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The Annual Labour Cost Survey is an annual statistical operation that completes the results obtained in the Quarterly Labour Cost Survey (QLCS), this way obtaining an annual perspective thereof. Its main objective is knowing the annual levels of the average labour cost per worker, giving a detailed explanation of its components.
It comprises all units, regardless of their size, included in the General Social Security Regime and whose economic activity is part of Sections B to S of CNAE-09 as well as in the Special Regime for Maritime Workers and whose economic activity is maritime transport (division 50 of CNAE-09).
As in the QLCS, the statistical unit is the Social Security contribution account. The Social Security Contribution Account is composed of a group of workers employed by others, who carry out their labour activity in one or more workplaces for a single company, within a single province and with standard features as regards the Social Security contribution.
This unit does not correspond to the company nor the establishment or workplace, although in several cases it does coincide with the latter.
This comprises all of the Contribution Accounts, regardless of their size, included in the General Regime, and whose economic activity is in Sections B to S of CNAE-2009, and in the Special Regime for Maritime Workers, and whose economic activity is maritime transport (division 50 of CNAE-2009).
Within each account, there is an aggregate research of each wage earner working for others associated with this account, regardless of their contractual modality and their working day.
The geographical scope encompasses the entire national territory, with results broken down by Autonomous Community.
The survey is not designed to provide reliable information at province level, therefore, nor does it provide information at territorial scopes smaller than provinces.
Survey results are available as of the first quarter of the year 2001.
The first year for which data is available is 2001.
The data refer to the calendar year object of the survey.
Data referred to the period: Anual A: 2023
The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2021-2024, approved by Royal Decree 1110/2020, of 15 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2021-2024. (Statistics of the State Administration).
Council Regulation no. 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 regarding the structural statistics on earnings and wage costs.
Commission Regulation no. 1737/2005 of 21 October 2005 which modifies European Union Regulation no. 1726/1999 regarding the definition and transfer of information on the structure of labour costs.
The Spanish version of the European Union regulations affecting this statistical operation is available at:
The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society
The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.
The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)
The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice
This survey is disseminated annually
The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web
Users may access the data via the INE website. Specifically, there are the following links:
- Press release and main results: contains a summary of the results obtained in the reference year.
- Annual series since 2008 : contains the main series from the year in which CNAE-09 was included.
- 2001-2007 Retrospective Estimates. Base 2008 : For the purpose of having time series of labour costs with enough time horizon to allow their analysis, retrospective series have been compiled in CNAE-2009, at the economic activity level, from the year 2001, which is when the survey began.
They include information from free online publications of the ALCS, such as: “Spain in figures”, “Statistical Yearbook of Spain”, etc.
INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.
INEbase / Labour market / Wages and labour costs/ Annual Labour Cost Survey or via the following link:
No anonymised microdata file is provided for this statistical operation.
There is the option of requesting customised information from the INE Customer Service Area. Limitations to confidentiality or precision are borne in mind at the time of processing said requests. This service may be accessed via the following link:
A detailed description may be viewed at:
Quality reports are compiled and sent to Eurostat, in compliance with Commission Regulation 698/2006, every four years (when information is sent to Eurostat). The last available report refers to the survey with reference year 2020 and can be consulted at:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/lcs_r2_esms.htm
Moreover, fields 10.6 a 17 of this document are the quality report oriented to the users of this operation.
Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.
The compilation process of the statistics has controls established for detecting and correcting errors, for the purpose of guaranteeing the quality thereof from the beginning of the process. The collection, recording and filtering processes of the information are fundamental stages in the development of any statistical research. The collection of questionnaires and the recording thereof are carried out in the Provincial Delegations of the INE.
Prior to processing the information, a comprehensive control of the data provided by the respondent units is performed, in order to ensure the validity thereof.
The data received passes through a dual control:
- A first filtering, simultaneous to the recording, is performed in the provincial delegations, and has the objective of detecting incomplete and erroneous questionnaires, as well as guaranteeing the coherence of the data recorded.
- A second control, carried out in the central services, in order to avoid inconsistency between related variables and in the time series, which is combined with a macrofiltering based on the elevated data obtained.
In any case, if any erroneous or inconsistent items of data were detected, the provincial delegation responsible for the questionnaire would establish telephone contact with the respondent in order to clarify the information.
In general terms, the filtering is focused on the following aspects:
- Detecting incomplete questionnaires: partial non-response is not allowed.
- Guaranteeing the coherence of the data: The data must respect the legal limits established with regard to the working day, minimum wage, etc. On the other hand, the questionnaire is divided into well-differentiated, but closely inter-related blocks, among which there must be certain coherence.
- Guaranteeing the time coherence of the main study variables. The objective is to detect possible errors in the data, via a comparison of the main variables, with regard to the same variables in prior years.
The ALCS is a high quality product. Its sample size enables offering indicators up to a regional level, within reasonable sampling errors, the harmonised methodology used allows offering comparisons on the international scope, with a high degree of solvency, and which yields a tremendously valuable measurement of the evolution of labour costs.
Regarding the limitations of the survey, it is important to point out those that are inherent to the statistical operations by sampling, such as non-response and the previously mentioned sampling errors or variation coefficients of the estimates. In both cases, they remain within reasonable limits.
The main users may be classified in the following groups:
- International Organisations: Institutions of the European Union, OECD, International Monetary Fund, International Labour Organisation, etc.
- Public Organisations: Different ministries , such as the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Employment and Social Security, etc, and the National Statistics Institute for several of its units, such as national accounts, Bank of Spain, regional institutions, etc.
- Social institutions such as trade unions, employers' institutions, political parties
- Research centres and universities
- The media
Each one of these users have different needs according to the purpose and use they will make of the information they require.
The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...
On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click next link)
In the user satisfaction survey conducted in 2019, which can be consulted on the website of INE in the category of Quality -> Quality Management -> System evaluation and quality monitoring -> User surveys , you can see the evaluation of "labor market" group in which it is framed this statistical operation . This can give us indications of user opinions of this statistical operation.
In general, users are satisfied. However, they believe that the survey should have a larger sample size, in order to offer a more detailed breakdown of some variables (in particular, of the geographical breakdown, of economic activities and of cost components).
ALCS satisfies all the requirements established regarding the national and international regulation related to labour cost statistics. The rate of obligatory results, R1=100%.
The sample design tries to minimise the sampling errors, and the different survey processes are aimed at eliminating or reducing as much as possible, the errors thereof, both in the collection phase (response rate and filtering control) and in the subsequent editing and imputation phases.
The calculation of variation coefficients of the main variables is carried out each time the survey is compiled and are disseminated in its publication and in subsequent quality reports.
The variation coefficients of the main published variables are: "Total labour cost" A1=0.40%; "Wage cost" A1=0.45%; "Other costs" A1=0.41%.
For further information, please see:
https://www.ine.es/dynt3/inebase/en/index.htm?type=pcaxis&path=/t22/e132/serie&file=pcaxis
Non-sampling errors are controlled throughout the entire statistical process. Specific information is also available regarding the non-response rate.
The population studied comprises all those wage earners who work for an employer during the reference year of the survey. The framework used for the sample selection is the General Registers of Social Security Contribution Accounts of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security at 30 September the reference year. The sample coincides with the sample of the Quarterly Labour Cost Survey for the months of February to April of the year following the reference year.
Framework errors:
The data collection from the reference quarter showed that 0.1% of the units were economically inactive, or closed, during the field works. 0.06% did not have economic activity during the reference year. Only A2= 0.02% were units that were erroneously included.
Measurement and processing errors:
In order to facilitate respondent answering, the required information has been approached via the documents (payslips, social security contribution bulletins and business accounting) that the employer must prepare with regard to their workers.
Error filtering
A first filtering is performed, consisting of the use of filters that refer to the errors that enable classifying the valid questions from those that have inconsistencies that must be corrected.
There are two types of filter: type I and type II.
Type I errors:
If they are not completely corrected, the questionnaire cannot be considered valid.
Type II errors:
These affect the norms that must be complied by for the data coherence. Failure to comply with these norms does not necessarily mean that the questionnaire is not valid, but the reason why it occurs must be explained. If there are doubts, the respondent is contacted.
There are more than 200 rules that are verified in each questionnaire.
After the tabulation, the results obtained are analysed, and this is combined with a macrofiltering based on the elevated data obtained.
Non-response errors
- Non-response rate
Item non respose is not allowed. The average non-response rate for the reference period data has been A4=A5=9.9%.
The results of the ALCS referring to year t are published in t+7 months to (TP2=7 months).
The results of the statistics are published in accordance with the structural statistics publication calendar of the INE
https://www.ine.es/en/daco/daco41/calen_en.htm#meses
Each publication has been made public on the date announced in the publication calendar.
The availability of a methodology, a design and a common process for collection, filtering, editing and elevation for the entire geographical scope, guarantees the comparability of the results among the different Autonomous Communities.
With regard to international comparability, the survey methodology follows the concepts and definitions of Council Regulation (EC) no. 530/1999, of 9 March 1999, relating to structural statistics on earnings and labour costs, which in turn, is based on the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA-95). It also follows the current international recommendations on labour statistics (ILO, 1985).
The results broken down by CNAE-09 sections and divisions are comparable over time, as of the year 2001. For the total economic activities, it must be borne in mind that, as of 2008, information has been collected on section O (division 84) of CNAE-09.
The length of the comparable time series, CC2=23.
The use of the same national classification of economic activities allows for the possibility of contrasting the information with other economic statistics on common variables, such as Annual Business Surveys or National Accounts, etc.
The estimates of the ALCS have complete internal coherence, since they are based on the same microdata set and are calculated using the same estimation methods. The arithmetic and accounting identities in the production of data sets are observed.
For the purpose of achieving balance between the sample stability and the avoidance of a response overburden in the QLCS, the following actions are carried out:
- To facilitate the answer from the respondents, the ALCS has been designed as a module attached to the QLCS, in such a way that only information that has not been included in the quarterly survey is required, therefore reducing the information burden.
- Annual renewal or rotation of the sample
The total sample is divided into five rotation groups, in such a way that, in the first quarter of every year, the oldest group is replaced, which entails an annual renewal of 20% of the sample. This method guarantees companies that, at most, they will participate in the survey for 5 years.
An exception must be made of the comprehensive units (units with more than 500 workers, and those belonging to strata that are so small that their sample size necessarily coincides with the population size), which due to their comprehensive nature, do not lead to any renewal, and with the exception of closure, must remain in the sample continuously. These units account for 28% of the sample.
The estimation of the budgetary credit necessary to finance these statistics, as foreseen in the 2024 Annual Programme, comes to a total of 594.13 thousand euros.
The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).
This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow: routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.
There is no data revision.
The population framework used to extract the sample is the Social Security Contribution Account Directory, updated at 30 September of the year prior to the reference year.
A stratified random sampling with optimal allocation is used, in which the sample units are the contribution accounts. The stratification criterion is performed, based on three variables: the Autonomous Community (17 in total, considering Ceuta and Melilla together with Andalucía), the economic activity (CNAE-2009 division, 82 divisions in total) and the size of the units (8 strata or size groups).
The size of the units is defined by the number of workers grouped therein. The following groups are considered for the stratification: 1-4 workers; 5-9 workers; 10-19 workers; 20-49 workers; 50-99 workers; 100-199 workers; 200-499 workers; 500 or more workers.
The strata with 500 workers or more are studied comprehensively.
Within each stratum, the units are selected via systematic random-start sampling.
The sample is formed by approximately 28,000 units.
The frequency of data collection is annual.
The population studied comprises all of those wage earners who work for an employer during the reference year of the survey. The framework used for the sample selection is the General Registers of Social Security Contribution Accounts of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security at 30 September of the year prior to the reference year.
When this has been received from Social Security, a first filtering is performed prior to the sample selection, which implies several stages:
- Eliminating the economic activities that are not a part of the survey: agricultural, livestock and fishing activities; households with domestic staff and extraterritorial bodies.
- Eliminating those units that belong to the special Social Security regime for trade agents, whose main remuneration consists of commissions on sales, and who, therefore, cannot be surveyed.
After this, the sample is selected, and the questionnaires are sent to the selected units; the data collection and filtering reveal the errors of the surveyed units.
The sample of the sample of ALCS coincides with that of the QLCS of the year following the reference year. Therefore, the overall sample (of approximately 28000 units per quarter) is divided into three monthly subsamples, collected during the reference months of the QLCS from February to April (having approximately 9350 units each).
The collection, recording and filtering processes of the information are fundamental stages in the development of any statistical research. It is essential that a strict control of compliance with the different associated tasks is performed. In the case of the ALCS, the INE Provincial Delegations play an essential part in the performance of these tasks. The collection of questionnaires and the recording thereof is carried out in the INE Provincial Delegations.
Prior to processing the information, a comprehensive control of the data provided by the respondent units is performed, in order to ensure the validity thereof. The data received passes through a dual control:
- A first filtering, simultaneous to the recording, is performed in the provincial delegations, and has the objective of detecting incomplete and erroneous questionnaires, as well as guaranteeing the coherence of the data recorded.
- A second control, carried out in the central services, in order to avoid inconsistency between related variables and in the time series, which is combined with a macrofiltering based on the elevated data obtained.
In any case, if any inconsistency were detected, the provincial delegation responsible for the questionnaire would establish telephone contact with the respondent in order to clarify the information.
In general terms, the filtering is focused on the following aspects:
- Detecting incomplete questionnaires: There must be specific data in the questionnaire such as the number of workers, etc.
- Guaranteeing the consistency of the data: The data must respect the established legal limits and specific coherence filters, therefore subsidies for training without including training costs, etc.. is not allowed.
- Guaranteeing the time coherence of the main study variables. The objective is to detect possible errors in the data, via a comparison of the main variables, with regard to the same variables in prior years.
In the case of empty units (whether produced by incidences or non-response), the questionnaire is imputed with the estimated variable average for its stratum.
In order to obtain the elevated results, it uses separated ratio estimators, using the number of workers in the Social Security Contribution Account Directory as an auxiliary variable.
No adjustments are carried out.
For further information, please see: