Statistical presentation

Data description

The National Accounts are designed to present a complete picture of the economy. The National Accounts provide the conceptual and actual tool to bring to coherence all economic activity and development in Denmark.

For many analytical purposes it is useful to include information on labour inputs in production. In such cases, definitions of labour inputs must be consistent with the concepts used in national accounts.

Labour inputs in production are shown by employment (measured by the number of persons employed) and hours worked.

The main source for the National Account is the Working Time Accounts that has all paid hours and corresponding number of employees and self-employed. The WTA also has information on resident and non-resident employees thus making it possible to adjust it to the domestic concept. The WTA is explained in more detail in section 3.3.

Classification system

The national accounts series of employment and hours worked are compiled for the total economy, the institutional sector general government and by national accounts industries. The same applies to compensation of employees, however in addition, a more detailed sector disaggregation is compiled for the institutional sector accounts.

Statistics Denmark's industrial classification 2007 (DB07), which isthe Danish version of the EU NACE, rev. 2. and the UN's ISIC, rev. 4, contains a number of standard classifications: the 127, 36, 19, and 10 classifications. The Danish classifications most detailed level is six digits and are consistent with NACE rev.2. Only a few deviations exists from the DB07 127 aggregation and relates to:

NACE division 38 and 39 that is aggregated together into NA class 383900. NACE division 41-43 that is divided into NA class 410009, 420000,430003,430004. And NACE group 68.2 that is split into NA class 680023 and 680024.

The final national accounts classification of 117 industries corresponds (with few deviations as explained) to the 127 standard groupings, and the 117 industries of the national accounts can be aggregated to the other standard groups. For this reason, national accounts figures can easily be compared to and used in connection with other statistics that are based on the DB07-standard groups. However, comparisons with other statistics at a detailed industry level will often show differences, partly because of differences in definitions of variables, and partly because of the calendar year delimitation of the national accounts and its requirement of total coverage of the economic activity.

Internationally there is a high degree of comparability with the national accounts of other countries because the Danish national accounts are compiled in accordance with the definitions in the European System of National Accounts ESA2010.

Sector coverage

All sectors. For the sectors S.12, S.13 and S.15 the compensation of employees from the Working Time Accounts (WTA) is substituted by the sector accounts. The WTA is the main source in the national account for estimating the compensation of employees, the hours worked and the number of employees and self-employed. It is based on the tax authority’s data. However WTA does not contain data on hidden economy and the industries are self-reported and not activity defined as in the national accounts thus requiring ex post adjustments. For the sectors S.12, S.13 and S.15 compensation of employees from the sector accounts are used instead of WTA. The number of employees and hours worked beside for S.13 is then calculated using the compensation of employees from the sector accounts and hourly wages and hours per employees from the WTA, Thus ensuring compliance to the sector accounts as regards the compensation of employees and consistency between compensation of employees, number of employed and hours worked.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Labour Inputs and Compensation of Employees in National Accounts : The national accounts' employment, compensation of employees and hours worked are compiled in accordance with the definitions in the EU's European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA2010), which is a European version of the UN's System of National Accounts (SNA2008).

• The employment figures contain persons supplying their labour in the production of goods and services in Denmark regardless of their place of residence or whether their activities are within the law, as long as the production is within the production boundary of national accounts. The employment figures reflect the average number of employed persons in the course of the period (year or quarter). Persons temporarily absent from their work but still have a formal attachment to their job, e.g. persons on maternity leave, are included in the employment figures. Only the primary job is reflected in the statistics.
• Hours worked are actual hours worked, e.g. paid vacation is excluded and unpaid overtime is included. Hours worked include working time in primary jobs as well as secondary jobs if applicable.
• Compensation of employees is defined as the total remuneration in cash and kind payable by an employer to an employee. Compensation of employees can be divided into wages and salaries in cash and in kind and employers' social contribution. Wages and salaries include any social contributions taxes etc. payable by the employee. Employers' social contributions cover payments made by the employer to social security funds as well as private funded schemes. In the case of civil servants, payments are made directly from the employer to the employee or former employee without involving insurance firms or creating a fund to cover these future obligations. To reflect the future obligations incurred by the employer in these instances, an imputed social contribution is calculated.

Statistical unit

In the national accounts, two basic statistical units are used: institutional units and local kind-of-activity units (LKAUs), also referred to as workplaces. An institutional unit is defined as an economic entity that, on its own decision-making authority and under its own legal responsibility. A local kind-of-activity unit (LKAU) comprises the part of an institutional unit that contributes to a single productive activity, e.g. retain trade in shoes. If an institutional unit has several productive activities – for example, both manufacturing and selling shoes – a separate LKAU is defined for each activity. In the national accounts, LKAUs are grouped by industries, while institutional units are grouped by sectors. The Danish national accounts are based on institutional units for sector accounts and on LKAU’s for the compilation of production and value added by industry.

Statistical population

All units engaged in economic activity in Denmark are included. Adjustments are made for resident employed persons working for non-resident enterprises and for non-resident employed persons working for resident enterprises. In addition, wages, employment, and hours worked are added to national account estimates for the shadow economy, in accordance with types N1, N2, and N6 in Eurostat’s Tabular Approach to Exhaustiveness. A detailed explanation can be found in the Danish GNI inventory, section 7.

Reference area

Denmark excluding Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Danish national accounts cover the activity carried out by Danish resident entities and thus not defined by where the activity takes place geographically.

Time coverage

Consistent annual time series regarding employment, compensation of employees and hours worked go back to 1966. Quarterly time series go back to 1990, 1st quarter.

Base period

Not relevant for these statistics.

Unit of measure

The national accounts' employment is measured by the number of persons employed and the volume of labour input in production is measured by hours worked. Compensation of employees is measured in DKK.

Reference period

The reference period of the figures in the final, annual national accounts is the calendar year whereas the reference period of the quarterly national accounts are the quarters. Flow figures refer to transactions during the year or the quarter, while employment figures are yearly or quarterly averages.

Frequency of dissemination

Annual and quarterly respectively.

Legal acts and other agreements

Legal authority to collect data: Act on Statistics Denmark §6 and §§8-12. The Danish Statistics Act establishes Statistics Denmark as the national statistical authority and provides the legal basis for the collection, compilation and dissemination of official statistics, including the obligation of respondents to supply data and the rules on confidentiality.

EU regulation: European Parliament and Council Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of 21 May 2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (ESA2010) (EUT L 174 26. June 2013, p.1). This regulation defines the common European methodological framework, concepts definitions, classifications and accounting rules for the compilation of national and regional accounts in the European Union.

Cost and burden

The statistics are based on information collected by Statistics Denmark for the compilation of other statistics. As such, there is no direct reporting burden in the compilation of the national accounts.

Comment

For further information, please contact Statistics Denmark.