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 indicator Compensation of employees sources from the National accounts domain. Under the MIP context it is used for the calculation of the indicator Unit labour cost index.
National accounts are a coherent and consistent set of macroeconomic indicators, which provide an overall picture of the economic situation. They are widely used for economic analysis and forecasting, policy design and policy making. Eurostat publishes annual and quarterly national accounts data. Annual national accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts - ESA 2010 as defined in Annex B of the Council Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013.
The methodological framework followed in the compilation of the National accounts is defined in the European system of national and regional accounts for the denominator (ESA2010), as defined in Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Annual national accounts refer to the whole economy, but breakdowns by sectors are provided by the annual sector accounts.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Compensation of employees (at current prices) is defined as the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an employer to an employee in return for work done by the latter during the accounting period. Compensation of employees consists of wages and salaries, and of employers' social contributions. Input data are obtained through official transmissions of national accounts' country data in the ESA2010 transmission programme.
3.5. Statistical unit
National accounts aim to capture economic activity within the domestic territory. They combine data from a host of base statistics, thus they have no common sampling reference frame. The elementary building blocks of ESA2010 statistics are statistical units and their groupings. ESA2010 defines two types of units, the institutional units and the local kind-of-activity units (ESA2010, §1.54).
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 national data for each EU Member State and for euro area (EA) and the European Union as a whole. EU and EA aggregates were added in 2023 to give more prominence to EU and EA-level developments and for facilitating the comparison of Member States’ relative positions.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The data published under the MIP domain are quarterly and annual time series. The lengths of series vary according to country, for details on time coverage see the information note: tipslm13 and tipslm14.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data are expressed in million units of national currency.
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 (ESA 2010) which was published in the Official Journal as Annex A of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013. The European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) transmission programme is covered in Annex B of the Council Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, Commission Decision 98/715 of 30 November 1998 and Commission Decision 2002/990 of 17 December 2002 on measurement of price and volumes in national accounts.
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.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
If Member States transmit data with a confidentiality flag or an embargo date, these data are not disseminated until the confidentiality flag is removed in a subsequent data transmission or until the embargo has expired.
8.1. Release calendar
National data become visible on Eurostat's online database usually one to two days after their reception (processing including quality monitoring).
Annual accounts that are also covered by quarterly accounts are usually updated on the occasion of new quarterly releases (which are released according to a pre-announced calendar published on Eurostat's website); figures for a new year usually become available with the first release of quarterly accounts for the fourth quarter of the reference year.
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. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Dissemination requirements for each dataset are defined in the ESA2010 transmission programme. For annual main GDP aggregates: t+2 months and t+9 months. Quarterly variables on GDP and components from output and expenditure side, at current and constant prices are estimated around t+65 days.
The indicator is used for the calculation of the Unit labour cost index, which is part of the MIP Scoreboard, used to identify emerging or persistent macroeconomic imbalances in EU countries. The Scoreboard is part of an annual exercise, where the first step is the compilation of an Alert Mechanism Report (AMR).
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
See data availability for the different tables: tipslm13 and tipslm14.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not available.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not available.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
European legislation and guidelines are explained in ESA2010.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not available.
11.1. Quality assurance
Quality is assured by a strict application of ESA2010 concepts and by thorough validation of the data delivered by Member States.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Eurostat conducts an annual compliance exercise for all Member States.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The indicator is used for the calculation of the Unit labour cost index, which is one of the MIP Scoreboard indicators. 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.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
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 applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Member States are required to transmit their data to Eurostat in compliance with the European System of Accounts ESA2010 transmission programme, subject to derogations.
14.2. Punctuality
Eurostat releases its estimates of European aggregates in line with the pre-announced release schedule. 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.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Comparability is insured by the application of common definitions (ESA2010).
15.2. Comparability - over time
By using a common framework, the European System of Accounts ESA2010, data are comparable over time. Where series cannot be comparable over time, for example those expressed as a percentage of total EU, then an explanatory note is presented with the series.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
In certain cases, data from other domains of economic statistics, i.e. balance of payments statistics, business statistics, household budget statistics or external trade statistics can be used for cross-checking purposes. These economic statistics are also available from the appropriate domains on Eurostat's website.
Most of national data have originally been published by National Statistical Institutes (NSI).
15.4. Coherence - internal
In between Eurostat releases, Member States may revise their figures; Eurostat publishes the new Member States' accounts shortly after reception but does not recalculate EU accounts until next scheduled EU release. Geographical coherence may thus be lost for a brief period. In turn, a certain stability of annual aggregates is assured, and annual and quarterly EU aggregates will by default be coherent.
Not applicable.
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
Eurostat publishes national accounts data for the European Union, euro area and country data (for EU Member States, EFTA countries, candidate countries, the United States, Japan and some other countries on an ad hoc basis).
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.
The same checks are applied to data for the European aggregates. Validation against data from other domains and validation of the statistical tools used are done on an ad-hoc basis.
18.5. Data compilation
Where single Member States' figures are not available, Eurostat may use unpublished estimates to impute country data and hence calculate the European aggregates.
18.6. Adjustment
If Member States' accounts show discrepancies (explicit or implicit) between GDP and the sum of components, European annual accounts derived from summing these up would show a discrepancy equal to the sum of Member States' discrepancies. To avoid this, European annual accounts use 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. This is only possible at current and at previous year's prices, because of the lack of additivity induced by the chain-linking technique.
NSIs may provide explicit balancing adjustments for their national accounts. These are recorded as "discrepancy items" in the appropriate tables.
Not applicable.
The indicator Compensation of employees sources from the National accounts domain. Under the MIP context it is used for the calculation of the indicator Unit labour cost index.
National accounts are a coherent and consistent set of macroeconomic indicators, which provide an overall picture of the economic situation. They are widely used for economic analysis and forecasting, policy design and policy making. Eurostat publishes annual and quarterly national accounts data. Annual national accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts - ESA 2010 as defined in Annex B of the Council Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013.
Compensation of employees (at current prices) is defined as the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an employer to an employee in return for work done by the latter during the accounting period. Compensation of employees consists of wages and salaries, and of employers' social contributions. Input data are obtained through official transmissions of national accounts' country data in the ESA2010 transmission programme.
National accounts aim to capture economic activity within the domestic territory. They combine data from a host of base statistics, thus they have no common sampling reference frame. The elementary building blocks of ESA2010 statistics are statistical units and their groupings. ESA2010 defines two types of units, the institutional units and the local kind-of-activity units (ESA2010, §1.54).
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 national data for each EU Member State and for euro area (EA) and the European Union as a whole. EU and EA aggregates were added in 2023 to give more prominence to EU and EA-level developments and for facilitating the comparison of Member States’ relative positions.
The reference period is the calendar year.
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 in million units of national currency.
Where single Member States' figures are not available, Eurostat may use unpublished estimates to impute country data and hence calculate the European aggregates.
Eurostat publishes national accounts data for the European Union, euro area and country data (for EU Member States, EFTA countries, candidate countries, the United States, Japan and some other countries on an ad hoc basis).
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.
Dissemination requirements for each dataset are defined in the ESA2010 transmission programme. For annual main GDP aggregates: t+2 months and t+9 months. Quarterly variables on GDP and components from output and expenditure side, at current and constant prices are estimated around t+65 days.
Member States are required to transmit their data to Eurostat in compliance with the European System of Accounts ESA2010 transmission programme, subject to derogations.
Comparability is insured by the application of common definitions (ESA2010).
By using a common framework, the European System of Accounts ESA2010, data are comparable over time. Where series cannot be comparable over time, for example those expressed as a percentage of total EU, then an explanatory note is presented with the series.
