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Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Methodology and quality
  3. ESMS metadata
  4. Wages and salaries

Wages and salaries

1. Contact
1.1. Contact organisation

Statistics Estonia

1.2. Contact organisation unit

Population and Social Statistics Department

1.3. Contact name

Sigrid Saagpakk

1.4. Contact person function

Analyst

1.5. Contact mail address

51 Tatari Str, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia

1.6. Contact email address

sigrid.saagpakk [at] stat.ee

1.7. Contact phone number

37251987669

2. Metadata update
2.1. Metadata last certified

27/03/2025

2.2. Metadata last update

27/03/2025

3. Statistical presentation
3.1. Data description

Monthly data: average monthly gross wages (salaries), median wages, number of employees by main economic activity (EMTAK 2008) and by county

Quarterly and annual data: average monthly gross wages (salaries), median wages by main economic activity (EMTAK 2008), by the two-digit EMTAK, by county, and by type of owner; deciles by main economic activity (EMTAK 2008)

3.2. Classification system

Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2. Tables PA111, PA121, and PA101 show the letter level and tables PA113 and PA103 show the two-digit EMTAK.

Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK)

Type of owner

3.3. Sector coverage

Economically active units – enterprises, institutions, organisations (excl. economic units without employees)

3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

Payment – any monetary consideration paid to an employee or official, including remuneration, wages, bonuses, holiday pay, compensation or interest on arrears awarded by a court or labour dispute committee.

Labour contribution – the percentage of days worked in a period (month/quarter) adjusted by the average working time rate. The contribution is adjusted for the shift in payments for the month in which employment ends.

Working time rate – a contractual rate of working time of an employee or official. This does not depend on the hours actually worked. The working time rate is marked according to the agreed workload of the employment contract: full-time (1.0) and part-time (e.g. 0.25; 0.5; 0.75).

Average monthly gross wages and salaries – the ratio between payment and labour contribution.

Median gross monthly wage – the middle-ranking value of an ordered list of monthly gross wages and salaries with an equal number of values on either side.

Deciles of gross monthly wages and salaries – deciles divide an ordered list of monthly gross wages and salaries into ten equal parts.

Employee – a person who has an employment contract for an indefinite or fixed period of time (including contracts for seasonal work) and a person who is employed under the Civil Service Act or under a service contract.

3.5. Statistical unit

Economic unit

3.6. Statistical population

Employment register

FRAME

List of persons employed under an employment contract, the Civil Service Act, or a service contract, generated from the employment register.

3.7. Reference area

Estonia as a whole – monthly data; quarterly and yearly data by main groups of economic activity (marked with an alphabetical code in EMTAK) and by county. Quarterly and yearly data by two-digit EMTAK code and by type of owner.

3.8. Time coverage

Average gross monthly and median wages and salaries in quarter 2021–…

3.9. Base period

Not applicable

4. Unit of measure

Financial data – euro

5. Reference period

Month

Year

Quarter

6. Institutional mandate
6.1. Legal acts and other agreements

DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS

Not available

OTHER LEGAL ACTS

Not available

OTHER AGREEMENTS

International Labour Organization (ILO)

7. Confidentiality
7.1. Confidentiality - policy

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

The dissemination of data collected for the production of official statistics is based on the requirements laid down in §§ 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act.

The principles for treatment of confidential data can be found here.

8. Release policy
8.1. Release calendar

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month).

8.2. Release calendar access

Calendar

8.3. User access

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

9. Frequency of dissemination

Annual

Quarterly

10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1. News release

The news release “Average wages and salaries” once a quarter and once a year. The news release can be viewed on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section News.

10.2. Publications

Not published

10.3. Online database

Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat under the subject area “Economy / Wages and salaries and labour costs / Wages and salaries / Annual statistics” in the following tables:

PA111: Average monthly gross wages (salaries), median, deciles, and number of employees by economic activity section (quarterly)

PA113: Average monthly gross wages (salaries) and median by economic activity (quarterly)

PA115: Average monthly gross wages (salaries), median, and number of employees by type of owner of economic unit (quarterly)

PA117: Average monthly gross wages (salaries), median, and number of employees by county (quarterly)

PA119: Average monthly gross wages (salaries), median, and number of employees by county (monthly)

PA121: Average monthly gross wages (salaries), median, and number of employees by economic activity section (monthly)

PA101: Average monthly gross wages (salaries), median, deciles, and number of employees by economic activity section

PA103: Average monthly gross wages (salaries) and median by economic activity

PA105: Average monthly gross wages (salaries), median, and number of employees by type of owner of economic unit

PA107: Average monthly gross wages (salaries), median, and number of employees by county

PA5335: Gender pay gap by economic activity (EMTAK 2008), October

10.4. Microdata access

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes.

10.5. Other

10.6. Documentation on methodology

10.7. Quality documentation

11. Quality management
11.1. Quality assurance

To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

11.2. Quality assessment

Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

12. Relevance
12.1. User needs

The main consumers of data are public authorities, local governments, enterprises, researchers, the media, and individuals. In addition to national consumption, data on average wages and salaries are also transmitted to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

12.2. User satisfaction

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. All results are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section User surveys.

12.3. Completeness

In compliance with the rules (regulations)

13. Accuracy and reliability
13.1. Overall accuracy

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness.

13.2. Sampling error

Not applicable

13.3. Non-sampling error

Not applicable

14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1. Timeliness

The data are published within 60 days of the end of the reference quarter (T + 60).

14.2. Punctuality

The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

15. Coherence and comparability
15.1. Comparability - geographical

The definitions and classifications used in Estonia comply with international definitions and classifications ensuring international comparability of the data.

15.2. Comparability - over time

Data are comparable over time since 2021.

Since 2021, administrative data sources have been used.

15.3. Coherence - cross domain

Statistics on average monthly gross wages and salaries are related to other statistics in the same field. Coherence issues (differences in coverage, definitions, and/or methodology) need to be taken into account when compatring data with similar variables but from different sources (labour cost survey, national accounts).

15.4. Coherence - internal

The outputs of the statistical activity are coherent. The higher-level aggregate data are calculated on the basis of detailed data according to calculation rules.

16. Cost and burden

17. Data revision
17.1. Data revision - policy

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia.

17.2. Data revision - practice

The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available.

18. Statistical processing
18.1. Source data

SURVEY DATA

ADMINISTRATIVE DATA

Data from the combined database of the employment register of the Tax and Customs Board and form TSD (declaration of income and social tax, unemployment insurance premiums and contributions to mandatory funded pension) are used. Tax and Customs Board data are obtained via X-Road and an FTP server.

DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES

Not used

18.2. Frequency of data collection

Monthly

18.3. Data collection

18.4. Data validation

18.5. Data compilation

18.6. Adjustment

Not applicable

19. Comments

Contacts

+372 625 9300
stat [at] stat.ee
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