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.

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 is a 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 final national accounts classification of 117 industries corresponds (with few deviations) to the 127 standard classification, and the 117 industries of the national accounts can be aggregated to the other standard classifications. 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 classifications.

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.

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

The statistical unit in national accounts industries is the local kind-of-activity unit (local KAU) and is different from the institutional unit, which is an economic entity, typically enterprises, that is capable of engaging in economic activities and transactions with other units in their own.

An institutional unit can comprise one or more local KAUs, but a local KAU belongs to one and only one institutional unit. Local KAUs are grouped by industries, institutional units are grouped by institutional sectors.

Statistical population

All units generating Danish economic activity.

Reference area

All persons regardless of national residence, who deliver labour inputs to the production of goods and services within the production boundary of Denmark's national accounts.

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 by 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.

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 26.6.2013, p.1).

Cost and burden

No direct burden of respondents.

Comment

For further information, please contact Statistics Denmark.