Labour Cost Survey

Table

AVERAGE ANNUAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AND WAGES AND SALARIES BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY GROUPINGS AND MODE OF EMPLOYMENT IN 2024
Economic activity¹⁾	Total (Full-time and part-time)²⁾		Full-time		Part-time²⁾
	Employees	Average annual wages and salaries	Employees	Average annual wages and salaries	Employees	Average annual wages and salaries
	Number	EUR	Number	EUR	Number	EUR
Total	2 335 394	13 590	2 097 456	14 596	237 938	4 720
Mining and quarrying	18 155	17 266	17 877	17 450	278	5 420
Manufacturing	445 433	11 933	427 171	12 278	18 262	3 877
Electricity,gas,steam and air conditioning supply	28 521	21 019	27 904	21 330	617	6 949
Water supply,sewerage,waste management and remediation activities	37 362	10 374	36 295	10 529	1 067	5 102
Construction	146 799	10 874	129 448	11 829	17 351	3 750
Wholesale and retail trade;repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	391 297	11 482	348 396	12 380	42 901	4 187
Transportation and storage	150 432	11 207	137 200	11 970	13 232	3 286
Accommodation and food service activities	132 537	7 767	107 845	8 744	24 692	3 500
Information and communication	128 545	32 501	124 731	33 189	3 814	9 973
Financial and insurance activities	55 772	19 990	50 199	21 432	5 573	7 006
Real estate activities	24 137	11 465	20 290	12 679	3 847	5 062
Professional,scientific and technical activities	90 193	18 589	80 827	20 084	9 366	5 684
Administrative and support service activities	120 992	10 990	103 279	12 200	17 713	3 935
Public administration and defence;compulsory social security	111 944	16 512	108 278	16 900	3 666	5 056
Education	172 620	14 492	158 491	15 280	14 129	5 647
Human health and social work activities	197 031	13 148	152 445	15 137	44 586	6 348
Arts,entertainment and recreation	40 625	11 468	35 700	12 443	4 925	4 404
Other service activities	42 999	7 781	31 080	9 351	11 919	3 689
1) National classification of economic activities 2008 - comparable with NACE Rev. 2
2) Part-time employees are not converted into full-time equivalents

STRUCTURE OF EMPLOYER'S LABOUR COSTS BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY GROUPINGS IN 2024

%
Labour Costs components		Total	Economic activity¹⁾
Labour Costs components		Total	Mining and quarrying	Manufacturing	Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply	Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities	Construction	Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	Transportation and storage	Accommodation and food service activities	Information and communication	Financial and insurance activities	Real estate activities	Professional, scientific and technical activities	Administrative and support service activities	Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	Education	Human health and social work activities	Arts, entertainment and recreation	Other service activities
Total		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Wages and salaries costs		82.16	69.45	81.13	69.64	78.17	84.64	83.68	78.20	82.88	87.49	84.80	84.49	86.03	83.57	75.93	78.57	84.13	83.27	83.13
of which:	Basic wages and salaries for days worked	56.25	36.89	56.33	39.94	53.15	60.10	60.18	51.92	66.61	63.45	55.42	65.61	62.78	62.60	51.78	44.40	48.46	57.93	67.40
	Bonuses	10.59	9.76	10.78	8.35	5.87	14.39	12.04	8.69	6.83	12.19	14.65	7.48	10.24	9.36	9.05	6.78	12.68	10.70	3.98
	Payments for days not worked	6.62	8.39	5.98	8.16	6.77	4.58	5.09	5.84	4.16	6.82	6.11	4.90	6.03	5.34	8.11	12.66	6.63	6.07	5.69
	Additional remunerations according to the Labour Code, State Officials Act or other legislative acts	8.69	14.41	8.04	13.19	12.39	5.57	6.37	11.75	5.28	5.03	8.61	6.51	6.99	6.28	6.99	14.73	16.36	8.57	6.07
Employers' actual social contributions		13.93	17.51	14.32	14.66	15.22	13.29	13.22	15.32	14.04	9.72	11.70	13.03	11.59	13.61	20.44	16.76	13.84	13.96	15.00
of which:	Statutory social-security contributions	13.86	17.12	14.20	13.96	15.14	13.27	13.17	15.21	14.02	9.66	11.47	12.99	11.50	13.56	20.44	16.76	13.84	13.96	14.97
	Collectively agreed, contractual and voluntary social-security contributions payable by the employer	0.08	0.39	0.12	0.69	0.09	0.02	0.05	0.11	0.02	0.06	0.23	0.04	0.09	0.05	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.03
Employers’ imputed social contributions		1.63	2.60	1.31	4.86	2.14	0.96	0.91	1.77	1.46	1.79	1.11	1.37	1.12	1.27	2.08	3.31	1.36	1.58	1.10
Other social expenses and benefits		2.12	7.84	2.99	9.69	4.26	0.99	2.15	4.58	1.59	0.92	2.24	1.10	1.21	1.51	1.49	1.22	0.65	1.18	0.75
Taxes regarded as labour costs		0.01	0.03	0.02	0.07	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.06	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00
Vocational training costs		0.03	0.08	0.04	0.06	0.06	0.01	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.03	0.13	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.04	0.07	0.01	0.00	0.00
Other labour costs		0.11	2.48	0.19	1.03	0.14	0.12	0.02	0.05	0.02	0.04	0.03	0.01	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.05	0.02	0.01	0.01
1) National classification of economic activities 2008 - comparable with NACE Rev. 2

30.06.2026

Data - BGN

Table

AVERAGE ANNUAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AND WAGES AND SALARIES BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY GROUPINGS AND MODE OF EMPLOYMENT IN 2024
Economic activity¹⁾	Total (Full-time and part-time)²⁾		Full-time		Part-time²⁾
	Employees	Average annual wages and salaries	Employees	Average annual wages and salaries	Employees	Average annual wages and salaries
	Number	BGN	Number	BGN	Number	BGN
Total	2 335 394	26 579	2 097 456	28 547	237 938	9 232
Mining and quarrying	18 155	33 769	17 877	34 129	278	10 600
Manufacturing	445 433	23 339	427 171	24 013	18 262	7 582
Electricity,gas,steam and air conditioning supply	28 521	41 110	27 904	41 718	617	13 592
Water supply,sewerage,waste management and remediation activities	37 362	20 290	36 295	20 593	1 067	9 978
Construction	146 799	21 268	129 448	23 136	17 351	7 335
Wholesale and retail trade;repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	391 297	22 457	348 396	24 214	42 901	8 189
Transportation and storage	150 432	21 918	137 200	23 412	13 232	6 427
Accommodation and food service activities	132 537	15 191	107 845	17 102	24 692	6 846
Information and communication	128 545	63 566	124 731	64 913	3 814	19 505
Financial and insurance activities	55 772	39 098	50 199	41 917	5 573	13 702
Real estate activities	24 137	22 423	20 290	24 797	3 847	9 901
Professional,scientific and technical activities	90 193	36 356	80 827	39 281	9 366	11 116
Administrative and support service activities	120 992	21 495	103 279	23 862	17 713	7 696
Public administration and defence;compulsory social security	111 944	32 295	108 278	33 053	3 666	9 888
Education	172 620	28 343	158 491	29 885	14 129	11 044
Human health and social work activities	197 031	25 716	152 445	29 606	44 586	12 416
Arts,entertainment and recreation	40 625	22 430	35 700	24 336	4 925	8 614
Other service activities	42 999	15 219	31 080	18 288	11 919	7 216
1) National classification of economic activities 2008 - comparable with NACE Rev. 2
2) Part-time employees are not converted into full-time equivalents

STRUCTURE OF EMPLOYER'S LABOUR COSTS BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY GROUPINGS IN 2024

%
Labour Costs components		Total	Economic activity¹⁾
Labour Costs components		Total	Mining and quarrying	Manufacturing	Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply	Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities	Construction	Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	Transportation and storage	Accommodation and food service activities	Information and communication	Financial and insurance activities	Real estate activities	Professional, scientific and technical activities	Administrative and support service activities	Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	Education	Human health and social work activities	Arts, entertainment and recreation	Other service activities
Total		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Wages and salaries costs		82.16	69.45	81.13	69.64	78.17	84.64	83.68	78.20	82.88	87.49	84.80	84.49	86.03	83.57	75.93	78.57	84.13	83.27	83.13
of which:	Basic wages and salaries for days worked	56.25	36.89	56.33	39.94	53.15	60.10	60.18	51.92	66.61	63.45	55.42	65.61	62.78	62.60	51.78	44.40	48.46	57.93	67.40
	Bonuses	10.59	9.76	10.78	8.35	5.87	14.39	12.04	8.69	6.83	12.19	14.65	7.48	10.24	9.36	9.05	6.78	12.68	10.70	3.98
	Payments for days not worked	6.62	8.39	5.98	8.16	6.77	4.58	5.09	5.84	4.16	6.82	6.11	4.90	6.03	5.34	8.11	12.66	6.63	6.07	5.69
	Additional remunerations according to the Labour Code, State Officials Act or other legislative acts	8.69	14.41	8.04	13.19	12.39	5.57	6.37	11.75	5.28	5.03	8.61	6.51	6.99	6.28	6.99	14.73	16.36	8.57	6.07
Employers' actual social contributions		13.93	17.51	14.32	14.66	15.22	13.29	13.22	15.32	14.04	9.72	11.70	13.03	11.59	13.61	20.44	16.76	13.84	13.96	15.00
of which:	Statutory social-security contributions	13.86	17.12	14.20	13.96	15.14	13.27	13.17	15.21	14.02	9.66	11.47	12.99	11.50	13.56	20.44	16.76	13.84	13.96	14.97
	Collectively agreed, contractual and voluntary social-security contributions payable by the employer	0.08	0.39	0.12	0.69	0.09	0.02	0.05	0.11	0.02	0.06	0.23	0.04	0.09	0.05	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.03
Employers’ imputed social contributions		1.63	2.60	1.31	4.86	2.14	0.96	0.91	1.77	1.46	1.79	1.11	1.37	1.12	1.27	2.08	3.31	1.36	1.58	1.10
Other social expenses and benefits		2.12	7.84	2.99	9.69	4.26	0.99	2.15	4.58	1.59	0.92	2.24	1.10	1.21	1.51	1.49	1.22	0.65	1.18	0.75
Taxes regarded as labour costs		0.01	0.03	0.02	0.07	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.06	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00
Vocational training costs		0.03	0.08	0.04	0.06	0.06	0.01	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.03	0.13	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.04	0.07	0.01	0.00	0.00
Other labour costs		0.11	2.48	0.19	1.03	0.14	0.12	0.02	0.05	0.02	0.04	0.03	0.01	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.05	0.02	0.01	0.01
1) National classification of economic activities 2008 - comparable with NACE Rev. 2

30.06.2026

Time series

Labour_4.1_EUR_EN.xlsx
Labour_4.1_BGN_EN.xlsx

Metadata

Euro-SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS)

Structural statistics on earnings and labour costs - Labour Cost Survey
Contact
Contact organisation	National Statistical Institute
Contact organisation unit	Statistics on Labour costs, Research and Development, Innovation and Information Society Department
Contact name	Todor Davidkov
Contact person function	Head of department
Contact mail address	2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria
Contact email address	[email protected]
Contact phone number	+359 2 9857 568
Contact fax number
Metadata update
Metadata last certified	30 June 2026
Metadata last posted	30 June 2026
Metadata last update	30 June 2026
Statistical presentation
Data description	The Labour Cost Survey is aimed to give detailed and comparable at European Union level information on distribution of employers' labour costs incurred on behalf of their employees. Objects of the survey are: characteristics of employer (enterprise, local unit) - number of employees in the local unit, type of ownership, size of the enterprise, employees distribution by gender and mode of employment (full-time/part-time), paid days, wages and salaries costs, social security costs, employers' imputed social contributions, payments in kind, vocational training costs and other labour costs.
Classification system	· National Classification of Economic Activities (NCEA-2003, for international use NACE.BG 2003); · Classification of Economic Activities (CEA-2008, for international use NACE.BG 2008).
Sector coverage	Covered are enterprises (local units) from all economic activities except "Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing".
Statistical concepts and definitions	Employees are all persons who have a labour contract (fixed or permanent; full-time or part-time) with their employer by virtue of the Labour Code or the Civil Servants Act and who receive remuneration in cash or in kind for certain quality and quantity of work done. Number of employees excludes: Unpaid owners or directors or managers (who are paid by way of profit share or fee); Members of the board of directors of the enterprise; Persons wholly remunerated by way of fees, or commission; Self-employed; Unpaid family workers; Voluntary workers; Persons in maternity leave which do not receive remuneration from employer; Persons in unpaid leave for more than six months; Seasonal workers which are in unpaid leave during the off season. Full-time employees are those whose regular working hours are the same as collectively agreed or customary hours worked in the observed local unit or for certain occupational groups. Part-time employees (half-day, half-week, half-month) are those whose regular working hours (daily, weekly, monthly) is less then collectively agreed or customary hours for the observed local unit or occupational group. Days worked - the total number of days worked by all employees under labour contract during the reference year. For a day worked is considered every day spent on work irrespective of the number of actual hours spent. Days not worked but nevertheless paid by the employer - the number of days not worked due to annual holydays/vacation, absence due to sickness (if it is paid by the employer), public holydays and other paid but not work days. Hour actually worked - the total number of hours worked by all employees during the year. Hours actually worked are defined as the sum of all periods spent on direct and ancillary activities to produce goods and services. Total Labour Costs includes wages and salaries paid by the employer in cash or in kind, employers' actual and imputed social contribution, taxes regarded as labour costs, vocational training costs and other labour costs. Gross annual wages and salaries are the remunerations paid regularly to the employees by the employers before the deduction of any tax and social security contributions payable by the employees and withheld by the employers. Gross wages and salaries comprise of: - basic wages and salaries for time worked or work done; - payments for statutory, contractual or voluntary leave; - payments for overtime; - additional payments for shift work, extreme working conditions, length of service etc.; - monthly, quarterly and annual bonuses. Employers' statutory social-security contributions. These consist of payments made compulsory by law and payable by employers for the benefit of their employees to social-security institutions. They include contributions to insurance schemes for retirement pension, sickness, maternity and disability, to unemployment insurance schemes, to insurance schemes for occupational accidents and diseases etc. Collectively agreed, contractual and voluntary social-security contributions payable by the employer - these are all contributions paid by the employer to social-security schemes which are supplementary to those which are compulsory by law. They include supplementary pension sickness and unemployment insurance schemes. Employers' imputed social contributions these are payments made directly by employers to their employees or former employees without involving a social-security fund. Instead, the benefits are paid out of the own resources of the employers. Examples for such payments are: guaranteed remuneration in the event of sickness (for the first three days), payments to employees leaving the enterprise, payments made to employees on retirement etc. Social expenses and benefits (payments in kind) - this variable refers to an estimate of the value of all goods and services made available to employees through the employer. It includes, meal vouchers, company products, staff housing, covering transport expenses between home and work place, company cars, etc. Vocational training costs paid by the employer - these include: expenditure on vocational-training services and facilities small repairs and maintenance of buildings and installations, excluding staff costs; expenditure on participation in courses; the fees of instructors from outside the enterprise; expenditure on teaching aids and tools used for training; sums paid by the enterprise to vocational-training organizations, etc. Other expenditure paid by the employer - this includes in particular: recruitment costs (these are the sums paid to recruitment agencies, expenditure on job advertisements in the press, travel expenses paid to candidates called for interview, installation allowances paid to newly recruited staff, and working clothes provided by the employer.
Statistical unit	The observation units are enterprises - companies, ministries, departments, political, religious, public and other organizations, that perform economical activities in Republic of Bulgaria during the reference year.
Statistical population	The labour costs statistics is based on the survey on the employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs, which is an exhaustive for all public and private sector enterprises irrespective of their economic activity and the legislation according to which they are founded.
Reference area	The whole country is covered.
Time coverage	2004, 2008, 2012, 2016,2020,2024
Base period	Not applicable.
Unit of measure
Numbers, percent, BGN
Reference period
Calendar year
Institutional mandate
Legal acts and other agreements	· Law on Statistics; · National Statistical Programme; · Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs; Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 of 27 July 1999 Implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs as regards the definition and transmission of information on labour costs; · Commission Regulation (EC) No 1737/2005 of 21 October 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 as regards the definition and transmission of information on labour costs.
Data sharing	Not applicable.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality - policy	· Law on Statistics; · Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (provision 24 and Article 20 (4)) (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the necessity 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.
Confidentiality - data treatment	Individual data are not disseminated following the rules set in Article 25 from the Law on Statistics. The dissemination of individual data is done only under Article 26 from the same law.
Release policy
Release calendar	The actual date of data publication is set in the National Statistical Institute Release Calendar.
Release calendar access	The calendar is available on the NSI website: Release Calendar
User access	The data are published on the NSI website, section Labour Market in accordance with the Law on Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice respecting the professional independence and aimed at objectivity, transparency and equal treatment of all consumers.
Frequency of dissemination
Every four years.
Accessibility and clarity
News release	Not applicable.
Publications
On-line database	Detailed results are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Labour Market: Labour Cost Survey
Micro-data access	Access to anonymised micro-data can be granted for research and scientific purposes upon request and following the Rules for granting access to anonymised micro-data for scientific and research purposes set by NSI.
Other	Not applicable.
Documentation on methodology
Quality documentation
Quality management
Quality assurance	According to Article 2, point 3 from the Law on Statistics the statistical information shall be produced in compliance with the following criteria for quality: adequacy, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and logical consistency. According to Article 10 from Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs the national authorities shall ensure that the results reflect the true situation of the total population of units with a sufficient degree of representativity. The national authorities shall forward to Eurostat at its request after each reference period a report containing all relevant information relating to the implementation of the Regulation in the Member State concerned, to enable the quality of the statistics to be evaluated.
Quality assessment	According to Commission Regulation (EC) No 698/2006 of 5 May 2006 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 as regards quality evaluation of structural statistics on labour costs and earnings each Member State shall prepare a quality report for the labour cost survey 24 months after the reference period.
Relevance
User needs	The users groups are defined on the basis of the received data requests. They can be classified in the following main groups: National authorities - ministries, agencies, councils, other government bodies and public institutions; International organizations - Eurostat, ILO etc. Social Partners - unions, employers' organizations; Private organizations, enterprises, media; Researchers and students. Internal users: Structural Business Statistics, National Accounts.
User satisfaction	No information available.
Completeness	All mandatory variables according to the Commission Regulation (EC) No 1737/2005 are covered. As regards the size class of enterprise and economic activity coverage, the small enterprises (with less than 10 employees) are included in the survey as well all economic activities from NACE.BG 2008 section B to S.
Accuracy and reliability
Overall accuracy	The overall accuracy of the survey results depends of: Survey tools. The statistical form for the survey is available in electronic and paper format. In 2008 the survey become part from Information system Business Statistics, which is on-line based allowing 24 hours data collection and incorporates logical and arithmetic controls visible immediately during the data entry; Methods for errors identification and correction. The data processing goes through three main stages of validation: 1) data are validated while entered to control the plausibility of the inserted values and item non-response; 2) at regional level, the Regional Statistical Offices of NSI perform post-validation incl. checks for coverage, extreme and missing values; 3) at national level, the Head Office of NSI performs additional validation as well for coverage and completeness. Comparability is made with administrative and other sources.
Sampling error	Not applicable - the survey is exhaustive.
Non-sampling error	After the consolidation of regional databases into national one additional checks are done for identification of duplicate cases, which are deleted from the database.
Timeliness and punctuality
Timeliness	The survey results are published 18 months after the reference period.
Punctuality	The survey results are presented at the actual date set in the National Statistical Institute Release Calendar or with minimal delay.
Coherence and comparability
Comparability - geographical	The national and regional statistical data on employees, wages and salaries and labour costs are in compliance with the acting Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).
Comparability - over time	The comparability over time is disturbed by the changes of the Classification of Economic Activities.
Coherence - cross domain	All indicators are internal coherent.
Coherence - internal	There are other statistical surveys that produce information on number of employees, wages and salaries and labour costs: Quarterly survey on number of employees, time worked, wages and salaries and other labour costs - number of employees, wages and salaries, days and hours worked; Labour Force Survey - number of employees, hours worked; National Accounts - number of employees, hours worked, compensation of employees. The results from Labour Cost Survey are relatively comparable with the above mentioned surveys due to the following main methodological differences: purpose of the survey; statistical unit, definition of variables, reference period, methods of data classification by economic activity, methods of data collection and calculation of weights. Annual survey on Number of employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs - number of employees, wages and salaries, days and hours worked. The data are completely coherent as the min part of the labour cost survey variables are taken from this survey. Every four years additional variables are added to the annual survey in order to collect more detailed information on labour costs.
Cost and burden
No information is available for the respondents' burden.
Data revision
Data revision - policy	Not applicable.
Data revision - practice	Not applicable.
Statistical processing
Source data	The data source is the annual survey on Number of employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs as every four years additional variable are added to the survey to collect more detailed information on labour costs and comply with EU legislation in the field.
Frequency of data collection	Four-yearly
Data collection	The survey is exhaustive for all public and private sector enterprises.
Data validation	The data validation goes through three stages: At the data entry; At regional level by the NSI Regional Statistical Offices; At national level by the NSI Head Office.
Data compilation	The data processing goes through the following stages: On-line data entry; Data validation; Correction of errors and imputation of missing information using administrative sources; Producing standardized output tables with main survey results.
Adjustment	Not applicable.
Comment

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Quality reports

ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure (ESQRS)

Structural statistics on earnings and labour costs - Labour Cost Survey
Contact
Contact organisation	National Statistical Institute
Contact organisation unit	Statistics on Labour costs, Research and Development, Innovation and Information Society Department
Contact name	Todor Davidkov
Contact person function	Head of department
Contact mail address	2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria
Contact email address	[email protected]
Contact phone number	+359 2 9857 568
Contact fax number
Statistical presentation
Data description	The Labour Cost Survey is aimed to give detailed and comparable at European Union level information on distribution of employers' labour costs incurred on behalf of their employees. Objects of the survey are: characteristics of employer (enterprise, local unit) - number of employees in the local unit, type of ownership, size of the enterprise, employees distribution by gender and mode of employment (full-time/part-time), paid days, wages and salaries costs, social security costs, employers' imputed social contributions, payments in kind, vocational training costs and other labour costs.
Classification system	· National Classification of Economic Activities (NCEA-2003, for international use NACE.BG 2003); · Classification of Economic Activities (CEA-2008, for international use NACE.BG 2008).
Sector coverage	Covered are enterprises (local units) from all economic activities except "Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing".
Statistical concepts and definitions	Employees are all persons who have a labour contract (fixed or permanent; full-time or part-time) with their employer by virtue of the Labour Code or the Civil Servants Act and who receive remuneration in cash or in kind for certain quality and quantity of work done. Number of employees excludes: Unpaid owners or directors or managers (who are paid by way of profit share or fee); Members of the board of directors of the enterprise; Persons wholly remunerated by way of fees, or commission; Self-employed; Unpaid family workers; Voluntary workers; Persons in maternity leave which do not receive remuneration from employer; Persons in unpaid leave for more than six months; Seasonal workers which are in unpaid leave during the off season. Full-time employees are those whose regular working hours are the same as collectively agreed or customary hours worked in the observed local unit or for certain occupational groups. Part-time employees (half-day, half-week, half-month) are those whose regular working hours (daily, weekly, monthly) is less then collectively agreed or customary hours for the observed local unit or occupational group. Days worked - the total number of days worked by all employees under labour contract during the reference year. For a day worked is considered every day spent on work irrespective of the number of actual hours spent. Days not worked but nevertheless paid by the employer - the number of days not worked due to annual holydays/vacation, absence due to sickness (if it is paid by the employer), public holydays and other paid but not work days. Hour actually worked - the total number of hours worked by all employees during the year. Hours actually worked are defined as the sum of all periods spent on direct and ancillary activities to produce goods and services. Total Labour Costs includes wages and salaries paid by the employer in cash or in kind, employers' actual and imputed social contribution, taxes regarded as labour costs, vocational training costs and other labour costs. Gross annual wages and salaries are the remunerations paid regularly to the employees by the employers before the deduction of any tax and social security contributions payable by the employees and withheld by the employers. Gross wages and salaries comprise of: - basic wages and salaries for time worked or work done; - payments for statutory, contractual or voluntary leave; - payments for overtime; - additional payments for shift work, extreme working conditions, length of service etc.; - monthly, quarterly and annual bonuses. Employers' statutory social-security contributions. These consist of payments made compulsory by law and payable by employers for the benefit of their employees to social-security institutions. They include contributions to insurance schemes for retirement pension, sickness, maternity and disability, to unemployment insurance schemes, to insurance schemes for occupational accidents and diseases etc. Collectively agreed, contractual and voluntary social-security contributions payable by the employer - these are all contributions paid by the employer to social-security schemes which are supplementary to those which are compulsory by law. They include supplementary pension sickness and unemployment insurance schemes. Employers' imputed social contributions these are payments made directly by employers to their employees or former employees without involving a social-security fund. Instead, the benefits are paid out of the own resources of the employers. Examples for such payments are: guaranteed remuneration in the event of sickness (for the first three days), payments to employees leaving the enterprise, payments made to employees on retirement etc. Social expenses and benefits (payments in kind) - this variable refers to an estimate of the value of all goods and services made available to employees through the employer. It includes, meal vouchers, company products, staff housing, covering transport expenses between home and work place, company cars, etc. Vocational training costs paid by the employer - these include: expenditure on vocational-training services and facilities small repairs and maintenance of buildings and installations, excluding staff costs; expenditure on participation in courses; the fees of instructors from outside the enterprise; expenditure on teaching aids and tools used for training; sums paid by the enterprise to vocational-training organizations, etc. Other expenditure paid by the employer - this includes in particular: recruitment costs (these are the sums paid to recruitment agencies, expenditure on job advertisements in the press, travel expenses paid to candidates called for interview, installation allowances paid to newly recruited staff, and working clothes provided by the employer.
Statistical unit	The observation units are enterprises - companies, ministries, departments, political, religious, public and other organizations, that perform economical activities in Republic of Bulgaria during the reference year.
Statistical population	The labour costs statistics is based on the survey on the employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs, which is an exhaustive for all public and private sector enterprises irrespective of their economic activity and the legislation according to which they are founded.
Reference area	The whole country is covered.
Time coverage	2004, 2008, 2012, 2016,2020,2024
Base period	Not applicable.
Statistical processing
Source data	The data source is the annual survey on Number of employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs as every four years additional variable are added to the survey to collect more detailed information on labour costs and comply with EU legislation in the field.
Frequency of data collection	Four-yearly
Data collection	The survey is exhaustive for all public and private sector enterprises.
Data validation	The data validation goes through three stages: At the data entry; At regional level by the NSI Regional Statistical Offices; At national level by the NSI Head Office.
Data compilation	The data processing goes through the following stages: On-line data entry; Data validation; Correction of errors and imputation of missing information using administrative sources; Producing standardized output tables with main survey results.
Adjustment	Not applicable.
Quality management
Quality assurance	According to Article 2, point 3 from the Law on Statistics the statistical information shall be produced in compliance with the following criteria for quality: adequacy, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and logical consistency. According to Article 10 from Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs the national authorities shall ensure that the results reflect the true situation of the total population of units with a sufficient degree of representativity. The national authorities shall forward to Eurostat at its request after each reference period a report containing all relevant information relating to the implementation of the Regulation in the Member State concerned, to enable the quality of the statistics to be evaluated.
Quality assessment	According to Commission Regulation (EC) No 698/2006 of 5 May 2006 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 as regards quality evaluation of structural statistics on labour costs and earnings each Member State shall prepare a quality report for the labour cost survey 24 months after the reference period.
Relevance
User needs	The users groups are defined on the basis of the received data requests. They can be classified in the following main groups: National authorities - ministries, agencies, councils, other government bodies and public institutions; International organizations - Eurostat, ILO etc. Social Partners - unions, employers' organizations; Private organizations, enterprises, media; Researchers and students. Internal users: Structural Business Statistics, National Accounts.
User satisfaction	No information available.
Completeness	All mandatory variables according to the Commission Regulation (EC) No 1737/2005 are covered. As regards the size class of enterprise and economic activity coverage, the small enterprises (with less than 10 employees) are included in the survey as well all economic activities from NACE.BG 2008 section B to S.
Data completeness - rate
Accuracy and reliability
Overall accuracy	The overall accuracy of the survey results depends of: Survey tools. The statistical form for the survey is available in electronic and paper format. In 2008 the survey become part from Information system Business Statistics, which is on-line based allowing 24 hours data collection and incorporates logical and arithmetic controls visible immediately during the data entry; Methods for errors identification and correction. The data processing goes through three main stages of validation: 1) data are validated while entered to control the plausibility of the inserted values and item non-response; 2) at regional level, the Regional Statistical Offices of NSI perform post-validation incl. checks for coverage, extreme and missing values; 3) at national level, the Head Office of NSI performs additional validation as well for coverage and completeness. Comparability is made with administrative and other sources.
Sampling error	Not applicable - the survey is exhaustive.
Sampling errors - indicators
Non-sampling error	After the consolidation of regional databases into national one additional checks are done for identification of duplicate cases, which are deleted from the database.
Coverage error
Over-coverage - rate
Common units - proportion
Measurement error
Non response error
Unit non-response - rate
Item non-response - rate
Processing error
Imputation - rate
Model assumption error
Seasonal adjustment
Data revision - policy	Not applicable.
Data revision - practice	Not applicable.
Data revision - average size
Timeliness and punctuality
Timeliness	The survey results are published 18 months after the reference period.
Time lag - first results
Time lag - final results
Punctuality	The survey results are presented at the actual date set in the National Statistical Institute Release Calendar or with minimal delay.
Punctuality - delivery and publication
Coherence and comparability
Comparability - geographical	The national and regional statistical data on employees, wages and salaries and labour costs are in compliance with the acting Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).
Asymmetry for mirror flows statistics - coefficient
Comparability - over time	The comparability over time is disturbed by the changes of the Classification of Economic Activities.
Length of comparable time series
Coherence - cross domain	All indicators are internal coherent.
Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Coherence - National Accounts
Coherence - internal	There are other statistical surveys that produce information on number of employees, wages and salaries and labour costs: Quarterly survey on number of employees, time worked, wages and salaries and other labour costs - number of employees, wages and salaries, days and hours worked; Labour Force Survey - number of employees, hours worked; National Accounts - number of employees, hours worked, compensation of employees. The results from Labour Cost Survey are relatively comparable with the above mentioned surveys due to the following main methodological differences: purpose of the survey; statistical unit, definition of variables, reference period, methods of data classification by economic activity, methods of data collection and calculation of weights. Annual survey on Number of employees, wages and salaries and other labour costs - number of employees, wages and salaries, days and hours worked. The data are completely coherent as the min part of the labour cost survey variables are taken from this survey. Every four years additional variables are added to the annual survey in order to collect more detailed information on labour costs.
Accessibility and clarity
News release	Not applicable.
Publications
On-line database	Detailed results are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Labour Market: Labour Cost Survey
Data tables - consultations
Micro-data access	Access to anonymised micro-data can be granted for research and scientific purposes upon request and following the Rules for granting access to anonymised micro-data for scientific and research purposes set by NSI.
Other	Not applicable.
Metadata - consultations
Documentation on methodology
Metadata completeness – rate
Quality documentation
Cost and burden
No information is available for the respondents' burden.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality - policy	· Law on Statistics; · Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (provision 24 and Article 20 (4)) (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the necessity 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.
Confidentiality – data treatment	Individual data are not disseminated following the rules set in Article 25 from the Law on Statistics. The dissemination of individual data is done only under Article 26 from the same law.
Comment

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