Spain (3)

Title of the survey

Encuesta del Costo de la Mano de Obra (Survey of Labour Cost)

Organization responsible

Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE)

Periodicity of the survey

Every four years (1988, 1992).

Objectives of the survey

to obtain information on labour cost and its components,
to obtain information on working time and its components,
to obtain information on earnings by occupational category and sex.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment, earnings, hours of work, labour cost.

Reference period

The year.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole national territory and its breakdown into autonomous communities.

Industrial

The 1992 survey covered the whole industrial sector (including construction) and trade, hotels, transport and communication, banking, insurance, real estate, business services and renting. The following are excluded: agriculture, hunting and forestry, and community, social and personal services.

Establishments

Establishments located within the national territory with five or more employees.

Persons

All employees. The following are excluded: working proprietors, home workers and workers subcontracted from other enterprises or from agencies providing temporary workers, unpaid family workers and workers absent on military service.

Occupations

Not relevant.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Information is obtained on the number of employees on the payroll on the last day of each month of the reference year. A distinction is made between:

full-time workers and
part-time workers.

Data are also collected on the average number of full-time workers over the year:

with contracts of unlimited duration,
with fixed-term contracts,
by sex and
by occupational category according to the occupational classification obtained from the social security contributions records. This classification comprises 12 groups by type of contribution, covering: engineers and graduates, technical engineers, technicians and qualified assistants, administrative chiefs and workshop foremen, unqualified assistants, administrative officials, assistants, administrative auxiliaries, first and second-grade officials, third-grade officials and specialists, non-specialized workers aged 18 years or over and workers under 18 years of age.

Labour cost

This is the cost to the employer of employing labour. It includes: remuneration for work performed and for time not worked, bonuses and gratuities, expenditure in the form of food and drink and other payments in kind, social security expenditure, cost of vocational training, cost of welfare services, cultural and medical services, cost of workers' transport, cost of work clothes and other costs arising from the employment of labour borne by the employer. Subsidies received, whether these are tax exemptions granted for the creation of employment or reductions in social security contributions, and direct wage subsidies are excluded. Data are collected separately in the survey on the following components:

Direct payments: these cover the total gross remuneration paid to workers in cash or in kind. A distinction is made between:
- basic wage or salary,
- overtime,
- extra payments (for Christmas, vacations, gratuities etc.),
- other premiums (for seniority, productivity, attendance, qualifications, knowledge of foreign languages, etc.),
- payments for temporary incapacity to work (ILT): benefits (delegated payment) paid by social security through the enterprise, and supplements to the ILT paid by the enterprise,
- payments for partial unemployment in the event of a layoff: unemployment benefit paid through the enterprise and supplementary unemployment benefits paid by the enterprise,
- subsistence allowances and travel expenses,
- compensatory payments: transport costs, wear and tear on tools and work clothes, removal expenses, etc.,
- payments in kind: payments in the form of housing provided or housing grants; payments for building up an inheritance and other payments in kind.
Statutory contributions to social security: contributions are identified according to the normal contingencies: overtime; workers with a training contract or in practical training; contributions for community services and other purposes; industrial accidents and diseases; and other contributions for unemployment, guaranteed wage fund and vocational training. Deductions, gratuities, compensatory payments and subsidies paid or received by the enterprise under the heading of social security are also identified.
Voluntary contributions: contributions that employers pay to private insurance schemes or other systems of social security on behalf of their employees. As with statutory contributions, the most important contingencies are identified.
Direct social benefits paid by employers to their workers or to former workers, in cash or in kind, regularly or once only, supplementary to the different social security systems - statutory or voluntary - and as social insurance. These benefits are marginal to all systems of contributions and form the fictitious social contributions in the National Accounts terminology. They cover supplements for retirement, sickness or incapacity, survivors' benefits, family benefits, medical care and severance pay.
Other expenditure regarded as labour cost: for vocational training, workers' transport, welfare and social services (upkeep of buildings and premises for restaurants, day nurseries, sporting, cultural and recreational activities, etc.) and other expenditure such as the purchase of work clothes, protective clothing, tools and equipment for individual use, etc., less:
subsidies and tax reductions received.

Data on labour costs are collected for all workers together. However, data on total wages and salaries paid to full-time workers are collected separately by type of contract, occupational category and sex. This total refers to the same concept of remuneration defined under Direct payments.

Hours of work

These refer to the total number of hours connected in any way with the employment relationship between the worker and the proprietor, and the carrying out of the activity. They are classified as:

agreed hours per year: the total hours agreed upon by contract between worker and employer; hours corresponding to statutory annual vacations, public holidays and long weekends which need not be made up are not included;
hours paid for: the working time for which the worker receives some kind of income;
hours actually worked: the hours directly connected with productive activity, including overtime;
hours not worked: the time when work was not performed for specific reasons; a distinction is made between time when work was not performed but paid for and time when work was not performed and not paid for:
- time when work was not performed but paid for corresponds to days and hours not worked because of occupational accident or disease, maternity or ordinary sickness, leave granted for marriage, birth of a child, serious illness or death of a family member or house removal; hours not worked for technical reasons (temporary lack of work, breakdown of machinery etc.) or for economic reasons (lay-off of workers or other reason of an economic nature); hours not worked because of trade union activities, and for child-nursing and other maternal obligations.
- time when work was not performed and not paid for refers to hours not worked because of labour dispute, lockout, legal custody or any other reason which may have caused a loss of unpaid hours.

In addition, summary information is obtained from the labour schedule for the reference period.

International recommendations

The concepts and definitions of labour cost and hours of work comply with the corresponding international recommendations.

Classifications

Components of labour cost / compensation of employees

Data on labour cost are classified according to the major groups mentioned under Concepts and definitions. This is the classification used in the European Community Labour Cost Survey. All the components covered by the International Standard Classification of Labour Costs (1966) can be identified, with the exception of taxes considered as labour costs, which do not apply in Spain.

Industrial

The 1974 Clasificación Nacional de las Actividades Económicas (CNAE) is used, with coding at the level of 48 branches or groups of activity. The CNAE is compatible with the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev. 2, 1968 at the division (two-digit) level. Since 1992, ISIC, Rev.3, 1990 has also been used.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

The data are classified according to size of establishment (17 size groups), by autonomous communities (18 regions: 17 autonomous communities plus Ceuta and Melilla), by sex and type of contract.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

This is the contribution centre in which specified workers who pay contributions through the same employer's social security number are grouped together and which defines the survey unit at the provincial level (and therefore at autonomous level) and by economic activity.

Survey universe / sample frame

The frame is the record of social security contributions. This contains about 262,000 contribution centres representing about 5,500,000 workers. The record is the only list available which supplies information on employment from the point of view of the enterprises and that is continually updated. The frame is brought up to date every year.

Sample design

Stratified sampling is carried out according to size of contribution centre, branch of activity and geographical area. In strata 1 to 5 (i.e. in size groups 5 to 9, 10 to 19, 20 to 49, 50 to 99 and 100 to 199), the sampling fraction varies between 10 and 30 per cent. In strata 6 and 7 (i.e. in size group 200 to 499 and 500 and over), all establishments are selected exhaustively. The 1992 sample included 21,149 establishments. The sample sizes for each stratum (by branch, size and region) are calculated by optimum allocation according to the number of workers in the list, except for establishments with 200 or more workers, which are all selected.

Field work

Data collection

The questionnaire is sent out to the establishments and returned by them by post. The postal inquiry is supplemented by personal interviews by enumerators recruited for the survey and by telephone calls.

Survey questionnaire

This comprises ten sections covering the following:

Workers, working day and schedule of work: number of workers on the last day of each month of the year, by type of contract; working day agreed upon per worker per year; annual vacation; public holidays and long weekends which need not be made up; weekly rest days; and overtime.
Time when work was not performed but paid for: days not worked (through temporary incapacity to work (ILT) and for other reasons); hours not worked for technical reasons, trade union activities, leave for nursing children, other reasons (except layoff) and layoff.
Time when work was not performed and not paid for: because of a labour dispute, and for other reasons (absenteeism, lockout, legal custody, disciplinary suspension etc.).
Direct payments to workers.
Statutory social security contributions.
Voluntary contributions.
Other direct payments.
Other costs.
Subsidies and tax reductions.
Average number of full-time workers throughout the year and total of wages and salaries, by occupational category, type of contract and sex.

The questionnaire includes a leaflet explaining the survey, giving information concerning the fulfilment of obligations under Law No. 12/1989, instructions regarding the definitions under each heading and tables for identifying the contribution centre.

Substitution of sampling units

In the case of non-response by the sample units, these are replaced by other establishments in the same region, branch and stratum and with the same number of workers as far as possible.

Data processing and editing

The data are recorded and processed by computer. The questionnaires are coded and verified. The data are assessed and checked before and after mechanical recording; in the case of inconsistent or missing data, inquiries are made by telephone. Extreme and inconsistent data are checked.

Types of estimates

Totals and averages for all workers, per worker, per hour, month and year, and the structure of labour cost. The estimates of labour cost per worker are made in terms of full-time employment (with part-time workers converted to full-time equivalents).

Construction of indices

Not relevant.

Weighting of sample results

The factors used are expansion factors for stratified samples, corrected for non-response. For calculating the average of variable Y with respect to another variable X, such as average earnings per hour worked, the ratio estimate is used, i.e. the ratio of the expansion factors of Y and X.

Adjustments

Non-response

Non-response is taken into account in the expansion factors used for the sample.

Other bias

Not relevant.

Use of benchmark data

Not relevant.

Use of other surveys

The results concerning earnings and hours of work are compared with those from the Survey of Wages.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

The record of social security contributions covers some 85 per cent of total employment.

Sampling error / sampling variance

The typical rate is about 2.5 per cent.

Non-response rate

Approximately five per cent.

Non-sampling errors

Not available.

Conformity with other sources

Not relevant.

Estimates for non-survey years

For non-survey years the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT) estimates labour costs on the basis of changes in earnings and other costs to employers derived from the survey of wages in industry and the services and from other sources.

Available series

Detailed tables of totals of earnings, hours actually worked and labour cost: averages per hour and month according to occupational category and type of contract, by sex, according to economic activity and region. Data are also available on the structure of labour cost, by economic activity.

History of the survey

The first Survey of Labour Costs was carried out in 1989 with reference to 1988, in conformity with the Regulations of the council of the European Communities and according to the directives of EUROSTAT. The last survey was carried out in 1993 with reference to 1992. The differences between the two surveys are as follows: Industrial coverage: in 1992, real estate, business services and rentals were added. Other differences: in 1988, a difference was made between salaried employees and wage earners, and between structural and non-structural overtime (i.e. between hours needed in order to cope with unforeseen losses, peak production periods or other circumstances of a structural nature and other overtime hours worked).

Documentation

EUROSTAT: Labour Costs 1988, first results (Luxembourg, 1991). idem: Labour Costs 1988, Vol. 1: principal results, Vol. 2: results by size groups and region (ibid., 1992). idem: Labour Costs: Updating, 1989-1991 (ibid, 1993). Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE): Encuesta de Costo Laboral, 1988 (Madrid, 1992). idem: El tiempo de trabajo en España, 1988 (ibid., 1992). idem: Distribución salarial en España, 1988 (ibid., 1992). idem: Encuesta de Costo Laboral, 1992 (ibid., 1995).

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

The data collected are protected by the confidentiality of statistics laid down in Law 12/89 on Statistics of 9.5.89. Information on breakdowns which show extreme sampling errors, or whose characteristics could allow respondents to be identified, is not made public.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

Data on average labour cost per hour actually worked in manufacturing are published in Tables 22A and 22B of the Yearbook of Labour Statistics.