Austria (2)
Title of the survey
Construction Statistics Survey
Organization responsible
Austrian Central Statistical Office (ÖSTAT)
Periodicity of the survey
Monthly and yearly. The following description refers to the
monthly survey. The annual survey is briefly described under
Other sources of data.
Objectives of the survey
The survey data
are used by public authorities (federal and provincial
governments) and private enterprises in short- and medium-term
cyclical analysis.
Main labour topics covered by the survey
Employment, earnings and hours of work.
Reference period
For employment: the last day of each month.
For earnings and hours of work: the month.
Coverage of the survey
Geographical
The whole country.
Industrial
The survey covers construction only. It corresponds to tabulation
category F, division 45, groups 451 and 452 of the International
Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC),
Rev.3, 1990.
Establishments
Enterprises of all types and sizes. They include construction
enterprises which are members of the Section
Industrie of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, as well as those
which are members of the Section Gewerbe, i.e. craft industries.
Persons
Employees.
Working proprietors, working directors and unpaid family
members are excluded.
Occupations
Not relevant.
Concepts and definitions
Employment
Data relate to regular
employees. They include apprentices, trainees, workers
on probation and part-time workers. Wage earners and salaried employees
are identified separately.
Excluded are piece workers, commission agents, homeworkers, casual,
temporary and seasonal workers, as well as persons temporarily absent
from work because of military service, temporary or indefinite lay-off.
Earnings
Data refer to gross earnings. They include pay for normal
time worked, premium pay for overtime, shift, night or holiday work,
incentive pay, other regular bonuses, cost-of-living allowances, house
rent allowances and transport allowances. They also include
remuneration for time not worked such as for annual leave, vacation,
public holidays, other time off with pay and bonuses and gratuities paid
irregularly.
Data on earnings exclude the value of payments in kind.
Wage/salary rates
Not relevant.
Hours of work
Data are collected on hours paid for
and hours actually worked
per month.
Hours paid for correspond to: normal hours of work; overtime; time
spent at the place of work such as for the preparation of workplace,
repairs, maintenance, preparation and cleaning of tools, preparation of
receipts, time sheets and reports; time spent at the place of work
waiting or standing by for such reasons as lack of supply of work,
breakdown of machinery or accident, or time spent at the place of work
during which no work is done but for which payment is made under a
guaranteed employment contract; time corresponding to short rest periods
at the workplace, including tea or coffee breaks. They also include
hours paid for but not worked such as for vacation, public holidays,
sick leave, etc., which are separately identified.
Hours actually worked are obtained by deducting hours paid for but not
worked (for vacation, holidays, all types of paid leave, etc.) from
total hours paid for.
Only those enterprises which are members of the Section Industrie
of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce are asked to report on hours not
worked.
International recommendations
The definition of earnings complies with the international
recommendations, in that it includes all gross cash payments for time
worked or work done, and remuneration for time not worked. However, the
value of payments in kind is excluded.
The concept of hours actually worked used in the survey complies with
the international guidelines.
Classifications
Industrial
The survey data are classified according to the International Standard
Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev.2,
1968.
Occupational
Not relevant.
Others
The survey data are classified by province and employee category
(wage earners or salaried employees).
Sample size and design
Statistical unit
The sampling unit is the construction enterprise or the joint
venture (ARGE). The enterprise is also the reporting unit; in the case
of enterprises forming a joint venture, the commercially most important
enterprise provides separate information in respect of the joint
venture.
Survey universe / sample frame
The sample frame is the Directory of construction enterprises maintained
by ÖSTAT. It comprises all commercial enterprises or joint ventures
which are engaged in direct construction activities related to surface
or civil engineering (including adaptation works) as their main
activity.
It covers enterprises which are members of the Section Industry
(about 250 units) as well as those which are members
of the Section Gewerbe (about 3,000 units) of
the Austrian Chamber of Commerce.
The sample frame is regularly updated on the basis of (i) the
membership register of Construction Guild (Bauhandbuch), (ii) periodical
reports of the Central Association of Social Insurance Institutions, and
(iii) correspondence with the enterprises concerned.
Sample design
Enterprises which are members of the Section Industrie are fully
enumerated.
A one-stage stratified sample is drawn from the list of
enterprises that are members of the Section Gewerbe.
Enterprises are stratified according to (i) the annual value of
production as reported in the last annual report or, in the case of new
enterprises, estimated on the basis of the available monthly reports;
and (ii) the geographic location of the enterprise. Enterprises are
classified into five groups by annual value of production (under 1, 1-5,
5-10, 10-50, more than 50 million schillings) and into nine groups by
geographic location, corresponding to the nine Federal Länder. Thus, a
total of 45 strata are formed. All enterprises with an annual value of
production of more than 50 million schillings are included with
certainty in the sample. The total size of the sample for the remaining
four classes of annual value of production is 600 enterprises. The
sample size is determined by the requirement of keeping the sampling
error for the annual value of production at the national level below 2
per cent. The 600 sample enterprises are allocated to the four classes
of annual value of production in using Ehlers' method; within each
class, allocation of the sample by geographic location is approximately
proportional. Within each stratum, enterprises are listed in ascending
order of their annual value of production and a sample is selected
systematically with a random start. In this way, enterprises of all
sizes are covered uniformly within each class of annual value of
production.
The data of the 12 monthly reports obtained from the sample enterprises
are complemented with information from the annual report
which all construction enterprises have to submit.
Field work
Data collection
Questionnaires are sent by mail at the end of each reference month. The
completed forms should be returned by the 20th of the following month.
Survey questionnaire
Two forms: Monatsmeldung A and Monatsmeldung L are used.
Both are designed to collect information on output, employment, hours of
work and wages and salaries. In addition, the second questionnaire asks
for data on the consumption of fuel and energy and should be filled in
by the appropriate enterprises.
Detailed instructions on definitions, methods of checking, items to be
included or excluded, etc. are provided along with the questionnaires.
Substitution of sampling units
There is no replacement of units which have gone out of business,
refused to respond, etc.
Data processing and editing
Data are processed by computer. In the case of missing or inconsistent
data, respondents are contacted by mail or telephone.
Types of estimates
Totals of employment; total and average monthly hours actually
worked, hours paid for and monthly earnings.
Construction of indices
None.
Weighting of sample results
Aggregate data are obtained by multiplying the sample results per
stratum by the raising factor, i.e. the ratio of the number of
establishments in the universe to the number within the sample.
Adjustments
Non-response
None.
Other bias
None.
Use of benchmark data
Not relevant.
Seasonal variations
None.
Indicators of reliability of the estimates
Coverage of the sampling frame
The Directory of construction enterprises is virtually complete.
Sampling error / sampling variance
The sampling error is about 0.96 per cent for earnings, and 1.01 per
cent for hours of work. It is not available for employment.
Non-response rate
The survey is conducted mainly under Federal Law BGBI Nr.91/1965 on
statistics which makes it compulsory for enterprises to complete and
return the questionnaires.
Non-sampling errors
Not available.
Conformity with other sources
Not relevant.
Available series
Published tables in construction include: average monthly and hourly
earnings per wage earner and salaried employee; average monthly hours of
work per employee.
History of the survey
The survey was first conducted in 1968, by complete enumeration.
Since 1969, sampling has been used.
From 1996 onwards, the national industrial classification will be
changed to the Statistical Classification of economic activities of the
European Communities (NACE), Rev.1, which is based on ISIC, Rev.3,
1990.
Documentation
Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt:
Statistische Nachrichten
(monthly; Vienna).
idem: Monatserhebung - Baustatistik, 1.Teil
(annual; ibid.).
idem: Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Republik Österreich
(annual; ibid); this publication contains methodological
information.
Confidentiality / Reliability criteria
The data provided by the enterprises are used for
statistical purposes only. In addition, cells are deemed to be
confidential if less than four enterprises contribute towards them.
Other information
Data supplied to the ILO for publication
Statistics of average (a) hours actually worked and (b) hours paid for,
per month, in construction are published in Table 14 of the
Yearbook of Labour Statistics.
The statistics of hours actually worked refer only to those
enterprises which are members of the Section Industrie of the
Austrian Chamber of Commerce, excluding those belonging to craft
industries.
Other sources of data
The Austrian Central Statistical
Office conducts another
Construction Statistics Survey every year
which covers enterprises of all types and sizes, excluding those
belonging to craft industries, and all persons engaged (working
proprietors, unpaid family workers, apprentices, trainees, workers on
probation as well as wage earners and salaried employees). Data on
hours of work are not collected in this survey; the structure of
earnings is similar to that in the monthly survey. Data on employment
refer to 31 October, those on earnings to the calendar year. The survey
is based on a complete enumeration of enterprises.
The survey results are given in the publication:
Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt:
Jahreserhebung, Baustatistik, 2. Teil (annual; Vienna).
Data on paid employment in construction, up to 1989, are published in
Table 7 of the Yearbook of Labour Statistics.