Czech Republic - 2

Title of the survey

Labour cost survey.

Organization responsible

Czech Statistical Office.

Periodicity of the survey

Annual.

Objectives of the survey

To collect information on the level and structure of labour cost. The results are used to analyse the labour market, to assess and monitor social policies and for international comparison purposes.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment, hours of work and labour cost.

Reference period

The calendar year.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole country.

Industrial

All branches of economic activity except the armed forces (soldiers of the basic military service, professionals and policemen), household employing domestic services, embassies and consulates.

Establishments

All types and sizes of business units (enterprises), except unincorporated private entrepreneurs not registered in the Business Register and own-account workers.

Persons

Employees with a contract of employment.

Excluded are persons released for the execution of public functions and employees of security information services.

Occupations

Data are not collected by occupation.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Employees are defined as persons working under an employment contract, irrespective of citizenship and duration of contract. They include working proprietors with an employment contract, working directors, wage earners and salaried employees, workers on probation, piece workers, home workers, casual, temporary and seasonal workers, whether full- or part-time. Persons temporarily absent from work because of paid (less than four weeks) leave, industrial dispute, sickness or accident, persons on lay off (less than four weeks), persons temporarily present on payroll during notice period preceding retirement, resignation or dismissal, and persons on temporary military service are included.

Excluded from employees are managerial workers without employment contract, home workers without employment contract, apprentices, trainees, commission agents, workers sub-contracted from other companies or temporary work agencies, unpaid contributing family workers, and persons absent on maternity or additional child-care leave, parental or personal leave.

For the purpose of labour cost statistics, data are collected on the following variables (calculated by enterprises):

average registered number of employees (natural persons): this corresponds to the total number of employees on each calendar day of the survey year, divided by the full number of calendar days in that year (for weekend days and holidays, the number of employees is the same as that of the previous working day). In small reporting units with 20 or less employees and simplified book keeping, the monthly average is the average of the number of employees at the beginning and at the end of the month, and the annual average corresponds to the total of monthly averages divided by 12.
average registered number of employees converted to full-time equivalents: this applies to employees with shortened working time according to para. 86 of the Labour Act, for employees under 16 years of age and similar categories of employees with special working hours fixed by contract.
registered number of employees (natural persons) as of 31st December.
number of manual workers.
registered number of employees with shorter hours of work upon their request (para. 86 of the Labour Act) and by law (para. 83 of the Labour Act).

Employment data only serve to calculate average monthly and annual labour cost.

Labour cost

Labour cost is defined as the total cost employers must pay to recruit and train employees, remunerate them for their work, and insure their social needs. It includes:

direct wages and salaries for hours worked and work done, including overtime payments;
remuneration for time not worked: paid vacation, public holidays and other recognized holidays; time off granted with pay for personal, family and other reasons; paid administrative and other leave;
bonuses and allowances;
payments in kind included in earnings (for food, fuel, etc.) and other social benefits such as payments for accomodation and lodging, company cars for employees private use, payment of union dues and other contributions or fees, products provided to employees free of charge or at reduced prices, etc.;
employers' contributions to statutory social security and unemployment funds, as well as contributions to non-compulsory social security and pension schemes, direct payments by the employers to their employees for compensation in case of sickness, contributions to insurance schemes for occupational injuries and diseases, severance and termination pay, and similar expenditure;
other personnel costs: cost of recruitment (reimbursement of travel expenses), training and re-training of employees, education of apprentices, cost of work clothes supplied by the employer, scholarships to employees' families, nurseries for employees' children, transportation costs to and from work, etc.
taxes imposed by, minus subsidies received from the appropriate authorities in connection with the employment of people and the payment of wages.

Hours of work

For the purpose of statistics of labour cost, data are collected on the total number of hours actually worked per year, separately by all employees (part- and full-time workers) and apprentices. Hours actually worked include normal hours of work; overtime; time spent at place on preparation of workplace, repair, maintenance, preparation and cleaning of tools, preparation of receipts, time sheets, reports; time spent at place of work during which no work is done but for which payment is made under a guaranteed employment contract; and time corresponding to short rest periods at the workplace including tea or coffee breaks. Overtime hours are identified separately.

Hours actually worked exclude hours paid for but not worked (for holidays, vacation, sick leave, time off, etc.).

Data on hours of work only serve to calculate average hourly labour cost.

International recommendations

The components of labour cost and the concept of hours actually worked used in this survey conform to the international guidelines.

Classifications

The labour cost data are classified according to the list of variables provided by EUROSTAT for the European Communities statistics on the Level and Structure of Labour Cost (EC no. 23/97 of 20 December 1996).

Industrial

Data are classified according to the Branch Classification of Economic Activities (OKEC) at the five-digit level. This classification is an adaptation of the Statistical Classification of economic activities of the European Communities (NACE, Rev.1) which itself is based on the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev.3.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

The data on labour cost are also classified by region (eight regions) and size class of enterprises and establishments (1-10 employees, 11-24, 25-49, 50-99, 100-199, 200-499, 500-999, 1,000 and more employees).

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The sampling and reporting unit is the enterprise.

Survey universe / sample frame

This is the Business Register, which is updated on a quarterly basis from the trade courts, the trade licence offices and the Czech Administration of Social Security.

Sample design

The survey design combines fully enumerated strata and sample strata. Units with 500 employees or more are included with certainty. A sample is drawn from all units employing less than 500 employees. The sampling fraction varies with the employment size of the reporting unit in each OKEC division (1-93). The survey covers some 6,200 units with about 1,750,000 employees, out of which some 1,000 units are included with certainty.

Field work

Data collection

Data collection takes place annually during the first quarter following the reference year. Completed questionnaires should be returned by the 1st of April.

Survey questionnaire

Available in Czech.

Substitution of sampling units

Sampling units are not replaced in the event of total non-response.

Data processing and editing

Data are processed by means a specific software (DECALPHA). Data editing and control are carried out by the regional CSO units, for completion and correctness of data. Missing or inconsistent data are followed up through telephone calls or mail. Consistency and logic checks are carried out by computer.

Types of estimates

Average annual, monthly and hourly labour costs.

Structure of labour costs.

Total of hours actually worked.

Construction of indices

None for the time being. Quarterly labour cost indices will be computed in a near future.

Weighting of sample results

For each stratum (economic activity and size class), the sample results are extrapolated using weights calculated as follows:

W = N / n,

where,

N is the total number of employees in the population (CSO Register), and

n is the total number of employees in the sample set.

Adjustments

Non-response

Adjustments are made during the weighting procedure.

Other bias

None.

Use of benchmark data

Employment data from the Czech Administration of Social Security are used as benchmark to adjust the survey results.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

Total coverage is aimed at through the regular updating of the Business Register.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not computed.

Non-response rate

On average, about 38% in terms of units and 3% in terms of employment. In the sample part: 45% in terms of units and 11.6% in terms of employment.

Non-sampling errors

Not available.

Conformity with other sources

Data on employment and earnings from the Labour Cost Survey are compared with the results of the CSO annual reporting on employment and earnings.

Estimates for non-survey years

Not relevant.

Available series

Published tables include:

Annual labour costs per employee, classified by NACE Section, region, type of ownership, size class of reporting unit;
Monthly and hourly labour costs, classified by branch of economic activity, region, type of ownership, size class of reporting units, by NACE section and size class, NACE section and type of ownership; cross-classifications of components of labour costs by NACE section, region, type of ownership and size class.
Structure of labour costs, by branch of economic activity, region, type of ownership and size class of reporting units;
Hours actually worked per employee by branch of economic activity, type of ownership and size class of reporting units.

History of the survey

The Labour Cost survey was introduced in 1994 with reference to 1993. It was a pilot survey in selected branches of the economy, which covered units with 10 employees and more. The survey was repeated in 1995, with reference to 1994, and covered enterprises of all sizes in the whole national economy. For the next survey (as from the year 2000), it is planned to include more indicators on the basis of EUROSTAT's recommendations.

Documentation

Czech Statistical Office: Labour Costs as Measured by the Sample Survey (annual, Prague);

idem: Labour cost in the Czech Republic (ibid.).

The results are published within nine months following the reference year.

The Labour Cost survey results can also be made available on diskette and information is available on the following Web-site: http://www.czso.cz

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

The Labour Cost survey is conducted under the Act on the State Statistical Service No. 89/1995, which defines the rights and obligations of the Czech Statistical Office towards reporting units. It contains directives on the independence of the CSO and the protection of individual respondents' data.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

Statistics of average hourly labour cost of employees and wage earners (manual workers) in manufacturing are published in the ILO Yearbook of Labour Statistics.