Slovenia
Title of the survey
Mesecno porocilo o placah in zaposlenih osebah v podjetjih,
druzbah in organizacijah (ZAP-M) (Monthly reporting on earnings
and persons in paid employment in enterprises, companies and
organisations).
Organization responsible
Statisticni Urad Republike Slovenije (Statistical Office of the
Republic of Slovenia).
Periodicity of the survey
Monthly.
Objectives of the survey
To collect information on gross and net earnings, on levels of
paid employment, hours paid for, labour turnover and other
important issues concerning employment, which are used by
government agencies and employers' and workers' organisations to
study changes in the national economy, for policy making, for
fixing minimum wage rates, for wage fixing and collective
bargaining, for fixing pensions, for national accounts and for
assessing levels of living.
Main labour topics covered by the survey
Employment, earnings and hours of work.
Reference period
Employment: the last day of the month.
Earnings and hours of work: the whole month.
Coverage of the survey
Geographical
Whole country.
Industrial
All branches of economic activity.
Establishments
All types and sizes of companies, enterprises and organisations
in the public sector, and enterprises with at least three paid
employees in the private sector.
Excluded are private enterprises with one or two employees,
individual employers, own-account workers and private farmers.
Persons
Persons in paid employment on the territory of Slovenia,
including those with a work permit and workers under employment
promotion schemes.
Excluded are expatriate workers (e.g. citizens of the Republic
of Slovenia employed permanently in Slovenian missions or on
business sites abroad), unpaid contributing family workers and
persons performing contract work.
Occupations
Data are not collected by individual occupation.
Concepts and definitions
Employment
Persons in paid employment (i.e. employees) are
those with an employment contract, whether full-or part-time, and
irrespective of the duration of employment (temporary or
permanent).
They include working proprietors and directors who receive a
salary, wage earners and salaried employees, trainees and workers
on probation, home workers, casual, temporary and seasonal
workers, workers under employment promotion schemes, as well as
persons temporarily absent from work because of vacation,
holiday, temporary lay off, sickness or accident, etc.
Excluded are workers sub-contracted from other companies or
firms, apprentices, commission agents and workers from temporary
work agencies.
Information is collected on the number of employees receiving
earnings for the reference month and, separately, those receiving
payment for overtime work. The total number of all employees on
the enterprise records at the end of the month is also recorded,
including those absent on sick leave, maternity leave, etc. who
are covered by government payments, and separately the number of
women employees.
Additional information is collected on labour turnover.
Earnings
For each enterprise, data are collected on the total gross and
net monthly earnings (in cash).
Gross monthly earnings comprise all cash payments made to
employees during the reference month, including direct wages (pay
for normal time work, premium pay for overtime, holiday work,
shift work, night work, etc., incentive pay (production bonuses,
etc.) and other regularly paid bonuses, remuneration for time
not worked (annual vacation and other paid leave up to 7 days,
maternity leave and sick leave up to 30 days, public holidays and
other recognised holidays, and other time off with pay) and
profit-sharing bonuses.
The following items are not covered:
- family allowances, cost-of-living, transport and housing
allowances paid directly by the employer, as these are not
current practice in Slovenia;
- payments for maternity leave and sick leave after 30 days
(these are taken over by the insurance fund);
- amounts paid to workers for whom the enterprise receives
reimbursement under employment promotion schemes;
- amounts paid to trainees for whom the enterprise receives
reimbursement from the National Employment Office;
- disability benefits;
- supplements for civic duties, military exercises, national
guard;
- payments from the Common Consumption Fund (annual leave
reimbursement, jubilee rewards, etc.) and
- payments from share ownership (dividends).
Data are collected separately on gross earnings relating to the
reference month and gross earnings relating to other periods,
such as the payment of retroactive wage rate increases,
profit-sharing bonuses, 13th month salary, etc.
Net earnings are gross monthly earnings after deduction of
employees' income tax and contributions to health, pension,
accident or unemployment insurance funds.
Wage / salary rates
Not relevant.
Hours of work
Data are collected on hours paid for and include:
Paid normal hours of work and overtime hours, inactive hours
spent at the workplace, and hours paid for but not worked, for
reasons such as vacation or holidays, sickness (less than 30
days) or accident, occupational injury or illness, study leave,
military service, professional training, etc.
Hours not worked for maternity, parental or personal leave and
hours spent on travel from home to work and vice versa are
excluded.
International recommendations
The definition of earnings conforms to the international
guidelines on total regular earnings. However, they are limited
to cash payments.
Classifications
Industrial
The data are classified according to the Slovenian Standard
Classification of Activities. This classification is an
adaptation of the Standard Classification of Economic Activities
of the European Communities (NACE, Rev.1) which itself is based
on the International Standard Industrial Classifications of all
economic activities (ISIC), Rev.3.
Occupational
Not relevant.
Others
By region, local government unit and municipality. Employment
data are also classified by sex.
Sample size and design
Statistical unit
In most cases, the reporting unit is the enterprise, which may
consist of one or more establishments.
Enterprises are classified by main activity, which is their
registered activity or activity defined by law or legal document
on the creation of the business entity, irrespective of its
organisational form, status, ownership of method of production or
service.
Separate information is collected with respect to each
establishment. About 10% of the reporting units are
establishments.
Survey universe / sample frame
The enterprises are drawn from the Business Register of Slovenia
(BRS), set up in application of the Law on Business Register of
Slovenia (OJ RS, No.13/95), which was supplemented by the Decree
on keeping and maintaining the Register (OJ RS, No. 70/95).
An identification number and an activity code are required in
order to start a business, and the Statistical Office allocates
these on the basis of the registration forms and statistical
declaration. For some institutional units, the Statistical
Office uses other sources of information, such as official
journals; administrative sources are also used for updating the
register. The Register covers all economic activities except
private farms.
At the end of 1998, there were some 140,000 registered
enterprises. Of these, only about 61,300 enterprises were
operating. About 50,000 of them are individual private
entrepreneurs who are not included in the survey. The data are
collected from about 9,000 enterprises with about 20,000
establishments.
Sample design
The survey is based on a complete enumeration of all enterprises
on the Business Register, except for private enterprises with
less than three employees, individual private entrepreneurs and
own account workers.
Field work
Data collection
Questionnaires are sent by mail each month to all the
enterprises, with a separate form used for each establishment.
The completed forms should be returned to the Statistical Office
by the 20th of the month following the reference month.
Survey questionnaire
This is divided into three parts:
- The first relates to information about the enterprise and the
establishment: the name and address of the enterprise, the
registration number of the enterprise and the code of the
establishment, and the activity code. This information is
prefilled on the questionnaire from the computer database, and
any changes should be indicated by the respondent.
- The second part collects the relevant data on earnings, with
separate fields for: gross earnings paid, net earnings paid,
gross earnings for overtime and irregular bonuses and gratuities,
separately, along with the number of employees receiving earnings
for the reference month and the number receiving pay for overtime
work. This part also collects information about the number of
hours paid for and the number of paid overtime hours, separately.
- The third part collects information about employment and
labour turnover, with separate fields for the number of employees
during the previous period, the number of employees engaged and
the number leaving the enterprise during the reference month, the
total number of all employees, including those absent on
maternity leave, sick leave etc., workers under employment
promotion schemes and the number of women employees.
Instructions are provided along with the questionnaire for each
type of data to be reported.
Substitution of sampling units
Not relevant.
Data processing and editing
Respondents are requested to complete the questionnaires using
standard figures, so that the information can be read directly
onto the computer database. Only about 25% of all
questionnaires need manual data entry. The data are edited
through computer programmes comprising extensive logical
controls, pre-set ranges and consistency tolerances that are
expected for data items, on the basis of information available
from the previous month or from other sources. If data are
inconsistent or missing, respondents are contacted by telephone.
Types of estimates
Number of employees; average gross and net monthly and hourly
earnings per employee; composition of average gross monthly
earnings per employee (total, total excluding irregular bonuses,
overtime); average hours paid for per month.
Average hourly gross and net earnings are derived by dividing the
total amount of gross and net monthly earnings by the total
number of hours paid for.
Construction of indices
Indices of average gross and net monthly and hourly earnings and
hours paid for are calculated each month, taking respectively as
base the corresponding figures for the previous month, and the
same month of the previous year.
Indices of gross and net monthly earnings and hours paid for are
also calculated for the average from January to the current month
of the current year using as base the average for the same period
of the previous year.
Indices of real average gross monthly earnings are calculated for
similar periods, using the consumer price index as the deflator.
Weighting of sample results
Not relevant.
Adjustments
Non-response
By imputation of the data from the last three months.
Other bias
None.
Use of benchmark data
Not relevant.
Seasonal variations
The TRAMO-SEATS method is used; it is based on the ARIMA models
to decompose time series into individual components.
Indicators of reliability of the estimates
Coverage of the sampling frame
The BRS contains records of all business entities registered,
recorded or created by law, whatever their business activity.
Sampling error / sampling variance
Not relevant.
Non-response rate
Approximately 8% in terms of units.
Non-sampling errors
Inaccuracies may occur because of misinterpretation of questions
by respondents, errors in data processing, etc. Every effort is
made to reduce non-sampling errors to a minimum by using clear
instructions, efficient operating procedures and editing checks.
Conformity with other sources
Not relevant.
Available series
The published tables cover the number of persons in paid
employment; average net and gross earnings (both monthly and
hourly), classified by municipality, local government unit and
economic activity; the structure of average gross monthly
earnings classified by major industry group; average number of
hours paid for and indices of net and gross monthly earnings
(both nominal and real).
History of the survey
The survey began in 1962. Up to 1992, it covered enterprises in
the socialised sector only.
In 1992, private enterprises with at least three persons in paid
employment and members of the armed forces were included, and the
police was included in 1993.
Documentation
Statisticni Urad Republike Slovenije (Statistical Office of the
Republic of Slovenia): Statisticne informacije (Statistical
information - Rapid Reports) (monthly, Ljubljana).
In addition to the survey results, the publication contains data
about average levels of pensions and other social security
benefits and the legal minimum wage rate.
idem: Mesecni Statisticni Pregled (Monthly Statistical Review)
(monthly, ibid.);
idem: Statisticni Letopis (Statistical Yearbook) (annual,
ibid.);
idem: Rezultati raziskovanj (Results of Surveys) (annual,
ibid.).
Brief methodological information is also included, as well as an
analysis and charts of the survey results.
Web-site address: http://www.sigov.si/zrs
See also:
CESTAT Statistical Bulletin, publication prepared jointly by the
Czech Statistical Office, the Hungarian Central Statistical
Office, the Central Statistical Office of Poland, the National
Commission for Statistics of Romania, the Statistical Office of
the Republic of Slovenia and the Statistical Office of the Slovak
Republic (quarterly).
Confidentiality / Reliability criteria
The data collected are covered by confidentiality laws.
Other information
Data supplied to the ILO for publication
The following data are published in the
Yearbook of Labour Statistics:
Paid employment by sex,
Average monthly earnings of employees, by economic activity and
in manufacturing, by industry group.
The corresponding monthly series
are published in the relevant tables of the
Bulletin of Labour Statistics.
Other sources of data
The Biannual reporting on employment and earnings (ZAP-PL),
conducted in March and September of each year, provides detailed
statistics on the distribution of employees according to 20
classes of gross monthly earnings, classified by industry, local
government units and branch offices. It also provides data on
the number of establishments covered, the number of
establishments providing information on the lowest wage rates
paid, the lowest level of the scale for the lowest level of
qualifications actually paid in enterprises, the lowest and
highest gross monthly earnings reported, the total number of
employees, the number of employees paid at the lowest level, the
amount of the lowest level as a percentage of the lowest level
fixed in the collective agreement, the number of workers paid at
less than the minimum wage rate, and the number of workers not
covered by collective agreements, classified by industry and by
code of collective agreements.
The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia also conducts:
- a survey on Earnings by level of professional skills
(every year),
- a survey on Earnings by level of professional skills,
educational attainment and working hours (ZAP-3) (every three
years),
- an Occupational Wage Survey (every two years), the results of
which are published by the ILO in
Statistics on occupational wages and hours of work and on food prices - October Inquiry results, a special supplement to the ILO Bulletin of Labour Statistics.,
and
- a Decennial Census of Employment.