DZS on Definitions and Methodology: Employment Estimate Underestimated Due to Our Oversight

The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) announced on Thursday that due to an oversight by the DZS in sending employment data for the second quarter, incorrect data was not sent to Eurostat, resulting in a significantly underestimated estimate by Eurostat.

Due to the oversight of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the incomparability of the data is not clearly indicated in Eurostat’s database, according to the DZS.

They add that during the delivery of the first employment estimate according to the national accounts definition for the second quarter of 2017, there was a temporary break in the time series due to a change in the calculation methodology.

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“Unfortunately, due to the oversight of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the mentioned break in the series was not adequately indicated in Eurostat’s database, and as a result, many media outlets misinterpreted the provided data,” the statement reads.

It is emphasized that the first estimate may differ from the final employment estimate according to the national accounts definition as well as from the results of other statistical surveys that process labor market statistics data.

Definitions and Methodology

“In calculating employment data according to the national accounts definition, multiple different data sources (administrative and survey data) are combined, where there are differences in the reporting units themselves (household-person/company), the geographical scope of the reporting units (only residents or a broader scope), as well as different coverage of the target population (only private households or also institutional),” the DZS states.

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They add that employment data according to the national accounts definition also includes an estimate of the number of people employed in the unregistered economy. In this method of calculating data within the prescribed deadlines, all available sources are assessed (data from the JOPPD form, HZMO, and later from the labor force survey), and these sources are subsequently supplemented with other sources to ensure the highest quality available calculation method.

For the latest first estimate, temporary administrative data on employees (JOPPD form) were used, which are subject to later revision and are underestimated compared to survey data, according to the DZS.

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Eurostat announced on Wednesday, based on data sent from the DZS, that Croatia recorded the largest decline in the number of employed persons on a quarterly and annual basis among European Union countries, while in the EU and the eurozone, their number increased to a record level.

According to this data, the number of employed persons in Croatia decreased by 0.8 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, when it fell by a revised 0.2 percent.