INS (National Institute for Statistics)

Wages, Labour Cost, Job Vacancies and Education Statistics

Institutul National de Statistica (INS)
16, Libertatii Avenue, district 5
Bucharest
RO-050706

The hours worked by employees

Labour input indicators are collected through the monthly survey on short term statistics (UNICA) for Sections B to N (IND-TS, CON-TS, SERV-TS) and through the monthly survey on earnings (S1) for Sections A, O to S.

Until the end of 2004, the same survey was used (monthly survey on earnings). Starting from January 2005, for Sections B to N, the questionnaire used for monthly survey on earnings was enclosed (together with others on turnover, industrial production etc.) in a common survey on short term statistics.

NACE Rev. 2.

Activities covered     

All the required activities NACE Rev. 2 are covered:

Industry: all activities related to sections B to E;

Construction: all activities related to section F;

Wholesale and retail trade: division 45-47 division;

Services: all activities related to sections H to J, L, respectively M to N.

Size classes covered 

All size classes are covered, excepting units with less than 4 employees from economical sector.

List and definition of variables

The “Hours worked by employees” that is monthly provided to Eurostatis collected inaccordance with the 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 (EBS-Regulation) and Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 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 statistic (General Implementing Act).

The data is collected only for the “number of employees”. The number of persons employed, other than employees does not represent a significant proportion in total “number of persons employed.

In 2023, for STS_IND the overall proportion is about 0.02%.

In 2023, for STS_CONS the overall proportion is about 0.01%.

In 2023, for STS_RTD the overall proportion is about 0.01%.

In 2023, for STS_SERV the overall proportion is about 0.01%.

Concerning the HOWK variable, the national questionnaire contains indicators on:
Hours actually worked by the employees (excluding free days and legal holidays, lunch breaks, leaves of absence, sick leaves, work discontinuities not imputable to employees, etc.), divided in

• hours worked by employees in normal working time established by the labour contract and
• overtime.

Hours actually worked by employees is defined as the sum of all periods spent on direct and ancillary activities to produce goods and services.

Hours actually worked include:

- hours worked by employees in normal working time, including the hours worked from home or in tele-work;

- overtime paid or not paid, additional to the normal working time and during weekends, legal holidays and other non-working days. If additional hours worked by employees are paid at a double/triple rate will only be included the overtime actually worked;

- hours spent on tasks such as: work and site preparation, preparing, maintaining, repairing and cleaning tools and machines, work related travels;

- hours paid but not worked and not imputed to employees (machine/tools stoppages, accidents or occasional lack of work;

- short rest periods at the place of work, including tea and coffee breaks;

- hours spent in training either in the enterprise/local unit/other places or in educational establishments.

Hours actually worked exclude:

- hours paid but not worked (e.g. paid holidays/vacation, public holidays, special family events, absence due to sickness paid by the employer etc.);

- hours not worked and not paid by the employer (e.g. absence due to sickness paid from Unique National Health Insurance Fund and work-related accidents and occupational diseases Insurance Budget), maternity leave, short-time unemployment, labour disputes/strikes etc.);

- main meal breaks (e.g. not short rest periods or refreshment breaks);

- hours spent by the employee travelling between home and place of work;

- hours compensated as free time in the reference month from overtime worked during the reference period or worked during previous periods.

Planned changes in information collected

None.

Accounting conventions

Data are collected monthly; the reference period is the previous calendar month.

Reporting unit : Close to the local unit.

Observation unit(s) : Close to the local unit.

The sampling frame used for the sample selection is drawn from the Romanian Business Register (REGIS), which contained all enterprises, authorities and organisations as well as their local units that carried out any economic activity irrespective of their size or if they belong to the private or public sector. The Business Register is updated, yearly, on the balance sheets and contains the latest information on each enterprise in the statistical population such as the identification items (unique identification code, address etc.), economic activity codes (NACE Rev.2), number of employees (giving the enterprise size class).

The entire country is covered.

No activities outside the geographical coverage are included.

Date of first use as a source

Since 1992 collecting data on the main activity of the unit. From 2005 data are collected for the homogenous activity. Data are aggregated and sent to Eurostat in accordance with the EBS requirements.

Under EBS regulation indices are transmitted to Eurostat (2021 as base period).

Data are transmitted to Eurostat as indices (%). At national level, the data are not published, but are used to calculate derivate indicators (the average hourly gross/net earnings, quarterly labour cost indices).

Calendar Month.

Legal basis    

All statistics collected and published by INS are governed by:

European level:

• 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 (EBS-Regulation). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019R2152&from=EN
• Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 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 statistic (General Implementing Act). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32020R1197&from=EN

National level:

• Statistical Law no. 226/2009 regarding the organisation of official statistics, published in Romania's Official Journal First part, no. 397/11.06.2009, with further amendments. https://insse.ro/cms/en/cadru-legal

Obligation on units to provide data  

Participation is compulsory.

Planned changes in legal basis, obligation to respond and frame used      

None

Data on hours worked by employees are not sent to other international organizations.

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses

All statistics collected and published by INS are governed by the statistical Law no. 226/2009 regarding the organisation of official statistics, published in Romania's Official Journal First part, no. 397/11.06.2009, with further amendments. The Law specifies that: the official statistical services are authorised to ask for and receive free of charge statistical data and information from all natural and legal persons who are located, hold any kind of capital or carry out any type of activity on the Romanian territory.

Also, under the provision of this law, INS cannot publish, or otherwise make available to one individual or organisation, statistics that could enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity.

No government official outside the National Institute of Statistics has access to the data before release to the public.

INS has been repeatedly and publicly recognised by the government as fully intellectually independent: it decides by itself which data to collect, which methodology to use, and which results, methodological notes and commentaries are published.
The most important aspects on the organisation of the official statistics in Romanian are posted on the National Institute of Statistics Internet website (http://www.insse.ro). Copies of the statistical laws are available in Romanian from the library of the National Institute of Statistics, 16, Libertatii Avenue, Bucharest, District 5.

Treatment of confidential data         

A rule of a minimum number of units is applied. Generally, confidential data are aggregated to avoid disclosure.

Also, under the provision of the statistical law, INS cannot publish, or otherwise make available to an individual or organisation, statistics that could enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity.

There is an advance release calendar of data dissemination which can be found on the website (http://www.insse.ro/cms/en/comunicate-de-presa-view).
The results of the monthly survey are disseminated by press release and via INS Internet website (M+37/M+44 days from the end of the reference month) (http://www.insse.ro/cms/en), Monthly Statistical Bulletin, Monthly Statistical Bulletin of Industry (http://www.insse.ro/cms/en), TEMPO data base (M+40/M+45 days from the end of the reference month) (http://statistici.insse.ro:8077/tempo-online/#/pages/tables/insse-table), respectively Eurostat (M+37/M+45 days from the end of the reference month).

http://www.insse.ro/cms/en/comunicate-de-presa-view

Simultaneous release to all interested parties

At national level, the monthly data on hours worked by employees (The hourly earnings - lei/hour), are available to all users simultaneously at the time of release through the Monthly Statistical Bulletin (https://insse.ro/cms/en/search/node/buletin%20statistic%20lunar). At Eurostat level, the data are transmitted as indices (%), and not as absolute values.

Identification of internal government access to data before release

No government official outside the National Institute of Statistics has access to the data before release to the public.

Transmission to Eurostat and further use of the statistics

Data are transmitted to Eurostat as indices by e-DAMIS using SDMX application in XML format.

Eurostat: the data are disseminated with monthly frequency.

National level: the disseminated indicator is “Hourly earnings” (lei/hour), with monthly frequency.

Identification of ministerial commentary on the occasion of statistical releases  

No ministerial commentary is attached to the release of data by the statistical office.

No news releases on hours worked by employees are available.

Name of national paper publications           

Data on “Hourly earnings” (lei/hour) by NACE Rev.2 sections and divisions are published in the monthly publication "Buletinul statistic lunar" (Monthly Statistical Bulletin).

Name of national electronic dissemination  

Same titles as for paper versions, available on website of INS.

http://www.insse.ro/cms/en;

https://insse.ro/cms/en/publica%C8%9Bii-statistice-%C3%AEn-format-electronic

On-line TEMPO data base both in Romanian and English.

http://statistici.insse.ro:8077/tempo-online/#/pages/tables/insse-table

Not required by the European legal provision in force.

Planned changes in national dissemination methods          

Data are transmitted to Eurostat.

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics

Brief details of the methodology are included with the published data.

Description of standard tables produced

At national level, the data on “Hourly earnings by employees” (lei/hour) are presented at the Division level (2-digit level) and Section level of NACE Rev.2, in Ron/Employee (aggregated by KAU). The “Monthly Statistical Bulletin” publishes time series of the hourly worked expressed in Ron/Employee for the current month and the previous months broken down by economic activities.

The quality indicators are calculated taking into account Eurostat defined methodology, in accordance with the following quality criteria: relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability, consistency, and completeness.

Summary description of quality criteria calculated for national purposes 

Under ESS Code of Practice.

Users’ needs are met taking into account the usefulness and timeliness of data.

The data are presented in various dissemination formats and breakdowns.

The data are transmitted in accordance with the national and Eurostat timetable.

The main international user: Eurostat.

The main national users are grouped as following: governmental bodies: Ministry of Public Finances, Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity, National Agency for Employment; National Commission for Strategy and Prognosis; employers and employers’ associations; trade unions; professional associations; research institutes and universities; mass-media; students, doctorates.

Their main needs:The Monthly Survey on Short-Term Statistics outcomes, in relation with the information provided by other surveys, are used by policy makers in establishing the actions and measures for economic development strategies as well as for implementing the programs on active measures for reducing the unemployment and on remuneration and pension system.

The below publication presents the way in which the statistical data produced and the methodological information of the INS meet the information needs of the various user categories.

https://insse.ro/cms/en/content/analysis-users-satisfaction-statistical-data-1

All breakdowns and variable forms are provided, according to the EU regulations in force.

Accuracy in the statistical sense denotes the closeness of computations or estimates to the exact or true values. Statistics are not equal with the true values because of variability (the statistics change from implementation to implementation of the survey due to random effects) and bias (the average of the possible values of the statistics from implementation to implementation is not equal to the true value due to systematic effects). 

Sampling bias is a possible source of sampling errors. It leads to sampling errors which either have a prevalence to be positive or negative. Such errors can be considered to be systematic errors.

For detailed information see Annex 2.

Response rate           

On average the response rate for:

-STS_IND having 2023 as reference year is 98.8% (counting responses and other responding units), of which 9.4% enterprises were imputed from administrative sources (were imputed the enterprises found with data in the administrative sources and had one of the following non-response causes in the survey: refusal, contact not established, outside scope of survey, unidentified, dormant, ceased, other events); the refusal rate after data imputation was about 0.4%; the initial refusal rate was about 6.2%.

-STS_CONS having 2023 as reference year is 97,8% (counting responses and other responding units), of which 12,9% enterprises were imputed from administrative sources (were imputed the enterprises found with data in the administrative sources and had one of the following non-response causes in the survey: refusal, contact not established, outside scope of survey, unidentified, dormant, ceased, other events); the refusal rate after data imputation was about 0.6%; the initial refusal rate was about 7.4%.

-STS_RTD having 2023 as reference year is 98,9% (counting responses and other responding units), of which 9,9% enterprises were imputed from administrative sources (were imputed the enterprises found with data in the administrative sources and had one of the following non-response causes in the survey: refusal, contact not established, outside scope of survey, unidentified, dormant, ceased, other events); the refusal rate after data imputation was about 0.4%; the initial refusal rate was about 5.3%.

-STS_SERV having 2023 as reference year is 98,5% (counting responses and other responding units), of which 10,9% enterprises were imputed from administrative sources (were imputed the enterprises found with data in the administrative sources and had one of the following non-response causes in the survey: refusal, contact not established, outside scope of survey, unidentified, dormant, ceased, other events); the refusal rate after data imputation was about 0.7%; the initial refusal rate was about 6.9%.

Actions to speed up or increase the rate of response

Starting with 2011, the on-line data collection was introduced in order to increase the response rate and reduce the burden on statisticians' responsible with data collection and entry. When necessary, telephone and e-mail contacts are used.

Timeliness

All the activities carried out by INS during a year are scheduled through the Activity Plan with several months earlier. Annually, INS issues for the users a press release calendar and a catalogue of statistical products and services containing the names, periodicity, short descriptions and release dates for all publications.

The publication dates for the monthly indicators were disseminated in accordance with the legal requirements as follows:

• European level (Eurostat): M+37/M+45 days from the end of the reference month;
• National level:
• Monthly Statistical Bulletin (MSB)/Monthly Industry Bulletin and TEMPO data base - M+37/M+45 days from the end of the reference month.

Timetable of data collection

The activities for preparing and carrying out the Monthly Survey on Short-Term Statistics 2023 are described in the Annex.

The process concerning the deadlines for the respondents to reply was performed as follows:

- the units have to fill in the paper questionnaires and send them to the territorial statistical offices until 15^th of the month following the reference month.

- the units can also fill in the on-line questionnaires until around 23^rd of the month following the reference month.

The process concerning the covering recalls and follow-ups was performed as follows:

- from 15^th till the 25^th of the month following the reference month, the territorial statistical offices had to perform data entry and data checking.

In this phase, the covering recalls and follow-ups are taking place. The statisticians from the local offices contact or re contact the units/respondents who did not sent the data, irrespective of their size classes, but the stress was more on the enterprises with more than 50 employees, who are exhaustively surveyed and on those from the public sector. Since not all respondents comply with the deadline requested, a small proportion of questionnaires reach with delay the territorial statistical offices.

Data processing steps and the related periods were:

At local level (regional/county statistical office) the data processing consisted in:

- data collection – until 15^th of the following month of the reference month;

- data entry and validation - from 15^th of the following month of the reference month till the 25^th day of the month;

At central level (INS) the data processing consisted in:

 - data validation – errors were detected and sent for correction or explanations to the statistical offices;

 - comparative analysis with the previous month, the same month of the previous year and with other data sources (surveys and administrative data);

 - the analysis of the non-weighted data;

 - the weighting procedures;

 - the analysis of the weighted data;

 - data tabulation;

 - monthly data preparation for dissemination in the press releases, the Monthly Statistical Bulletin, the TEMPO (on-line) database;

 - transposing into the STS standard format for data transmission designed by Eurostat;

 - transmission of final results to Eurostat.

 All deadlines are met.

Definition of statistical units - There is no deviation from European concepts:

The unit of selection was the enterprise defined according to the communitarian rules for enterprises statistics as: ,,the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit”.

The observation unit of the Monthly survey on short term statistics was close to local unit.

Populations - There is no deviation from European concepts:

The Romanian Business Register was designed and implemented based on the administrative files (REGIS, which is the Fiscal Register, updated annually) and statistical sources in addition (Trade Register, Balance Sheet files, VAT files, feedback from other surveys, used as consultation data sources for improving the quality of the register data).

According to the Council Regulations, REGIS contained the following types of statistical units: legal unit, enterprise, and local unit. All the enterprises having the main activity in the section A to S - NACE Rev.2, whatever their size (number of employees) were covered.

The Romanian Business Register contained all enterprises, authorities and organisations as well as their local units in Romania that carried out any economic activity irrespective of their size or if they belong to the private or public sector. The following institutional sectors were covered:

• Non-financial corporate and quasi-corporate enterprises
• Central and local administration
• Social security institutions and private non-profit institutions serving households

In respect to the budgetary institutions and public administration REGIS was the most complete register in Romania, based on Official Journal and the collaboration with a lot of administration institutions.

Reference times - There is no deviation from European concepts:

The statistics on hours worked by employees were produced with monthly periodicity.

Classifications - There is no deviation from European concepts:

The national classification of economic activities is covered by CAEN Rev.2 fully harmonized with NACE Rev.2

Definitions of variables -There is no deviations from European concepts:

The definitions of the variable was developed and adopted in accordance with European standards (Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics and Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Since 2005 the data on hours worked by employees are collected by KAU.

Dissemination of information that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness 

The different sources of data allow comparisons to be made and for checks of reasonableness.

Users need to be aware of the differences in methodology which are made clear in the publications.

The “Monthly Statistical Bulletin” publishes time series data (monthly data for the current month and the previous months) on hours worked by employees broken down by economic activities.

The “hourly earnings” (lei/hour) by economic activities is also disseminated on-line, via TEMPO data base.

Confrontation with other data sets   

Confrontation is done with the results of the annual survey on labour costs.

Data are coherent at different NACE Rev. 2 aggregation levels.

The burden per indicator and domain in 2012 was as follows:

1.Industry

Unit/enterprise level:

Average number of persons: 6721

Time spent (man-hour)/year: 9448

The estimated burden per indicator in 2012 was about 7 minutes per month for each person per indicator.

Territorial +Central Level (statistical offices):

Average number of persons: 481

Time spent (man-hour)/year: 11230

2. Construction

Unit/enterprise level:

Average number of persons: 1989

Time spent (man-hour)/year: 2852

The estimated burden per indicator in 2012 was about 7 minutes per month for each person per indicator.

Territorial + Central Level (statistical offices):

Average number of persons: 284

Time spent (man-hour)/year: 2572

3. Wholesale and retail trade

Unit/enterprise level:

Average number of persons: 1771

Time spent (man-hour)/year: 2239

The estimated burden per indicator in 2012 was about 6 minutes per month for each person per indicator.

Territorial + Central Level (statistical offices):

Average number of persons: 497

Time spent (man-hour)/year: 8619

4. Services

Unit/enterprise level:

Average number of persons: 7822

Time spent (man-hour)/year: 9888

 The estimated burden per indicator in 2012 was about 6 minutes per month for each person per indicator.

Territorial + Central Level (statistical offices):

Average number of persons: 497

Time spent (man-hour)/year: 12559

Revisions (very rare) when major methodological changes occurred and the users are informed through metadata when the figures are published.

No revisions are expected, data are considered final.

Provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology   

Data are operative but final.

Type of source          

All labour input data are obtained from a monthly statistical survey on enterprises, namely” Monthly Survey on wages and salaries”. The overall monthly sample for 2023 was about 23000 units, from which over 72% represents the number of units based on which the STS indictors are compiled.

Frame on which the source is based

REGIS – Romanian statistical business register, which contains all enterprises, authorities and organisations as well as their local units in Romania that carry out any economic activity irrespective of their size or if they belong to the private or public sector.

Sample or census      

Stratified sample survey.

Criteria for stratification      

Activity (2-digit level of NACE Rev. 2) and size class of the units.

Threshold values and percentages  

For economic sector, the monthly statistical survey covers the units with 4 employees and over, which represents 87,28% of total employees in this sector. All economic units with 50 employees or more are included.

Frequency of updating the sample

Annually.   

Monthly

All labour input variables are collected on the same questionnaire sent to all units irrespective of their activity. For activities corresponding to industry, construction, wholesale and retail trade and services, the questionnaire is included in the monthly survey on short term statistics.

Data are collected by paper questionnaire or on-line through eSOP application posted on INS web-site. The paper questionnaire and methodological notes are available on INS web-site (word or pdf) or are sent to the reporting units and then collected by territorial statistical offices.

The IT solution for Monthly survey on short-term statistics was developed to find out the measurement and processing errors occurred in different stages of the survey. The application was designed for on-line data collection and validation.

The IT solution allowed to perform on line data entry and validation at unit level. Also, the IT solution allowed to perform data entry and validation for questionnaires received on paper by post/email at county level (42 counties in total – NUTS3 level).

The IT solution contained the following categories of logical tests that check:

- the primary data from the questionnaires;

- the logical flows among the questionnaire chapters;

- the data integrity and correctness;

- the data comparability with the previous month.

The logical tests have the scope:

- to follow and check the logical flows of the questionnaire;

- to correlate data from related chapters of the questionnaire;

- to define and check certain limits to which the indicators should belong compared to their evolution over time and between them;

- to find out the outliers or non-logical values.

The tests for data integrity check the identification information from the sample of units with the information from respondent files.

At central level more accurate and detailed procedures were developed using Visual Fox for checking data integrity and correctness:

- data comparison with the previous months;

- data comparison with other sources (Wages survey for month October, Labour Cost Survey and Administrative sources);

- non-weighted procedures;

- adjustment and weighting procedures;

- data tabulation;

- automatic transformation of final results into the STS standard format designed by Eurostat;

- data transmission to Eurostat.

As concerning the logical test in total 44 logical tests were performed for data checking and correlation on all the indicators collected through the survey. Since the same tests were conducted at local level (unit and county) as well as at central level, the largest part of the errors found was solved from the beginning (at local level). The figures were corrected after re-contacting the corresponding enterprises by the statistical offices.

The questionnaire design, detailed explanatory notes and the IT solution developed had as result a complete and of good quality data set.

The non-negligible measurement for the hours worked indicators concerns mainly the evolution from one month to another, input errors, methodological errors, errors regarding the correlation between the average number of employees and the gross amounts paid or between the average number of employees and hours worked by employees.

The information below was an estimation of errors at central level, after the data files were received from all over the country. Statistics on the first level of checking (local level) are not available. If the figures correspond to reality due to unusual phenomena, figures were accepted as such and no correction was made.

Most frequent errors that occurred during data checking period:

- Error coded AT6: the average number of hours worked per employee is out of the normal limits;

- Error coded AT7: the additional time worked must not exceed 50% from the time actually worked; 

- Error coded AT72: if the average number of employees is greater than 0 then data for time actually worked must be fill in; 

- Error coded AT100: if the time actually worked is below 90 hours/month than the average number of employees must be 0 (part-time under 2-3 hours); 

- Error coded E14: if the gross amounts paid from the salary fund and the average number of employees is 0 than the time actually worked must be also 0.

Estimates for non-response:

Survey results are adjusted using the Horvitz-Thompson estimator, weighted with the response probability in order to compensate the non-responses.

Estimates for grossing-up to population levels:

The results are grossed up using Horvitz-Thompson estimator.

Type of index: 

Data are transmitted to Eurostat as indices (%). At national level, the data are published as absolute values of hourly earnings (lei/hour).

Method of weighting and chaining:

Survey results are adjusted using the Horvitz-Thompson estimator, weighted with the response probability in order to compensate the non-responses.

Planned changes in production methods:

None

WDA, SA and other calculations     

Seasonal adjustment (WDA) are carried out. See Annex 3.

No other comments.