Labour Costs

National Statistical Institute

Statistics on Labour costs, Research and Development, Innovation and Information Society Department

Todor Davidkov

Head of department

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 568

The data are collected from enterprises and organizations that perform economic activity in Republic of Bulgaria. Sources of information are: pay-roll sheets, presence and absence sheets, labour or non-labour contracts, management contracts, letters of appointment or discharge, applications for paid or unpaid leaves etc.

· National Classification of Economic Activities (NCEA-2003, for international use NACE.BG 2003);

· Classification of Economic Activities (CEA-2008, for international use NACE.BG 2008);

· Unified Classification of Administrative-Territorial and Territorial Units (UCATTU);

· Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).

· National Classification of Occupations and Duties (comparable with ISCO08).

Covered are enterprises (local units) from all economic activities irrespective of their type of ownership and source of financing.

Employees are all persons who have a labour contract (fixed or permanent; full-time or part-time) with their employer by virtue of the Labour Code or the Civil Servants Act and who receive remuneration in cash or in kind for certain quality and quantity of work done.

The average annual number of employees is the arithmetic mean value of the average monthly number of employees. The average monthly number of employees is the arithmetic mean value of the daily number of employees (sum of the daily number of employees divided by the number of days for the reference month). Part-time employees are converted into full-time equivalents.

Gross annual wages and salaries are the remunerations paid regularly to the employees by the employers before the deduction of any tax and social security contributions payable by the employees and withheld by the employers. Gross wages and salaries comprise of: basic wages and salaries for time worked or work done; payments for statutory, contractual or voluntary leave; payments for overtime, shift work, extreme working conditions, length of service; monthly, quarterly and annual bonuses. The average annual wages and salaries are calculated through dividing the total amount of wages and salaries costs accrued during the reference year by the average annual number of employees under labour contract excluding those on maternity leave.

Inflows and outflows - number of employees hired and dismissed during the reference year.

Total Labour Costs includes wages and salaries paid by the employer in cash or in kind, employers' actual and imputed social contribution plus taxes regarded as labour costs.

The observation units are enterprises - companies, ministries, departments, political, religious, public and other organizations, that perform economical activities in Republic of Bulgaria during the reference year.

The annual statistics on employees and labour costs is based on the survey on the employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs, which is an exhaustive for all public and private sector enterprises irrespective of their economic activity and the legislation according to which they are founded.

The whole country is covered.

2000 - 2023

Not applicable.

· Employees - average annual number;

· Average wages and salaries - BGN;

· Inflows and Outflows - number;

· Labour Costs - BGN.

Calendar year

· Law on Statistics;

· National Statistical Programme.

Not applicable.

· Law on Statistics;

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (provision 24 and Article 20 (4)) (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the necessity to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Individual data are not disseminated following the rules set in Article 25 from the Law on Statistics. The dissemination of individual data is done only under Article 26 from the same law.

The actual date of data publication is set in the National Statistical Institute Release Calendar.

The calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/480

The data are published on the NSI website, section Labour Market in accordance with the Law on Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice respecting the professional independence and aimed at objectivity, transparency and equal treatment of all consumers.

Annual

Statistical Yearbook

Detailed results are published on the NSI website, section Labour Market Section - Annual statistics on employment and labour cost: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/6429

Information System INFOSTAT https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat/pages/module.jsf?x_2=79

Access to anonymised micro-data can be granted for research and scientific purposes upon request and following the Rules for granting access to anonymised micro-data for scientific and research purposes set by NSI.

More detailed data, not published on the NSI website can be prepared upon users' request according to the NSI Regulation for dissemination of statistical products and services.

Methodological paper for the calculation of the average number of employees in full-time equivalents.

According to Article 2, point 3 from the Law on Statistics the statistical information shall be produced in compliance with the following criteria for quality: adequacy, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and logical consistency.

The users groups are defined on the basis of the received data requests. They can be classified in the following main groups:

• National authorities - ministries, agencies, councils, other government bodies and public institutions;
• International organizations - Eurostat, ILO etc.
• Social Partners - unions, employers' organizations;
• Private organizations, enterprises, media;
• Researchers and students.

Internal users: Structural Business Statistics, National Accounts.

No information available.

The data refer to the whole country and all economic activities.

The overall accuracy of the survey results depends of:

· Survey tools. The statistical form for the survey is available in electronic and paper format. In 2008 the survey become part from Information system Business Statistics, which is on-line based allowing 24 hours data collection and incorporates logical and arithmetic controls visible immediately during the data entry;

· Methods for errors identification and correction. The data processing goes through three main stages of validation: 1) data are validated while entered to control the plausibility of the inserted values and item non-response; 2) at regional level, the Regional Statistical Offices of NSI perform post-validation incl. checks for coverage, extreme and missing values; 3) at national level, the Head Office of NSI performs additional validation as well for coverage and completeness. Comparability is made with administrative and other sources.

Not applicable - the survey is exhaustive.

The survey results are published 11 months after the reference period.

The survey results are presented at the actual date set in the National Statistical Institute Release Calendar.

Preliminary annual estimates for number of employees and average wages and salaries are published as well from the quarterly sample survey on Number of employees, time worked, wages and salaries and other labour costs.

The national and regional statistical data on employees and wages and salaries are in compliance with the acting Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).

The comparability over time is disturbed by the changes of the Classification of Economic Activities. Up to 2007 NACE.BG 2003 was in force, since 2008 NACE.BG 2008 was implemented, which resulted in break of the time series for number of employees and wages and salaries.

All indicators are internal coherent.

Coherence of the employment data between the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the survey on Number of employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs

The main difference between the both sources is due to the fact that the survey on Number of employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs collects information on the persons which have an employment contract according to the Labour Code or Civil Servants Act, while Labour Force Survey covers employees working by other type of contract or without any contract, as well the self-employed (working proprietors, own account works and unpaid family workers). LFS includes armed forces, but excludes persons on leave for raising a child up to two years of age.

Methodological differences such as: sampling unit, reference period, methods of data classification by economic activity, regional distribution (working place/ residence) etc. are potential reason for data discrepancies as well.

No information is available for the respondents' burden.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The data source is the annual survey on Number of employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs.

The data source for the preliminary results is the quarterly sample survey on the Number of employees, time worked, wages and salaries and other labour costs.

Annual

The survey is exhaustive for all public and private sector enterprises.

The data validation goes through three stages:

• At the data entry;
• At regional level by the NSI Regional Statistical Offices;
• At national level by the NSI Head Office.

The data processing goes through the following stages:

• On-line data entry;
• Data validation;
• Correction of errors and imputation of missing information using administrative sources;
• Producing standardized output tables with main survey results.

Not applicable.