Concepts and definitions
- Adjustment for seasonal variation
Adjustments for seasonal variation mean removal of the effects of seasonal variation from a time series. It is often easier to detect the direction of long (trend) and short-term developments and latest significant deviations (e.g. industrial disputes) from a seasonally adjusted series than from an original series.
- Annual change
Annual change is the relative change of the index in comparison with the corresponding time period one year ago (e.g. annual change of total index of consumer prices, i.e. inflation).
- Base year
Base year refers to the base point in time of a time series. Normally, years divisible evenly by five are used as base years. In releases base year is noted, for example, as 2000 = 100 or 2005 = 100. The mean of the index point figures of a base year is 100. For example, in monthly indices the the index point figures of the months of the base year disclose the distribution of an examined variable between different months.
- Growth review
Growth reviews are analyses that provide information in the form of figures, tables and written descriptions about the breakdown of growth in, say, turnover, sum of wages and salaries or number of employees between enterprises. Growth reviews can be used to ascertain how much small enterprises or local enterprises only operating in their own area influence growth in their respective industry or whether the growth originates from just a few strongly expanding enterprises. The share of growing enterprises of all enterprises in the industry can be examined with growth reviews.
- Incentive stock options
Conventional incentive stock options refer to a normal stock option arrangement in which an employee has a right based on his/her employment relationship to subscribe in future for the company's or group's parent company's shares under predetermined conditions.
- Index
An index is a ratio describing the relative change in a variable (e.g. price, volume or value) compared to a certain base period (e.g. one year). The index point figure for each point in time tells what percentage the given examined variable is of its respective value or volume at the base point in time. The mean of the index point figures for the base period is 100.
- Monthly business indicators
Monthly business indicators are index-format indicators describing turnover, exports, sum of wages and salaries and number of employees that are produced monthly and by industry, and are intended to help in the monitoring of business trends. Production of the indicators was started based on the EU regulation concerning short-term business statistics. Monthly Business Indicators is also the name of the unit responsible for producing them at Statistics Finland's Business Structures department.
- Original series
An index series from which the effects of factors not related to production have not been removed. Non-productional factors include variations in the number of working days per month and fluctuations in production caused by seasonal variation.
- Panel calculation
Panel calculation refers to a calculation method that is used to produce certain statistics on economic trends. If there is not enough source data for the latest examined time periods, as a rule the statistical units with comparative data for both the examined month and the corresponding month of the previous year are taken into account in the calculation. Data on this population, or panel, are used to calculate the change with which an index can be calculated for the examined point in time from the index of the corresponding point in time in the year before.
- Periodic tax return data
The Tax Administration's periodic tax return data contain monthly and quarterly information concerning the payment of employer contributions and in respect of the payment of value added tax also yearly data. The observation unit is an enterprise. The periodic tax return data cover all enterprises and employers paying wages which the tax account reform concerns, in other words, almost the entire entrepreneurial activity in Finland. Starting from 2010, the periodic tax return data containing information about payments of value added tax and employer contributions are used in the calculation of the index.
- Revision
Revision means added accuracy of data. The accuracy of data can increase due to changes in the data that are used in calculations or to the availability of new data.
- Sales inquiry
The sales inquiry covers around 2,000 most important enterprises in their respective industries from which data on turnover are collected monthly. In addition, data on the sum of wages and salaries are inquired from around 30 enterprises divided into kind-of-activity units, because these are not available from other sources.
The inquiry does not extend to enterprises operating in financing, the public sector, education or health and social care, because turnover data are not produced for them. The inclusion criterion is the size of the enterprise's turnover relative to the turnover of the respective industry.
- Seasonal variation
Seasonal variation refers to the repetitive, but not necessarily identical, regular variations in economic time series that are often caused by a phenomenon unrelated to the one being described. Such phenomena include variations in weather, cycle of seasons and holidays.
- Sum of wages and salaries
The wages and salaries sum refers to the sum total of the gross wages and salaries paid to employees without incentive stock options.
- Tailored trend indicator service
Tailored trend indicators is a charged information service providing fast data by area on e.g. turnover, exports, wages and salaries or numbers of employees. Additional growth reviews can be produced to elaborate on the factors behind development trends. The data on development in business trends can be supplied to the customers monthly, quarterly or annually as agreed.
- Trend
Trend describes the long-term development in a time series. A trend series has been adjusted for seasonal and random variations, so that the effects of e.g. weather conditions or short-term labour disputes do not show in it. By contrast, permanent changes, such as growth in demand due to changed taxation, will show in a trend. The direction indicated by the end of a trend should be interpreted with caution. The latter part of a trend indicator may change once it has been updated with data for subsequent months.
- Value index
A value index is a measure (ratio) that describes change in a nominal value relative to its value in the base year. The index point figure for each point in time tells what percentage a given value is at that point in time of its respective value at the base point in time. Thus, in monthly statistics the value index point figure for an examined month describes the percentage share of the value of that month of the average monthly value for the base year.
- Wages and salaries
Wages and salaries include compensations in money of all employees of the enterprise for work done during the month. Wages and salaries comprise all income taxes and social security contributions collected from employees as well as diverse additional work (overtime work, night work) bonuses and holiday bonuses. Wages and salaries exclude incentive stock options, expenditure arising from the performing of the work and employer's social security contributions.
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
Wage and salary indices [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-6125. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 13.2.2012].
Access method: http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/til/ktps/kas_en.html.
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