ECL Statistics on Labour Cost and Vacancies

The purpose of the Labour Cost Statistics is to obtain an estimate of the economic cost of the labour factor in an economy's goods and services production process. The two basic statistical sources for estimating the level and composition of the labour cost are the quarterly Labour Cost Survey and the annual Labour Cost Survey conducted by the INE.

The Quarterly Labour Cost Survey is a continuous quarterly operation performed by the INE with the goal of providing indicators and information on the evolution in average labour costs per worker and month, per hour worked and per time worked and not worked. The labour cost is presented broken down into wage and non-wage costs. The Survey also compiles information on job vacances since the third quarter of 2013.

The Annual Labour Cost Survey is an annual statistical operation that completes the results obtained by the Quarterly labour cost survey. Its main interest lies in finding out the annual level of labour cost of the work factor and its components: salary perceptions, obligatory social security contributions, voluntary contributions, direct social contributions, compensation, professional training costs, transport costs, social costs and other costs derived from the generation of employment.

Idescat conducts a detailed study of the two surveys and obtains an expansion of the results for Catalonia.