ANNEX I

QUALITY CRITERIA AND STATISTICAL CONCEPTS

Quality reports and metadata shall contain quality-related information and indicators adhering to the following quality criteria and statistical concepts.

Should a particular statistical concept not pertain to a statistical operation, it should nonetheless be included in the quality report or metadata, with the annotation ‘Not applicable’.

CONTACT

Contact points for quality-related information and data.

STATISTICAL PRESENTATION

Data description

Main characteristics of the data set described in an easily understandable manner.

Classification systems

Where applicable, the list of classifications and breakdowns used in the data set, and any deviations from European statistical standards or international standards.

Sector coverage

Main economic or other sectors covered by the statistics.

Statistical concepts and definitions

The list of all variables deviating from the standard definition, mentioning the national concepts used and any disparities between those national concepts and the concepts required for EU labour market statistics on businesses.

Statistical units

Description of the statistical units.

Statistical population

Description of the statistical population or populations to which the data set refers, i.e. the population about which information is to be collected.

Population(s) not covered

Information about any sub-populations not covered by the data collection (e.g. data within ‘public administration and defence, compulsory social security’ related to defence and national security that is confidential in a Member State pursuant to its national law), including a description of any such population and its best quantitative estimate.

Reference area

Description of the geographical area to which the statistical phenomenon measured relates: the geographical area covered and a list of any regions that are excluded (where applicable).

Time coverage

The length of time for which data are available.

Base period

The base year (only applicable to the topic ‘labour cost index’).

UNIT OF MEASUREMENT

The unit in which the data values are measured.

REFERENCE PERIOD

The period or point in time to which the measured observations refer, noting any differences between national reference periods and those required for EU labour market statistics on businesses.

INSTITUTIONAL MANDATE

Law, set of rules or other formal set of instructions assigning an organisation the responsibility and authority for collecting, processing and disseminating statistics.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Information on ownership of data, indicating the extent to which their unauthorised disclosure could be prejudicial or harmful to the interests of the source or other relevant parties.

Confidentiality policy

Description of any provisions in addition to European legislation that are relevant to the statistical confidentiality applied to the data.

Confidentiality – data treatment

General description of the rules applied for the treatment of microdata and macrodata (including tabular data) in relation to statistical confidentiality.

RELEASE POLICY

Rules for disseminating statistical data to all interested parties.

FREQUENCY OF DISSEMINATION

The time interval at which the statistics are disseminated over a given time period.

ACCESSIBILITY AND CLARITY

Information on:

—	dissemination formats;

—	documentation on methodology and quality.

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Systems and frameworks in place within an organisation to manage the quality of statistical products and processes.

Quality assurance

Description of the quality assurance framework and/or quality management system (e.g. EFQM, ISO 9000) used in the organisation.

Quality assessment

Description of the overall quality of statistical outputs, summarising the main strengths and any deficiencies, based on standard quality criteria: relevance, accuracy, reliability, timeliness, punctuality, comparability and coherence. Any trade-offs between quality aspects and any anticipated quality improvements should be noted.

RELEVANCE

The degree to which statistical information meets current and potential user needs.

User needs

Information, if available, on any new user needs in relation to the data collected.

User satisfaction

Information, if available, on the level of satisfaction of data users with the data collected and made available.

Completeness

Description of any non-compliance concerning variables that are not transmitted.

ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY

Overall accuracy

Summary of the components of an accuracy assessment, related to a given data set:

—	Description of the main sources of random and systematic errors in the statistical outputs, with a summary assessment of all errors, focusing particularly on their impact on key estimates.

Sampling error

—	Description of the methodology for calculating precision estimates.

—

The statistical errors for indicators as follows (where applicable): — For the topic ‘structure of earnings’: Coefficient of variation for mean hourly earnings measured for all (part-time and full-time) employees, for the total and for each NACE section in the scope of the topic ‘structure of earnings’, by size of enterprises (total, 1-9 employees, 10 employees or more, optional). — For the topic ‘gender pay gap’: Standard error for the gender pay gap, for the total and for each NACE section in the scope of the topic ‘gender pay gap’, by size of enterprises (total, 1-9 employees, 10 employees or more, optional). — For the topic ‘structure of labour costs’: Coefficient of variation for the mean hourly labour costs measured for all (part-time and full-time) employees, for the total and for each NACE section in the scope of the topic ‘structure of labour costs’. — For the topic ‘labour cost index’: Standard error for the wages and salaries component of the labour cost index, unchained, not calendar or seasonally adjusted, for the total and for each NACE section in the scope of the topic ‘labour cost index’, by size of enterprises (total, 1-9 employees, 10 employees or more, optional). — For the topic ‘job vacancies’: Coefficient of variation for the number of vacant posts (unadjusted) measured during the reference quarter, for the total and for each NACE section in the scope of the topic ‘job vacancies’, by size of enterprises (total, 1-9 employees, 10 employees or more, optional). Coefficient of variation for the number of occupied posts (unadjusted) measured during the reference quarter, for the total and for each NACE section in the scope of the topic ‘job vacancies’, by size of enterprises (total, 1-9 employees, 10 employees or more, optional).

Non-sampling error

Error in survey estimates that cannot be attributed to sampling fluctuations.

Coverage error

Description of divergence between the frame population and the statistical population.

—	Description of the sampling frame.

—	Frequency and timing of frame updates.

—	Errors due to discrepancies between the sampling frame and the statistical population and sub-populations (over coverage, under coverage, duplicates, misclassifications).

Measurement error

Description of errors occurring during data collection, causing recorded values of variables to differ from true values.

—	Description of efforts made in questionnaire design and testing (including addressing errors arising from multimode and/or multi-source data collection).

—	Description of interviewer training.

Non-response error

Description of:

—	available characteristics of non-respondents if applicable;

—	unit and item non-response rates;

—	substitution rates;

—	number of units in the statistical population, in the gross sample, number of eligible units and number of units in the net sample.

Processing error

Description of any error in processing and its impact on final data collection results, arising from the faulty implementation of correctly planned implementation methods.

—	Description of quality checks and the data editing process.

Model assumption error

Where applicable, a description of errors arising from models needed to define the target of estimation.

TIMELINESS AND PUNCTUALITY

Information on:

—	date of the dissemination of national results;

—	number of days between the end of the data collection and the first fully validated delivery of data to the Commission (Eurostat);

—	date of the first full delivery of data to the Commission (Eurostat); if the delivery of data does not meet the deadline stipulated in Regulation (EU) 2025/941, the reason for the delay should be provided.

COHERENCE AND COMPARABILITY

Description of how the requirements set for a specific topic have been fulfilled, including, where relevant, the impact of any deviations from the variables and their technical specifications.

Comparability – over time

Information on the length of comparable time series, including the reference periods when any series breaks occurred, and the reasons for such breaks.

Coherence – cross-topics and with other statistical domains

For each topic, Member States should assess the plausibility of unadjusted main indicators against a related indicator taken from another data set or statistical domain when available, as follows:

(a)

For the topic ‘structure of earnings’: Number of employees (levels): with the number of occupied posts. Hourly gross earnings (4-yearly growth rate): with the labour cost index (LCI). Monthly gross earnings (4-yearly growth rate): with the index of total labour costs (TCI). Number of hours paid (4-yearly growth rate): with the index of hours worked (HWI).

(b)	For the topic ‘gender pay gap’: Hourly gross earnings of male and female employees (levels): with results from the structure of earnings survey (every four years, after each transmission of structure of earnings survey data).

(c)

For the topic ‘structure of labour costs’: Number of employees (levels): with the number of occupied posts. Hourly labour costs (4-yearly growth rate): with labour cost index (LCI). Total labour costs (4-yearly growth rate): with the index of total labour costs (TCI). Number of hours worked (4-yearly growth rate): with the index of hours worked (HWI).

(d)	For the topic ‘labour cost index’: Labour cost index (LCI) (annual growth rate): with national accounts data.

(e)	For the topic ‘job vacancies’: Number of occupied posts (levels): with the number of employees from the structure of earnings survey and labour cost survey (for the years concerned). Job vacancy rate: with the unemployment rate derived from the EU Labour Force Survey (Beveridge curve).

In addition, for each topic, comparisons should be made with other external sources for all relevant variables, where Member States concerned deem such external data to be sufficiently reliable.

Coherence – internal

The extent to which statistics are consistent within a given data set.

COST AND BURDEN

Burden on respondents and, if available, cost associated with the collection and production of the statistical product: an indication of the number of persons and days required for the staff involved in all stages of data collection should be provided. The staff used to conduct the survey, even if outsourced, should be included in the estimation.

DATA REVISION

Information on data revision practice.

Data revision – policy

Description of the policy aimed at ensuring the transparency of disseminated data, when preliminary data are being revised after compilation.

Data revision – practice

Information on data revision practice. Reasons for routine, major and unscheduled data revisions, as well as the length of revised series, should be provided.

STATISTICAL PROCESSING

Operations performed on data to derive new information in accordance with a given set of rules.

Source data

Description of the sources of the raw statistical data (e.g. statistical surveys, administrative data, data made available by private data holders, other sources, combined sources). Each source should be clearly described.

In the case of administrative data, data made available by private data holders or other sources, the following information should be provided, if applicable:

—	the source’s primary purpose and reporting obligation;

—	reference periods and areas;

—	sectors and statistical units covered;

—	frequency of update and revision policy;

—	possible shortcomings;

—	availability of results;

—	a mapping of the variables of the source(s) used against the variables required for EU labour market statistics on businesses, and a description of potential discrepancies between the concepts of the sources used and those required for EU labour market statistics on businesses.

In the case of statistical surveys:

—	sample design (description of the following aspects: type of sampling design, stratification and sub-stratification criteria).

Frequency of data collection

Information on the frequency at which data are collected.

Data collection

The following steps of data collection should be described:

—	preparation of the data collection;

—	data collection period;

—	methods used to gather the data;

—	reminders and follow-up.

Data validation

Description of procedures used for checking and validating source and output data, including an explanation of how the results of these validations are monitored and used.

Data compilation

Description of the data compilation process (e.g. data editing, imputation, weighting, adjustment for non-response, calibration, models used). In the case of statistical surveys, each step of weighting should be separately described: calculation of design weights; non-response adjustment (how the design weight is corrected, taking account of differences in response rates); calibration (the level and variables used in the adjustment, method applied); calculation of final weights; and preparation of the files for transmission to the Commission (Eurostat).

Seasonal or calendar adjustment (where applicable)

For the topics ‘labour cost index’ and ‘job vacancies’, Member States should provide the following information for each seasonally/calendar adjusted series:

—	time span of the seasonally/calendar adjusted series;

—	seasonal/calendar adjustment methods and models used;

—	type of adjustment: unadjusted, seasonally adjusted, calendar adjusted, calendar and seasonally adjusted;

—	presence of seasonality in the series before seasonal adjustment;

—	presence of calendar effects in the series before calendar adjustment;

—	number of outliers detected;

—	quantitative indicators on the quality of seasonal adjustment.

COMMENT

Supplementary descriptive text that may be included in the quality report.

ANNEX II

PERIODICITIES, REFERENCE PERIODS AND DEADLINES FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF QUALITY REPORTS

Domain	Topic	Periodicity	Reference period	Deadline for transmission (1)	First reference period
Earnings	Structure of earnings	Every four years	Calendar year	T + 21 months	2026
	Gender pay gap	Every year	Calendar year	T + 18 months	2027
Labour costs	Structure of labour costs	Every four years	Calendar year	T + 23 months	2028
	Labour cost index	Every year	All quarters of the calendar year	T + 9 months	2027
Labour demand	Job vacancies	Every year	All quarters of the calendar year	T + 8 months	2027
(1)  After the end of the reference period / calendar year ‘T’.