13145_om_not-searchable
/en/priser-og-prisindekser/statistikker/arkpi/kvartal
13145_om
statistikk
2007-12-06T10:00:00.000Z
Prices and price indices;Establishments, enterprises and accounts
en
false

Architectural services, price index, Q3 2007

Content

About the statistics

Definitions

Name and topic

Name: Architectural services, price index
Topic: Prices and price indices

Responsible division

Division for Construction and Service

Definitions of the main concepts and variables

The price per hour term used in the index calculation is based on price per hour for three levels of staff, excluding VAT.

Standard classifications

Charge-out rates are reported for the following levels of staff: head of project/senior architect, official in charge/project manager and co-worker.

Administrative information

Regional level

National level

Frequency and timeliness

Quarterly. The statistics are published about 6 weeks after the end of the quarter

International reporting

Data is transmitted quarterly to Eurostat.

Microdata

Microdata are stored as text files on UNIX

Background

Background and purpose

The purpose of the index is to measure the price development for architectural services. Further the index will be used to deflate the National accounts. The statistics comply the short term statistics regulation.

The statistics has been published since 2001 with figures from 1st quarter 1998.

Users and applications

The index is used to analyse and survey the development in prices and costs. It is also used in the national accounts at Statistics Norway. The industry itself and the users of the services provided by the industry are other important users.

Coherence with other statistics

The index is used in national accounts, together with the turnover index for architectural services. It can be interesting to compare the price index to other statistics that covers building- and construction services.

Legal authority

The Statistics Act, § 2-1, 2-2 and 2-3

EEA reference

Regulation (EC) No 1158/2005 of the European Parliament and the Council of July 6 2005 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 concerning short-term statistics.

Production

Population

The population is selected from Statistic Norway's business register. The population contains only active establishments. The statistical unit is establishment.

Data sources and sampling

Information on the respondents' number of employees is retrieved from Statistic Norway's Business Register. The prices are collected through a quarterly survey.

The sample consists of all establishments in the population, with 10 or more employees.

Collection of data, editing and estimations

The survey is based on a quarterly postal questionnaire combined with information from the Business register. The questionnaire is posted by the end of each quarter with a two weeks deadline. It is possible to report data on the Internet.

The questionnaire is read optically and controlled and revised both automatically and manually. We control that the price per hour within each establishment have a reasonable variation from quarter to quarter.

The index is based on price per hour. Since the price vary by the level of the staff, an average price is estimated. The share of the participation by the different staff levels is used to calculate the total number of employees at different levels. This is in turn used to calculate the weights of each staff level. In addition the sample is stratified by the number of employees; one strata for establishments with 10-19 employees and one for those with 20 or more.

Indices for each of the 6 strata are calculated, and weighted into a total index.

Confidentiality

Not relevant

Comparability over time and space

The time series started in the 1st quarter of 1998. The sample was reduced by the 2nd quarter of 2008 to exclusively contain establishments with 10 employees or more. Calculations indicate that this reduction practically had no influence on the index development. The weights were also changed at the same time, as described in 3.6.

Accuracy and reliability

Sources of error and uncertainty

Errors might be caused by questionnaires that are not correctly answered or by errors in the optical reading of the questionnaires. Machine and manual revision routines investigate, however, if there is consistency in the values stated on the form, and correspondence with values given in the preceding quarter.

Non-responses may occur, if respondents do not return their forms or if forms are incompletely filled out. About 99 per cent of the questionnaires are returned to Statistics Norway.

The sample consists of about 110 LKAUs, which accounts for about 6 per cent of the population. Sampling errors are not calculated since this measurement of uncertainty is not relevant for the index. A price index must be seen as an estimate on the general price development, within the area of its scope. This is also valid if we collect prices from every establishment in the population. Hence, we will always have uncertainty since the index is an estimate

Relevant documentation