Korea, Republic of (3)

Title of the survey

Survey on Labour Cost of Enterprise

Organization responsible

Ministry of Labour, Statistics Division

Periodicity of the survey

Annual.

Objectives of the survey

To reveal the types and amount of costs incurred by enterprises in employing labour.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

Earnings and labour cost.

Reference period

The whole year.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole country.

Industrial

All branches of economic activity, except agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing.

Establishments

Enterprises with 30 or more regular employees.

Persons

All regular employees.

Occupations

Not relevant.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Regular employees comprise the following categories:

employees working under a contract for an indefinite period of time, or under a contract for a period longer than one month,
persons employed on a daily basis or under a contract for a period of less than one month, who have worked for 45 days and more in the previous three calendar months,
directors and assimilated persons, who attend regularly and receive monthly payments,
family members who work regularly with a self-employed person and receive regular monthly payments.

Data are collected on the total number of regular employees.

Hours of work

Not relevant.

Labour cost

It is defined as the total cost caused by the employment of regular employees in enterprises. It includes:

gross wages and salaries for time worked and time not worked,
cost of payments in kind,
cost of bonuses and gratuities,
cost of severance pay,
cost of legal/statutory welfare expenses,
cost of non-statutory welfare expenses,
cost of recruitment,
cost of education and training,
other labour cost.

International recommendations

The definition of labour cost conforms to that contained in the international guidelines.

Classifications

Components of labour cost / compensation of employees

Not applied.

Industrial

Since 1993, the survey data are distributed according to the Korea Standard Industry Classification (KSIC-1991), which is convertible to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Rev. 3, 1990.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

Labour cost data are classified by size of enterprises. Five size groups are used:

small and medium enterprises: from 30 to 99 and from 100 to 299 regular employees;
large enterprises: from 300 to 499; 500 to 999; and 1,000 and more regular employees.

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The enterprise.

Survey universe / sample frame

This consists of the Business Directory of Enterprises which is maintained by the Office of National Tax Administration. The Directory covers all enterprises with 30 or more regular employees, and is updated on a continuous basis.

Sample design

The survey is based on a stratified random sample. Stratification is by size class and industry group. The sample comprises some 1,650 enterprises, out of a total of 11,466 enterprises recorded on the Directory. The sample is renewed every three to five years.

Field work

Data collection

The survey is conducted by postal questionnaires and personal interviews by enumerators who are permanent staff of the Ministry of Labour.

Survey questionnaire

This comprises three main tables:

Tables I covers the enterprise's characteristics,
Table II covers its managerial activities,
Table III is divided into nine parts, which collect data on the number of regular employees and the components of labour cost.

Instructions are provided along with the questionnaire, which cover definitions, specific inclusions and exclusions, etc.

Substitution of sampling units

In case of total non-response, sampling units are replaced by similar enterprises in the same industry group, size class and region.

Data processing and editing

Data are processed by computer. Coding is carried out manually and verified with the aid of a computer programme. Data are edited through field work and machine edit programmes. In the case of missing or inconsistent data, contacts are made by telephone and enumerator's visit.

Types of estimates

Average labour cost per employee, per year and per month.

Construction of indices

Not relevant.

Weighting of sample results

Not applied. Statistics of labour cost reflect the cost in sampled enterprises.

Adjustments

Non-response

Not available.

Other bias

Not available.

Use of benchmark data

Not relevant.

Use of other surveys

Not relevant.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

This is assumed to cover all enterprises with 30 or more regular employees.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not calculated.

Non-response rate

Not available.

Non-sampling errors

Not available.

Conformity with other sources

Employment and earnings figures are compared with the results of the Monthly Labour Survey.

Estimates for non-survey years

Not relevant.

Available series

Total and average labour cost per year and per month, by industry and size class.

History of the survey

The Survey on Labour Cost of Enterprise started in 1983. Since then, it has been conducted on a regular basis, each year. Prior to 1993, data were classified according to a previous version of the Korea Standard Industrial Classification (KSIC), which was convertible to ISIC-68, with some local adaptations at the four-digit level.

Documentation

Ministry of Labour: Survey Report on Labour Cost of Enterprises (annual, Seoul). Published data can also be made available on magnetic tape, upon request.

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

The publication of data is subject to confidentiality rules, under the Act of Statistics, whereby individual data cannot be disclosed to a third party.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

Statistics of average labour cost per employee per month in manufacturing are published in Tables 22A and 22B of the Yearbook of Labour Statistics.