Business tendency surveys

Contact info

Statistics Denmark, Short Term Statistics
Simon B. Halifax
+45 3917 3088

Get documentation of statistics as pdf

Business tendency surveys 2024

The monthly tendency survey provides a quick and up-to-date overview of actual conditions and expectations within the manufacturing industries, construction, retail trade and services. The surveys are directly connected to and defined by the Business and Consumer Survey joint harmonized program as managed by the Directorate-Generale for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.

Statistical presentation

The business tendency surveys are a qualitative assessment on past three month's developments and next three month's expected developments . The survey assesses developments within production, employment, stock of orders, stock of finished products, capacity utilization, investment plans, limits to production, and others.

Statistical processing

Monthly business survey data is collected from a sample of approximately 800 manufacturing enterprises, 900 enterprises in construction, 1400 enterprises in retail and 2900 enterprises in services. Data is reported either online at http://www.VIRK.dk or in paper questionnaire, and consists of qualitative assessment of changes in net sales, employment, inventories, orders, etc.. The collected data are enumerated from the sample to the total enumeration population (similar to Frame or Survey Population) weighted by employment data, and distributed at industry and enterprise size groupings. If seasonal variation patterns are detected for the indicators that constitute the composite confidence indicator, data is adjusted for this.

Relevance

Users of the statistics are trade organizations, banks, politicians, public authorities, international organizations, business enterprises and the news media. The results are reflected upon every month in financial and business related news medias.

Accuracy and reliability

Sampling error is estimated to plus/minus 1-2 percentage points for the confidence indicators. Non-sampling error occurs in connection to non-responses and drop out of the sample. Especially big companies' non-responses a certain month may influence the development from month to month. Finally, there is measurement error connected to the statistics associated with the respondents level of information and knowledge about the company's current state.

Timeliness and punctuality

The statistics is usually published between the 20th and 25th of the survey month. The process runs punctual. In April and October the semiannual figures for investment plans are published.

Comparability

The statistics is carried out in collaboration with the EU-commission since October 1963. Historical data for Denmark and other European countries is available at the homepage of (DG ECFIN).

Accessibility and clarity

Results of the surveys are published monthly at Statistics Denmark; Key indicators are published in the newsletter edition Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik, Konjunkturbarometer for erhvervene and in English at the homepage Short term trends. Detailed data is available in English version at Statbank. Read here about the statistics.