Metadata


Earnings


0. Registration entry for subjects


0.1 Name

Earnings

0.2 Subject area

Wages, salaries and income

0.3 Responsible authority; office, division, person etc.

Statistics Iceland
Wages, income and education
Email: wages@statice.is
Telephone: (+354) 528 1250

0.4 Purpose and history

The purpose of Earnings in the labour market is to provide information about employees' earnings, distribution and wage structure. Earnings in the labour market were first published in 2013 and a time series from 2008 was published at the same time.

0.5 Users and application

The main users of the data are individuals, private business enterprises, national and international organisations, employee organisations and employer's associations, ministries, public institutions and the media. The aim with data on earnings in the labour market is to inform on salaries, distribution of salaries and structure of salaries. Earnings in the labour market are not intended for indexation, as the wage index, as the sample changes according to changes in the labour market. In addition, earnings in the labour market are also used in European and international enquiries.

0.6 Sources

Earnings in the labour market are based on Statistics Iceland's data collected through the Icelandic survey on wages, earnings and labour costs (ISWEL). The target population contains all local activity units with more than 10 employees. Every month, each business unit sends a text file containing detailed information on earning structure and cost items, together with background data on the individuals and business units. Contracts have been finalised with Iceland's leading software firms on writing computer programs that fit their own wage software and allow companies to submit standardised and detailed information electronically to Statistics Iceland on wages, labour cost, working hours and necessary background factors.
The population frame is based on the Monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn) data.

0.7 Legal basis for official statistics

Statistics collected, generated and disseminated by Statistics Iceland are governed by act on Statistics Iceland No. 163/2007.

0.8 Response burden

When collecting data the aim is to have the collection process as automatic and simple as possible. In the inclusion process the business units are visited, technical aspects concerning the software for wage calculations are addressed, along with details on entering records. The business unit's wage structure is mapped; payroll items are assigned to the wage items of the survey to ensure coordination with other business units. During the visit efforts are made to gather information on the business unit and any potential uniqueness, such as its wage structure or arrangement of working hours. Business units that cannot be visited, e.g. due to geographical location, receive similar services by phone. Once these matters are resolved, a trial text file is obtained. This file is studied and any comments or further questions that arise are sent to the business units. Once the file fulfils conditions on quality, the inclusion process is considered complete, and regular submission of data commences.

0.9 EEA and EU obligations

No EU or EEA rules apply.

1. Contents


1.1 Description of content

The purpose of Earnings in the labour market is to provide information about employees' earnings, distribution and wage structure by sectors and economic activities. Furthermore, data is provided for males and females. Earnings in the labour market are based on individuals' average earnings according to the ISWEL survey. The individual's earnings are based on the months which the employee was working with the same business unit, in the same economic activity and in the same occupation.
Earnings for full-time employees are based on the months which the individual was working full-time. For full-time employees' regular salary, total regular salary and total salary are calculated.
Earnings for part-time employees are adjusted to fulltime hours. Only regular salary is calculated for part-time employees.

The following tables are published in the subject area "Earnings":
  • Earnings for full-time employees by occupation and sex
  • Earnings for the private and the public sector by occupational group and sex
  • Earnings by economic activity, occupational group and sex
  • Distribution of earnings for full-time employees by economic activity and occupational group
  • Distribution of earnings for full-time employees in the private and the public sector by occupational group

Older time-series are available in the subject area "Earnings - older tables" older tables can be partly used in comparing new and older data.
The data tables contain two different datasets:
Data tables for the whole labour market 2008-2014:
  • Earnings for the private and public sector by sex
  • Earnings by economic activity (NACE rev.2) and sex
  • Distribution of earnings for full-time employees in the private and public sector
  • Distribution of earnings for full-time employees by economic activity (NACE rev.2)

Data tables only containing the private sector 1998-2014:
  • Earnings in the private sector for full-time employees by occupation and sex
  • Earnings in the private sector for full-time employees by occupational group
  • Earnings in the private sector by economic activity (NACE rev.1.1) and sex 1998-2011
  • Distribution of earnings in the private sector for full-time employees by occupational group
  • Distribution of earnings in the private sector for full-time employees by economic activity (NACE rev.1.1) 1998-2011

1.2 Statistical concepts

Earnings in the labour market are based on employees' earnings by sector or economic activity.

Population
The population is defined as all employees 18 years or older working in business units with minimum of 10 employees. The population frame is based on the monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn) data register.

Sample
Data is based on a sample from the following economic activities: Manufacturing (C), Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply (D), Water supply; sewerage, waste management etc. (E), Construction (F), Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles (G), Transportation and storage (H), Information and communication (J), Financial and insurance activities (K), Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O), Education (P), Human health and social work activities (Q). These economic activities cover about 80% of the Icelandic labour market.
In the economic activity J small enterprises and enterprises in the IT business are missing.
Only employees in the public sector are covered in the economic activities O, P and Q. In O employees in the public sector are about 95% of the population, in P about 90% and 80% in Q. Thus, the weight of employees in the public sector of the total is about 50% instead of 35%.

Variables
  • Earnings: Basic wages and salaries, additional allowances, expenses payments, bonus payments, shift premium, sickness pay, overtime pay, piecework, irregular bonuses, lump-sum payments, and other irregular payments.
  • Hours paid: Normal hours, hours with shift premium and overtime hours.
  • Background factors: Local activity, employee, occupation, economic activity, sex and age.

Statistical variables
  • Weights: Weights are based on sectors and economic activities as recorded in the monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn) data register. In addition, an individual weight is assigned based on the number of working months during the year.
  • Average: The average is the weighted average, taking into account weights.
  • Median: The median is a weighted median and divides the distribution of an ordered group by wages or working hours into half.
  • Quartiles: The quartiles are weighted quartiles and divide the distribution of an ordered group by wages or working hours into quarters.
  • Decile share ratio: The decile share ratio is the ratio between the total sum of earnings by employees in the 10th decile divided by the total sum of earnings by employees in the first decile.
  • Quartile share ratio: The quartile share ratio is the ratio between the total sum of earnings by employees in the fourth quartile divided by the total sum of earnings by employees in the first quartile.
  • Percentage under the mean: Percentage of employees receiving salaries under the mean.

Groupings
  • Sectors: Sectors are based on the ESA 2010 classification of National Accounts. The public sector only consists of the General Government (S.13). Others belong to the private sector.
  • Economic activities: Economic activities are based on ISAT08 (i.e. the Icelandic version of NACE rev.2).
  • Full-time employees: Full-time employees are defined as employees whose total working hours are equal or exceed 90% of minimum working hours, e.g. 173.3 for workers.

Definitions
  • Regular salary: Regular salary is the remuneration for regular working hours excluding payments for overtime as well as piecework, irregular bonuses and various other irregular payments. Regular working hours are defined as ordinary working hours according to collective agreements, both daytime and shift-work hours. Regular salaries for part-time employees are adjusted to full-time hours.
  • Total regular salary: Total regular salary is the total remuneration per month, excluding only piecework, irregular bonuses and various other irregular payments. Total regular salary is only calculated for full-time employees.
  • Total salary: Total salary is the total remuneration per month including piecework, irregular bonuses and various other irregular payments. Employees' benefits are excluded. Total regular salary is only calculated for full-time employees.
  • Hours paid: Hours paid are all working hours for full-time employees, whether being daytime, shift-work or overtime hours. Hours paid are usually a good estimator of hours worked. However hours paid include sick time and holliday time and thus hours worked may be overestimated. In addition, in some occupational groups, for example among managers and professionals, fixed-wage contracts are common. Thus, employees do not get paid overtime, and their working hours might be underestimated. Hours paid are only calculated for full-time employees.

2. Time


2.1 Reference periods

Earnings in the labour market are based on individual's average monthly earnings over one year.

2.2 Process time

Earnings in the labour market are published on the web page of Statistics Iceland at the latest in June every year.

2.3 Punctuality

The release plan for the data is published punctually every year on the web page of Statistics Iceland, http://www.statice.is/

2.4 Frequency of releases

Annually.

3. Reliability and security


3.1 Accuracy and reliability

The Icelandic survey on wages, earnings and labour costs is a sample survey. The sample is a stratified cluster sample, where the sample unit is the local activity unit and the observation unit is the employee. The target population contains all local activity units with no fewer than 10 employees. The population frame is based on Monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn) data. PAYE data reflects the sum of wages reported to the tax authorities.
The population is stratified in sections and subsections according to economic activities and size. Activity units with more than A/m employees are selected with a probability of 1 (where A is the number of employees in the stratum and m is the number of activity units to be selected from the stratum). For the rest of the population, a simple random sample (srs) is selected from each stratum.
Municipalities are stratified according to geographical area and size. A complete dataset is obtained from the central government.
To ensure quality data is gathered directly from participating business units. Before entering the survey the business units are visited and wage structure is examined and payroll items are assigned to the wage items of the survey to ensure coordination with other business units.
Population frame is updated yearly and new business units are simultaneously included into the survey as other quit participation and efforts are continuously made to improve the data quality through feedback to the business units and through updating and improvement of the quality checking system.
The sample structure is dynamic by year and weights are estimated annually. The weights are based on the Monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn) data register.
The sampling error has not been calculated. Work is continuously being carried out to enhance the quality of the data reports.

3.2 Sources of errors

In the calculation of average earnings various errors can occur.
Sampling errors: Sampling errors (coverage errors, non-response errors) may occur if the sampled business units do not reflect the population accurately. The population frame is based on monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn) data and is updated annually. Thus, errors can arise if business units are incorrectly registered according to the industry classification, for example if business units are operating in more than one industry but only registered in one of the industries or if newly established business units are not a part of the population frame. In order to minimize errors due to imperfect population frame, effort is made to improve the data on a regular basis.
Other errors: In many business units, fixed-wage contracts are common. Thus, employees do not get paid for overtime work, and their working hours might be underestimated.

3.3 Measures on confidence limits/accuracy

The statistical uncertainty is not calculated.

4. Comparison


4.1 Comparison between periods

Earnings in the labour market have been published for the years 2008 to current. When comparing data one must take into account that the sample structure and the quality of data handling has changed because of the extending survey coverage witch is still taking place.

4.2 Comparison with other statistics

Earnings in the labour market can be extrapolated by the wage index, which is published quarterly. The wage index is based on regular salaries that are comparable to regular salaries in earnings in the labour market.

4.3 Coherence between preliminary and final statistics

Date is preliminary because data on certain groups are missing from the dataset.

5. Access to information


5.1 Forms of dissemination

  • News, released on Statistics Iceland's website
  • Statistics, categorised statistical web tables
  • Statistical Series, Hagtíðindi
  • Statistical Yearbook of Iceland, Landshagir
  • Electronic subscription to news releases

5.2 Basic data; storage and usability

The data collected in the survey of wages, earnings and labour costs:
1.Company ID No. (scrambled)
2.Municipality
3.Economic sector (Nace Rev. 2)
4.Employee's ID No. (scrambled)
5.Month and year of birth
6.Sex
7.Union
8.Pension fund
9.Education code (ISCED)
10.Occupation code (4 digit ISCO88)
11.Length of service (date of employment)
12.Proportion to full-time employment
13.Pay period
14.Contractual working hours
15.Annual leave entitlement percentage
16.Annual leave arrangement
17.Agreement
18.Wage group
19.Wage level
20.Basic wages and salaries
21.Normal hours
22.Additional allowances
23.Expenses payments
24.Bonus payments
25.Piecework payments and output work
26.Shift premium
27.Hours with shift premium
28.Overtime pay
29.Overtime hours
30.Sickness pay
31.Sickness hours
32.Lump sums and special payments
33.Committee or management payments
34.Allowances for transport
35.Fringe benefits
36.Other payments
37.Remuneration paid for leave
38.Pension fund contribution
39.Social security tax
40.Sickness fund payment
41.Vacation (union) housing fund fee
42.Science fund / continued education
43.Other labour costs
44.First day of payment period
45.Final day of payment period

Some data are not obtainable with all local activities like sickness payment when their payroll system does not include that information.
The collected data are confidential and Statistics Iceland rules of procedure for treating confidential data are applied. For further information see: http://www.statice.is/pages/480

5.3 Reports

Changes and development of the Earnings in the labour market are reported alongside the publishing of new data.

5.4 Other information

Further information is provided by the department of Wages, income and education.
© Hagstofa �slands, �ann 11-9-2018