Construction, structural business statistics

Enterprise In the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) an enterprise is the smallest combination of legal entities that is an organizational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision making.

Local kind-of-activity unit (local KAU) The SIC defines a local KAU as a functional unit, which at a single physical location is engaged primarily in activities within a specific activity group.

Owners without regular pay who work for the enterprise on a daily basis Owners include owners of sole proprietorships, or general partnerships who work for the enterprise on a daily basis without receiving regular wages. Co-owners of limited companies and cooperatives who are paid for working for the enterprise are not included.

Employees An employee is a person that works for an employer and receive compensation in the form of wages, pay, fee, bonuses, payment in kind etc. The number of employees in the structural statistics shows an average of the number that has been employed throughout the year.

Temporary staff from employment agencies are not included in the employment figures.

Employment The employment is the sum of owners and employees working in the unit. 

Personnel rented from temporary staff recruitment agency are not included in the employment figures. Rented personnel from Norwegian agencies are included in the structural business statistics for industry group 74.502 - Provision of personnel. Personnel rented from foreign agencies are not included in the structural business statistics at all.

Man-years The figures include the number of man-years worked by the employees in an enterprise.

Turnover/sales Turnover is defined as the sum of remuneration for rendering of services to customers and sales of merchandise, and gross income from other activities. Rental income, commissions and special taxes are included, while subsidies and profits from sales of business assets are not. VAT is not included in the statistics.

Purchase of merchandise Purchase of merchandise is goods bought for the purpose of resale with no added value.

Compensation of employees Compensation of employees includes wages, holiday pay, fees, etc., employer's national insurance contribution, reportable pension costs and other personnel costs. Compensation of employees does not include remuneration to owners of sole proprietorships or partnerships or to family members without regular wages.

Production value Production value means sales corrected for changes in stocks of finished goods, work in progress, and goods and services purchased for resale. Purchases of goods and services for resale are deducted, while capitalized own investment work is added.

Value added Value added is figured as the sum of production value less the purchase of goods and services (for other goods and services than those purchased for resale) and special public taxes, and corrected for changes in stocks of raw materials and consumer goods. Special public subsidies for manufactured/sold merchandise and other public subsidies/reimbursements are included.

Gross Investment Gross Investment is the total value of new capital goods such as buildings and plant (except housing), machinery, tools, implements, equipment and vehicles (except for personal use), both new and used. Improvements are added while sales of used capital stock are deducted. Gross Investment figures are minus incoming value added tax.

Acquisitions This includes investments in new assets and improvements of own assets.

New investments include all newly acquired fixed assets acquired and completed in the course of the year, excluding investments in unimproved property. In assessing the value of the business asset, cost price is used for purchases and production cost for own manufactures. Acquisitions through financial leasing are included when the asset is entered as an asset in the balance sheet.

Improvement of own assets includes the value of all capitalized improvements and major repairs purchased and executed by others and/or undertaken by own employees on own business assets. A precondition is that such improvements increase the efficiency/value of and/or prolong the lifetime of the business asset. The improvement is estimated at purchase price at time of purchase or at production cost when it is manufactured.

Sale of business assets Sale of business assets is estimated at the sales value (replacement value) upon realization of used business assets over the course of the year. The amount includes investment tax. The business asset is regarded as sold when it is delivered.

Births of enterprises The number of births of enterprises includes all new enterprises, both new establishments and new enterprises registered due to change of ownership, i.e. new enterprises that take over existing activity.

Deaths of enterprises The number of deaths of enterprises includes enterprises that close down and enterprises that is closed down due to change of ownership.

The Standard Industrial Classification (SN2007) used in Statistics Norway is based on the EU Standard NACE Rev. 2.

Name: Construction, structural business statistics
Topic: Construction, housing and property

Division for Structural Business Statistics

Preliminary figures only on national level. Final figures also on county level for some of the main variables. Other variables at the county level may be ordered.

Annual. Preliminary figures are presented 10 months after the end of the reference period, final figures within 16 months after the end of the reference period.

The statistics are reported to EUROSTAT.

Primary data and the compiled statistics are stored temporarily in the programming language SAS, and stored permanently as text-files.

The structural business statistics for construction are a part of the industrial statistics of Statistics Norway, and present detailed information about the activities in this sector on the basis of financial information.

The statistics are compiled in accordance with the EU regulation on structural business statistics, and were first published in 1966. Since 1995 final results have been published on both the enterprise level and the local kind-of-activity unit (local KAU) level. Preliminary figures for turnover and employment on the enterprise level were published for the first time for 2001. From 2002 it is also published preliminary figures for production value, total purchase of goods and services, wages and salaries and investments, in accordance with the EU regulation.

The annual structural statistics are based on the data needs of the National Accounts (NR) and in accordance with the EU regulation on structural statistics. In addition, ministries and various trade organizations want and need statistical data. Business and industry and other users also commission customized construction statistics from Statistics Norway.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given inthe Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway's key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally 

The structural statistics on construction activities are a part of Statistics Norway industrial statistics covering most industries. Short-term statistics are published for certain industries in addition to the structural statistics. These show figures for shorter periods than one year and usually for the entire country as a whole.

A quarterly production index and order statistics, monthly, quarterly and annual building statistics and periodic sales statistics are also published for construction activities. Construction and housing - theme page .

Accounts statistics are also published for construction activities. There are some systematic differences between the structural statistics and accounting statistics. The accounting statistics include only limited companies, while the structural statistics also include other organizational types. As a consequence, the amounts in the structural statistics will normally be higher than in the accounting statistics. The accounting statistics are only compiled at enterprise level, while the structural statistics are also compiled at the local KAU level. The results of regionalization derived from enterprises will differ from the results of regionalization derived from local KAU units. Comparisons between the structural statistics and the accounting statistics should therefor be made with reservation.

The employment figures in the structural business statistics are not directly comparable with the registerbased employment statistics . The structural business statistics shows for example an average of number of employees through the year, while the registerbased employment statistics shows the number of employees in the 4. quarter. Furthermore the structural business statistics does not include enterprises within the public service sectors 110, 510 and 550.

The Statistics Act, Sections 2-2, 2-3 and 3-2

EU Council regulation No 58/97 December 20, 1996.

The structural statistics for construction are organized according to the NACE-standard (see section 4.2) and include the following industry division:

41 Construction of buildings

42 Civil engineering

43 Specialised construction activities

The structural business statistics comprise most of the enterprises that are registered in the abovementioned industry division, as long as the enterprise was registered with activity in Norway in the relevant statistical year.

The exception is enterprises within the public service sectors 110, 510 and 550. Such units are not included in the structural business statistics for construction even though they should happen to have operations in the abovementioned industry.

However, all other enterprises in the public sector or owned by the public sector, i.e. units with sector codes 610, 630, 635, 660 and 680, are included in the statistics if they have activity in the abovementioned industry.

The statistics do not include Army construction activities for own account. Moreover, the statistics do not include proprietary building and construction activities performed for own account by enterprises that belong to other industry divisions, e.g. construction activities performed by employees of industrial companies. The only exception to this rule applies to a few electric power plants where power development activities have been organized into local KAUs spun off from power supply activities.

Production of prefabricated houses and building materials, the construction and repair of oil platforms and modules (except for the production of concrete platforms etc.) is according to the Standard Industrial Classification classified as manufacturing (industry class 20.30 and industry subclass 35.114). Statistics for these are found in the publication NOS Manufacturing Statistics.

In some cases projects are involving subcontractors, and often both the main contractor and subcontractor are classified in the construction industry. In these cases figures from both the main contractor and subcontractor are included in the statistics.

For a sample of the enterprises in the population, including all enterprises with more than one local kind-of-activity unit (local KAU) , the statistics are based on Trading Statements (NO) and a supplementary questionnaire. The Trading Statements are either attached to the questionnaires or submitted electronically via the Norwegian Internal Revenue Service.

Information, like the accounts and turnover, about the enterprises with only one local KAU outside the sample is obtained from the following sources:

• trading statements (NO) electronically submitted via the Norwegian Internal Revenue Service
• the Register of Annual Company Reports in Brønnøysund
• the VAT Register

From the statistical year 2015 the number of employees is collected via  A-ordningen, where employers are obligated to submit monthly reports for everyone who receives wages and salaries. Previously, these figures were collected through the register of Employers and Employees. These two sources are not directly comparable.

The Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises is used to obtain necessary information about the population. The VAT Register, the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities, information from trade organizations and direct input from the enterprises are used to update the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises.

The population consists of all enterprises in the relevant industry divisions with registered activity in the reference year. The population is divided into subpopulations, called strata, after criteria like industrial classification and number of employees. In some of the strata, all enterprises are always included in the sample. From the remaining strata, a representative selection of enterprises is drawn. All enterprises in this sample are asked to report a full set of Trading Statements and to complete a questionnaire.

This detailed survey of accounting data is combined with the additional information from the various registers and the structural survey of Statistics Norway to form the basis for the estimation of the financial structures of the different industries and the sector as a whole.

A complete set of statements (NO with supplementary forms) is obtained from a sample of enterprises. The supplementary forms is collected by postal questionnaires, and it is possible to report data on the Internet. The questionnaires are sent out in April/May after the end of the statistical year, with a response deadline of four or five weeks. The enterprises that do not respond on the first letter will be given reminders in writing for about a further six months from the first deadline. Failure to respond is subject to fines.

For the other enterprises, sales figures and other essential accounting data were obtained from Trading Statements (NO) submitted electronically via the Norwegian Internal Revenue Service or from annual accounts in the Register of Annual Company Reports in Brønnøysund. Sales figures were furthermore obtained from enterprises in the "VAT Register".

In this way we collect data from all enterprises in the population.

Checks and corrections of the General Trading Statements (NO) for the enterprises included in the sample were undertaken, including the form in which additional information is given per local KAU. The particularly critical control items are industry code, employment, turnover, compensation of employees, other operating expenses and operating profit/loss as well as various breakdowns of turnover and own investment projects by region and type of project. The gross investment figures are also checked and revised.

The whole population are checked against reports for last year, the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises, the Register of Annual Company Reports in Brønnøysund and other available sources, and by contacting the respondent if necessary.

The preliminary figures are not as thoroughly revised as the final figures.

For the enterprises where a complete NO with supplementary form exists, no variables are estimated. For these enterprises the information in the forms are used.

For enterprises outside the sample that submit Trading Statements electronically, only data for the supplementary forms was estimated. Afterwards we used the existing data from the annual accounts according to the Register of Annual Company Accounts and split them up into respective subitems according to the relative shares shown in the data from the NO sample. We subsequently took data according to the Structural Survey and from the "VAT Register" into account in the statistical calculation.

The other items are estimated according to the division in the sample (organized by subclass and same size groups with respect to turnover, operating expenditure or other relevant distribution keys).

Enterprises with sales according to the VAT Register or Structural Survey The NO items are estimated with sales as a key for the enterprises outside the sample where sales are obtained from the "VAT Register".

Employment figures Employment figures for the enterprises are mainly obtained from the Register of Employees and Employers (the Aa-Register), but some are estimated on the basis of the enterprises’ wage costs or turnover. The Employment figures are revised, based on information from other sources, before dissemination.

Not relevant

If less than three enterprises/Local KAUs represents a statistical variable, the numbers are not published. The reason is the risk that the units can be identified. This is especially critical when regional data are published.

Preliminary figures for turnover and employment on the enterprise level are published for the first time for 2001. Preliminary figures are published while data are still under revision, and may therefore deviate from the final figures that are published within 16 months of the end of the reference year. Preliminary data for the enterprises in the sample that has not yet responded at the time of publishing are estimated by using other sources.

Generally, when making comparisons with previously published figures it must be kept in mind that older data may have been corrected during later revisions. Updating of industries in the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises may also have caused revisions for some of the industries. These changes have not been dated back.

From 2003 the state road construction activity was sorted out as a state-owned enterprise called Mesta AS. Mesta AS is included in the figures from 2003.

From the statistical year 2015 the number of employees is collected via A-ordningen, Previously, these figures were collected through the register of Employers and Employees. These two sources are not directly comparable.

Preliminary figures are published while data are still under revision, and may therefore deviate from the final figures that are published within 18 months of the end of the reference year. Preliminary data for the enterprises in the sample that has not yet responded at the time of publishing are estimated by using other Sources.

Returned questionnaires are read optically and automatically checked. An optical image of the form is first saved electronically and then checked manually in order to ensure that the primary data are as correct as possible. Nevertheless, the results of a statistical survey may contain some measurement and processing errors.

Measurement errors occur when the provider of the data gives incorrect answers due to forgetfulness, misunderstanding of questions etc.

Processing errors are errors from coding or errors that occur during the transferring of information from the questionnaire to a machine-readable medium or during revisions.

Non-response, that is when the respondent does not return the form or returns the form with incomplete information, will always be an aspect of form-based surveys. In the structural business statistics, non-respondent enterprises are treated the same way as enterprises outside the sample population.

Sampling errors is the uncertainty that occurs when the figures are produced on the basis of a sample of data, and not the whole population. The sampling error is the expected deviation between the result of the sample and the result if the whole population were examined.

Imbalances in the sample (e.g. misleading stratification) can cause errors for the variables for which information has not been obtained for all units in the population. Statistics Norway assumes explicitly by the imputation that enterprises outside the sample have the same cost and income structure as enterprises in the sample.

Preliminary figures are a full census.

In the structural business statistics, the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises, the Register of Annual Company Reports in Brønnøysund, the VAT Register and the Aa-ordning are used in order to define the population and help collect the necessary data.

Errors in these administrative registers - like time gaps in registration, incorrectly identified unit characteristics etc. may therefore be a potential source of uncertainty in the statistics and may for instance have an impact when dividing the population into adequate strata.

Not relevant