Statistics Sweden.

Unit: Salaries and Employment,
 Department: Economic Statistics Department

Salaries and Employment

Economic Statistics Department,

Statistics Sweden,

701 89 ÖREBRO

Indicator: Hours Worked (SE: antal arbetade timmar) are collected through two Statistical Surveys.

The Indicator are collected from short-term statistics private sector, wages and salaries (KLP) (SE: Konjunkturstatistik, löner för privat sektor),  Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK) (SE: Konjunkturstatistik, löner för kommuner) and Short-term statistics, salaries, governmental sector (KLS) (SE: Konjunkturstatistik, löner för statlig sektor). The indicator were originally designed to measure the change in economic state by the development of average wages, salaries and hours worked and through comparison with last years value of the same indicator.

Nace Rev. 2

The STS survey for Industry covers Nace Rev. 2 Section B to E, in construction Nace Rev. 2 Section F, in trade Nace Rev. 2 Section G and in services Nace Rev.2 Section H to J and L, M and N. In all annexes values are for enterprises with 1 or more employees. 

Data is collected from the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries in the private sector (KLP). This survey covers NACE Rev. 2 Sections B to S. The survey Short-term statistics, salaries in the municipalities (KLK) reports only an aggregate and NACE Rev. 2 Sections E and F separately and Short-term statistics, salaries, governmental sector (KLS) for NACE Rev. 2 Sections M and N. Most amounts of data come from the sample survey in the private sector.

KLP covers enterprises with 5 or more employees and therefore model based compensation is used in the STS. Employees working in the private sector from the survey Short-term employment from (KS) are being used in this model. (SE: Kortperiodisk sysselsättningsstatistik). KS covers employees working in all sectors without any cut off.

Hours Worked (SE: arbetade timmar) are measured as total hours worked for enterprises with 1 or more employees. Hours worked are collected in the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP). 

Self-employed persons (unpaid working proprietors and family workers) ar not included.

To compensate for the cut off in KLP the ratio between the employees in KLP and employees in the survey Short-term employment (KS) is used in a model-based compensation. After the model-based compensation is made the STS variable hours worked cover enterprizes with at least one person employed. 

In NACE REV. 2 section E and F is the hour worked for Local units from Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK) included.

In NACE REV. 2 section M and N is the hour worked for Local units from Short-term statistics, salaries, governmental sector (KLS) included.

The surveyed units are mostly enterprises.

Collected are enterprises from the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP), authorities from Short-term statistics, salaries, govermental sector (KLS) in NACE-section M and N, and local units in NACE section E and F from Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK). In a few cases, enterprises active in two or more Nace activities can be divided into local units. Enterprises that are split up have diversified activity, that is, activity in different industries which are considere to be of significance for the statistical report at industry level. 

The surveyed population in the Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP) are enterprises with 5 or more employees. Model based compensation for the cut off in KLP is made so that the STS cover enterprises with at least one person employed.

All regions of Sweden are covered.

No coverage outside the borders.

2000

2021

Units

One hour worked equals one.

The data are transmitted to Eurostat in indices and are published on national level in absolute values.

Month

Official statistics in Sweden are governed by the Official Statistics Act of 2001 (SFS 2001:99) and Ordinance SFS 2001:100.

All sampled units are obliged to provide information according to Swedish National Mediation Office Ordinance 2012:3 and the Statistics Act 2001:99. There is a possibility of fines in surveys covering the private sector for units that do not respond.

All components of hours worked are collected by official statistics.

The legal background of short-term business statistics is the EBS Regulation and is available at Legislation - Short-term business statistics - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Data is only sent to Eurostat.

Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP), Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK), and Short-term statistics, salaries, in the govermental sector (KLS) are also used in the national accounts. 

There is a protection by Swedish law in place to ensure that no business, organization or person participating in a statistical survey is harmed by the government revealing information about them gathered in the survey. No single business can be identified in the STS.  

Complete Quality declarations and documentation on methodology for the surveys used in the STS are available on the Statistics Sweden's website (in Swedish).

The surveys used in the STS in a smaller or larger extent are:

Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP)

Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK)

Short-term statistics, salaries, in the govermental sector (KLS)

Wage and salary structures in the private sector (SLP)

Short-term employment (KS)

If there is a risk to reveal information about a business the first measure is cell suppression. If there is still a risk after cell suppression has been made then the aggregation is used.

A release calendar with information on release dates of statistics on national level for the whole year is available on Statistics Sweden’s web site (www.scb.se) in the beginning of every year. The STS estimates for the total of The Hours Worked are not published nationally and therefore not in this calendar.

Within five working days afte the surveys on wages and salaries in the private sector (KLP), short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK) and short-term statistics, salaries, in the govermenta sector (KLS) has been released to the public the STS variable hours worked are sent to Eurostat. 

Release calendar is available for the public at https://www.scb.se/en/finding-statistics/publishing-calendar/

No calendar is available for the STS variables.

Eurostat is the only user of statistics by this definition

There is no release date for this indicator and Eurostat in the only user of these data.

None.

None.

Eurostat statistical database.

No national release of variables.

No micro data publicly available by STS for the variable hours worked. On request researcher may get access to micro data.

Data is converted to SDMX-files and sent via EDAMIS to Eurostat.

Documentation of the methodology for STS Hours worked are named short-term business statistics (STS) and an unpublished version exists at Statistics Sweden. Complete Quality declarations and documentation on methodology for the surveys which data are collected from are available on the Statistics Sweden's website (in Swedish).

The surveys used in the STS in a smaller or larger extent are:

Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP)

Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK)

Short-term statistics, salaries, in the govermental sector (KLS)

Wage and salary structures in the private sector (SLP)

Short-term employment (KS)

Guidelines for the documentation can be found on Statistics Sweden webpage https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/statistik-efter-amne/arbetsmarknad/loner-och-arbetskostnader/konjunkturstatistik-loner-for-privat-sektor-klp/. There are both internal and external accountants working with auditing Statistics Sweden. The documentation is also regularly checked by personnel working with the product and by others. The documentation is only published in swedish.

All data used in the STS for Hours worked are from official statistics. Official statistics are constantly working with improvement of methods and quality.

Statistics Sweden is in the process of being certified by the ISO 20252 Standard. 

If larger changes are made in a survey the effect of these changes should be measured by the statistical methods department. The input variables from the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP), the survey Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK) and the survey Short-term statistics, salaries, in the govermental sector (KLS)  are also used by the national Accounts.

Hours worked are used by financial markets, unions, ministries, national accounts and others.

The variables in the STS are different in number of employees included in hours worked from the official statistics in Sweden. The STS variables are only delivered to Eurostat. 

No reports on user satisfaction have been made.

Nace 05 and 06 is missing due to few or no firms working in those NACE activities according to the Swedish business register.

Errors in hours worked may arise from:

• Sampling errors
• Frame coverage
• Measurement errors
• Unit and item nonresponse
• Imputation

Confidence interval is used for the variables wages and salaries in the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP).
In STS however there are no estimates of confidence interval or sampling error.

Non sampling errors may arise from under coverage (newly started firms, firms that report too few employees to the business register e.g.). These firms are not included in the sample. Non sampling errors may also arise from over coverage (bankruptcy, business is already reported by another unit).

The weighted average non-response rate in the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries in the private sector (KLP) during 2023 where 1.6% for manual workers and 1.3% for non-manual workers. 

Reminders are made and there is a fine involved for businesses that do not answer. Imputation or recalculated strata is used as methods to deal with non-respondents.

Statistics published on the national level for different sectors are available approximately two months after the reference period. The schedule for publishing of Statistical reports is fixed at the beginning of every year.

The estimates for the STS Hours Worked transmitted to Eurostat have never been published nationally. The schedule for transmission of these estimates is approximately one week after the publishing of KLP, Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK) and Short-term statistics, salaries, in the govermental sector (KLS).

Transmission of data to Eurostat were done according to plan approximately one week (five working days) after the publishing of short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector(KLP), Short-term statistics salaries in the municipalities (KLK) and Short-term statistics salaries in the govermental sector (KLS)

The same statistical concept are applied to the entire Sweden, no region is excluded.  

Comparability is mostly affected by changes in NACE. The STS variable hours worked have been re-calculated in NACE rev. 2 back to year 2000. 

Variable Hours worked from STS could be compared to the indata variables hours worked from Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP).

The variable hours worked could be compared with the Labour force survey (LFS) (SE: arbetskraftsundersökningarna (AKU)). STS variable is surveyed from employers, LFS collect their data by interviewing employees.

No internal incoherence exists.

The cost and burden are measured by the Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP) as time spent on answering the survey. 2023 the average time were 25 minutes.

The first published data for the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries in the private sector (KLP) is used in the STS. In the KLP normal routine revisions are made during the first year. 

Revisions are made for the STS every fifth year due to rebasing. Non-scheduled revisions may occur due to errors if changes in published data are considered large.

Users are informed in advance of methodological and other changes which may lead to revisions. Revisions that are large are communicated by all available channels.

The sample for the Short-term statistics, wages and Salaries, private Sector (KLP) is drawn annually from the Swedish Business Register.

The stratification variables for the KLP are NACE Rev. 2 and employee size classes. A new sample is drawn in November every year.

The sample size of the KLP is approximately 6300  enterprises.

Sample rates in each stratum are shown below. The number of employed in the sample is compared to the total number of employed in that size class in the business register. For NACE Rev. 2 section B-S.

Data collection is monthly. Survey questionnaires are sent to the reporting units at the end of every reference month. The reporting unit has approximately 4 weeks to reply. Statistics Sweden stops treating replies twelve months after the reference period.

The surveys Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private Sector (KLP),  the survey Short term statistics, salaries in the municipalities (KLK)  and the Short term statistics, salaries in the govermental sector (KLS)  collect data using electronic questionnaires. Most of the respondents transmit their answer via the internet. Contact is often done by email or phone. First contact is by mail with information about the survey and login information.

The survey has a sanction system with penalties for not responding.  

Data collection is done every month. Comparison is done with last years value and last months value. Answers are compared with last months value and certain levels for each variable. This is done automatically by the software used in the survey. Enterprises with large changes since previous month or with missing values is contacted for correction.  

A new sample is drawn every year and confidence intervals is used for the wages and salaries in the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP).     

From the survey Short-term statistics, wages and salaries, private sector (KLP) the sum of the agreed wages including tax on wages compensated for number of working days is collected. Added are also the payments in favor (benefits) from the survey Wage and salary structures in the private sector (SLP).

Non-respondents are estimated by imputed values if there is historical data. Enterprise figures for the nearest month in the calendar year for the same enterprise are used as imputation data for particular non-respondents. Imputation is not used in January when a new sample has been drawn and not in July. If no imputation is done non-response adjustment is done by weight adjustment within each stratum, using the inverse of the stratum response fraction.

Estimation up to the surveyed population is done by using design weights. The survey on Wages and Salaries in the private sector has a cut-off. The cut-off is compensated for using model based estimation techniques where the variables are grossed-up using employment data from same sector. This is done so that labour input variables are consistent with each other. Grossing-up is done by using ratios for same-size domains.

In NACE REV. 2 section E and F is the hour worked and the paid amount in wages and salaries for local units from Short-term statistics, salaries, in the municipalities (KLK) included.

In NACE REV. 2 section M and N is the hour worked and the paid amount in wages and salaries for Local units from Short-term statistics, salaries, governmental sector (KLS) included.

Data is sent in absolute figures, index is calculated by Eurostat.

In addition working-day adjusted (WDA) data, for the hours-worked variable (No 220) is transmitted in working-day adjusted form.

National calendar is used, moving holidays and leap year effects are adjusted for. Automatic and manual detection of outliers.

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