Title: Earnings of Workers Covered by Social Security (Gains des travailleurs assujettis à la Sécurité sociale).
Source: Social security returns.
Wages:
This series is not published in the Bulletin.
National Social Security Office, Ministry of Social Security (Office national de Sécurité sociale, ministère de la Prévoyance sociale).
Geographical: Whole country.
Industrial: Agriculture, forestry and fishing; industry (energy and water, mining and quarrying and processing of non-fuel minerals and their products, chemical industry, metal transforming industry, precision mechanics, other manufacturing industries, building and civil engineering); wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels, and repair work; transport and communication; financing, insurance, rental and leasing and business services; other services. The data are classified in accordance with the General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities within the European Communities (NACE).
Occupational: Not applicable.
Establishments: All establishments.
Persons covered: The statistics cover: (a) all private sector workers covered by social security, under the jurisdiction of the National Social Security Office (ONSS) or of the National Pension Fund for Mineworkers (Fonds national de retraite des ouvriers mineurs - FNROM), with the exclusion of "recognised" apprentices, persons in domestic service and boatmen; (b) all workers in the public sector and education (including private education), under the jurisdiction of ONSS, whether they have comprehensive or almost complete social security coverage or health insurance coverage only; since 1986 persons who work for the provinces and communes and in bodies that are subject to them have not been included in the statistics on earnings because they no longer come within the competence of ONSS.
Quarterly since 1973.
Employment: Not applicable.
Hours of work: Not applicable.
Wages: The data on wages refer to remuneration subject to social security contributions as defined by laws and regulations, with the exception of the holiday gratuity for manual workers which is not paid by the employer but by a third body. The "days of work" comprise working days and days for which the employer has to pay the worker a sum subject to social security contributions. Certain days of compensatory leave are added to these. However, the statutory annual days of leave of manual workers are not included in these data.
The whole quarter.
Remuneration and days of work are noted on the statistical sheet of the quarterly return on social security contributions which every employer is required to send to ONSS. The average earnings obtained from this are calculated on the basis of the returns received before the quarterly deadline which is about six months after the end of the quarter considered. In the case of major employers (with more than 200 workers) who have not submitted a return, estimates are prepared. No adjustment is made to eliminate seasonal influences (end-of-year-bonuses, etc.) or special occurrences such as strikes, technical breakdowns, etc. In view of the particular way in which they are calculated, average daily earnings are merely an approximation to the average wage level. They are calculated separately for manual and non-manual workers of both sexes, by type of activity and size of enterprise and also by administrative district (arrondissement). The figures for each group are obtained by dividing the sum of the total quarterly remuneration by the sum of the corresponding number of days. In ILO publications, average daily earnings refer to manual workers of both sexes.
Prior to the first quarter of 1983, the five-day work week was converted to a six-day week for manual workers. In the case of non-manual workers, a set monthly total of 25 days was assumed for a full month and their average earnings were computed on a monthly basis.
Since 1986 persons who work for the provinces and communes and in bodies that are subject to them have not been included in the statistics on earnings because they no longer come within the competence of ONSS.
Ministère de la Prévoyance sociale, Office national de la Sécurité sociale: "Les gains des travailleurs assujettis à la Sécurité sociale au cours du deuxième trimestre 1986" (quarterly) (Brussels, 1987).
idem: "Rapport annuel 1985" (annual) (ibid., 1987).
Ministère de la Prévoyance sociale: "Annuaire statistique 1978 de la Sécurité sociale" (annual) (ibid., 1980).