Statistics Austria

Directorate "Business Statistics"

Department "Short Term Statistics"

Bundesanstalt Statistik Österreich

A-1110 Wien, Guglgasse 13

The Austrian Production Statistics Survey (APS) is traditionally an integral part of the monthly Short Term Statistics Survey (STS-survey) which forms - together with the yearly Structural Business Statistics Survey (SBS) and the Material Input Statistics Survey (MIS) - a unique and coherent statistical framework. So, PRODCOM is a monthly survey resp. statistics in Austria.

Impact of Covid-19: PRODCOM is a monthly survey in Austria. The partly Covid-lockdowns in Austria only caused a very few individual reporting delays on the part of the respondents. Due to the follow-up reporting of the missing data, there is no influence on the annual Austrian Prodcom data for the reporting year 2022. 

These three main economic statistical surveys STS, SBS and MIS cover and analyse all statistical activities with reference to NACE Rev. 2 - sections B to F resp. divisions 05 to 43 – in Austria called “Industry and Construction”. They are embedded in a particular conceptual framework which guarantees a maximum of synergies and coherence in accordance to the identification and selection of the statistical observation and reporting units as well as minimizing the response burden for small enterprises.

The monthly Short Term Statistics consist of the following statistical sub-domains at legal unit (LEU) and local kind of activity unit (LKAU - resp. a unit, which is similar to the LKAU):

1. Employment statistics (ES),
2. Labour costs statistics (LCS),
3. Volume of work statistics (VWS),
4. Turnover statistics (TS),
5. Production statistics (PS).

The data of para 1 to 5 at certain aggregate levels are primarily used to calculate the STS-indicators in accordance to Regulation (EC) No. 1165/98 concerning Short Term Statistics (in its current version) and to calculate the Labour Cost Index with reference to Regulation (EC) No 450/2003 (LCI – ref. to para 2 and 3 - in its current version) as well as to make cyclical forecasts. On the other hand the data of production statistics serve as a basis for calculating production and productivity indices – but mainly serving the needs of the PRODCOM: 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 and 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.

This Community Statistics survey on industrial production was therefore designed to allow alignment with foreign trade statistics via linking with CN/HS wherever possible, and thus obtain detailed information about national and European markets, too.

The Austrian national commodity list - the so called "OEPRODCOM list" - is based on the entire list of headings out of the latest PRODCOM-list valid for the reference year. These headings are often extended with two extra digits because of their importance to national market analysis. Therefore the Austrian national codification consists of 10 digits.

The product list is extended by further product headings for the NACE Rev. 2-divisions 05 and 06, 35, 36, 37 and 39 as well as 41 to 43 and additionally for products representing mostly secondary activities in accordance to NACE Rev. 2-divisions 45 to 96 (only market profit oriented activities - in Austria called “product related services”, mostly created as extensions of existing CPA-sub-categories (CPA 2015 6-digits extended to OEPRODCOM 10-digits).

If it is necessary to define further headings for national purposes which cannot be based on valid PRODCOM 8-digits or a certain CPA 2015-level (so called “black box” or “dummy” headings, often reflecting production plants, special industrial services like repairs, establishing, erecting, maintenance or other performances which cannot be identified in the PRODCOM-list) are defined. However, these codes must fit into one of the valid hierarchical levels of the CPA 2015.

The Austrian OEPRODCOM is the groundwork for the branch specific commodity lists 1 (containing all products and services in accordance to the NACE Rev. 2-divisions 05 to 43) and the commodity list 2 (product related services referring to all CPA 2015 based “products” at six digit level – only value – of NACE Rev. 2-division 45 to 96). The commodity lists 1 often do not show the original PRODCOM wording, but instead the description of the headings is to a certain extend hierarchically structured in regards to improve the user-friendliness.

The Austrian STS survey coverage is limited to Sections B to F od NACE Rev. 2, this means all relevant statistical units which carry out at least one of the activities in Section B (“Mining and Quarrying”), C (“Manufacturing”), D (“Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply”), E ("Water supply; Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities) and F (“Construction”) of the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).

In principle the Austrian OEPRODCOM survey concept differentiates between the following production types:

• Own production intended for sale (OS),
• Own production intended for further processing (OP),
• Own production intended for internal deliveries, transactions and performances (OI),
• production under sub-contracted operations (SW),
• Subcontract work carried out by another unit (SU),
• Production/performances sold (PS),
• Internal deliveries, transactions and performances within the enterprise (ID).

For Eurostat-reporting purposes the following reporting types are calculated:

• total production = OS + OI + OP + SW,
• production sold = PS,
• production under sub-contracted operations = SW 

Data in accordance to the headings referring to the NACE Rev. 2-groups/class/sub-class 41.1, 43.2, 43.3, 43.91 and 43.99-1 and to the NACE Rev. 2-divisions 45 to 96 are surveyed for production type “production sold” only.

The singular production types have to be recorded for all commodity list OEPRODCOM-headings as far as produced and/or sold in the reporting period.

The General Notes in the PRODCOM-list specify, that the “value of production sold/production intended for sale should be calculated on the basis of the ex-works selling price obtained/obtainable during the reporting period. This price includes packaging costs but does not contain turnover taxes, consumer taxes, separately charged costs of freight or any discounts granted to customers”.

In the present results of 2022 there was no significant observable COVID-19 effect (see also point 3.1.).

The Austrian observation unit for STS-survey and hence for the PRODCOM-survey purposes is the legal unit (LEU) and/or the kind of activity unit (KAU), which is considered to be the actual producer in the production process either as a single-KAU-enterprise or a local-KAU-enterprise or a multi-KAU-enterprise. Thus, in Austria the Regulation (EEC) 696/93 is implemented in the framework of STS and PRODCOM.

However, due to the small-structured economy in Austria, most of the legal units (LEU) correspond to a KAU, this means LEU=KAU. However, there are some important units where this is not the case and relevant KAU-units were formed.

In contrary to this fact, the economical most important operating units in the light of production have alsway been the KAU’s in Austria.

In general, the target population incorporates all active legal units and LKAU's in the Business register with their main and/or secondary activities listed in NACE Rev. 2- sections B to F.

According to the national STS-regulation [regulation on Short Term Statistics in Industries and Construction (Konjunkturstatistik-Verordnung)], Federal Law Gazette II No 210/2003, amended by Federal Law Gazette No II 327/2013] the survey population has to cover:

• Legal units with 20 and more persons employed,
• At least 90% (or 60% in division 43) of national production per NACE Rev. 2-division (level of representative),
• If coverage rule is not fulfilled - additionally legal units with less than 20 persons employed and a turnover of at least 1 m Euro (NACE Rev. 2-divisions 05 to 42) and 2 m Euro (NACE Rev. 2-division 43).

The coverage of the STS-survey and therefore also the PRODCOM-survey is calculated in terms of total turnover  of all units with primary and secondary activities within NACE Rev. 2-section B to F (due to a lack of other corresponding information).

To sum up, it can be stated that in the Austrian STS-survey (and hence Prodcom-survey) an employment threshold represents the population. Additionally - if the national representation goal of 90 per cent per NACE Rev. 2-division cannot be achieved - subsidiary turnover thresholds are applied (this means that units with less than 20 persons employed are in the survey population). Following these principles, the population of the STS-survey and therefore the Prodcom-survey is framed on the information about employment and turnover.

Industral production on national level.

National requirements: on a monthly basis.

European requirements: yearly.

Not applicable.

For volume: physical measurement unit required by the nomenclature of industrial production (OEPRODCOM-list), specific for each product.

For values: in thousands of Euro to be in line with EBS-Regulation.

The data are from the calendar year 2022.

At EU level: 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 and 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

At national level: The Regulation on Short Term Statistics in Industries and Construction (Konjunkturstatistik-Verordnung), Federal Law Gazette II No 210/2003, amended by Federal Law Gazette No II 327/2013, following the principles of the Federal Act on Federal Statistics (Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000 - Federal Statistics Act 2000, Federal Law Gazette I, No 163/1999, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I, No 32/2018) serves as legal national basis.

Not applicable

National level: The legal base for statistical confidentiality is:

• The general obligation to publish statistics and the strict fulfilment of statistical confidentiality is regulated by the “Federal Statistics Act 2000” ("Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000") in the current version.
• The protection of personal data is covered by the “Data Protection Act 2000” ("Datenschutzgesetz 2000", in the current version).

See also hhttps://www.statistik.at/en/about-us/responsibilities-and-principles/legal-basis/data-protection

EU level: Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics.

Confidentiality policy in Austria:

• Aggregates have to be flagged as "confidential" if the data refers to less than 3 statistical units (primary/active confidentiality).
• The secondary confidentiality pattern is calculated by an algorithm making it impossible to restore the original data by subtraction from row and column aggregates. No dominance criterion is applied, but the right of the enterprises to protect their individual data must be respected. Consequential, if a company proves dominance in a specific aggregate, the data in the respective cells of the table must not be displayed/shown, even if there are more than 3 contributing units.

Eurostat requirements:

Yearly: t+6 month after the reference period.

National requirements:

Monthly: t+90 days after the reference month for monthly OEPRODCOM data.

Yearly: t+6 month after the reference period.

A release calendar as well as a press calendar is on the homepage of Statistics Austria at https://www.statistik.at/en/medien/release-calendar

Release is simultaneously with:

• No prior access before official data release.

• The "Federal Statistics Act 2000“ ("Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000) in the current version) explicitly states in §30 (3) the obligation of Statistics Austria to inform without delay the Federal Ministry responsible for the subject matter concerned about the results of statistical surveys and to publish them simultaneously.

• According to the release calendar of Eurostat the data are transmitted to Eurostat.

The PRODCOM data are transmitted to Eurostat yearly.
On national level (OEPRODCOM) data are available monthly.

In general, the monthly figures of the STS-survey are published 90 days after the monthly reference period on the website of Statistics Austria.

Press releases

Statistics Austria publishes information on the monthly STS survey in the form of a press release, which can also be accessed free of charge on the website under "Presse" at https://www.statistik.at/en/medien/press-releases

For PRODCOM-data there is no separate press release.

The most important national paper and electronic publications concerning to STS and PRODCOM data both on a monthly and annual basis are:

• "Schnellberichte" (Quick Reports),"
• "Statistische Übersichten" (Statistical Overviews -Supplement to "Statistische Nachrichten"),
• "STATcube" (statistical database of Statistics Austria),
• Website of Statistics Austria: STATISTIK AUSTRIA - www.statistik.at > Industry, construction, trade and services > Production in goods > PRODCOM.

Statistical Database - STATcube:

The Database STATcube can be found on the Website of Statistics Austria.

No microdata are available.

Other Figures or other special required data in accordance to the special needs of the applicant either in printed form (tables) or in specific file formats (excel, csv, pdf, ...).

Metadata and quality reports:

Standardised national metadata and quality reports for "Short Term Statistics in industry and construction" (pdf document - available in German only). Metadata can be also found in other disseminations (printed brochures, STATcube, ...). 

These reports can be downloaded on our homepage under the following adress: https://www.statistik.at/en/statistics/industry-construction-trade-and-services/short-term-business-statistics/figures-industry-and-construction (see item "Documentaion").

Quality management documentation in form of methodology reports and various analyses can be found on the website of Statistics Austria (available in German only) at https://www.statistik.at/en/statistics/industry-construction-trade-and-services/short-term-business-statistics/figures-industry-and-construction (see item "Documentation").

The Prodcom statistics are compiled in accordance with the Statistics Austria's Quality Guidelines.

Quality checks and validation of data are done throughout the whole compilation process. This is described in the standardised metadata and quality report for "Short Term Statistics in industry and construction" (see item "Documentaion" - available in German only) on the website of Statistics Austria.

The chapter “Quality” of this report contains the following points:

• Relevance;
• Accuracy (Sampling Errors, Non-Sampling-Errors, revisions, …);
• Timeliness and punctuality in dissemination;
• Accessibility and clarity of the information;
• Comparability;
• Coherence with other statistics.

Following relevant changes discussions with national experts and the Quality Committee of the Statistical Council of Statistics Austria are held for feedback and modification suggestions.

Statistics Austria has its own internal quality management department.

Reports are not only based on best practices, but also on the results of regular (quality) meetings amongst decision-making bodies and users.

A commitment to quality of Statistics Austria is available under https://www.statistik.at/en/about-us/responsibilities-and-principles/standards/statistics-austrias-quality-guidelines  

Detailed information on the latest Peer Reviews (2022 as well as 2006 and 2014) can be found at https://www.statistik.at/en/about-us/international/ess-peer-review-2022

External main users

The external main users of the Austrian STS-data (and therefore PRODCOM) data are:

• European Commission (General directorates and primarily Eurostat),
• Other international institutions (UN, OECD, ECB),
• Governmental authorities and public administrations,
• Trade associations,
• Social partners,
• National and international enterprises and enterprise groups,
• Research institutes (WIFO, IHS) and universities,
• Media,
• Students.

Internal users 

Internally the following statistical projects apply for APS-data either as a weighting system or as basis information:

• National accounts (commodity flows),
• Environmental statistics (material flows),
• Production index,
• Productivity index,
• Output price indices,
• Energy balance sheets,
• SBR (demanding APS-data as an auxiliary instrument to classify statistical units by activities with regard to the characteristic products).

In general, the monthly production data are among the most popular industrial statistics. Potential users are interested in highly detailed products data as possible. Therefore, the Austrian commodity-list OEPRODCOM includes more breakdowns and subheadings compared to the European PRODCOM-list, including nearly all existing industrial and services activities.

Moreover, users need at least total production and production sold data – by quantity (wherever useful) for all physical products as well as valued for all headings.

Many users demand production data and foreign trade data to calculate national apparent consumption at a higher level (e.g. 6-digit CPA 2008-level). Therefore, the national publication of production at 6-, 4- and 2-digit levels of the CPA 2008 is one of the most pressing demands of multiple users.

Demands on a harmonized survey on production

The main aims of a harmonized survey on production are:

• The European Commission needs reliable and quick statistics in order to report on the economic development in each Member State of the Union within the framework of the economic policy of the Union.
• They build a main information-source for national and international institutions to decide upon needed policies, analyse the current situation and to make forecasts.
• Businesses and their professional associations need such information in order to understand their markets and to know their activity and performance relative to their sector, at national and international level.
• Production statistics help EU-companies and analysts to do market research and define their commercial strategy.
• Data of production statistics constitute an essential source of information for Balance of Payments Statistics (BOP), for the construction of national accounts (European System of National Account – ESA 2010) and Input-Output-charts and economic studies.

 The needs of national users can be described as follows:

• Product classification derived from CPA 2008 and (therefore) fully compatible to the valid PRODCOM-list and HS or CN respectively,
• Different levels of product aggregations: OEPRODCOM (10-digit) → PRODCOM (8-digit) → CPA 2008 (6-/4-/2-digit)
• Desirable measurement unit(s),
• Monthly frequency,
• Data dissemination at least within 90 calendar days after reference month,
• Different types of production to evaluate the production process,
• Covering the national production of “physical commodities” as well as “industrial and non- industrial services”, carried out by businesses (legal units and their LKAU’s) with a main activity and at least one secondary activity according to the NACE Rev. 2-sections B to F.

 Main reasons for lack of relevance

• Users often demand more detailed data as published or they just need data being confidential (much of the PRODCOM-data is of great interest, but due to restrictive data-protection- regulations a lot of information available cannot be published in the required form).
• Users are interested in information which enterprises actually produce certain products or offer certain services in accordance with the commodities produced.
• Users demand more exhaustive explanations for singular PRODCOM-headings.

User's satisfaction surveys take place at periodic intervals (in general every 2 years). Information can be found on the website: https://www.statistik.at/en/about-us/responsibilities-and-principles/standards/european-statistics-code-of-practice.

On the other hand, there are regular meetings with national experts and essential users to react on new requirements, if they are in line with legal necessities or constraints.

The Austrian PRODCOM figures are complete (in the light of the level of the required representativeness).

As mentioned above (see e.g. point 3.1 and 3.4.) COVID-19 had no observable impact of the completeness of the present results of the reporting year 2022.

Concept of a cut-off survey, therefore no sampling errors.

Because of the fact that the Austrian PRODCOM survey is conducted as a non-probability, non-representative (concentrated) sample (cut off threshold) it is impossible to estimate a sampling error.

Impact of COVID-19: The Corona-crises did not have any (significant) impact both on unit non-response and item-non-response. Therefore, the response rate in the Corona crisis year did not deviate from that of previous years (see also the comments below on Unit-non-response).

Unit non-response:

In Austria we calculate a unit non-response rate, this means the ratio of the number of units with no information or not usable information to the total number of in-scope (eligible) units. From this, an imputation rate can be deducted. Because of the fact, that the monthly PRODCOM statistics is a well-established survey in Austria, the unit-non response rate respectively the imputation rate do not change significantly over the time.

The unit non-response rate and therefore the impuation rate for the Austrian PRODCOM results (t+6 month after the reference year is only about 0.7 per cent in 2022. Nevertheless, these units are estimated on basis of a model-based imputation programme, where the missing data are replaced with substituted values.

So in summary, the Austrian PRODCOM data are based on more than 99 per cent on primary statistical data (survey data form the respondents). Only about 0.7 to 0.4 per cent were replaced with substituted values.

Item-non-response:

We do not calculate an item non-response rate, this means a ratio between in-scope units that have not responded and in-scope units that are required to respond to the particular item, separately. The main reason is that we have a monthly PRODCOM survey and missing production variables in one month must not be wrong.  

Missing volume data are estimated on the basis of unit values assuming that an average unit value can be calculated. If there is only one unit processing the heading concerned, the time series unit value will be taken and evaluated by the consumer price index. Alternatively, the unit value calculated will be compared with the unit value of the aggregated CN-headings concerned. Additionally, specific questions are clarified by telephone or email.

Data revision - average size:

We do not calculate a data revision average size. The reason is that the Austrian PRODCOM survey is traditionally an integral part of the monthly Short Term Statistics Survey (STS-survey). So, both STS-data and Prodcom-data are edited. The number of edited enterprises varies from month to month and year to year and can not be related in an reasonable manner. It is not useful to compare monthy and yearly data revision actions.

In general, some non-sampling errors must be considered:

Response rate

Actions to increase the response rate are taken insofar as:

• Systematic follow up contacts by one and the same co-worker of Statistics Austria with the respondents of the reporting units often lead to a personally relationship ensuring that the statistical information arrives Statistics Austria in time and (in a high percentage) correctly.
• Costless dissemination of printed periodically aggregated information meeting the branch-specific needs of enterprises for observing the economic cycle helps to increase the acceptance of the statistical burden.
• Furthermore, it is made clear in the explanatory notes that estimates are accepted if exact figures are not (yet) available.
• Legal deadline to report is the 15^th of the following month. To ensure this deadline Statistics Austria has established a permanent practise for sending out reminders at two stages: 1^st reminder – one week after, 2^nd reminder three weeks after the legal deadline (informal and formal requests). If the reporting unit is not willing to meet the legal obligation to report within 6 weeks after deadline Statistics Austria is obliged to report them to the legal district authority which might impose them a fee up to 2.180 EUR.
• Missing observation units are listed top down according to their branch importance to see the priority for contacting them immediately.

Coverage

Among other things the national STS-regulation also includes a degree of coverage (90 per cent criteria).

The SBS or administrative data are taken as the source to calculate the coverage as ratio between:

• Total turnover from industrial activities or total production value of the APS-observation units and,
• Total turnover or total production value respectively of all enterprises with primary and secondary activities within NACE Rev. 2-section B to F, measured at NACE Rev. 2-class level.

In general, it can be distinguished between the following types of coverage error:

• Undercoverage: there are target population units which are not accessible via the frame (e.g. enterprises carrying out “industrial activities” but not accessed by the survey).
• Overcoverage: there are units accessible via the frame which does not belong to the target population (e.g. service enterprises classified and surveyed as “industrial” enterprises).
• Multiple listings: target population units are present more than once in the frame (e.g. identical enterprises under different firm names and addressed listed twice in the SBR).
• Incorrect auxiliary information: the auxiliary information provided by the frame may be inaccurate for some population units (e.g. wrong employment or turnover size of units in a business register).

Coverage errors may lead to bias and underestimation of variance.

Reasons for undercoverage

The following reasons for undercoverage are evident but must be accepted at the moment because of national legal restrictions:

• local KAU's with a main activity in the services sector but with secondary activities within NACE Rev. 2-divisions 05 to 43 and,
• LEU's with less than 20 persons employed and carrying out a main activity and/or secondary activities within NACE Rev. 2-divisions 05 to 43 are generally excluded from the survey population (with the exception of the "turnover"-criteria - see point 3.6).

The reason to exclude these LEU's and KAU’s is to minimize or to avoid the respondent burden of mainly in the services sector active single LKAU as well as of small sized enterprises totally. These exclusions however, make it partly impossible to cover the 90% representativeness in some NACE Rev. 2-classes  (“small  structured  branches”)  and  obviously the use of such a cut off threshold leads to bias as such small enterprises are underrepresented in the survey.

Further reasons for undercoverage can be assumed in cases of

• Unit-non-response (LEU's and LKAU’s not returning questionnaire though part of the frame),
• Activity classification errors (wrong or missing secondary activities),
• Commodity classification errors.

Overcoverage

In contradiction to the above mentioned undercoverage

• Commodity classification errors (e.g. reporting of “product related services” instead of physical commodities produced) or,
• Activity classification errors (in case of enterprises erroneously classified in Sections B to F instead of (for example) Section G of the NACE Rev. 2) may also lead to overcoverage.

Multiple listings

No units are present more than once in the frame. Each LEU/LKAU is characterized by an identity number relating to name and address of the unit.

Incorrect auxiliary information

Two types of auxiliary information in the SBR may lead to errors in the frame of the survey:

• Incorrect NACE activity information may lead to a unit not apparent in the frame.
• Incorrect information in SBR derived from administrative data sources concerning number of persons employed and or turnover may also lead to a unit not apparent in the frame.

According to the new EBS-regulation Statistics Austria transmits the yearly PRODCOM data within six months after the end of the reference year.

Covid-19 crisis did not lead to an extended time lag for the production of data for the reference year 2022 (on the one hand, Covid-restrictions affected the industrial sector to a very limited degree only in Austria, on the other hand, we have a continuous monthly survey and hence a monthly data basis).

As stated by Eurostat the PRODCOM compliance result for Austrian for the last reference year was "Very Good".

Statistics Austria punctually submits the final data for the reference year 2022 to Eurostat in June 2023 and hence timely. So, there were no COVID-19-related punctuality issues in the transmission of the data to Eurostat. 

On a national level, the first preliminary monthly data are available 90 days after each reference month.

In general, requirements and definitions of the PRODCOM-regulation are applied.

General remarks:

Concerning the degree of comparability between similar surveys measuring the same characteristics, while being conducted by multiple statistical agencies referring to populations in different geographical entities.

Whenever there occur differences between national concepts and European concepts (definition of statistical units, reference population, classifications and definition of observed characteristics), details about these differences in terms of concept and estimation of consequences for resulting statistics should be mentioned.

The combination of both information sources will allow an assessment on the level of comparability for the statistics.

 Comparisons between countries are carried out by EUROSTAT within the framework of the vilification of PRODCOM-data.

Comparability over time:

• Data up to 2007,
• Data from 2008 onwards (Introduction of NACE Rev. 2 in to the European statistical system).

Further remarks concerning the comparability in general:

Comparability with other statistics

Some users, especially those working in the macroeconomic field, use time series rather than point estimates for a date. The stability of the concepts and methods of measurement is very important to them.

Inconsistencies over time occur when the respective data collected for a specific reference period are not entirely comparable with the data of the following periods due to a number of peculiarities in certain time periods. In such cases we say that we have a break in time series. The difference in concepts and methods of measurements between two reference periods should be examined.

Micro as well as macro-data (aggregated to NACE-classes or -groups) can be compared with results from previous months and years.

Comparability with the Structural Business Statistic (SBS)

PRODCOM-data can directly be compared with data from the annual structural business statistic in the production sector on the basis of establishments. As these two statistics are carried out at different points of time, minor deviations (e.g. due to retrospective reorganization) have to considered.

Comparability with Foreign Trade Statistic

At present a matching between the foreign trade register and the business register is in progress. This will allow the identification of corresponding statistical units and builds the basis for regular comparison between production and foreign trade data.

Combinations of the above

Comparability problems can arise in pairs, for instance if someone wants to use time series of several countries in order to compare forecasted values.

Possible errors

The data are comparable over time making certain reservations:

Change due to Classifications

The PRODCOM-list is changed once a year mainly due to changes in the CPA and the CN. The number of changes varies a lot from year to year.

Change due to number of employees

Once a year the population is updated with enterprises having surpassed or fallen below the threshold of observation (in general at least 20 employees). During the calendar year no update based on the number of employees implemented.

Change due to NACE activity

The population is updated with LEU's and LKAU's changing primary or secondary activity into NACE Rev. 2 05 to 33 or out of NACE 05 to 33 once a year. During the calendar year no population update is conducted due to changes in activities.

Possible mechanisms for ensuring or increasing comparability

Comparability over space

In general, analysis and publication by Statistics Austria of STS statistics (and therefore Prodcom statistics, too) are in accordance with the national concept. These results cannot be directly compared with the results for Austria published by Eurostat containing differences arising from the fact that the latter are analysed in accordance with the Community concept, although both are based on the same principles.

Comparability over time

Changes due to definitions, coverage or methods and other changes will have an impact on continuity. The changes of definition caused by this changeover do not only result in structural changes within detailed results, as shown by changes in the nomenclature, but also in changes of quality aspects such as coherence and comparability between domains and over space.

Other changes, such as raising/decreasing the cut off threshold as well as changes in the representativeness criteria or changes in the completeness of the Business Register lead to unexplainable distortions in time series.

New Variable Sub-Contracted Work

In Austria subcontracted work is a collected variable since many years and added to total production within our publications and data sent to EURSTAT. Therefore, we do not expect a beak in our time series.

It is too early to evaluate any final coherence issue due to COVID-19.

Apart from the fact that provisional and final production data must be coherent to another, information on production can be found in

• Short Term Statistics,
• Annual Structural Business Statistics,
• National Accounts Statistics,
• Foreign Trade Statistics,
• Certain branch statistics such as agro-industrial, energy and environmental statistics which must relate to one another.

However, the compilation of the data and the production of the above mentioned statistics follow different recommendations (sources and methods) of mostly different international organizations, i.e. Eurostat, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations (UN), World Trade Organization, etc. and therefore the interpretation of the data as well as the understanding sometimes seems to be different and not necessarily coherent.

Coherence concerning the number of enterprises in the business register (BR)

The STS survey (and therefore the PRODCOM surveys) is based on active enterprises in the BR at the end of a predetermined reference period. Furthermore, in BR enterprises with a yearly turnover of at least 1 000 EUR or with employees are recorded as active, in general. In STS survey the same thresholds for defining an enterprise as active are applied.

Coherence between STS-data and production data

The production data serve as a base for calculation of the index of production as well as of the national indices of productivity. "Total technical production“ is used for this purpose. Production OEPRODCOM-data are used as well for selection and weighting purposes in the concept of calculation producer price indices. Data obtained according to OEPRODCOM have a high level of information by whom, when, what, how much and in which structure industrial products are processed.

Coherence between structural business and final production statistics

Production sold in total values can be linked with variable "turnover" of Structural Business Statistics and therefore can serve as a control variable on the conditions that valuation of production sold is coherent with turnover.

Coherence between National Accounts and final production statistics

Production statistics is one of the most important sources for calculating input-/output tables and therefore the demand for coherence between National Accounts and production statistics is indispensable.

Coherence between foreign trade and final production statistics

Linking the results of external trade statistics to the results of production statistics could lead to problems in some cases. On the one hand there is no difference made between trade in goods produced in Austria and trade in goods imported and afterwards exported again, which may be called “re-exported imports”. On the other hand, detailed production data are available in accordance with OEPRODCOM, while external trade results conform to the Combined Nomenclature (CN). Since the two classifications are not completely compatible, the only alternative is to link them at aggregated level in accordance with CPA.

Nevertheless, a precise connection to CN can be realized for 90% per cent.

Coherence between certain branch and final production statistics

Needs of information concerning production of sugar, milk and milk-products, oils, fats and other food products as well as of products of the wood industry are of great interest for agricultural and forestry statistics. Production statistics supply data concerning production of certain environmental relevant products especially mining of raw materials and their processing, chemical industry etc. Although energy statistics has own statistics observing production, distribution and consumption of electricity production data are urgently used for comparison and validation of results.

 New Variable Sub-Contracted Work

In Austria subcontracted work is a collected variable since many years and added to total production within our publications and data sent to EURSTAT. Therefore, we do not expect a beak in our time series nor in any coherence to other statistics.

Provisional data serve as a first source of publication. New and better or revised information of the observation units makes it necessary to adapt the former information until the data are regarded as final. These data are at least unalterable at national level. Regarding to this fact it is impossible for Statistics Austria to alter data sets submitted on demand of Eurostat in case of possible unit value deviations or apparent consumption analysis.

It is too early to evaluate any final coherence issue due to COVID-19.

The Federal Statistics Law 2000 stipulates that the institutions of official statistics have to organise their statistical system in a way that the response burden on enterprises is as small as possible. Thus, it was seen necessary to evaluate the actual response burden and to develop a system which facilitates monitoring of the response burden.

In the context of a co-operation contract between Statistics Austria and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber signed in 2001, one of the aims was to develop a system to monitor the development of the response burden. Based on the experience in other countries this monitoring system was named “response burden barometer”. The response burden barometer is a quantitative and objective indicator on the response burden and its temporal development. It takes into consideration the various surveys as well as the different situations at the branches and size bands.

Detailed results of the response burden barometer by surveys can be found on the homepage of Statistics Austria at

https://www.statistik.at/en/services/tools/services/response-burden-barometer

General principles relating to the data revision policy (available in German only) can be found at https://www.statistik.at/en/about-us/responsibilities-and-principles/standards/statistics-austrias-revisions-policy

The Austrian PRODCOM data are transmitted to Eurostat at the latest t+6 month after the reference year. These are already final data. Therefore, and in general, no more data revision is foreseen.

In general, a revision after the legal transmission deadline (t+6 months) will only be done if the external factors have been changed in such a manner that a significant impact on the results may be expected (extraordniary revision). 

In Austria no extra data revision due to Covid-19 is needed for the current reference year.

The Austrian PRODCOM data are based on a primary survey (whereby the PRODCOM survey is traditionally an integrated part of the monthly Short Term Statistics surveys) of about 10 000 respondents. Detailed information can be found at (available in German only) https://www.statistik.at/en/ueber-uns/erhebungen/unternehmen/konjunkturerhebung-im-produzierenden-bereich.

Impact of Covid-19: Prodcom is a monthly survey in Austria. The Covid-lockdowns only caused some few individual reporting delays. Due to the follow-up reporting of the missing data, there is no influence on the annual Austrian PRODCOM data for the reporting year 2022 (see also chapter 3.1. and 13.3.). 

The Austrian PRODCOM survey coverage is limited to Sections B to F od NACE Rev. 2, this means all relevant statistical units which carry out at least one of the activities in Sections

• B (“Mining and Quarrying”),
• C (“Manufacturing”),
• D (“Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply”),
• E ("Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities) and
• F (“Construction”)

of the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).

According to the national STS-regulation [regulation on Short Term Statistics in Industries and Construction (Konjunkturstatistik-Verordnung), Federal Law Gazette II No 210/2003, amended by Federal Law Gazette No II 327/2013] the survey population has to cover:

• Legal units with 20 and more persons employed,
• At least 90% of national production per NACE Rev. 2-class (level of representative),
• If coverage rule is not fulfilled - additionally legal units with less than 20 persons employed and a turnover of at least 1 bn Euro (NACE Rev. 2-divisions 05 to 42) and 2 bn Euro (NACE Rev. 2-division 43).

The coverage of the STS-survey and therefore also the PRODCOM-survey is calculated in terms of total turnover from industrial activities of observation units/total turnover of all enterprises with primary and secondary activities within NACE Rev. 2-section B to F (due to a lack of other corresponding information).

As previously discussed, the Austrian PRODCOM-survey is a cut-off survey (non-probability sampling) or in other words a “non-representative, concentrated sample” with regard to a certain degree of coverage in national production.

In Austria the PRODCOM survey is a monthly survey. Annual data are calculated based on the monthly data.

Regarding the data submissions by the enterprises of this - in Austria - monthly survey it is mandatory for the respondents to use an electronic questionnaire. 

There was no COVID-19-related effect due to this issue. 

In Austria questionnaires pass through the following processes:

1.) Plausibility checks during entering data in the online questionnaires as a first step

Filling in the questionnaire the respondents face several interactive plausibility checks. Obviously this became possible with the mandatory usage of electronic questionnaires.

There are two kinds of electronic questionnaires. The first one is an internet solution (so called "eQuest/Web".

The two above mentioned data entry modes have the following main features in common:

• High security of input data.
• The organisational structure of the enterprise is hierarchically illustrated in a tree-view but only the observation units and their questionnaires concerned are highlighted and can be filled out. Moreover, only those blocs of variables of the different statistics surveys will be indicated to which the singular observation units apply (questions can be displayed or hidden dynamically, depending on their relevance in the specific case).
• No protracted searches in voluminous production code lists and other classifications, but rather quick retrieval of the correct code, aided by display of the codes in hierarchies, full text and synonym search, and automatic insertion of codes, texts and units of measure in the questionnaire.
• An extensive multi-layered help system offers context-sensitive help only when and where it is needed.
• Automatic input checks mark incorrect or implausible data with warnings and/or error texts.
• Automatic calculations (sums, comparisons etc.).
• Form completion can be interrupted at any time and the data saved for completion at a later time or date.
• Third-party respondents have access to their clients’ forms and functions for managing them.

2.) Processing incoming electronic questionnaires

In parallel with the aforementioned e-Quest Metadata Manager for survey preparation and the questionnaire systems e-Quest and e-Quest/Web on the respondents’ side, Statistics Austria also developed standardized software systems as special instruments for treating, validating and correcting “incoming data” to accept and process the raw data. Incoming e-Quest/Web questionnaires can be directly viewed and edited in the intranet by subject matter experts using the same browser application developed for the respondents – albeit enhanced by specific internal functions. Alternatively, the data can also be transmitted to the e-Quest Package Manager (internally nicknamed the "Pot Application”) created for e-Quest responses. The "Pot Application“ is a standardized tool for processing electronic responses. Incoming questionnaires (in the form of XML packages) are automatically distributed into various processing "pots” according to their content, using criteria defined in advance. In the "pots” they can be viewed, edited, corrected and passed on to other subject matter experts for further processing. For viewing the data, one can use an enhanced version of e-Quest which keeps track of any changes to the data, maintaining a history of modifications and comments attributable to the (internal) user who made them. Questionnaires which have been checked are moved to the "OK pot” and are then transferred via an interface component to other systems.

3.) Further  processing  by  using  an  electronic  application  for  treating,  validating  and correcting

An efficient integration of electronic questionnaires into the existing processing flows was achieved with the PC correction application "KJEKorr“. This program allows data from the monthly Short Term Statistics Survey already residing in the host database to be viewed, augmented, validated and corrected. This fulfils all requirements of Statistics Austria for extensive documentation and modification history, which were formerly complied with handwritten notes on the paper forms. Without having to take regress to the paper questionnaires, the subject matter expert can now process the survey data quickly and efficiently and can rely on automatic data editing support:

• automatic calculations (sums, quotas, entry counters, units of measure),
• online search in the classification hierarchies (PRODCOM, NACE),
• modification history,  comments  and  validation  checks  on  the  currently  active  field  are highlighted,
• questionnaires that have been "set aside“ or deleted can be reactivated,
• automatic data validation at the moment when the data are stored.

Therefore, a lot of micro- and macro plausibility checks on different aggregate levels are performed followed by comparisons and between historical and actual data:

• Checking coherence between different variables of the STS-questionnaire (production types, employment, volume of orders, turnover),
• Checking coherence of the singular OEPRODCOM-headings in comparing the actual mean price and the mean price of an observation unit as well as the actual minimum and the maximum price of the same product of the totals,
• Checking coherence of the singular OEPRODCOM-headings in comparing the actual mean price and the historical mean price of the observation unit as well as the actual minimum and the maximum price of the same product of the totals,
• Checking plausibility between the variable "sold production" and foreign trade results are carried out via PC correction application "KJEKorr".

As can be seen, all incoming questionnaire are checked for plausibility and validation, in terms of both form and content. On the one hand, the micro data are checked by the statisticians based on their sound knowledge on the respective singular units as well as economic branches; on the other hand, special computerized analysis (plausibility checks) are performed on different levels of aggregation aiming to calculate the macro level. Thus, the STS-data must pass about 100 plausibility checks, about 30 checks refer to the production data (PRODCOM) and data in context with turnover, whereby the check of one plausibility item may include several further checks. Moreover, the calculation of unit values and comparisons with foreign trade data help to verify the correctness of above mentioned data.

Actually, all economic surveys in Mining and Manufacturing Industries (STS, SBS and MIS) are handled by the people in charge what opens up a wide range of possibilities to compare different variables (i.e. value of material input compared with OEPRODCOM-output, turnover by value from STS and SBS compared with production sold), in some economic branches orders received and unfilled orders at the end of a period compared with value of production sold), too. Further controls are performed when the monthly production index (basing on the variables "own production" and "subcontract work carried out by the observation unit as a subcontractor"), turnover indices, indices of orders received and all the other indices are calculated. Hence, development trends in total turnover on detailed NACE level are mentioned continuously supported by comparisons to prior periods.

In general, data are available from a primary statistical survey.

There was no COVID-19-related effect due to this issue (see also chapter 3.1. as well as 13.3 and 18.3.).

Not applicable.

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