Statbel

Business Statistics

North Gate

Koning Albert II-laan 16

1000 Brussels

This quality report is about the Belgian Labour Cost Index (LCI), reference year 2022.

The legal basis for the LCI is Commission Regulation (EC) N° 1216/2003 of 7 July 2003 implementing Regulation (EC) N° 450/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Labour Cost Index.

NACE Rev. 2 sections B-S

NACE Rev. 2 sections B-S

Labour Costs are defined as core expenditure borne by employers for the purpose of employing staff. They include employee compensation, with wages and salaries in cash and in kind, employers' social security contributions and employment taxes regarded as labour costs minus any subsidies received, but not vocational training costs or other expenditure such as recruitment costs and spending on working clothes (by contrast with multiannual and annual labour cost data).

The quarterly Labour Cost Index measures short-term trends in "average hourly labour costs", defined as (total) labour costs divided by the corresponding number of hours worked in the quarter in question. Quarterly changes in hourly labour costs are calculated first for each economic sector (NACE Rev. 2. Sections) and then aggregated to the whole economy keeping a fixed structure (i.e. fixed weights) by industry (Laspeyres index). Therefore, the LCI does not discount the compositional effect derived from a change in the composition of employment within an economic sector. This means that, for instance, the LCI may increase due to the redundancies of low paid workers within one sector. Annual LCI figures are calculated as the arithmetic mean of the quarterly values.

All labour cost indices are annual chain-linked Laspeyres indices. Trends in average hourly labour costs for an individual economic activity/country are weighted by the total labour costs associated with that activity/country, which are fixed for one year in order to obtain national or European aggregates.

LCI data are presented in the form of index numbers (current reference year: 2016) and annual and quarterly growth rates (comparison with the previous quarter).

Apart from the overall Labour Cost Index, indices are also available for the labour cost components "wages and salaries" and "employers' social security contributions plus taxes paid minus subsidies received by the employer (Labour costs other than wages and salaries)". For Belgium and some other member states, an index excluding "bonuses" - defined as bonuses and allowances not paid in every remuneration period - is also available.

Local unit

All local units with a main activity in sections B to S of NACE Rev. 2.

NACE Rev. 2 sections B-S

Data are available since the 1^st quarter of 1996 for NACE Rev 1.1 (until the 4th quarter of 2008)  and from the 1^st quarter of 2000 on for NACE Rev 2.

2016 = 100

The Belgian LCI is completely compiled from administrative sources, in particular data from the National Social Security Office (NSSO). The NSSO is responsible for the overall management of the Belgian social security. To carry out its duties, the NSSO collects social security contributions, which are collected from the earnings of workers. Every employer having a local unit in Belgium and employing at least one worker is required to communicate each quarter the labour costs, earnings and working time of all its employees.

Quarterly

Statbel receives the necessary data from the NSSO on a quarterly basis.

Data are internally validated before dissemination, using the national validation procedures.

The NSSO-datasets are used as source to compile the Belgian LCI.

Tramo Seats (TS[RSAfull]) of jDemetra+v2.2.2 is used as application for the seasonal adjustment. National specific holidays are taken into account for the working day adjustment.

Data are internally validated before dissemination. Herefore we use the national validation procedures.

Belgium fulfills the requirements of Regulation (EC) N° 450/2003.

This section describes the relevance of the Belgian LCI.

The main user of the Labour Cost Index (LCI) is Eurostat. In addition to the European institutions, other important users are the Belgian National Bank, several federal ministries, research institutions and enterprises. Concerning this latter group, we have noticed an increasing use of the LCI for updating price clauses in contracts.

User satisfaction surveys indicate that the need for information is largely met.

Belgium fulfills the requirements of Regulation (EC) N° 450/2003.

100 %

This section describes the accuracy and reliability of the Belgian LCI.

The Belgian LCI is completely based on administrative sources, in particular data from the National Social Security Office (NSSO). The NSSO is responsible for the overall management of the Belgian social security. To carry out its duties, the NSSO collects social security contributions, which are collected from the earnings of workers. Every employer having a local unit in Belgium and employing at least one worker is required to communicate each quarter the labour costs, earnings and working time of all its employees. The register of the NSSO is therefore almost exhaustive and information is available on an individual basis.

The Belgian LCI is calculated on the basis of complete administrative sources. Therefore no sampling takes place.

No sampling takes place.

This section describes the non-sampling errors.

The Belgian LCI is calculated on the basis of complete administrative sources. Therefore there are no coverage errors.

No over-coverage takes place.

No common units are detected in the NSSO-database.

Not applicable.

Only administrative sources are used.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See below.

In order to respect the 70-day deadline, calculations of the LCI are based on an incomplete dataset containing information on about 95 % of enterprises. Data for the other 5 % of the enterprises are derived from previous information on the same company. In fact we use, for every missing enterprise, the data from the same quarter of the previous year. Then all earnings and costs are revised upwards on the basis of the year-to-year growth rates derived from the HICP. Given the slight differences between the preliminary results on the one hand and the definitive data on the other hand, this estimation method proves its reliability.

Not applicable.

Tramo Seats (TS[RSAfull]) of jDemetra+v2.2.2 is used as application for the seasonal adjustment. National specific holidays are taken into account for the working day adjustment. More detailed information on the model can be found in the enclosed template.

For the aggregated sections, Statbel uses the direct method. This method implies that the seasonal adjustment is performed at the aggregate level.

The initial results of the LCI are always revised. In order to respect the 70-day deadline, calculations of the LCI are indeed based on an incomplete dataset containing information on about 95 % of enterprises. A complete dataset is only available four months after the reference quarter. So every quarter, new data for two quarters are transmitted to Eurostat. Besides the preliminary data for the latest quarter, the revised figures for the quarter before are also delivered. In general this revision has only a limited impact on the year-to-year evolution of labour costs. The table below gives an overview of this impact.  

In order to respect the 70-day deadline, calculations of the LCI are based on an incomplete dataset containing information on about 95 % of enterprises. Data for the other 5 % of the enterprises are derived from previous information on the same company. In fact we use, for every missing enterprise, the data from the same quarter of the previous year. Then all earnings and costs are revised upwards on the basis of the year-to-year growth rates derived from the HICP. Given the slight differences between the preliminary results on the one hand and the definitive data on the other hand, this estimation method proves its reliability.

Older data are completely revised.

The LCI has always been transmitted on time.  

The table below gives an overview of the timeliness of the Belgian LCI:

Also the Quality Reports were delivered on time.

Data and quality report were always transmitted within the legal deadline.

National publication takes place at T + 60 days.

The table below presents the annual growth rates of the LCI on the one hand and the ESA 2010 compensation of employees on the other hand. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both statistics result in strongly divergent evolutions. This can be explained by the impact on the hours worked. From 2022Q3 on, the growth rates are again comparable.   

The whole LCI-series are composed using the same concepts and the same methodology. Comparability between the different economic activities and the different quarters is therefore guaranteed. 

Geographical comparability is guaranteed.

Not applicable.

Comparable time series are available from 2000Q1 onwards.

Data in the NACE Rev. 2 are available since 2000Q1.

Comparability over NACE sections is guaranteed.

Coherence between the different quarters of the same year is guaranteed by using the same methods and calculation methods. The seasonal adjusted time series make comparing different quarters possible.

See general point 8.

Internal coherence (e.g. between nace sections) is guaranteed by using the same data sources and the same methods.

Data as well as further information on definitions and methods are available at the dedicated section of Statbel’s website:
https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/indicators/labour/labour-cost-index

New data are announced at the head page of Statbel's website.

The LCI is presented in two annual publications. One the one hand the LCI is included in the annual "Key figures" publication, wherein Statbel presents their main statistics. On the other hand the data are also presented in the annual publication of the labour market division.  

The database with the working day and seasonnaly adjusted data is available at the website of Statbel.

Not applicable.

There is no microdata access for the LCI.

Further information on definitions and methods are available at the dedicated section of Statbel’s website.

Metadata are available on the website of Statbel. Also Eurostat publishes the LCI metadata.

100 %

The metadata can be consulted at the dedicated section of Statbel’s website.

The Belgian LCI is entirely based on administrative data. Therefore no additional burden for enterprises occurs.

The Belgian confidentiality rules are followed.

The Belgian confidentiality rules are presented on the website of Statbel.

The LCI contains aggregated figures, so identification of individual firms is not possible. No further treatment should take place.

See the other sections for more information.