(OE)PRODCOM–Statistics Survey

Standard Documentation and Metainformation

(Definitions, explanatory notes, methods and quality)

of the Austrian Production Statistics Survey (APS)

October 2005

STATISTIK AUSTRIA

Bundesanstalt Statistik Österreich

A-1110 Wien, Guglgasse 13

Tel.: +43-1-71128-0

0.Introduction

0.1.Brief description of the Austrian Production Statistics Survey

0.1.1.General information

The Austrian Production Statistics Survey (APS) is traditionally an integral part of the monthly Short Term Statistics Survey (STS) which forms - together with the yearly Structural Business Statistics Survey (SBS) and the Material Input Statistics Survey (MIS) - a unique and coherent statistical framework.

These three main economic statistical surveys STS, SBS and MIS cover and analyze all statistical activities with reference to (OE)NACE-sections C to F [(OE)NACE-divisions 10 to 45 – in Austria called “Mining and Manufacturing Industries”]. They are integrated in one frame concept which guarantees a maximum of synergy and coherence in accordance to identification and selection of the statistical observation and reporting units as well as minimizing the burden of small enterprises.

The monthly Short Term Statisticsconsist of the following statistical sub-domains at enterprise and LKAU (establishment)level:

  1. employment statistics (ES),
  2. labour costs statistics (LCS),
  3. volume of work statistics (VWS),
  4. turnover statistics (TS),
  5. production statistics (PS).

The data of para a. to d. at certain aggregate levels are primarily used to calculate the STS-indicators in accordance to Regulation (EC)No. 1165/98 concerning Short Term Statistics (amended by Regulation (EC) No 1158/2005)andto calculate the Labour Cost Indexwith reference to Regulation (EC) No 450/2003 (LCI – ref. to para b. and c.) as well as to make cyclical forecasts. On the other hand the data of production statistics serve as a basis for calculating production and productivity indices – but mainly serving the needs of the PRODCOM Regulation (EEC) No 3924/91 in context with Regulation (EC) No 912/2004.

This Community Statistics survey on industrial production was therefore designed to allow alignment with foreign trade statistics via linking with CN/HS and thus obtain detailed information about national and European markets, too.

0.1.2.Legal basis

The Regulation on Short Term Statistics in Mining and Manufacturing Industries (Konjunkturstatistik-Verordnung), Federal Law Gazette No 210/2003, following the principles of the Federal Act on Federal Statistics (Federal Statistics Act 2000, Federal Law Gazette I, No 163/1999, amended by Federal Law Gazette I, No 71/2003) serves as legal national basis.

Consequently, the national Regulation on Short Term Statistics refers to the European Statistical Regulations as listed in annex 1.

0.1.3.The Business Register and it’s role for „industrial surveys“

The Statistical Business Register (SBR) administrates the following statistical units in accordance to the Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community and with reference to the Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93 on Community co-ordination in drawing up business registers for statistical purposes:

  1. The enterprise:
    On the one hand, the enterprise is defined as a legal unit (therefore either being a legal person whose existence is recognised in law independently of the persons or institutions which are owners or members of it or being a natural person carrying out an economic activity as a proprietor or in general, as a self employed person)
    on the other hand, the statistical unit “enterprise” is the aggregate of all the organisational sub units like establishments and local units (or in terms of the Community Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 as kind of activity unit - KAU, local kind of activity unit – LKAU and local unit – LU).
    For survey purposes the enterprises are subdivided into two types
  2. single-LKAU (establishment) enterprises and
  3. multi-LKAU (establishment) enterprises.

Moreover, multi-establishment enterprises are splitted up into:

  • single-activity enterprises and
  • multi-activity enterprises.

De facto the term “single-activity” means that all organisational sub units and the enterprise itself carry out only principal activities in accordance to (OE)NACE Sections C to F or as a counterpart carry out only principal activities of (OE(NACE Sections G to Q (they are either „members“ of the manufacturing industries or they are all „members“ of the services sector).

The enterprise is considered to bea legal unit consisting of at least one establishment (in manufacturing industries therefore at least one LKAU and one KAU) and consequently, at least one local unit (LU).

  1. The LKAU (establishment)

The LKAU (establishment) as statistical unit taken to mean a cost accounting units unambiguously identifiable at NUTS 3-level for which the enterprise information system must be capable of indicating or calculating at least the value of production, intermediate consumption, manpower costs, operating surplus and employment and gross fixed capital formation and therefore tending to be a kind of activity unit at local level (LKAU) in the manufacturing industries in accordance to ISIC Rev.3-definition and in services as kind of activity unit (KAU).

  1. The place of work in accordance to the local unit (LU):

The place of work (LU) is an enterprise itself or part thereof (e.g. workshop, factory, warehouse, office, mine or depot) situated in a geographically identified place. At or from this place economic activity(ies) is (are) carried out for which - save for certain exceptions - one or more persons work (even if only part time) for one and the same enterprise.

  1. General remarks for better understanding:

The enterprise itself as well as each of the LKAU’s (establishments) and the places of work carry out only one principal activity, 0 to n secondary activities and 0 to n ancillary activities (the latter are integral parts of the principal or secondary activities).

For activity identification purposes OENACE 2003was developed strictly compatible with NACE Rev. 1.1 to the 4-digit level.

An extra level made up of a 2-digit supplementary code has been introduced using the 5th and 6th digits and separated from the coding of the class levels by a hyphen. These are called subclasses and they have been added for 127 classes throughout the classification, notably in construction and distributive trade. The total number of subclasses is 722 compared to NACE Rev. 1.1’s 514 classes.

The register is updated constantly and immediately, as soon as there is any register-relevant information available by

  • information from registers for public administration
  • information from business statistics
  • information from national Business Associations.

At present a new concept of re-organizing the SBR is under construction including enterprise groups, a clearer definition of statistical enterprises and legal units and clear links and relationships between administrative and statistical units.

0.1.4.Coverage - survey population and its identification

According to the Regulation on the Community Survey of industrial production the survey population has to cover:

  • Enterprises with main and secondary activities listed in NACE-sections C to E
  • enterprises with 20 and more persons employed
  • at least 90% of national production per NACE-class.

Following these principles the population of the STS-survey and therefore the APS-survey is framed on the information about employment and turnover in the SBR.

Generally the population for APS is defined as the sum of all LKAUS’s of single or multi LKAU enterprises with at least 10 persons employed and carrying out activities within (OE)NACE-divisions 10 to 45.

The coverage of the STS and therefore also the APS (and PRODCOM) is calculated in terms of

total turnover from industrial activities (code 18 120of the SBS) of observation units/
total turnover of all enterprises with primary and secondary activities within (OE)NACE-section C to F (industrial activities - code 18 120 of the SBS).

The denominator is based on the yearly SBS – the latest data available are from 2003 – in context with the VAT-declarations of the enterprises concerned (excluding turnover from trading activities of purchase and resale). The coverage rate at 2-digit level of (OE)NACE for reference year 2004 can be seen in annex 2.

The coverage rate can be estimated at more detailed level (e.g. classes). Nevertheless it must be confessed that some (OE)NACE-classes have a coverage rate below the 90% threshold of the PRODCOM-Regulation.

0.1.5.Type of survey

The APS-survey is a cut-off survey (non probability sampling) or in other wording a “non representative, concentrated sample”.

It comprises the whole production sector (Mining and Manufacturing Industries – (OE)NACE-divisions 10 to 45, called industrial activities) therefore including (OE)NACE-division 37 as well as the whole energy and water supply [(OE)NACE-section E] and the construction [(OE)NACE-section F] sector.

Furthermore the so called “product related services” have to be reported by the observation units (“product related services” are defined in accordance to certain (OE)CPA aggregate levels as an output of secondary activities within (OE)NACE sections G to Q).

At the first stage the frame population is selected by using the activity information (main and secondary activities stored together with further attributes such as employment and turnover) in the singular database files of the SBR, e.g. all enterprises and their LKAU’s with main and/or secondary activities within the (OE)NACE-divisions 10 to 45 are signed as potential observation units.

At a second stage

  • all single-LKAU (establishment) enterprises with a main activity and/or secondary activities within (OE)NACE divisions 10 to 45 with 20 and more personsemployed
  • all industrial multi-LKAU (establishment) enterprises as well as their LKAU’s carrying out a main activity referring to (OE)NACE divisions 10 to 45
  • all LKAU’s of non-industrial multi LKAU enterprises with a main activity within (OE)NACE division 10 to 45

are selected.

At a third stage the 90% representativeness is checked to comply with the PRODCOM Regulation.

If the units selected at the second stage do not represent at least 90% of national production per (OE)NACE class, further enterprises with less than 20 persons employed must be included in the survey (.. all enterprises of the employment size class 19, 18 …, until 90% of national production output is represented).

There are only the following remarkable political and national legislative restrictions:

  • To avoid the survey burden for smallest enterprises totally, all enterprises with less than 10 persons employed have to be excluded generally from STS-survey and therefore from APS (PRODCOM), even if the representativeness demanded cannot be reached with the frame selected.
  • Single-LKAU enterprises and LKAU’s of multi-LKAU enterprises with a main activity according to (OE)NACE Sections G to Q but carrying out secondary activities within (OE)NACE-divisions 10 to 45 (industrial activities) are also definitely excluded from STS- and the APS-survey in Mining and Manufacturing Industries at the moment.

The principal activity of a survey unit is stated by using the top down method, i.e. starting with the (OE)NACE-sections downwards to (OE)NACE-classes it must be determined which principal activity is carried out by the unit using one of the basic indicators below:

  • value added (net production value)
  • marketable value
  • employment or
  • gross wages and salaries.

The obligation of an enterprise being active in Mining and Manufacturing Industries to report the monthly STS-questionnaire (and therefore (OE)PRODCOM, too) for the subsequent year is derived from the state of persons employed in the enterprise at Sept.30th of the current year. The obligation remains at least for one calendar year (except death/deactivation, merger, take-over, break-up and split-off of the enterprise concerned, such cases in general lead immediately after knowledge to dismissal from the obligation to participate in the STS-survey). Births and changes in the principal activity of enterprises are generally taken into account from the subsequent calendar year onwards.

Before creating the new survey questionnaires for dispatching purposes at the end of the year for the following year the old and the new and updated survey population are compared entailing that any structural change relating to an enterprise and/or establishment has been taken into account. If the new information conflicts with elder or other information sources the facts are verified directly by contacting the respondent of the observation unit concerned. This comparison ensures that no crucial enterprise will be lost for new survey purposes.

0.1.6.Observation and reporting unit

The Austrian observation and reporting unit for APS-survey purposes is the local kind of activity unit (LKAU) as kind of activity unit at NUTS 3-level which is considered to be the actual transactor in the production process either as a single-LKAU enterprise or a LKAU of a multi-LKAU enterprise.

Because of the fact that about 90% of the SBR-population carrying out an economic activity within (OE)NACE Sections C to Fare enterprises with only one LKAU, the most numerous transactors in the production process are “single-LKAU enterprises”.

In contrary to this fact, the economical most important production transactors are LKAU’s of multi-establishment enterprises.

The Austrian LKAU (or establishment) therefore can be described as a technical unit at local (NUTS 3) level contributing to one or more enterprise activities within the (OE)NACE Section C to F and corresponding to one or several operational subdivisions of the enterprise.

A special survey unit only in construction is the consortium or joint venture. This survey unit is more or less comparable with a single establishment enterprise. Admittedly, it is an interest group of several enterprises on a contractual basis only for a restricted duration to carry out a certain construction project under a common commercial direction which is incumbent on one of the enterprises involved.

0.1.7.Nomenclature – commodity list (structure)

The commodity list OEPRODCOM YYYY is based on all the list A- and B-headings of the latest PRODCOM-list valid for the reference year. These headings are often extended with two extra digits because of their importance to national market analyses. Therefore the national codification consists of 10 digits.

The product list is enlarged by further product headings for the (OE)NACE-divisions 37, 40, 41 and especially 45 as well as for products representing mostly secondary activities in accordance to (OE)NACE-divisions 50 to 93 (only market profit oriented activities - in Austria called “product related services”, mostly created as extensions of existing CPA-sub-categories [(OE)CPA 6-digits extended to OEPRODCOM 10 digits)].

If it is necessary to define further headings for national purposes which cannot be based on valid PRODCOM 8 digits or a certain (OE)CPA-level (so called “black box” or “dummy” headings, often reflecting total plants, special industrial services like repairs, establishing, erecting, maintenance or other performances which cannot be identified in the PRODCOM-list) are defined. However, these codes must fit into one of the valid hierarchical levels of the (OE)CPA 2002.

(OE)PRODCOM is the basis for the branch specific commodity lists 1 (consisting of all products and services in accordance to the (OE)NACE-divisions 10 to 45) and the commodity list 2 (product related services referring to all (OE)CPA based “products” at six digit level – only value – of (OE)NACE-division 50 to 93). The commodity lists 1 often do not use the original PRODCOM wording, rather the description of the headings is more or less hierarchically to ensure better understanding of the respondents.

0.1.8.Types of production and product valuation

In principle the Austrian (OE)PRODCOM-concept differentiates between the following production types:

  • Own production intended for sale (OS)
  • Own production intended for further processing (OP)
  • Own production intended for internal deliveries, transactions and performances (OI)
  • Subcontract work carried out as a subcontractor (SW)
  • Production/performances sold (PS)
  • Internal deliveries, transactions and performances within the enterprise (ID)

For EC-reporting purposes the following reporting types are calculated:

  • total technical production (TTP) = OS + OI + SW
  • total production (TP) = TTP + OP
  • production sold (PS)

Data in accordance to the headings referring to the (OE)NACE classes 45.22, 45.31 to 45.34 45.41 to 45.45 and of the (OE)NACE-divisions 50 to 93 are surveyed for production type “production sold” only.

The singular production types have to be recorded for all commodity list (OE)PRODCOM- headings as far as produced and/or sold in the reporting period.

The General Notes in the PRODCOM-list specify, that the “value of production sold/production intended for sale should be calculated on the basis of the ex-works selling price obtained/obtainable during the reporting period. This price includes packaging costs but not turnover taxes and consumer taxes neither separately charged costs of freight nor any discounts granted to customers”.

This specification comes close to the definition of the value in “basic prices”. This concept of “basic prices”, namely:

“The basic price is the price receivable by the producers from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced as output minus any tax payable on that unit as a consequence of its production or sale (i.e. taxes on products), plus any subsidy receivable on that unit as a consequence of its production or sale (i.e. subsidies on products). It excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer. It includes any transport margins charged by the producer on the same invoice, even when they are included as a separate item on the invoice”,

as defined in the “ESA 1995” (European System of Accounts (ESA) 1995) is used in the Austrian Production Survey, too.

0.1.9.Media for data collection

Following one of our leading guiding principle to reduce respondent’s burden wherever possible Statistics Austria made available a great variety of media for data collection consisting of the

  • traditionally “printed survey documents” as well as of
  • electronic survey media variants.
  1. Printed survey documents:

Reporting units using printed survey documents only obtain the specific commodity lists 1 per principal and secondary activities and furthermore one commodity list 2 concerning the “product related services”. If products are not identifiable by using the commodity lists the products can be reported by using their commercial designations without coding. Furthermore each reporting unit receives the correct type(s) of questionnaire(s).

Printed questionnaires are sent out in the last week of the reporting month by an external subcontractor. This external service enterprise prints the survey documents requested by using a source file of Statistics Austria which parameters define the singular respondents, the observation units in accordance to the respondent, the observation unit specific questionnaire type and the different types of survey documents (such as commodity lists, explanatory notes, letters etc.).