Back to top
Eurostat logo
National reference metadata Information message

Germany

Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.

For more information, please consult our metadata website section.

Close

Production in services (sts_os_p)

DownloadPrint

National Reference Metadata in Euro SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS)

Compiling agency: Federal Statistical Office  (destatis)

Need help? Contact the Eurostat user support

The Index of Service Production (ISP) describes the real(, calendar- and seasonally-adjusted) change in the volume of production in the services sector. It is therefore an indicator of the development of the volume of Services provided in Germany.

Methodologically, the ISP differs from the real (calendar and seasonally adjusted) services turnover index because it is weighted differently. In the case of the ISP, the gross value added from the structural business statistics is used to form indices for higher WZ levels. It can be concluded from this that the ISP at the lowest WZ level, the WZ four-digit level, must resemble the real (calendar- and seasonally adjusted) services turnover index before the weights are used.

Price deflators:
The best possible deflators are producer price indices (EPIs) of the service sectors, which are available for most of the WZ three-digit levels. These generally belong to the A and B categories. The disadvantage of using these EPIs is that these quarterly price indices can only be provided at time t+60 after the end of a quarter. A forecast of the quarterly EPIs up to the actual month as well as a subsequent interpolation of the quarterly values to monthly values is therefore necessary. For WZ three-digit areas for which no EPI is available, suitable consumer price indices (VPIs) are used, most of which belong to the B and C categories. The deflators used currently represent the best possible procedure to ensure the monthly compilation of real economic indicators in services. It is planned to replace the C-category deflators, if available, with more suitable deflators switching to the future base year 2021.

19 May 2025

The Index of Service Production (ISP) describes the real (calendar- and seasonally-adjusted) change in the volume of production in the services sector. It is therefore an indicator of the development of the volume of Services provided in Germany.

Legal unit.

All relevant statistical units in the business register, i.e. all legal units with at least EUR 17,500 turnover and/or at least one employee and with their main economic activity in one of the NACE-Sections mentioned above.

Country as a whole. There are no units located in Germany which are excluded from the production figures. The turnover index does not cover legally independent affiliates abroad or branches abroad.

Month.

Main sources for errors or potential for bias in the calculation of the production index are induced by survey data, in particular unit/item non response, over and under coverage, incorrect classified units in the sample frame, implausible data, incorrect signing of the non-response case and inappropriate estimation of missing values.
Errors in administrative data might be different observation units (e. g. tax groups), incorrect classification, implausible data, deviations in the definitions, modifications of the legal basis of the administrative data or in the delivery format, lack of timeliness and completeness (dependence), no unique identifier (statistical identity number differs from the identity number of the administrative data source) and metadata not up-to-date for linking with the business register.

Index

Indices are compiled by the change rate to the same month of the previous year on the 4-digit-level of the NACE Rev. 2. The aggregation to higher levels takes place by using SBS-weights of value added.

The data set of Section I is based on a sample survey.
The data set of Sections G, H, J, L, M and N is based on a mix-model that combines data from a statistical survey with administrative data. In Sections H, J, L, M and N all legal units with at least 250 persons employed and/or at least 15 million annual turnover (in the business register) are surveyed primarily. Administrative data are used for all other units. Hence, it is a full coverage. Units that are primarily surveyed are selected once a year.
The administrative data source for production is the turnover tax advance return by regional tax offices. There are some differences in the definition (e.g. extraordinary income is included) and in the observation unit because of different purposes of collecting the respective data. For instance, some legal units form a tax group and report as one unit. However, their turnover tax advance return must be assigned to the relevant observation unit in the tax group.

The weights of value added on the lowest NACE level available convert the turnover data to production indices.

Monthly.

Results for production in service sector are published 65 days after the end of the reference period (t+65).

The production index for “other service activities” is geographically comparable. However, the comparability between Member States cannot be guaranteed due to different methods applied by Member States.

Consistent data are available since 2015. Currently longer time series do not exist, since they had to be estimated especially for the new EBS regulation by EUROSTAT.