Unit labour costs; national accounts
Description
This table provides data on the evolution of unit labour costs (labour costs consist of compensation of employees plus final taxes minus wage subsidy). Unit labour costs are usually calculated on the basis of persons employed. However, hours worked are a more reliable measure of labour input. Therefore, the table also shows unit labour costs based on hours worked. In addition to the original figures, the table also contains seasonally adjusted figures. Unit labour costs are broken down into thirteen industries based on the 2008 Standard Industrial Classification of Enterprises (SBI 2008).
Data available from: first quarter of 1996.
Status of figures:
Figures for the three most recent years are still provisional because the figures can be adjusted on the basis of the availability of new or updated source material and on the basis of alignment with more recent national accounts results.
Changes as of 5 April 2024:
Figures for Q4 2023 are added in this table.
Due to the coronavirus crisis and related measures, there are fluctuations in the figures for 2020 and 2021. These figures should therefore be used with some caution. Hours worked, value added, labour costs and the number of employees are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus crisis and the government measures taken. For example, wage costs are significantly reduced by the Temporary Emergency Bridging for Employment (NOW subsidy). Hours worked and added value also fell sharply. On the other hand, the measures have (temporarily) ensured that workers have not yet been made redundant directly.
In the Labour Accounts, the estimate of the hours worked by employees and the wage cost subsidies deviated from the normal working method. The NOW subsidy, which entered into force in March 2020, allowed workers who were no longer in employment to continue to be paid and thus reduced job losses. As a result, fewer hours were worked, but this was not reflected in the number of hours recorded in the main source for the Labour Accounts: the register of employers’ wage declarations. Data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) were therefore used as a supplement. These have been used by (parts of) industries that have been affected by the corona measures.
Advance amounts of the NOW scheme are included in the estimate of wage cost subsidies. Detailed data from the UWV on the NOW scheme were used in the estimation. This information includes the periods of expected decreases in turnover and NOW subsidies paid out per company.
When will there be new figures?
The data shall be published three months after the end of a quarter. In calculating the fourth quarter, the data for the previous three quarters of that year shall be revised. At the time of publication, the figures for the previous quarters may change. This is because after publication of the fourth quarter (with the first three quarters also being revised), the quarterly figures are revised three more times: with each new annual calculation, the quarterly figures are adjusted so that the quarterly figures are in line with the new annual figure. This happens for the first time in June and a second time in the final annual calculation a year later. Finally, the quarters are definitively determined the following year, with the annual totals no longer changing. In addition, a number of series with quarterly figures are adjusted for seasonal effects. Each time a new quarter is added, the seasonal adjustment is performed on the entire time series, with all quarters adjustable. In general, revisions to previously published figures are small.
Resources
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Description |
Link |
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23 |
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https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/84180NED/table |
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0 |
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https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/84180NED/table |