Hungary - 2

Title of the survey

Labour Cost Survey.

Organization responsible

Hungarian Central Statistical Office (CSO).

Periodicity of the survey

Every four years (1992 and 1996; the next survey will refer to 2000).

Objectives of the survey

To compile measures of the level, composition and evolution of labour cost to the employer. The results are used by investors, economic and social partners, and for the purposes of international comparisons.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Employment, hours of work and labour cost.

Reference period

The calendar year for each variable.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole country.

Industrial

Mining and quarrying; manufacturing; electricity, gas, steam and water supply; construction; trade, repair and maintenance of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal goods; hotels and restaurants; transport, storage, post and telecommunications; real estate, renting and business activities; and financial intermediation (i.e. tabulation categories C to K of the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev.3, 1990. Public organisations and economic enterprises in agriculture are excluded.

Establishments

Enterprises with more than 20 employees in 1992; those with more than 10 employees in 1996.

Persons

Employees.

Occupations

Data are not collected by individual occupation.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Employees are all persons defined as staff by the Labour Code. They include working proprietors, partners and directors who receive a salary, manual and non-manual workers, paid skilled apprentices, trainees, workers on probation and piece workers; home workers, workers sub-contracted from other enterprises or from temporary work agencies, temporary and seasonal workers, as well as employed pensioners. Persons temporarily absent from work because of paid or unpaid vacation, industrial dispute, temporary military service, sickness or accident, etc. are included, provided that their absence is for less than three months. Persons temporarily present on payroll during notice period preceding retirement, resignation or dismissal are included. Persons who do not belong to the staff according to the Labour Code, but who work for an employer for a long period (e.g. students engaged for vacation, employees borrowed from other employers) are also included.

Excluded from employees are unpaid/unskilled apprentices, commission agents, casual workers, unpaid contributing family workers, and persons absent from work for more than three months (for long sick-leave, maternity and extended maternity and child-care leave, active military service, etc.).

Labour cost

This is defined as the employers' total cost for earnings, employers' compulsory contributions to social security and similar schemes, and fringe benefits. It comprises the following components, which are separately identified:

Total direct remuneration:
- Basic wages and salaries and bonuses paid regularly,
- Bonuses not paid at each pay period and other similar payments (including jubilee gratuities and mission expenses),
- Payments for days not worked
Severance pay
Benefits in kind, of which:
- company products and
- status-related payments, such as company cars
Social Security costs, of which:
- Statutory social security costs: contributions to health, disability and unemployment insurance schemes, early retirement and retirement schemes
- Non-statutory social security costs: employers' contributions to private insurance schemes
- Direct social benefits (sickness payments)
Vocational training costs, of which :
- Contributions to vocational training schemes
- Direct costs of vocational training
Other expenditure, of which:
- Cost of welfare services
- Grants to trade and credit unions and cost of related services for employees
- Reimbursement of fare expenses
- Other payments not elsewhere classified
Cost of payments made to staff who do not belong to the enterprise's staff list, of which:
- Wage-like payments
- Honorariums

Labour cost data are collected for all employees together.

Hours of work

The 1992 survey did not cover data on hours of work. Estimates of average daily labour cost were made by linking average labour cost data by industry to data on days actually worked derived from the Time-Accounting Survey.

The 1996 survey covered data on normal hours of work, i.e. the hours fixed in pursuance of the labour code and in some cases by collective agreement.

International recommendations

The definition and components of labour cost comply with the international guidelines.

Classifications

Components of labour cost

At the detailed industry level, data are classified by main components and sub-items of labour cost (see under Concepts and definitions). In cross-tabulations, some groupings are made.

Industrial

The survey uses the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev.3 at the two-digit level.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

Data on labour cost are classified by employment size of enterprises (11-20, 21-50, 51-100, 101-200, 201-300, 301-500, and more than 500 employees).

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The sampling and reporting unit is the enterprise, defined as an economic unit, which is autonomous in its financial and other decisions. It may consist of one or more establishments or local units. It may conduct various activities, but it is classified according to its main activity.

Survey universe / sample frame

This consists of the Business Directory. All enterprises have to register when they are created and subsequently, they have to report any change of name or address within eight days of the change. The Directory is therefore updated on a continuous basis. In 1996, the Business Directory included 25,666 enterprises with more than 10 employees, distributed as follows: 10,774 enterprises with 11 to 20 employees, representing 136,000 employees; 7,855 enterprises with 21 to 50 employees representing 203,000 employees and 7,037 enterprises with more than 50 employees, representing 1,640,000 employees.

Sample design

This consists of a stratified probability sample survey. Stratification is by economic activity and employment size of enterprises. In 1996, a 50% sample was drawn from economic units with 11 to 50 employees and all economic units with more than 50 employees were fully enumerated. In terms of employment, it covered about 1,501 million full-time employees, 45,000 part-time employees and 39,000 working pensioners, i.e. some 97% of total employment in enterprises with more than 10 employees, in the activities covered.

Field work

Data collection

For the 1996 survey, data collection took place in May 1997. Data were collected by mail. The deadline for returning the questionnaires was 30 May 1997. Reminders and telephone contacts were used to follow up on non-respondents.

Survey questionnaire

A first section provides information on the characteristics of the enterprise. The following sections are organised as follows:

Components of earnings, among which the following components are separately identified: basic wages and salaries; bonuses and allowances paid regularly (of which: remuneration for overtime and shift bonuses); payments for days not worked; other payments charged to wage and salary expenses; bonuses not paid at each pay period; and profit-sharing bonuses.
Compulsory payments by employers, of which: contributions to sickness insurance scheme; contributions to retirement scheme; contributions to unemployment insurance; contributions to vocational training scheme.
Other costs to employers for employing labour, of which: cost of welfare services; grants to trade or credit unions and related services; travel expenses; payments for special tasks; contributions to disability insurance scheme; benefits in kind; contributions to early retirement scheme; severance pay; honorariums regarded as other payments to staff; sickness payments; cost of vocational training; cost/reimbursement of fare concerning travel to and from work; jubilee gratuities; contributions to private insurance scheme; other payments not elsewhere classified; and payroll tax.
Employment data: average number of employees, of which: full-time, part-time, and working pensioners.

Substitution of sampling units

Not applied.

Data processing and editing

Data were edited through fieldwork and processed by computer. Each item of the questionnaire was precoded and in case of missing or inconsistent data, contacts were made by telephone with the respondents.

Types of estimates

Totals, averages and percentage distribution of labour cost, by industry and employment size.

In computing average monthly cost per capita, part-time employees are converted to full-time equivalents by the reporting units.

For 1996, estimates of average hours actually worked for the whole year were based on (a) the data on normal hours of work collected in the labour cost survey and (b) estimates of daily temporary absence derived from the labour force survey.

Construction of indices

Not relevant.

Weighting of sample results

The sample results per stratum are multiplied by the raising factor (i.e. the ratio of the number of enterprises in the universe to the number within the sample). The extrapolated figures are then aggregated.

Adjustments

Non-response

No adjustments were made.

Other bias

No adjustments were made.

Use of benchmark data

Not relevant.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

This was assumed to cover all enterprises with more than 10 employees in 1996.

Sampling error / sampling variance

The sampling error is not yet available.

Non-response rate

For the 1996 survey, the non-response rate was about 15% for economic units with more than 50 employees, and 40% for those employing between 11 and 50 employees.

Non-sampling errors

It is assumed that the questionnaires were completed correctly.

Conformity with other sources

Wages and salaries are checked against the results of the employment and earnings surveys. Some other elements of labour cost are checked against National Accounts data.

Estimates for non-survey years

Each year, estimates are produced using changes in direct earnings and compulsory contributions, on the assumption that the structure of labour cost remains unchanged.

Available series

Published tables include average monthly and hourly labour cost by economic activity, and structure and percentage distribution of monthly labour cost by industry and employment size.

History of the survey

The Labour Cost Survey was conducted in 1993 and 1997, with reference to 1992 and 1996. The next survey is planned for 2001, with reference to 2000, the periodicity being that adopted by EU countries under the auspices of the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT). Since 1996, the frame includes enterprises with more than 10 but less than 21 employees.

Documentation

Hungarian Central Statistical Office: Labour Costs, Hungary (Budapest, 1998); published one and a half year after the survey reference year. Results that do not appear in this publication could be made available upon request.

CSO Web-site: http://www.ksh.hu

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

The data which relate to any cell with less than four enterprises cannot be released for confidentiality reasons.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

Statistics of average monthly labour cost per employee in manufacturing are published in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics.