Comparability

Comparability - geographical

Annual data are submitted to Eurostat by all EU Member States, and the statistics "Structure of Earnings Survey" are compiled on the basis of these data. There is consistency between the concepts and methods used by each national statistical institute in the EU, which makes it possible to conduct comparisons between the levels of earnings in each EU member state.

Comparability over time

Comparisons between wage levels in the statistics can be made with reservation to structural changes that may occur between the years. For example, industry shifts, but also the common shift of the composition of the workforce has a great impact on comparison over time.

2021

The government sector: Data regarding absence in the government sector was deficient during the production for the reference year 2020. The data has been corrected and causes a general increase in holiday payments per hour worked and earnings per hour worked

The public sector: An error regarding disco codes for Chief executives, senior officials and legislators in the public sector has been identified in the production. The error occurred in the recoding of the new classification codes disco-08 in 2010. As a consequence, some of the Chief executives, senior officials and legislators have not been included in the Structure of Earnings statistics in the public sector. The affected disco codes are 111100, 111200, 111400, 11200 and 112020. The error has been corrected in the reference year 2021 and causes an increase in Standardized Hourly Earnings, earnings per hour worked and a data break between 2020 and 2021.

• Municipal and regional government 2021:* Due to the strike of nursing professionals in summer 2021, the quality of the monthly earnings data is not satisfactory for these groups. Statistics Denmark has tried to identify the occupations that were affected by the strike. The weeks that the strike occurred are omitted from data for the identified occupations.

*2020'

The structure of earnings for Companies and Organizations is affected by changes in the staff composition, possibly because of a decrease in wages and a slight change in the pattern of sick leave, all of which are the consequences of COVID-19. The public sector is also affected by a slight change in the pattern of sick leave as a consequence of COVID-19.

Companies and Organizations For the hourly paid, there have been challenges with respect to the period 1/1-31/8 – 2020, due to the transition to the new holiday law on concurrent holidays. From the E-income (eIndkomst) register, it has been possible to obtain information regarding the detained holiday pay for the hourly paid employees, which has been used as a supplement to the Structure of earnings statistics. If there is no information to obtain, then holiday pay has been imputed where possible, based on the holiday pay, which is an existing information in companies' reporting to the Structure of earnings statistic.

2019

Transition to concurrent vacation

Corporations and organizations: For the hourly paid, in connection with the transition to the new holiday law on concurrent holidays, there have been challenges with regard to holiday payments for the period 1/9 to 31/12 - 2019. Under the transitional scheme, the companies have had the opportunity to either keep the holiday pay in the company or pay the detained holiday pay into a new holiday fund. The detained holiday pay (both for permanent and hourly paid employees) must be reported to the Danish Tax Agency. From the E-income (eIndkomst) register it has been possible to obtain information regarding the detained holiday pay for the hourly paid employees, which has been used as a supplement to the structure of earnings statistics. If companies have not paid the holiday pay to the FerieKonto (who administrates holiday allowance for all employees that are not included in a collective holiday arrangement), or according to the income register have not paid the detained holiday pay to the holiday fund, then it has not been possible to obtain the information. In these cases, holiday pay has been imputed where possible, based on the holiday pay, which is an existing information in companies' reporting to the structure of earnings statistic. For the salaried employees, there have been no challenges in connection with the transitional scheme, as the current method includes holiday hours (right to holiday) and holiday supplement / special holiday allowance at the time of accrual, so here concurrent vacation has already been implemented.
Central government: For central government employees, holiday hours and holiday supplements / special holiday allowance are calculated on an ongoing basis at the time of accrual, so here too concurrent holiday has already been implemented.
Municipal government and regional government: Statistics Denmark received a special delivery from the Municipalities' and Regions' Wage Data Office with the detained holiday pay for municipalities and regions that have been used to adjust the reported holiday pay. This information was used instead of retrieving the information from E-income.

• Automatic and manual feedback for Corporations and organizations *:

Automatic and manual feedback has contributed to more full-time employees being included in the structure of earnings statistics 2019 compared to 2018. In this connection, there are i.a. more students included due to reporting quality improvements. A large payroll agency has improved the quality of what is registered as normal working hours for the salaried employees. Specifically, it has affected how hourly earnings have been calculated for employees who do not work full time for companies that have reported via the relevant payroll agency. In 2019, the industry E *Water supply and waste disposal * was affected by the fact that reports from a few companies' reports were incorrect, and could not be used for statistical purposes. This has particularly affected the number of full-time employees among the hourly wage earners in the industry.

Central government: There have been quality improvements in the reporting of disco-08 in the central government sector. In the data for 2019, this has mainly happened in legal work, social science work and ordinary office work.

Municipal government and regional government:

In 2014, the wage and salary administrations in the municipal and regional government were able to report occupation codes for their employees in the pay systems. This still results in changes within a few occupation codes in 2019. In regional government sector, a review of the institutions' industries was carried out in 2019, which results in some shifts in part of the industries. In the affected industries, all wage components and number of full-time employees are affected.

2018

New pension rates for public/civil servants with Public Service Pensions:

From 2018 there has been implemented a new model for calculating pension rates for public/civil servants with Public Service Pensions. The pension rates are based on sector-specific pensions schemes, and with regards to a percentage of each public/civil servant's salary. This only affects the public/civil servants that are member of a Public Service Pension Scheme, who are predominantly employed in the sector "Government including social security funds".

Automatic data validation and feedback to Corporations and Organizations:

Automatic and manual feedback has contributed to an increase in the number of fulltime employees in the statistics.

Reallocations of certain occupation codes:

Automatic and manual feedback has entailed an improved quality with regards to occupation codes, which has brought about a few changes within some occupation codes in the sector Corporations and Organizations in 2018.

In 2014, the wage and salary administrations in the municipal and regional government were able to report occupation codes for their employees in the pay systems (before this Statistics Denmark recoded other information to the occupation code). This still results in changes within a few occupation codes in 2018.

2017

Automatic data validation and feedback to corporations and organizations:

Automatic and manual feedback has contributed to an increase in the number of fulltime employees in the sector corporations and organization. There is an increase of approximately 35.000 fulltime employees between 2016 and 2017.

Reallocation of certain local units between sectors:

Privatization of some parts of the sector general government has led to reallocations with regards to some occupation groups and industries. This means that some units that previously belonged to the sector general government now belongs in the sector corporations and organizations.

Reallocations of certain occupation codes:

Automatic and manual feedback has entailed an improved quality with regards to occupation codes, which has brought about a few changes within some occupation codes in the sector corporations and organizations in 2017.

In 2014, the wage and salary administrations in the municipal and regional government were able to report occupation codes for their employees in the pay systems (before this Statistics Denmark recoded other information to the occupation code). This still results in changes within a few occupation codes in 2017.

Reallocation of certain education groups: Between 2016 and 2017 there have been changes in the education nomenclature. These changes mainly concern the sector Government including social security funds. The main change is associated with one specific education group that was previously placed in Medium-cycle higher education. In 2017 this education group is instead placed in Short-cycle higher education.

2016

Improved automatic data validation of reports from companies and enterprises on two levels:

There has been developed an improved data validation procedure, which has enabled imputation of missing or correction of unrealistic data, based on each employment record as a whole.

There has also been developed an automatic feedback evaluation system, which has reported back to companies and enterprises regarding the data in their reports. This has improved the quality of the reports from the companies and enterprises that chose to re-report, and is expected to contribute to a higher quality of reported data onwards, from the corporations and organizations that have received an automatic feedback.

The above described procedures have, together with usual report feedback, made it possible for an increase of approximately 75.000 fulltime employees in the sector Corporations and Organization compared to the structure of earnings statistics 2015.

Displacements of certain local work units: In 2016 an evaluation of local work units in relation to sectorial placement has led to displacements with regards to some occupation groups and industries. This means that some units of companies and enterprises that previously were registered as a part of the sector corporations and organizations now belong in the public sector and vice versa.

Displacements of certain occupation groups: In 2014 the wage and salary administrations for the municipal- and regional sector were able to report occupation codes for their employees. This still brings about a few dislocations within a few occupation groups in 2016.

2015

New classification of education: In 2015 the Denmark Statistics' education statistics started using a new classification of education called DISCED-15, which replaced the previous, DUN and Forspalte1. This causes a break in the time series, thus the series LONS10 is discontinued. The new series for earning by highest level of education is called LONS11, from where tables for 2015 and beyond may be extracted. DISCED-15 is the Danish version of the ISCED 2011 classification, which was developed by UNESCO in consultation with relevant international organizations and partners, such as Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The ISCED-classification is meant to contribute to the production of even more reliable and comparable international statistics on education, reflecting the ongoing evolution of education systems worldwide. For further information see DISCED-15

Special holiday allowance: With the release of the structure of earnings statistics for 2015, revisions of the statistics for 2013 and 2014 have been made. The revision regards the manner in which the holiday payments in DKK per hour worked is presented. The component special holiday allowance in DKK per hour worked is now included in the overall holiday payments in DKK per hour worked. Previously the component was subtracted from the overall holiday payments in DKK per hour worked, to be presented separately. This change enables better comparisons between between fixed salary-earners and workers paid by the hour with regards to holiday payments in DKK per hour worked. The change is implemented for all sectors.

Displacements of certain occupation groups: In 2014 the wage and salary administrations for the municipal- and regional sector were able to report occupation codes for their employees. This still brings about a few dislocations within a few occupation groups.

The quality of reported absence for PhD students has been improved, and therefore PhD students have become comparable in relation to other occupations, and, hence, they are included in the sector Government including social security funds, in the structure of earnings statistics for 2015. The effect can primarily be seen with regards to the occupation sub-major group 23 (Teaching Professionals). There are more fulltime employees within the group, and since PhD students typically earn less than other occupation types within the same sub-major group, it has an effect on the level of average earnings, when comparing 2015 to 2014 and to 2013.

2014

Modified in 2014:

Two new reporting fields are introduced for companies and organizations Employee and employer contributions to retirement savings , etc. schemes . The fields contain the employee and employer contributions before tax for employer-administered retirement savings , etc. arrangements outside were disregarded.

Between 2013 and 2014 some changes were made in the education nomenclature. As a result, a few education groups have been relocated. One of the significant changes is associated with one specific education group in the sector Government including social security funds.

Now all municipal payroll systems has given their users themselves, to insert occupation codes on their employees. Previously, we used the grade of the employee. This allows shifts in some occupation groups in 2014.

Modified by sector in 2013: This publication presents the salary structure for the first time in accordance with the new European national accounting manual ESA2010 . The naming of sectors has changed so private sector has been for companies and organizations , and government- , municipal and regional sector , the General Government for government, municipalities and regions. In addition to naming changed , happens to sector definitions also some substantive changes (see News from Statistics Denmark 2014 no. 270 Nyt and News from Statistics Denmark 2014 no. 321 Nyt.

Municipalities 2013: Due to the lockout of certain groups of teachers in the spring of 2013, the quality of the monthly earnings is not satisfactory for these groups. Statistics Denmark has tried to identify the relationships that have been covered by the lockout . The weeks when lockout has occurred, are excluded from the data for the identified employment . From all EU member states delivered annually to Eurostat , which in consequence publish statistics ' Structure of Earnings Survey ' (SES ) . There are between countries ' statistical agencies created consistency between concepts and methods , so that the data can be used to compare countries' wage levels between.

It is possible to conduct comparisons of the level of earnings in the statistics, taking into account the structural changes that may occur among the years. For example, the industrial changes, but also the general change in the composition of the labour force has a great impact on comparability over time.

Specific changes

• 2013: From 1 january 2013 . New rules about the value of free telephone, computer and internet have been implemented instead together with employer-paid health insurance and treatments.
• 2012: Multimedia has been abolished from 1 january 2012 . New rules about the value of free telephone, computer and internet have been implemented instead.
• 2010: From 2010 multimedia are included in the fringe benefits.

New classification of occupations: Classification of employees by occupations is conducted on the basis the nomenclature DISCO-08, which is the Danish version of the ILO's official nomenclature for occupations ISCO-08. DISCO-08 is a revised version of the previously used nomenclature DISCO-earnings. Subsequently, DISCO-08 is used for the first time in the structural statistics on earnings. For further details see Disco. There is no homogeneous conversion key between DISCO-earnings and DISCO-08. Consequently, earnings distributed by occupations are not comparable backwards in time.

Region and municipalities: New information on the payment of the 6th holiday week for 2010 showed a significantly underreporting of the utilization of the 6 holiday week. The new information forms the basis of the establishment of data on absence, which was conducted in 2010. This implies a higher level of absence, which contributes to a higher level of earnings per hour worked in 2010.

Region and municipalities: The special holiday rate, which is a basic rate, has been changed from 1.5 pct. in 2009 to 1.95 pct. in 2010, contributing to a higher level of holiday and public holiday allowances. For certain groups of employees, a higher rate than the basic rate is used. Unlike earlier years, this has been taken into account from 2010, which has further resulted in a higher level for holiday and public allowances in 2010

Coherence - cross domain

KRL is, an actor in the municipal sector, they publishes a statistic structure of earnings for the municipality and the regional sector based on the same data that the statistics from Statistics Denmark is based on. However, the methods and definitions differs and consequently the results of the two statistics are not comparable. For further information see https://www.krl.dk/#/main

Økonomistyrelsen (The Agency for Public Finance and Management) publishes a statistic structure of earnings for the central government sector. Due to differences in methods results of the two statistics are not comparable. For further information see http://www.oes.dk

Danish Employers' Confederation (DA) and Danish Employers' Association of the Financial Sector (FA) publish a statistics structure of earnings for their members. The data submitted to these two organizations is the basis for the statistics of absence together with the absence data submitted to Statistics Denmark. For further information see http://www.da.dk or http://www.fanet.dk

Coherence - internal

Not relevant for these statistics.