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.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Eurostat, C1, National accounts methodology. Indicators
1.3. Contact name
Restricted from publication
1.4. Contact person function
Restricted from publication
1.5. Contact mail address
Office address: Joseph Bech building 5, Rue Alphonse Weicker 2721 Luxembourg
Functional mail box:ESTAT-MIP@ec.europa.eu
1.6. Contact email address
Restricted from publication
1.7. Contact phone number
Restricted from publication
1.8. Contact fax number
Restricted from publication
2.1. Metadata last certified
28 January 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
28 January 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
28 January 2025
3.1. Data description
The nominal unit labour cost (NULC) index per hour worked is defined as the ratio of labour cost to labour productivity, where labour cost is the ratio of compensation of employees (current prices) to hours worked by employees, and labour productivity is the ratio of gross domestic product (at market prices in millions, chain-linked volumes reference year 2015) to total hours worked.
The MIP scoreboard indicator is the Nominal unit labour cost (per hour worked) - 3 year % change. Furthermore, the indicator Labour productivity (per hour worked) - 1 year % change is part of the MIP auxiliary indicators set.
In the MIP domain, annual figures are also published for:
NULC per hour worked - 1, 5 and 10 year % change and index 2015=100
Real labour productivity per hour worked - index 2015=100
ULC performance related to the euro area – 1 and 10 year % change
and quarterly data:
NULC per person employed – 1 year % change and index 2015=100
Real labour productivity per person employed – 1 year % change and index 2015=100
Annual national accounts refer to the whole economy. For further information on institutional sectors and sub-sectors, see European System of Accounts 2010 edition (ESA2010).
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The MIP scoreboard indicator is the percentage change over three years of nominal unit labour cost (NULC). The indicative threshold is 9% for the euro area countries and 12% for the non-euro area countries. The scoreboard indicator is calculated using the formula: [ (ULCt – ULCt-3) / ULCt-3 ] * 100.
The annual national accounts domain encompasses the main aggregates on national accounts. Its main variables are: GDP and its components, employment, final consumption aggregates, gross capital formation aggregates, income, exports and imports. These variables are calculated on an annual basis but the majority of them is available on a quarterly basis, as well as certain breakdowns. The key concepts captured by National accounts and related to the calculation of the NULC cover the definition of the Gross domestic product (GDP) and total hours worked.
Gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices is the final result of the production activity of resident producer units. GDP is defined in three ways:
a. GDP Output (production) approach From the production point of view, GDP can be measured as the sum of the following components: GDP = Total Gross Value Added (B.1G) + Taxes (D.21) - Subsidies on products (D.31), where Gross Value Added (GVA) = Output (P.1) - Intermediate consumption (P.2)
b. GDP Expenditure approach GDP = Household and non-profit institutions serving households final expenditure (P.3 in S.14_S.15) + Government final consumption expenditure (P.3 in S.13) + Gross Fixed Capital Formation (P.51) + Changes in inventories (P.52) + (Acquisition - disposal of valuables) (P.53) + Exports (P.6) - Imports (P.7).
c. GDP Income approach GDP = Compensation of employees (D.1) + Gross operating surplus and mixed income (B.2g + B.3g) + Taxes les subsidies on production and imports (D.2 + D.3)
Total hours worked represents the aggregate number of hours actually worked as an employee or self-employed person during the accounting period, when their output is within the production boundary.
Given the broad definition of employees which covers persons temporarily not at work but with a formal attachment, and part-time workers, the appropriate measure for productivity calculation is not a head count but total hours worked.
National accounts aim to capture economic activity within the domestic territory. They combine data from a host of base statistics, and thus they have no common sampling reference frame. The elementary building blocks of ESA 2010 statistics are statistical units and their groupings. ESA 2010 defines two types of units, institutional units and local kind-of-activity units.
3.6. Statistical population
National accounts combine data from many source statistics. The concept of statistical population is not applicable in a national accounts context.
3.7. Reference area
The MIP scoreboard presents data for each EU Member State, as well as euro area (EA) and the European Union as a whole.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Time coverage (i.e., length of the historical series) is different for European series and for national series. Coverage is given for EU and euro area aggregates starting from 1995, with some exceptions in the case of the New Member States and derogations. The coverage for national data varies from country to country, partly due to derogations provided for in the transmission and back-projection programme, and can, in some cases, be substantially longer than for the European aggregates.
Details on time coverage under the links: tipslm10 Nominal unit labour cost per hour worked - 1 and 3 year % change; tipslm20 Nominal unit labour cost per hour worked - annual data, 1, 3, 5, and 10 year % change and index (2015 = 100); tipslm40 Nominal unit labour cost per person employed (NULC) - quarterly data, 1 year % change and index (2015 = 100); tipslm50 Unit labour cost performance related to the euro area - annual data, 1 and 10 year % change; tipsna70 Real labour productivity per hour worked - annual data, 1 year % change and index (2015 = 100); tipsna71 Real labour productivity per person employed - quarterly data, 1 year % change and index (2015 = 100).
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data are expressed as 1, 3, 5 and 10 year % change and index 2015=100.
The reference period is the calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National Accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA2010) implemented as from September 2014: from that date onwards all data transmission from Member States to Eurostat follow ESA2010 rules. Compilation rules are further explained in the following document: European system of accounts - ESA2010 - Transmission programme of data (multilingual).
Data received via the transmission programme are shared with other institutions in accordance with specific agreements, notably with the ECB and the OECD. A Protocol for co-operation between Eurostat and the OECD in the area of National Accounts signed in June 2013 specifies agreed data exchange and data validation arrangements. These data are published in Eurobase in the naid_10 collection.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation 2015/759 of 29 April 2015, amending Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics of 11 March 2009 [recital 24 and Article 20(4)], stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Not available.
8.1. Release calendar
Data are released on Eurostat Reference Database as soon as received from national authorities. The rules for basic data transmission are defined in:
Annual accounts data also covered by quarterly accounts are usually updated on the occasion of new quarterly releases (which are released according to a pre-announced calendar). Figures for a new year usually become available with the first release of quarterly accounts for the fourth quarter of the reference year.
8.2. Release calendar access
A release calendar for MIP scoreboard indicators is not available. The release calendar for European quarterly national accounts data are published in accordance with the Eurostat release calendar.
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see §10 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. Detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
MIP related indicators are updated and released in accordance to the dissemination of the underlying data.
The indicators are part of the MIP Scoreboard used to identify emerging or persistent macroeconomic imbalances in the EU countries. The Scoreboard is part of an annual exercise, where the first step is the compilation of an Alert Mechanism Report (AMR).
Eurostat's mission is to provide the European Union with a high-quality statistical information service – see: Eurostat quality framework.
Moreover, the statistics underlying the Scoreboard indicators are subject to a specific quality assurance framework developed within the MIP context.
11.1. Quality assurance
Quality is assured by strict application of European System of Accounts 2010 edition (ESA2010) concepts and by thorough validation of the data delivered by countries. Additional checks are performed on MIP indicators.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data are collected from reliable sources applying high standards with regard to methodology and ensuring high comparability. Eurostat conducts an annual compliance exercise for all the Member States.
Member States are to provide the Commission with a report on the quality of the transmitted data on national and regional accounts. The modalities, structure, periodicity and assessment indicators of the quality reports on data transmitted have been specified in a Commission Implementing Regulation 2016/2304 of 19 December 2016. The implementation of the quality reporting and assessment exercise started in 2017 and is carried out annually. As part of the annual exercise, Eurostat assesses the results, prepares and publishes an overall assessment based on the national quality reports and other available information. The Commission also, on a 5 year basis, reports to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the ESA 2010 Regulation, including the quality of data on national and regional accounts.
The quality assurance framework for the Macroeconomic imbalance procedure (MIP) follows a three-level structure:
The first level assesses the reliability and comparability of MIP underlying statistics and addresses relevant quality issues; it also enhances the communication on quality assurance of MIP statistics towards the European Parliament and Council, policy makers and the public at large. This level draws on the information gathered in levels two and three (see below).
The second level consists of domain-specific quality reports produced by Eurostat and the ECB summarising the main findings for the euro area or the EU Member States. Reports assess the underlying compilation process and its robustness, describe its legal basis and evaluate whether the statistics are in line with international statistical standards.
The third level consists of national quality reports (self-assessments) produced by the institution compiling the national statistics. Most of these reports are voluntarily published by Members States on the CMFB’s website and their availability depends upon the statistical domain.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The indicator Nominal unit labour cost is one of the headline indicators of the MIP Scoreboard. The MIP Scoreboard is used as an early warning system in the context of the macroeconomic surveillance of the EU Member states. The MIP Scoreboard consists of a set of thirteen indicators, covering the major sources of macroeconomic imbalances. The aim of the scoreboard is to trigger in-depth studies, which will analyse whether potential imbalances identified in the early-warning system are benign or problematic.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
Annual national accounts data provide detailed breakdowns on production, consumption, investment and income.
The Introduction of the Statistical annex of each Alert mechanism report provides detailed information on data completeness.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The indicators are associated with a high level of overall accuracy. Eurostat publishes Euro area GDP revision triangles with all vintages of quarter-on-quarter growth rates and year-on-year growth rates for the Euro area 12 (EA12) seasonally and working day adjusted volume GDP as published by Eurostat since May 2003 until September 2014. Quality reports on national accounts, including revision analysis are also published by some Member States.
13.2. Sampling error
Not available.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not available.
14.1. Timeliness
Member States are required to transmit their data to Eurostat in compliance with the European System of Accounts ESA 2010 transmission programme, subject to derogations.
14.2. Punctuality
Punctuality depends on the delivery of basic data used for the calculation of the MIP indicators. Member states' data are revised according to national schedules, and revisions are applied to Eurostat’s online database as soon as they become available to Eurostat.
Unit labour cost belongs to an integrated set of national accounts. Therefore, consistency checks are possible with the component data and with other national accounts tables submitted to Eurostat.
15.4. Coherence - internal
In between Eurostat releases, Member States may revise their figures; Eurostat publishes the new Member States' accounts shortly after reception.
Not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
All data disseminated consist of data already disseminated in Eurobase by the following domains:
The revision policy is therefore effectively the revision policy of those domains.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision practice of the domains listed under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy).
18.1. Source data
Data published in the MIP domain are national accounts data for EU Member States, where all data are produced by statistical offices of the respective countries then transmitted to Eurostat. Countries use many sources to compile their national accounts, among them administrative data from government, population censuses, business surveys and household surveys. No single survey can hence be referred to. Sources vary from country to country and may cover a large set of economic, social, financial and environmental items, which need not always be strictly related to national accounts. In any case, there is no single survey source for national accounts.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Member States should transmit national accounts data to Eurostat upon national publication and/or in line with the deadlines specified in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2012) transmission programme. Member State's annual main aggregates are generally transmitted at t+2 and t+9 months.
Data are collected from national sources. As the breadth of the sources varies, so does the frequency of collection, from monthly to annually, and in the case of population censuses they are mostly collected every decade.
18.3. Data collection
Data in ESA2010 are transmitted via SDMX which introduced standardised codes.
National Accounts combine data from many source statistics. Techniques of data collection vary widely, depending on the compilation approach, the source statistics available, the particular account in the system of accounts, the timeliness of data release and other factors.
18.4. Data validation
Source data undergo a sequence of checks within NSIs. Eurostat checks national data mainly for completeness (coverage of reference periods and variables) and consistency (accounting consistency, time-consistency between quarterly and annual accounts and consistency over time) and follows up with NSIs on any lack of quality in this respect.
Validation against data from other domains and validation of the statistical tools used are done on an ad-hoc basis.
18.5. Data compilation
The rules on data compilation are established according to ESA 2010.
18.6. Adjustment
To avoid data discrepancies when calculating European annual accounts, Eurostat uses some variables to adjust for any possible lack of additivity between the total and the sum of its components, i.e. these variables are effectively used as balancing items. NSIs may provide explicit balancing adjustments for their national accounts. These are recorded as "discrepancy items" in the appropriate tables.
Not applicable.
The nominal unit labour cost (NULC) index per hour worked is defined as the ratio of labour cost to labour productivity, where labour cost is the ratio of compensation of employees (current prices) to hours worked by employees, and labour productivity is the ratio of gross domestic product (at market prices in millions, chain-linked volumes reference year 2015) to total hours worked.
The MIP scoreboard indicator is the Nominal unit labour cost (per hour worked) - 3 year % change. Furthermore, the indicator Labour productivity (per hour worked) - 1 year % change is part of the MIP auxiliary indicators set.
In the MIP domain, annual figures are also published for:
NULC per hour worked - 1, 5 and 10 year % change and index 2015=100
Real labour productivity per hour worked - index 2015=100
ULC performance related to the euro area – 1 and 10 year % change
and quarterly data:
NULC per person employed – 1 year % change and index 2015=100
Real labour productivity per person employed – 1 year % change and index 2015=100
28 January 2025
The MIP scoreboard indicator is the percentage change over three years of nominal unit labour cost (NULC). The indicative threshold is 9% for the euro area countries and 12% for the non-euro area countries. The scoreboard indicator is calculated using the formula: [ (ULCt – ULCt-3) / ULCt-3 ] * 100.
The annual national accounts domain encompasses the main aggregates on national accounts. Its main variables are: GDP and its components, employment, final consumption aggregates, gross capital formation aggregates, income, exports and imports. These variables are calculated on an annual basis but the majority of them is available on a quarterly basis, as well as certain breakdowns. The key concepts captured by National accounts and related to the calculation of the NULC cover the definition of the Gross domestic product (GDP) and total hours worked.
Gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices is the final result of the production activity of resident producer units. GDP is defined in three ways:
a. GDP Output (production) approach From the production point of view, GDP can be measured as the sum of the following components: GDP = Total Gross Value Added (B.1G) + Taxes (D.21) - Subsidies on products (D.31), where Gross Value Added (GVA) = Output (P.1) - Intermediate consumption (P.2)
b. GDP Expenditure approach GDP = Household and non-profit institutions serving households final expenditure (P.3 in S.14_S.15) + Government final consumption expenditure (P.3 in S.13) + Gross Fixed Capital Formation (P.51) + Changes in inventories (P.52) + (Acquisition - disposal of valuables) (P.53) + Exports (P.6) - Imports (P.7).
c. GDP Income approach GDP = Compensation of employees (D.1) + Gross operating surplus and mixed income (B.2g + B.3g) + Taxes les subsidies on production and imports (D.2 + D.3)
Total hours worked represents the aggregate number of hours actually worked as an employee or self-employed person during the accounting period, when their output is within the production boundary.
Given the broad definition of employees which covers persons temporarily not at work but with a formal attachment, and part-time workers, the appropriate measure for productivity calculation is not a head count but total hours worked.
National accounts aim to capture economic activity within the domestic territory. They combine data from a host of base statistics, and thus they have no common sampling reference frame. The elementary building blocks of ESA 2010 statistics are statistical units and their groupings. ESA 2010 defines two types of units, institutional units and local kind-of-activity units.
National accounts combine data from many source statistics. The concept of statistical population is not applicable in a national accounts context.
The MIP scoreboard presents data for each EU Member State, as well as euro area (EA) and the European Union as a whole.
The reference period is the calendar year.
The indicators are associated with a high level of overall accuracy. Eurostat publishes Euro area GDP revision triangles with all vintages of quarter-on-quarter growth rates and year-on-year growth rates for the Euro area 12 (EA12) seasonally and working day adjusted volume GDP as published by Eurostat since May 2003 until September 2014. Quality reports on national accounts, including revision analysis are also published by some Member States.
Data are expressed as 1, 3, 5 and 10 year % change and index 2015=100.
The rules on data compilation are established according to ESA 2010.
Data published in the MIP domain are national accounts data for EU Member States, where all data are produced by statistical offices of the respective countries then transmitted to Eurostat. Countries use many sources to compile their national accounts, among them administrative data from government, population censuses, business surveys and household surveys. No single survey can hence be referred to. Sources vary from country to country and may cover a large set of economic, social, financial and environmental items, which need not always be strictly related to national accounts. In any case, there is no single survey source for national accounts.
MIP related indicators are updated and released in accordance to the dissemination of the underlying data.
Member States are required to transmit their data to Eurostat in compliance with the European System of Accounts ESA 2010 transmission programme, subject to derogations.
