Norway (3)

Source of the series

Statens Sentrale Tjenestemannsregister (SST) (State Central Register of Government Employees).

Title of the series

Statistics on employment and wages of Government employees.

Organization responsible

Data collection, statistical processing and publication/dissemination of the statistics:

since 2002: Statistics Norway; prior to 2002: Ministry of Labour and Government Administration (AAD).

Main topics covered

Employment, earnings, wage rates and hours of work.

Periodicity or frequency of availability of the statistics

Yearly.

Reference period

Employment and wage rates:

1st October

Earnings and hours of work:

the pay period which includes October.

Coverage of the statistics

Geographical:

the whole country.

Industrial:

central government public administration and defence, government enterprises, health services as well as universities and equivalent institutions.

Establishments:

all types and sizes in the public sectors covered.

Persons:

government employees.

Occupations:

the occupational groups are fixed in accordance with the central government salary plans:

Published occupations, Central government

Ministries:

Deputy directors general; Assistant directors general; Head of divisions; Advisors; Senior executive officers; Executive officers; Junior executive officers; Office secretaries.

Other central administration departments:

Deputy director general; Assistant directors general; Head of divisions; Advisors; Head engineers; Senior executive officers; Executive officers; Junior executive officers; Office secretaries; Senior clerks.

Universities and equivalent institutions:

Professors; Assistant professors, first grade; Assistant professors; Research officers; Teachers with final university degree; Scholarship holders; Other teaching occupations; Administrative occupations; Executive officers; Office staff.

Health services:

Chief physicians; Ward physicians; Bioengineers; Executive officers; Office staff; Specialized nurses; Professional nurses; Assistant nurses.

Other civil services:

The clergy; Deans; Vicars; Curates; Catechists.

The judiciary:

Presiding judge; City court judges, county court judges, circuit judges; Registrars; Executive officers; Office staff.

Prison administration:

Security services; Prison officers; Executive officers; Office staff.

Police force and rural police service:

District police superintendents; Assistant commissioners; Inspectors; Sergeants; Sergeants; District police superintendents, special grade; Assistant district policemen; Executive officers; Office staff.

Labour market administration:

Head of employment offices; Executive officers; Office staff.

Social insurance administration:

Head of insurance divisions; Executive officers; Office staff.

General commissions of taxes, population registers:

Tax officers; Secretaries; Executive officers.

Customs service, local administration:

Inspectors of customs; Examining customs officers, lower grade; Executive officers; Office staff.

Government enterprises:

Road administration; Engineers; Executive officers; Clerks; Inspectors; Foremen; Skilled workers; Specialized workers.

Civil aviation administration:

Air traffic control officers; Airport officers; Air traffic control assistants; Engineers.

Defence:

Civil personnel; Military personnel.

Concepts and definitions

Employment:

refers to all central government employees employed in government occupations at 1st October of the census year.

Employees with a minimum of 33 hours worked per week are considered as full-time employees; those with fewer hours are considered as part-time employees.

Earnings:

total gross monthly earnings refer to total cash salaries according to salary scales as of 1st October of the census year, plus fixed and variable allowances earned in September and paid out in October. They exclude the value of payments in kind and any overtime payments.

Wage rates:

refer to wage and salary rates actually paid per month, excluding guaranteed and regular paid allowances and payments in kind.

Hours of work:

normal hours of work which are fixed in collective agreements, laws and regulations.

Classifications

Branch of economic activity (industry):

Title of the classification:

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC94).

Number of groups used for coding:

seven: ministries (incl. Office of the Prime Minister and Office of the general auditor); other central administration departments; other civil services; universities and equivalent institutions; government enterprises; defence; and health services.

Applied to:

all data.

Link to ISIC:

none.

Updating of the administrative system:

the Central Register is updated once a year.

Data processing, editing and consistency checks

Data are processed both manually and by computer. Wage data are checked manually and by computer at both the AAD and Statistics Norway.

Adjustments

None.

Types of estimates

Totals and averages.

Construction of indices

None.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the administrative system:

exhaustive, based on an annual census of all employees in the public sectors covered as of 1st October of each year.

Non-sampling errors:

incorrect reporting by the respondents to the AAD and/or processing errors by both the AAD and Statistics Norway are possible. In addition, the register of the Population's Highest Education may contain errors in coding of level of education.

Conformity with other sources:

these statistics are comparable with other wages statistics since 1997.

Available series

Total employment and average monthly earnings, wage rates and weekly hours of work.

History of the statistics

Starting date of the statistical series:

1973.

Major changes and revisions:

none. These statistics are comparable back to 1973.

Documentation and dissemination

Documentation:

Statistics Norway: NOS Wage Statistics (Oslo, annual); contains methodological information;

Idem: Statistical Yearbook (ibid., annual), issued within 6 months after the reference year.

Statistics Norway has published statistics for the years 1959, 1963 and 1967, then annually since 1973.

Dissemination:

on Statistics Norway's website: http://www.ssb.no/lonnkomm en/ and http://www.ssb.no/lonnstat Data which do not appear in national publications or on the website can be made available upon request.

Data supplied to the ILO for dissemination

The following statistics are published in Statistics on occupational wages and hours of work and on food prices - October Inquiry results:

Normal hours of work and average monthly earnings for the following occupations:

  • No. 139 - Government executive official a) central government;
  • No. 149 - Technical education teacher (second level).

    Other administrative sources of data:

    a number of social and economic statistics are computed on the basis of various registers held by different ministries, administrations and institutions, among which:

    (1) The End of year certificate register, held by the Tax Administration: it provides statistics on total and average gross earnings of all employed persons (Lonnssummer fra lonns-og trekkoppgaveregisteret). Total gross earnings include all wages and salaries for time worked, work done and off-duty periods, vacation pay, bonuses and other remunerations paid out during the income year. The data are classified by branch of economic activity, sex, age group, size of establishment and region.

    The data are derived from the end-of-year certificates that employers have to fill in for each of their employees at the beginning of each year with reference to the previous full year, and to transmit to the Tax Administration. The income data are verified by the Tax Administration and a copy of the cleaned files is provided to Statistics Norway for further consistency checks and statistical processing. The statistical series started in 1990 and is annual. The data are available on Statistics Norway's website: www.ssb.no/english/subjects/06/05/lonnltreg_en/.

    (2) Income statistics for persons and families are compiled annually on the basis of various administrative registers and statistical data sources (e.g. tax returns, the Tax Register, the End-of-year Certificate Register, the National Insurance Administration, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the State Educational Loan Fund, education statistics, etc.) for the whole population as of 31st December of the fiscal year. They provide detailed information on incomes from various sources (e.g. employment income, pensions, capital), including income that is not taxable but is found on the registers, such as housing allowance, social assistance, scholarships and cash benefits for parents of small children. The current statistical units are the person and the family and statistics are compiled on the distribution of income and levels for various population groups and geographic areas. The database is also used to obtain income information for other statistical surveys, such as the Surveys of Living Conditions and the Population and Housing Census 2001.

    Statistics and methodological information are available on Statistics Norway’s website: www.ssb.no/english/subjects/05/01. They are published in: NOS C649 Income Statistics for Persons and Families 1993-1998.

    (3) The Register of employers and employees provides annual data on the number of employees and their expected weekly working hours. Included are all employees whose expected duration of employment is more than six days and expected working hours per week is more than three hours. Employment data are classified by branch of economic activity according to the New Standard Industrial Classification since 1995 (prior to 1995, according to the Standard Industrial Classification), sex, age group, education level, region, country of birth and the number of years of residence in Norway; hours of work are classified by region and sex.

    This register is held by the National Insurance Institution, which transmits a copy to Statistics Norway once a year and weekly updates throughout the year. Consistency checks are made against the Central Population Register and adjustments are made for double-counting of multiple-job workers. Statistical series are available since 1983. Starting in1992, seamen were included; in 1994, the reference period changed from the 2nd to the 4th quarter of each year and in 1995 the New Standard Industrial Classification was introduced. The statistics are published in:

    Statistics Norway: Labour Market Statistics (Oslo, annual), and available on the website: http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/06/01/.

    Methodological information is available on Statistics Norway’s website, under "About the statistics".