The vast majority of NSIs have aligned their national release dates with the calendar of Eurostat so that European aggregates are consistent with revised country data on the release day.
Routine revisions are documented and communicated through press releases and dedicated statistical analyses. A thorough analysis based on pre-selected revision indicators is also included in the annual national quality report.
Major or benchmark revisions
In 2014, all Member States disseminated revised data according to ESA 2010. The agreed guidelines specify that Member States should disseminate the results of the next benchmark revisions in 2019 and 2024 respectively. The majority of EU countries were able to meet the 2019 target. Almost all EU countries carried out the subsequent benchmark revision in 2024.
More information on benchmark revisions carried out in 2024 is available on this page:
Information on benchmark revisions carried out in 2019 is available in this document: Benchmark revisions 2019.
18.1. Source data
Eurostat publishes employment data for EU Member States, EFTA countries, candidate countries, as well as for the European Union and the euro area aggregates.
Countries use many sources to compile their national accounts, among them administrative data from government, business surveys, population censuses, or the labour force survey. The sources have different advantages and disadvantages and are often used in combination. No single data source by itself can fully ensure accuracy and exhaustiveness of the employment estimates. All necessary corrective adjustments to the source data should be done to adapt to the national accounts’ definitions as specified by the provisions of ESA 2010.
The source that is widely used by almost all the EU countries is the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This survey is addressed to households and aims to measure the labour supply.
For Eurostat, the sources to compile euro area and EU aggregates are the data transmitted by countries.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
National accounts are usually compiled on an annual and quarterly basis from primary statistics. The frequency of data collection of primary statistics varies according to the nature of the data source.
For example, the EU labour force survey is available quarterly, while population censuses are mostly carried out every decade. Availability of administrative data varies from country to country.
The frequency and timing of the compilation of national accounts are not necessary aligned with the frequency and timing of (all) primary statistics data collections.
18.3. Data collection
Country specific data is collected via primary data sources as described in section 18.1. Techniques of data collection vary widely, depending on the compilation approach, the source statistics available, the particular component of the system of accounts, the timeliness of data release and other factors.
For EU/EA aggregates, the data is collected from country data transmitted to Eurostat via SDMX which introduced standardised codes.
18.4. Data validation
Data validation refers to any activity aimed at verifying that the value of a data item comes from a given set of acceptable values. It is a key task performed in all statistical domains and particularly important for national accounts, which is a key dataset for economic analysis and policy decisions.
In order to increase overall data quality and workflow efficiency, the European Statistical System (ESS) is moving towards more harmonisation of validation activities including the definition of common standards, tools and support for implementation (see ESS validation website).
Source data undergo a sequence of checks within NSIs. Additionally, Eurostat applies a wide variety of validation checks. They start with basic coding and completeness checks (coverage of reference periods and variables), followed by plausibility checks (zero, negative, missing values and outliers), consistency checks of accounting rules, price series, between different datasets (e.g. quarterly and annual accounts, different domains) and consistency checks over time (revisions). Eurostat then follows up with NSIs on any lack of quality in this respect.
Employment and main economic aggregates are normally estimated independently and by different sources. This means that at country level some consistency checks between economic values and employment should be performed.
The same checks are applied to data for the European aggregates. Validation against data from other domains and validation of the statistical tools used are done on an ad-hoc basis. More information can be found in the general metadata file of national accounts.
18.5. Data compilation
Data sources, methods and compilation techniques are country specific, but should be employed in such a way that the definitions and concepts in ESA 2010 are met.
The country data published by Eurostat are compiled by the respective countries and are based on their national data and compilation practices. Information can be found in the employment questionnaires, the QNA inventory of the respective country as well as the country specific metadata files. More information on the compilation of the employment flash estimated can be found in the Overview of employment flash estimation methods.
The compilation of the euro area and EU aggregates is based on available country data that are complemented with estimations if necessary.
18.6. Adjustment
In the context of employment, adjustment can refer to the adjustment from primary sources/statistics to national accounts concepts or the seasonal adjustment.
To start with, depending on the data source(s) selected, it may be necessary for a country to perform certain adjustments (where relevant and applicable) in order to fit the data to national accounts purposes. These adjustments could include improving coverage, aligning with ESA2010 provisions, increasing exhaustiveness, and correcting any deficiencies in the data sources.
The exhaustiveness concept for employment in national accounts should be consistent with the economic aggregates. When estimating employment, both observed and non-observed economy should be taken into account. The non-observed economy includes for example illegal and underground economy, not registered employment and statistical deficiencies in the data itself. The sources used for compiling the employment estimates need to be adjusted for the conceptual differences.
In addition to aligning primary sources with national accounts standards, another crucial aspect is seasonal adjustment. The primary goal of seasonal adjustment is to identify and remove seasonal fluctuations and calendar effects which can mask short and long-term movements in a time series and impede a clear understanding of underlying phenomena. Seasonal adjustment is therefore a fundamental process in the interpretation of time series to inform policy making (ESS guidelines on seasonal adjustment, 2024 Edition, Annex, point 1).
For quarterly employment and population, time series are usually not only published in their unadjusted form, but also with various types of adjustment (e.g. seasonal, calendar). According to the ESA transmission programme, quarterly data are to be provided for hours worked and persons in non-seasonally adjusted form, as well as in seasonally adjusted form (including calendar adjustments, where relevant). The provision of quarterly data that only include calendar adjustments is voluntary. Annual employment and population data are generally not adjusted.
For quarterly national accounts, seasonally and calendar adjusted data are compiled using an indirect approach, i.e. based on the transmitted country figures, which are already seasonally and calendar adjusted.
National accounts employment data are compiled in accordance with European System of Accounts - ESA 2010 as defined in Annex B of the EU regulation 2023/734, which amended the European system of regional and national accounts (ESA 2010). The transmission programme defines compulsory data transmissions from September 2014 onwards. ESA 2010 is aligned with the international statistical standard - the SNA 2008 - published by the United Nations. Further information is presented on Eurostat's website.
The ESA 2010 distinguishes 2 employment concepts: national and domestic concept. The national concept measures the number of resident persons in employment while the domestic concept refers to employment in resident production units irrespective of the place of residence of the employed person. The domestic concept is consistent with GDP and other national accounts variables.
Three employment measurements are presented in the tables:
number of persons (THS_PER)
number of hours worked (THS_HW)
number of jobs (THS_JOB)
The first two measurements are compulsory for the Member States to provide to Eurostat, whilst number of jobs are sent on a voluntary basis (as well as number of full-time equivalents).
Eurostat publishes European aggregates expressed in persons and in hours worked. Employment data is provided for total employment (EMP_DC), and also broken down into employees (SAL_DC, which are working by agreement for another resident unit and receiving remuneration) or self-employed (SELF_DC, which are sole or joint owners of unincorporated enterprises in which they work).
The national accounts employment data are presented in the following tables:
Quarterly data
namq_10_a10_e
Employment by NACE A*10 industry breakdown
namq_10_pe
Population and employment
Annual data
nama_10_pe
Population and employment
nama_10_a10_e
Employment by NACE A*10 industry breakdown
nama_10_a64_e
Employment by NACE A*64 industry breakdown
Tables namq_10_pe and nama_10_pe present population and employment in national concept, in persons and at total economy level.
16 January 2025
The data provided by Member States are available for total economy (which includes market and non-market sectors), and by economic activity (ranging from total economy to industry breakdowns in NACE Rev.2).
The following are brief definitions of concepts and variables from the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). In general, the ESA 2010 which was published in the Official Journal as Annex A of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, may be referred to for more detailed explanations on methodology.
In summary, the key concepts are population and employment. They are important economic indicators in their own right, and they also serve in the construction of derived indicators, turning monetary aggregates from absolute into relative indicators and thus allowing the comparison of economies of very different size.
Population consists of all persons, nationals or foreigners, who are permanently settled in the economic territory of the country, even if they are temporarily absent from it. A person staying or intending to stay at least one year is considered to be settled on the territory. By convention, the total population excludes foreign students and members of foreign armed forces stationed in a country.
Employment covers all persons engaged in some productive activity (within the production boundary of the national accounts). Employed persons are either employees (working by agreement for another resident unit and receiving remuneration) or self-employed (sole or joint owners of unincorporated enterprises in which they work).
For information on the units of measure, please see section 4.
National and domestic concept are described in section 3.1.
National accounts aim to capture economic activity within the domestic territory. They combine data from a host of base statistics, and thus they have no common sampling reference frame. The elementary building blocks of ESA 2010 statistics are statistical units and their groupings. ESA 2010 defines two types of units, institutional units and local kind-of-activity units (ESA 2010, 1.54).
The national accounts population of a country consists of all resident statistical units (institutional units or local KAUs, see section 3.5). A unit is a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of predominant economic interest on the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (one year or more) in economic activities on this territory.
Consistently with the domestic concept, persons employed in resident units are included, regardless of age or where the person is resident. All persons engaged in a productive activity, within the production boundary of national accounts, should be covered (this includes conscripts, people living in collective households, seasonal and cross-border workers etc).
Eurostat publishes national accounts employment data for European Union, euro area, EU Member States, EFTA and candidate countries.
Eurostat estimates the aggregates for the EU and the euro area. All other data are produced by the statistical offices of the respective countries. For further information on country data you may also refer to National Statistical Institutes and National Central Banks (links given on the Eurostat web site).
EU Member States and EFTA countries have legal obligations to submit their data to Eurostat as defined in the European System of Accounts ESA 2010 transmission programme of data. These data are the inputs for Eurostat's estimates of EU and the euro area.
The reference period is the calendar year or quarter.
Eurostat assesses the accuracy of national data by systematically applying validation checks to all national accounts’ transmissions of countries. In addition, Eurostat is performing an annual assessment of the accuracy regarding country data reported to Eurostat under ESA 2010 transmission programme. In the framework of the quality reports quarterly and annual revision rates of several key variables in the transmission programme (including employment data) are calculated.
Eurostat also calculates growth rate triangles for total employment in persons from which revisions (and thus accuracy) can be derived for the euro area and the EU.
Population, employment in persons and hours worked are typically expressed in thousands of their respective units (e.g. persons, hours). For this purpose, definitions of population and labour inputs must be consistent with the ESA concepts.
Basic units of measure:
Total population of a country consists of all persons, national or foreign, who are permanently settled in the economic territory of the country, even if they are temporarily absent from it. For an annual estimation of the population an annual average of head counts will provide an appropriate basis for estimating national accounts variables (THS_PER).
Employment covers all persons engaged in productive activity that falls within the production boundary of the national accounts (EMP_DC). Persons in employment are either employees (SAL_DC, working by agreement for a resident unit and receiving remuneration) or self-employed (SELF_DC, sole or joint owners of unincorporated enterprises in which they work) (THS_EMP). Persons having more than one job are classified in the job or economic activity that constitutes their principal activity.
Total hours worked represents the aggregate number of hours actually worked as an employee or self-employed person during the accounting period, when their output is within the production boundary (THS_HW).
Total number of jobs represents the aggregate number of jobs during the accounting period. A job is defined as an explicit or implicit contract between a person and a resident institutional unit to perform work in return for compensation for a defined period or until further notice (THS_JOB).
Other units of measure that are also presented:
PCH_PRE_PER, PCH_PRE_HW, PCH_PRE_JOB represents the % change over the previous period. In the case of annual data, this is the % change with respect to the previous year.
PCH_SM_PER, PCH_SM_HW, PCH_SM_JOB represents the % change over the same period of the previous year (for quarterly data).
PCH_TOT_PER, PCH_TOT_HW, PCH_TOT_JOB are expressed in % in relation to total employment. It shows the relative importance of different industrial breakdowns over time.
I15_PER, I15_HW, I15_JOB show the data as index series, 2015=100.
Data sources, methods and compilation techniques are country specific, but should be employed in such a way that the definitions and concepts in ESA 2010 are met.
The country data published by Eurostat are compiled by the respective countries and are based on their national data and compilation practices. Information can be found in the employment questionnaires, the QNA inventory of the respective country as well as the country specific metadata files. More information on the compilation of the employment flash estimated can be found in the Overview of employment flash estimation methods.
The compilation of the euro area and EU aggregates is based on available country data that are complemented with estimations if necessary.
Eurostat publishes employment data for EU Member States, EFTA countries, candidate countries, as well as for the European Union and the euro area aggregates.
Countries use many sources to compile their national accounts, among them administrative data from government, business surveys, population censuses, or the labour force survey. The sources have different advantages and disadvantages and are often used in combination. No single data source by itself can fully ensure accuracy and exhaustiveness of the employment estimates. All necessary corrective adjustments to the source data should be done to adapt to the national accounts’ definitions as specified by the provisions of ESA 2010.
The source that is widely used by almost all the EU countries is the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This survey is addressed to households and aims to measure the labour supply.
For Eurostat, the sources to compile euro area and EU aggregates are the data transmitted by countries.
The transmission requirements for each dataset are defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) transmission programme. Quarterly data should be transmitted by the Member States at 2 months after the reference quarter (namq_10_a10_e). Each quarter Eurostat releases the following European (EU and euro area) employment aggregates:
Flash estimates at 45 days after the reference quarter: The only variable estimated is the growth rate for total employment in persons (both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted) for the last quarter. Back series are not revised. Country data are sent on a voluntary basis and published on the website (if not confidential).
Regular estimates: both quarterly and annual employment data are estimated with a revision of the whole time series. European aggregates for employment in persons and hours worked (by NACE A*10) are released after about t+65 days and 110 after the end of the quarter. Main findings for the T+65 are presented in a news release, which includes country data. The T+110 database release is associated with a Statistics Explained article.
Detailed annual employment data by industry, up to NACE A*10, are requested by t+2/9 months (nama_10_a10_e) and by industry, up to NACE A*64, are requested by t+9/21 months (nama_10_a64_e). The European aggregates are published in October each year.
National accounts data should become available to users as timely as possible, taking into account the frequency of the data (annual or quarterly), the character of the data (info on the structure of an economy or on conjuncture developments) and an adequate balance between accuracy and timeliness.
Member States should transmit national accounts data to Eurostat upon national publication and/or in line with the deadlines specified in the transmission programme of the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010).
The ESA 2010 transmission programme defines the required timeliness for all national accounts tables, see the overview of tables on p.63. For employment data, quarterly data should be sent at t+2 months, while annual data should be sent at t+2, t+9, and t+21 months, depending on the dataset.
Aggregated euro area and EU national accounts data are compiled by Eurostat for selected tables and variables. The time to compile the European aggregates varies: the employment flash for the euro area and EU is published within 1 working day after reception of country data, while for the regular quarterly euro area and EU main employment aggregates estimations, 5 working days are needed.
The geographical comparability of national accounts in Member States of the EU is generally insured by the application of common definitions laid out in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). Worldwide geographical comparison is also possible as most non-European countries apply the SNA 2008 guidelines, and ESA 2010 is consistent with SNA 2008.
As the data for all reference periods are compiled according to the requirements of the ESA 2010, national accounts data are generally comparable over time.
However, time series can sometimes have breaks in the series, for example due to changes in the source data, reducing the comparability over time. Still, these breaks are rare and are indicated. Moreover, countries are strongly encouraged to reduce such breaks during a major benchmark revision. For more information, please see section 17.
