Methodology of business demography statistics
Data sources
The business demography data are compiled on the basis of administrative sources of Statistics Austria’s business register. These are the following data sources:
- Basic tax data and turnover tax data taken from turnover tax returns and advance turnover tax returns submitted to the tax authorities, and income tax data
- Employers and employees data from the Main Association of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions
The year of birth is defined as the year in which the enterprise first achieved a turnover of more than 10 000 Euros or employed at least one person for the first time (this threshold corresponds to the threshold for inclusion in the business register). Conversely, the year of death is defined as the year in which the enterprise achieved a turnover of more than 10 000 euros for the last time and/or had employees for the last time.
The two databases were matched using record linkage. An attempt was then made to exclude false births by comparing pairs of names, principal economic activities and addresses. In addition, a sample was taken of enterprise births with less than 20 employed persons, which was checked manually using Statistics Austria's business register; the derived proportion of real births was extrapolated to the total population. The largest (apparent) enterprise births with more than 20 employed persons were subject of a complete clerical check.
Survey unit and definitions
The survey unit used in business demography is the enterprise. An enterprise is defined as a legal (organisational) unit that produces goods or services and has a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. The enterprise may carry out one or more activities at one or more locations (local units).
Activity
An enterprise is considered to be
economically active if it has turnover (over
Birth of an enterprise
A real enterprise birth occurs if only one enterprise is involved and a combination of production factors – in particular employment – is created. The enterprise is established from scratch, so to speak. Mergers, break-ups or restructurings for example are no real births; nor is a pure change of economic activity, legal form or location regarded as a new enterprise. If a dormant unit is reactivated within two years, this does not count as a real birth.
Death of an enterprise
A real death of an enterprise occurs if only one enterprise is involved and a combination of production factors ceases to exist. Enterprise deaths due to, for example, merger, take-over, break-up or restructuring are no real deaths; nor is a pure change of economic activity, legal form or location regarded as a death. An enterprise is only considered to have died if it has not been reactivated within two years.
Survival
An enterprise is considered to have survived if it is economically active (in terms of turnover and/or employment) in its year of birth and in subsequent years. An enterprise is also considered to have survived if a legal unit of the enterprise ceases its activity but the production factors are taken over by a new legal unit set up specifically for this purpose.
Employed persons
The number of persons employed corresponds to the total number of persons working for the observation unit (self-employed persons and employees).
Tabulation characteristics
Business demography statistics data shown by economic activity, legal form, employee size class, provinces and gender by the sole proprietor.
Economic activities (in accordance with NACE Rev.2):
- B Mining and quarrying
- C Manufacturing
- D Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
- E Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
- F Construction
- G Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
- H Transportation and storage
- I Accommodation and food service activities
- J Information and communication
- K Financial and insurance activities
- L Real estate activities
- M Professional, scientific and technical activities
- N Administrative and support service activities
- P Education
- Q Human health and social work activities
- R Arts, Entertainment and recreation
- S Other service activities
Legal Forms:
- Sole proprietorships
- Limited liability companies (AG, GmbH)
- Partnerships and other legal forms (OEG, KEG, etc.)
Employee size classes:
- 0 employees
- 1
-4 employees - 5
-9 employees - 10 or more employees
Provinces:
- Burgenland
- Carinthia
- Lower Austria
- Upper Austria
- Salzburg
- Styria
- Tyrol
- Vorarlberg
- Vienna
Gender of the sole proprietor:
- Male
- Female
For more information on concepts and definitions used in business demography, please refer to the Manual on Business Demography Statistics jointly developed by Eurostat and the OECD.
Further information on the methodology of business demography statistics can be found in this article (in German, PDF, 740KB).
