National Statistics Office

Directorate B: Business Statistics

Unit B2: Short-term Statistics

National Statistics Office, Lascaris Valletta, VLT 2000, Malta

The grossed wages and salaries for the total industry are composed from  NACE Sections B to E36 that is Industry NACE classes except sewerage, waste management and remediation activities

The classifications used in STS is NACE rev.2

The definition used for gross wages and salaries is that found in the STS regulation CR 1503/2006

For variable 230 the kind of activity unit is used.

 This is the Business Register population from which the sample was extracted.

The Maltese Islands

The data for gross wages and salaries is available from 2000.

2010

The data is presented in index form.

The data is provided on a monthly basis.

The NSO was established by virtue of the Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000 and replaced the Central Office of Statistics as from 1 March 2001. http://www.nso.gov.mt/docs/MaltaStatisticsAuthorityAct.pdf. The gross wages and salaries are regulated by the STS regulation.

Confidentiality matters are regulated by the Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000. Data is only transmitted to eurostat.

Confidentiality matters are regulated by the Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000.

Apart from the established legislative framework the NSO is also guided by the internal policy procedures noted in the document; The National Statistics Office Confidentiality of personal and commercial data policy. This document is published on the organisations website: http://nso.gov.mt/en/nso/About_NSO/Documents/NSO_Policies/Confidentiality_of_personal_and_commercial_data.pdf

All releases are published and disseminated at 1100 hrs as scheduled in the Advance Release Calendar. The calendar is published on the NSO website (http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/news_release_calendar.aspx) and includes a 3 month advance notice (the current month and the forthcoming two months).

 An advance release calendar is published on the NSOs website: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/news_release_calendar.aspx

National statistical releases are issued according to the release calander and are made available to all users simultaneously. All releases are posted on the organisations website, www.nso.gov.mt.

Transmissions to Eurostat for industrial indicators are carried out 3 months and 15 days after the end of the reference period. Data is transmitted on a montly basis.

The main dissemination channel for official statistics is the NSO website (http://www.nso.gov.mt). Locally gross wages and salaries data is published in a quarterly news release.

The short-term statistics only publishes its figures in an annual compendum named Malta in Figures.  The publication can also be accessed from NSOs website by making use of the following link

http://nso.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=142

The NSO website also offers an online statistical database (StatDB) that provides a more in-depth analysis for the more expert statistical user or researcher. The StatDB requires a registration as only registered users can extract data from the database. Registration is free-of-charge and is required to  allow the NSO to receive important feedback from the more expert users of official statistics. Each data set has a ‘last updated’ date clearly indicated andsimilar data published in other statistical products may not add up due to revisions/updates.

In general, index results made available to Eurostat  ensure a sufficient degree of representativeness of data. In limited cases, when confidentiality clauses are not within the remit of the Malta Statistical Authority Act (2000) data is flagged confidential. Data is only provided to researchers upon request.

Data transmission is provided to eurostat.

Industrial indicators were developed by making use of the following document, Methodology of Short-term business statistics, Interpretaion and guidelines, 2006 Edition. The index was also developed according to Regulation EC No 1165/98, as amended by Regulation EC No 1158/2005 and the regulations implementing and amending these two instruments. In addition, Furthermore, with every release methodological notes are disseminated. 

Not available.

The NSO quality assurance principles are developed according to the ESS Handbook for Quality Reports (2008) and an internal document, Policy on the Documentation of Data Quality and Methodology. The latter is published on the NSOs website, http://nso.gov.mt/docs/Documentation_of_data_quality_and_methodology.pdf

Each unit within the NSO is responsible to produce data of the highest quality. Each unit is responsible to produce statistics which is relevant, accurate, coherent and accessable. The handbook, Policy on the Documentation of Data Quality and Methodology, provides insights to both compilers of data and users on the various quality measures embedded within the NSO. Furthermore, the NSOs Methodology and Research Unit has multiple roles such as providing assistance regarding methodolological issues apart from carrying out statistical checks and balances. The gross wages and salaries indicator is considered of good quality.

The spectrum of users of short-term statistics is widespread and therefore it is difficult to identify them in order of importance. Amongst the various one finds the government with particular reference made to the Ministry of Finance, other governmental departments such as the Economic Policy Division. Other institutions such as the Central Bank of Malta make frequent reference to the data this unit publishes. The general business community and educational institutions also make use of our statistical indicators.

Not available.

Data are compliant with relevant Europan and local regulations

The overall accuracy of variable A-230 (wage) is considered to be of good quality.

Coefficient of variation for Nace rev.2 aggregate B to E36 (3.38%)

Non-sampling errors are a consequence of any surveying method and are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to measure. In general, these errors are the result but are not limited to problems such as under or over coverage, non-response, data-processing, estimation and analysis. Most often such errors are grouped into two cohorts: random or systematic errors. Non respondents are estimated and compared with other administrative data.

Data for variable A-230 is published according to EU regulations. The reference period is monthly and is submitted to Eurostat every 3 months and 15 days.

All deadlines were respected in 2013 with reference to gross wages and salaries.

To ensure geographical comparability across member states the index is compiled according to the STS regulation (CR 1503/2006) and STS methodological guidelines. Minor methodological deviations may exist due to specific conditions that apply to each member state.

The Maltese Islands are equally covered.

The data series has been compiled since the year 2000. The first set of indicators were based on NACE Rev 1. Following 2009 the indicator was published according to the new NACE Rev 2 classification. Furthermore, for every year ending in 0 or 5 new fixed aggregation weights are introduced.

Data is not compared with other sources generally.

The aggregates are coherent with sub aggregates.

The estimated hours on the gross wages and salaries variables is of 80 hours per month. No data is available on the respondent burden.

Revisions are carried according to regulation No1165/98. Internal procedures are also established and arepublished in the  document, Revisions of official Statistics published on the NSO website: http://www.nso.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=582

Revisions influence mainly those periods tagged as provisional, after three months the data is considered as stable.

Sample survey: 420 units

Monthly

Data is collected by means of  a statistical questuionnaire. Questionnaires are sent by post and their collection can be done via post, fax, e-mail or online systems

Data is validated through regular checks throughout the system lifecycle being during data input stage, data processing and analysis stage. Various analytical checks are executed by our statisticians while other validations are in-built in our data systems. Prior transmission the data is checked for code lists and consistency, with the use of access and excel databases.

The short-term indices for the industry variables are fixed-base indices (2010=100.0) calculated using a variation of the Laspeyres formula with a fixed base year.

Unadjusted, trend, calendar adjusted and seasonally adjusted

Not available.