17 September 2003 1

SME Statistics OECD Workshop SME Statistics OECD Workshop

SME data and methodologies in the EU - item 5Paul Feuvrier / Eurostat

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

1 The European legal framework for SME statistics

2 Data availability 3 Methodological issues 4 Statistical Disclosure Control (statistical

confidentiality) 5 Quality indicators

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

1 The European legal framework for SME statistics– the SBS-Regulation in short, data broken down

• by NACE Rev.1 4-digit level• by NACE Rev.1 3-digit level and size class (SME statistics)• by NACE Rev.1 2 or 3-digit level and Region (NUTS)• other data sets

– environmental protection expenditure– purchase of energy products– etc...

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

SME data = part of the SBS Regulation – Module on definitions– Business Register Regulation– Statistical Units Regulation

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

Four specific modules– Services (common module) - 5 variables – Manufacturing - 10 variables– Trade - 5 variables – Construction - 10 variables

For each module– specific size class breakdown

• more detailed breakdown for small businesses size bands

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

Size bands simplified – from reference year 2002 onwards

• Commission Regulation No 1614/2002• mainly to prevent too many confidentiality problems

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

2 Data availability– NewCronos = Eurostat dissemination database– Reference and updated database

• theme4/sbs/sizclass – Annual enterprise statistics broken down by size

classes

– Historical database• theme4/hist_theme4/SME• “old” joint OECD/Eurostat data collection• no longer updated, as a NewCronos warning clearly puts it

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

SBS Size class data availability in NewCronos - State of the art 15/9/2003S = Services T = TradeM = Manufacturing C = Construction

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001S M T C S M T C S M T C S M T C S M T C S M T C S M T C

BBUCYCZDKDEEELEFHUIRLILTLVLNLAPLPROFINSISKSUKEU15NO

= series available in NewCronos

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

• EU-15 totals data by size class available for reference year 1999 and 2000– Germany < 20 not available beforehand…

• Acceding countries totals ACC (10 countries) available in NewCronos end of September 2003

• EU-25 available in NewCronos on 1/5/2004

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

3 Methodological issues– Eurostat performs quality checks before any data

release– Implementation problems encountered at national

level• Level of detail of size class data

– Difficult to implement for some small countries• One size hardly fits all…

– Still a single size class breakdown is necessary (and relevant) for computation of reliable EU-15 totals

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

– Completeness• The existence of cut of values used to be the most serious

problems related to SBS– Data related to enterprises with more than x persons

employed used to be available• instead of > 1 person employed requested by the

Regulation• Depending on the availability of a Statistical Business Register

including small businesses– and on its quality…

• Removal of cut of values = main achievement of SBS-Regulation– Germany, among others, made dramatic efforts top comply

with the Regulation and cover <20...

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

– Remaining problematic countries as regards cut of value• Greece

– >10 persons employed in all industries• Ireland

– >20 persons employed in Construction• Hungary

– >5 persons employed in all industries• That’s it for reference year 2001!

– Other countries >1 person employed in all industries• More problems for historical data...

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

– Implementation problems encountered at national level• small and medium-sized enterprises are defined as

enterprises which have: – fewer than 250 employees, – an annual turnover not exceeding € 50 million– an annual balance-sheet total not exceeding € 43

million.– Which are independent

• in particular not affiliate of any enterprise group.

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

4 Statistical Disclosure Control (statistical confidentiality)– Member States send confidential data to Eurostat...– …so that Eurostat is in a position to calculate

European totals...– … and to release them as soon as the protection is

not broken

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

– Cells of detailed tables contain information either on a single or very few respondents• --> implementation of measures to limit disclosure risk

– Main method implemented by Eurostat so far = Cell suppression• Assessment of disclosure risk connected to each step• Suppression of sensitive cells

– primary suppression• Secondary suppression

– primary suppression not enough to prevent disclosure because of the additive relationship between the cells

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

Size

Class CountryNace

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

5 Quality indicatorsCoefficients of variations of size class data at EU level In %NACE Rev,1 3-digit level C to K without JVariable: TurnoverReference year: 1999

1-19 20-249 250 +p10 3,8 0,9 0,0p25 5,0 1,6 0,0p50 6,7 2,5 0,0p75 9,4 4,6 0,0p90 12,1 40,2 0,6

Source: Eurostat

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

– Variance takes into account• survey design• non response• misclassification

– To that respect, CVs clearly higher for small businesses than for large ones, • Accuracy of SME data not as good as the one of large

businesses statistics• Mainly because small businesses are not completely enumerated

– take some stratum• Large businesses are

– take all stratum

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

• Other problems posed for large businesses– industrial heterogeneity

• secondary activities– statistical coverage of enterprise groups

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

Conclusions– Eurostat database on SMEs of high quality

• timeliness– data available at T+20

• accuracy– CVs available

• availability• completeness

– coverage of small businesses almost fully achieved• comparability

– legal framework for concepts and definitions

SME Statistics Workshop OECD

17 September 2003

– Yet some challenges ahead for Eurostat work on SMEs:• Still some cut off values to remove...• Reflection on a distinction between

– independent SMEs– SMEs affiliates of groups

• Improving the quality of R&D variables for SMEs– where the relevant statistical unit is probably more the

enterprise group than the enterprise• Improving the consistency between SBS - SME data and

SBS - Business Demography data