Methods WISTA – Articles

The times when official statistics had a monopoly on statistical facts are over. Due to digitalisation, we are instead confronted with an exponentially growing volume of data. New data and new data providers are constantly emerging. This article shows how the producers of official statistics actually respond to the changing environment. Using illustrative examples, it explains that the new data and data providers should be perceived not as a threat but rather as an incentive and driving force for own innovations and improved processes. The aim is to provide even better data and instruments for the democratic development of informed opinion and for times of crises. What framework is needed for official statistics with their unique role in data provision to remain fit for the future?

Author: Susanne Hagenkort-Rieger

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2023

The analysis of the foreign trade activities of enterprises using linked datasets gives researchers and policymakers the opportunity to gain new insights. This article sheds light on various options for linking a new set of foreign trade data, the AFiD Panel International Trade in Goods Statistics, with data from structural business statistics and the statistical business register, and for analysing the combined data. In addition, microdata from international trade in goods statistics have been linked and analysed for the first time with foreign direct investment data from the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Authors: Hendrik W. Kruse, Florian Hieber, Heiko Limberg, Benedikt Zapf, Dominik Boddin

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5/2023

Demographic change and the increasing skilled labour shortage have an impact on Germany’s economic development. For that reason, international students and university-educated professionals from non-EU countries are a focus of German migration and labour market policy. This article presents a methodology for calculating stay rates of international students and professionals with a Blue Card, based on data from the Central Register of Foreigners. The methodology enables analyses which show, for example, the numbers of international students who continue to live in Germany after five and ten years. A period of five years is examined in the case of professionals with a Blue Card.

Authors: Sarah Weißmann, Jan Eberle

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4/2023

With increasing globalisation, the business activities of large multinational enterprise groups often span several national economies. Given their complex structures, the correct statistical recording of these activities poses a considerable challenge. Double counting and incorrect coverage must be avoided, as this can affect the validity of derived macroeconomic indicators, such as the gross national income (GNI). The article explains how the risks of globalisation for the calculation of the gross national income were examined in the context of a GNI reservation, what results were achieved and which approaches Germany takes in this connection.

Authors: Ferdinand Draken-Gädeke, Riepke Kleine, Irina Piradashvili

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 3/2023

Industry, households and the transport sector are the most important end users of energy in Germany. More than one quarter of energy in Germany is used in industrial production. To monitor the monthly development of industrial production in energyintensive sectors, the Federal Statistical Office developed a production index for energy-intensive industrial branches and has published the index since the reference month of June 2022. This article explains the composition and calculation of the new production index and shows its development since 2005, using time series calculated back to that year.

Authors: Lukas Vogel, Malte Neumann, Stefan Linz

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2023

Data on the birthplaces of foreigners create a multitude of new options for analysis in official statistics. Do Somali people seeking protection mostly come from regions that are particularly affected by climate change because of droughts and food shortages? From which U.S. and Indian regions can Germany successfully attract skilled workers for the domestic labour market? To answer these and similar questions, information on the birthplace is useful as an indicator of a person’s regional origin within a country. This article presents a feasibility study on the processing and geocoding of birthplace data held in the Central Register of Foreigners, using OpenStreetMap geodata. The results are also available as an interactive map.

Author: Jan Eberle

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1-2023

The information infrastructure in Germany has progressed significantly since the end of the 1990s although the Covid-19 crisis has shown recently that it still has considerable deficits. The insight that individual data have a value and the demand for official microdata on the part of empirical researchers led to the establishment of the Research Data Centre of the Federal Statistical Office in 2001. The article describes its development over the past 20 years and explains the envisaged remote access system which will provide improved data access for data users.

Authors: Hanna Brenzel, Markus Zwick

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2022

This article explains the legal basis and the basic features of the model used for the 2022 Census. It focuses on the changes compared with the last census: survey variables, determining the number of inhabitants in small municipalities, the stock of reference data, checking for multiple registration, Online First, and the confidentiality procedures applied. Special emphasis is on the progress of work in the autumn of 2022, half a year after the census date of 15 May 2022.

Authors: Stefan Dittrich, Corinna Bretschi, Halina Danuta Stepien, Ingeborg Vorndran, Bernd Michel, Birgit Kleber, Ulrike Timm, Miriam Pfahl

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2022

Mobile network data are considered a promising new data source, but its quality for use in official statistics has hitherto not been systematically studied. This article provides an overview of the projects using mobile network data which have so far been carried out at the Federal Statistical Office and, based on the generation and processing of the data, describes the major quality aspects. On the basis of this experience, the following conclusion is reached: the data source is well suited for special evaluations of small-area data and for evaluations of very recent data that cannot be made using the existing official data. However, the production of statistics in line with the official quality criteria is currently not possible. A key reason is the lack of legislation permitting access to data of all providers of mobile network data on the German market.

Authors: Younes Saidani, Sarah Bohnensteffen, Sandra Hadam

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5-2022

Procedure for and evaluation of the peer review conducted in December 2021 at the Federal Statistical Office.

In 2021, the Federal Statistical Office participated for the third time in the peer review held at regular intervals by the Statistical Office of the European Union. This is an important procedure which harmonises and ensures the quality of the official statistics processes in the European Statistical System. It is applied in all European Union Member States and in the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In the peer review, an independent expert team examines how the European Statistics Code of Practice is implemented in the national statistical institutes and then prepares and submits a public report containing recommendations for further development. This article focuses on the recommendations given by the expert team for the German statistical system.

Authors: Jörg Decker, Simon Jacob, Andréa Vermeer

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5-2022

The requirements on the census of population and housing as well as on population statistics are changing considerably. Users now require more frequent and more timely results as well as results that provide a detailed geographical breakdown. In the foreseeable future, the current census model and the intercensal population updates based on it will not be able to meet these requirements. Therefore, the plan is to switch step-by-step to a modern, purely register-based method, the register census, until 2031. This article describes the objectives and backgrounds, presents the thematic modules of the new system and the requirements to be met by the future census model. It also outlines selected methodological aspects and explains the current implementation status of the future register census.

Authors: René Söllner, Thomas Körner

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2022

There is widespread awareness now of how important data literacy is for a society’s future viability. However, transparency is still insufficient regarding the multitude of projects, initiatives and offers that have been initiated in the last few years and that are aimed at promoting data literacy in Germany. This is why establishing a national competence centre for data literacy is urgently recommended. The purpose of that centre would be to ensure coordinated establishment and extension of the measures and offers aimed at promoting data literacy. The article describes both the range of tasks and the requirements to be met by such a national institution with coordination and information functions.

Authors: Michael Hölscher, Angelina Hofacker, Dirk Münstermann, Gabi Netz, Nathalie Rosengart, Katharina Schüller, Gerald Seidel, Markus Zwick

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2022

Census-specific arrangement of the quality data sheets in the network of official statistics

Various tools are available for systematic quality management in official statistics. This article focuses on the "core quality indicators" in the 2022 Census, which have been developed on the basis of the "quality data sheets in the network of official statistics" tool for controlling and evaluation. As an outstanding statistical product, the census consists of a complex production process with various survey components. The specific core quality indicators from the individual data collection and processing phases allow the quality of the process, and consequently of the product, to be adequately assessed.
Based on the experience acquired in the 2022 Census, the article outlines the potential for further development of the quality data sheets in the network of official statistics.

Authors: Irina Meinke, Janine Hentschke

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 3-2022

Global crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the reactions to them have a major impact on the economy and society. In view of the challenges involved in managing such crises, the question arising here is how, and how quickly, official statistics can react to such developments and provide the data required. This article gives an overview of the possible reactions within the scope of programme planning. It also focuses on measures aimed at enhancing flexibility in statistics production and describes how the statistical institutes in Germany and Europe cooperate in these times of crisis.

Authors: Daniel Vorgrimler, Jörg Decker

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 3-2022

Dealing with incomplete data sets is an important aspect of data processing. It is often not known for what analysis a set of data from official statistics will later be used in science and research. Therefore, it is reasonable to reproduce the distribution of the original data as closely as possible. To this end, it is important to choose the most appropriate imputation method. The thesis described in this article uses a simulation study to assess the suitability of different quantities for comparing the goodness of fit of different imputation methods, based on two example data sets from official statistics.

Author: Maria Thurow

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2022

Official statistics use the variables “country of birth” and “place of birth” from the Central Register of Foreigners. In the administrative context, however, the variables are collected incompletely (country of birth) or unstructured as free text (place of birth) and without plausibility checks.

The Federal Statistical Office develops concepts for the standardisation, validation and supplementation of administrative data, so that these can be used for statistical purposes. The article focuses on the processing of the country of birth data from the Central Register of Foreigners for reference day 31 December 2020 and on first exemplary analyses based on that. Also, a concept for the potential processing and geocoding of the place of birth data is presented

Authors: Coşkun Canan, Jan Eberle

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2022

General government has played a key role at various levels in Germany during the coronavirus pandemic. For that reason, the development of general government aggregates in national accounts has been influenced by several special effects resulting from the fight against the pandemic. This includes the closing of child day care centres, the procurement of vaccines and the postponement of non-urgent operations. This article focuses on special issues which have become a challenge for the calculation and interpretation of general government aggregates during the pandemic and have been discussed nationally or internationally. The article shows that some of these issues have had a significant impact on the trend and level of general government aggregates in national accounts.

Authors: Pascal Schmidt, Stefan Hauf

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1-2022

The 2022 Census will be conducted with the help of a register-based procedure in Germany, as was the 2011 Census. Population register data are of central importance in the census, especially for determining the number of people living in each municipality. These figures have to be corrected for overcoverage and undercoverage (outdated and missing data entries). Stratified random sampling will be an important tool in this regard. It serves not only to correct the population register data to determine the numbers of inhabitants but also to cover variables not contained in the registers. This article focuses on the sampling design, that is the design of the sampling plan and the sampling methodology.

Authors: Steffen Klink, Kai Lorentz

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1-2022

At the Federal Statistical Office, work on the compilation of ecosystem accounts began in August 2020. The aim of this work is to create a nationwide, spatially and temporally consistent data basis on the extent and condition of the ecosystems and the services they provide to humans, in order to effectively support political decision-making. The extent account, in which Germany’s ecosystems are recorded, classified and mapped, constitutes the basis of the reporting system. The comparison between the extent accounts of different survey years also offers the possibility to identify changes between ecosystems.

Authors: Marius Bellingen, Simon Felgendreher, Johannes Oehrlein, Simon Schürz, Stephan Arnold

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2021

Since its start, the European Copernicus earth observation programme with its Sentinel satellites has ensured the continuous monitoring of the Earth’s surface with an unprecedented level of temporal, spatial and technical quality. The remote sensing data offer information of greater spatial detail, such as information on the current state of agricultural crops. As part of the SatAgrarStat pilot project (satellite-based yield estimation for agricultural statistics), the Federal Statistical Office, the statistical offices of four Länder and the Julius Kühn Institute examined whether the linking of plant growth models with vegetation parameters deduced from remote sensing could open up new avenues to estimate yield potentials.

Authors: Jasmin Arnold, Patric Brandt, Heike Gerighausen

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2021

Voluntary commitment and (reciprocal) monitoring as a basis for quality assurance.

The third round of European Statistical System (ESS) peer reviews is being carried out between 2021 and 2023. This exercise assesses the national statistical authorities’ compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice. The present article discusses the objectives of this quality assurance tool and provides information about the planned procedure, especially for Germany. The most important result of the peer review will be an official report containing recommendations to the German official statistics bodies which will be taken up in the form of concrete improvement actions. The peer review is of outstanding importance for the development and implementation of innovations within the ESS.

Author: Mirko Herzner

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5-2021

A cause analysis based on the structure of earnings survey 2018.

Following on from previous analyses, this article presents results on the unadjusted and adjusted gender pay gap (GPG) based on the structure of earnings survey for 2018 and explains the underlying methodology. A model-based analysis shows the (limited) sensitivity of the unadjusted GPG to a hypothetically higher minimum wage for women and men or an earnings supplement to gross hourly earnings for women only. It becomes clear here that the unadjusted gender pay gap will change only slightly in the case of a hypothetical minimum wage of 12 euros. The effect would be higher in the
case of a unilateral earnings supplement of 50 cents to the gross hourly earnings of women.

Author: Frauke Mischler

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2021

The need for informative and up-to-date high-quality data on the economy and society has rarely been greater than during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the Federal Statistical Office as a reliable and established statistics producer, other actors have increasingly become involved in meeting the need for relevant data. This article describes administrative statistics and data of private providers which, together with official statistics, form a triangle within a data ecosystem. It analyses their differences from official statistics and examines whether they meet the requirements in terms of neutrality, quality and functional centralisation that have to be satisfied by official statistics.

Authors: Dr. Daniel Vorgrimler, Jörg Decker

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 3-2021

Due to the coronavirus crisis, the demand for data that describe the current economic situation and are available rapidly has increased sharply. This includes information on short-term developments in the labour market. For some time already, the Federal Statistical Office has developed indicators, based on online job advertisements, that can be used for short-term labour market reports and has published these, initially in the form of experimental statistics (EXDAT). The article describes this process of analysis, examines the quality of data collected in this way and presents a monthly index of the development of online job advertisements (in the context of short-term economic development).

Authors: Dr. Jakob de Lazzer, Dr. Martina Rengers

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 3-2021

This paper describes a complementary econometric calculation of exports and imports for national accounting, which uses leading indicators and feeds into the t + 30 GDP flash estimates. The quality of the econometric models is assessed by comparing the estimated values with the foreign trade data available since 2016. This makes it possible to test the quality of the estimates in various business cycles, including the economic slump during the COVID-19 pandemic. The minor deviations suggest that the use of additional data sources may improve the quality of the estimates of goods exports and imports.

Author: Nathalie Rosengart

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2021

Global value chains and increasing cross-border activities of multinational enterprise groups pose growing challenges to official statistics. Due to the economic importance of large groups, their inaccurate statistical coverage can lead to quality risks for important indicators in national accounts. Many European countries have already recognised the urgent need to monitor and analyse these enterprise groups in order to ensure the quality of important economic indicators. To this end, Large Cases Units have been set up in their national statistical institutes. Such a specialised organisational unit is currently being established in the German official statistics system as well. This article explains the objectives pursued and the plans for implementation.

Authors: Dr. Markus Ahlborn, Ferdinand Draken, Verena Manthe

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2021

High-quality statistics are indispensable in responding to the coronavirus crisis and its enormous impact on society and the economy. Against this background, inflation measurement is of particular importance, which is reinforced by the review of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy strategy. This article describes the practice of calculating the national consumer price index (CPI) as well as the Europe-wide Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP). It also addresses aspects of inflation measurement that are widely discussed at present, such as how to deal with quality changes and the inclusion of assets. Furthermore, the article considers the challenges of price measurement and the price development during the coronavirus pandemic.

Authors: Susanne Hagenkort-Rieger, Nadin Sewald

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1-2021

In general, researchers have been using data transformations as a go-to tool to assist scientific work under the classical and linear mixed regression models instead of developing new theories, applying complex methods or extending software functions. However, transformations are often automatically and routinely applied without considering different aspects on their utility. This work summarizes the main findings from the paper by the author (Rojas-Perilla, 2018), which presents a unified theory of datadriven transformations for linear and linear mixed regression models that includes applications to small area prediction and the development of open source software.

Author: Prof. Dr. Natalia Rojas-Perilla

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1-2021

In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Statistical Office published the new calendar and seasonally adjusted monthly cash tax revenue for the first time in August 2020. They are important indicators for fiscal policy and short-term economic monitoring in Germany and enable early assessment of current developments in cash tax revenue. On average, the results are available as early as 26 days after the end of the reporting month. This article explains the structure of the underlying data and presents the challenges involved in the seasonal adjustment of cash tax revenue as well as the approaches used to address them. The article concludes by discussing the evolution in the adjusted cash tax revenue during the course of the coronavirus pandemic to date.

Authors: Luis Federico Flores, Christiane Loos

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2020

The integration of statistical and geospatial information is becoming increasingly important. The German official statistics network is actively working on the creation of a sustainable infrastructure for the permanent implementation of the integration of geospatial and statistical information. This will provide politics, science and society with a new, broader basis for evidence-based decision-making with regional relevance. This improved basis of information is necessary for the development of informed opinions and for decision-making processes in a democratic society. This article gives an
overview of the framework conditions, the activities initiated and the current analysis projects based on integrated statistical and geospatial information.

Authors: Dr. Hanna Brenzel, Kathrin Gebers

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2020

Labour costs per hour worked are an important indicator for assessing the international competitiveness of economies. These costs can be influenced in the short term by economic policy and business management measures in order to improve competitiveness. This is particularly important in times of economic crisis. This article presents, compares and analyses the development of labour costs in the EU over the last two decades. A focus is on the change in Germany’s relative competitiveness compared to the other EU Member States in the period 2000-2019, with special consideration of the effects of the 2008-2009 financial and economic crisis. The results of the EU-wide and harmonised labour cost survey, which is conducted every four years, and the annual updates based on the labour cost index are used for this purpose.

Author: Martin Beck

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5-2020

The truck toll mileage index, which is calculated from digital process data of the truck toll collection system, provides an early indication of the development of industrial production in Germany. During the corona crisis, the index is updated every working day to provide information as early as possible. Issued after five to nine days, the results of the daily truck toll mileage index provide a very up-to-date picture of the mileage of heavy goods vehicles, which are subject to toll charges, on German motorways and trunk roads. This article gives an overview of the monthly and the daily truck toll mileage indices, seasonal and calendar adjustment, differences between the two indices, and the relationship between the daily index and other selected short-term indicators.

Authors: Michael Cox, Jürgen Triebel, Dr. Stefan Linz, Dr. Claudia Fries, Luis Federico Flores, Dr. Andreas Lorenz, Daniel Ollech, Dr. Andreas Dietrich, Dr. Julian LeCrone, Dr. Karsten Webel

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2020

In its new "EXDAT - Experimental Data" section at www.destatis.de, the Federal Statistical Office has regularly published new and innovative project results since the beginning of 2020. These are obtained by using new data sources and methods. Both the degree of maturity and quality of the results differ from those of official statistics, especially regarding harmonisation, coverage and methodology. Nonetheless these results of the statistical offices of the Federation and the Länder offer new and interesting ways of looking at various statistical domains. During the coronavirus crisis, some EXDAT articles have contributed to illustrating the impact of the pandemic on economic development.

Authors: Stefan Hauf, Shari Stehrenberg, Prof. Dr. Markus Zwick

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2020

Data for assessment of temporary excess mortality associated with the corona pandemic

This article provides background information on the ad-hoc evaluation of death counts for 2020 carried out on account of the corona pandemic. Since mid-April 2020, daily death figures have been released as raw data with a delay of about four weeks. By describing the processes underlying the coverage of deaths, these raw data are distinguished from regular death data. In addition to that, the article provides information on the concept of excess mortality. It compares the developments in 2020 with those of previous years and answers the question of whether they are likely to be related with the coronavirus pandemic.

Authors: Dr. Felix zur Nieden, Bettina Sommer, Stephan Lüken

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a wide range of challenges for the European Union (EU) and given rise to new information needs. High-quality statistics are an important basis for fact-based decisions, especially in times of crisis. Meeting the new challenges and needs requires close cooperation. This article shows the solutions developed by the European countries and describes cooperation within the European Statistical System in the light of the crisis. The work programme of the German EU Council Presidency 2020 in the field of statistics is based on the relevant insights. Therefore the article also explains how the Federal Statistical Office intends to apply the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic in its work in the longer run.

Authors: Christina Schliffka, Dominique Polus

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2020

This article describes the approach of official statisticians in Germany in introducing the EU enterprise concept in structural business statistics. It first explains the underlying reason and the implementation design. Based on this, the concrete implementation is described, in particular the profiling and the new work steps of imputation and consolidation, which have to be carried out centrally

Authors: Martin Beck, Luisa Baumgärtner, Katja-Verena Bürk, Matthias Redecker

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 3-2020

Labour productivity is a measure of an economy’s performance, and its development is a major determinant of material prosperity. In view of this, the slowing trend growth of labour productivity in many countries is a challenge that should not be underestimated. This applies especially to Germany as its working population will decline in the long run. The article shows the development of overall labour productivity in the five largest European economies and analyses the contribution of important economic industries as well as the two components underlying labour productivity. It explains possible causes of the decline in productivity growth and highlights the special role of digitalisation in this context.

Authors: Peter Kuntze, Christoph-Martin Mai

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2020

The article focuses on private consumption expenditure. It examines its contribution to the short-term economic development in 2019 and the different concepts and breakdowns. Additionally, the article explains the calculation of household purchases of digital services abroad, which was integrated into the calculation of consumption expenditure as part of the 2019 major revision of national accounts, and presents a comparative analysis of consumption expenditure in the Member States of the European Union.

Author: Rita Bolleyer

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1-2020

The Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Statistisches Bundesamt) is currently conducting a feasibility study to test whether it would be possible to produce an estimate of the German gross domestic product (GDP) as early as t+10 days after the end of the reference quarter. Such an early estimate is called a nowcast. It differs from the t+30 GDP flash estimate in terms of the underlying methodology and the data basis. This article shows the current progress of the feasibility study and describes similarities and differences between the t+10 GDP nowcast and the t+30 GDP flash estimate. In addition, it presents first preliminary results of the feasibility study and outlines potential developments in future phases of the study.

Authors: Xaver Dickopf, Christian Janz, Tanja Mucha

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2019

Various methods for modernising the European production statistics (PRODCOM) were examined in a project initiated by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat).
In Germany the results of these annual statistics are based on the national data collected in the monthly and quarterly production surveys. The German surveys cover the domestic production of enterprises with 20 or more persons employed. This article describes how the value of sold production of enterprises with less than 20 persons employed is estimated using administrative data and an econometric method for the estimation of variables of new units (multilevel model). In addition, the options are shown which were tested to reduce the scope of confidential results in the relevant national and European publications.

Authors: Luis Federico Flores, Luisa Baumgärtner

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5-2019

As of reference month September 2018 or the third reference quarter of 2018, the base year of the short-term indices for the construction industry has been moved from 2010 to 2015 as part of the regular rebasing procedure. Regarding the indices of turnover and persons employed in the construction industry, the reference variable of the indices was rebased on the new base year. For the indices of new orders and the stock of orders, the index weights were updated as well. This article describes the indices and the rebasing procedures.

Authors: Jens Dechent, Ingo Wagner, Dr. Stefan Linz

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2019

Economic activity generates and requires transport services – hence there is a close connection between the economic development and the freight traffic by trucks. As part of toll collection, digital process data are generated, among other things, on the mileage of trucks subject to toll. The Federal Office for Goods Transport has used these data to develop a truck-toll-mileage index, which indicates the change in mileage for comparable basic variables and excludes structural changes as far as possible. Dueto its early availability and economic meaningfulness, the Federal Statistical Office has included this index in its publication programme. This article describes the new element of official short-term economic statistics and explains its relation to existing short-term statistics.

Authors: Michael Cox, Martin Berghausen, Dr. Stefan Linz, Dr. Claudia Fries, Julia Völker

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2018

The results of economic time series – for instance monthly data on turnover in industry or quarterly gross domestic product figures – are affected by annually recurring seasonal effects and calendar variations. This makes an assessment of current development more difficult. Such effects can be eliminated using statistical methods of seasonal adjustment in order to permit a better assessment of current trends. This article describes the use of the seasonal adjustment methods X-12-ARIMA and X13 in JDemetra+ for purposes of seasonal adjustment of the short-term statistics of the Federal Statistical Office.

Authors: Dr. Stefan Linz, Dr. Claudia Fries, Julia Völker

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2018

As of reference month January 2018, the base year of most short-term indices for industry has been moved from 2010 to 2015 as part of the regular rebasing procedure. In addition to the change in the base year of the indices, the index weights were updated and some methodological changes implemented. An index of the stock of orders in manufacturing was introduced and will be published together with the results for reference month January 2018 for the first time.

Authors: Dr. Stefan Linz, Hans-Rüdiger Möller, Peter Mehlhorn

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2018

This article describes the measures taken by the Federal Statistical Office to prepare its communication for the digital era. Major steps towards this goal are the branding of official statistics and content marketing.

Auszug aus der Publikation "WISTA - Wirtschaft und Statistik", 6/2017

Autoren: Sibylle von Oppeln-Bronikowski, Susanne Hagenkort-Rieger, Dr. Maria João Santos

Eradication of poverty is one of the most important Millennium Development Goals defined by the United Nations. One approach to studying this is by using small area (SA) methods. SA models combine survey and census data for producing estimates of poverty indicators at geographical levels where direct estimation is either not possible due to the lack of sample observations or very imprecise. The objective of this work is twofold. First, to analyze how the performance of this method is affected by departures rom normality. Second, to explore how Box-Cox transformations can assist with improving the validity of model assumptions and the precision of SA prediction. This work involves extensive model-based simulations. Finally, the spatial distribution of poverty in Mexico by using real data is analyzed.

Auszug aus der Publikation "WISTA - Wirtschaft und Statistik", 3/2017

Autorin: Natalia Rojas Perilla

The European Labour Force Survey ad hoc module 2014 was on the topic of the labour market situation of migrants and their immediate descendants. Using the results of the survey, the labour market situation of natives, first generation immigrants, and second generation immigrants is analysed and compared on labour force status (inactive, unemployed, employed), education correlated with employment, contract types, occupations, and over-qualifications.

Author: Håvard Hungnes Lien

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", Specialedition "Arbeitsmarkt und Migration", 7-2016

The "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development", which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, is a future programme to stimulate sustainable economic, social and environmental development all over the world. It contains 17 goals and 169 targets that aim to fundamentally improve the living conditions of present and future generations and to protect the planet.

Authors: Annette Pfeiffer, Fabienne Middeke, Martin Tambour

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5-2016

In March 2015, the United Nations Statistical Commission endorsed the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) and a plan for its implementation. The core of implementation is the construction of correspondence tables to convert the content of existing national statistical classifications into the ICCS categories. This work has been finished regarding the first ICCS chapter on “Acts leading to death or intending to cause death”. This article describes the method employed, presents the results, and provides an outlook on the planning for the next ICCS chapters.

Authors: Thomas Baumann, Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Kerner, Dr. Robert Mischkowitz, Heiko Hergenhahn

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5-2016

Die Vision 2020 des ESS ist eine gemeinsame strategische Antwort des Europäischen Statistischen Systems auf die Herausforderungen, denen die amtliche Statistik gegenübersteht. Sie benennt fünf Schlüsselbereiche, in denen gemeinsamer Handlungsbedarf besteht, damit die europäische Statistik "fit für die Zukunft" wird. Wie vom Ausschuss für das Europäische Statistische System vereinbart, wird die Umsetzung der Vision 2020 des ESS vorangebracht durch die Weiterarbeit an einem Portfolio gemeinsamer Projekte, das durch sogenannte „unterstützende Rahmenaktivitäten“ vervollständigt wird. Dabei wird die Umsetzung über eine spezielle ESS-Leitungsstruktur gesteuert.

Die Vision 2020 des ESS wurde im Mai 2014 vom Ausschuss für das Europäische Statistische System verabschiedet.

Auszug aus der Publikation "WISTA - Wirtschaft und Statistik", 4/2016

Autor: European Statistical System Committee

Linking microdata from different statistics will be of increasing importance as a tool for obtaining new information without increasing the respondent burden. This article describes the methodology of creating a linked set of microdata from structural business statistics, business demography, foreign trade statistics and the business register. In addition to the data linking process, the article presents the basic validation procedures and discusses methods for calibrated weighting of linked microdata. The analytical potential of the data is examined using the example of employment trends in enterprises engaged and not engaged in foreign trade.

Authors: Dr. Sandra Jung, Stefanie Käuser

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2016

This article shows the involvement of the German Mittelstand in foreign trade activities and gives an overview of the extent to which German SMEs are controlled by parent companies abroad. The data basis consists of microdata from annual structural business statistics for reference years 2009 to 2013. The data have been complemented by information from foreign trade statistics and from the statistical business register. The descriptive analyses show that the degree of internationalisation, measured in terms of imports and exports, is smaller for SMEs than for large enterprises and that the economic importance of SMEs under foreign control has increased over time.

Author: Dr. René Söllner

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2016

Since January 2014, the variable “stock of unfilled orders” has been included in the monthly report on manufacturing. As a measure of the backlog of orders not yet completed, this allows to better trace the economic momentum. During the economic crisis in 2008 and 2009, it became apparent that, although orders were placed, many of them were cancelled later – reliable data were however not available on the extent of this phenomenon. An indicator on the stock of orders has therefore been added to the existing range of short-term indicators to be able to adequately reflect the economic development. In this article, the new data on unfilled orders are described and the results are presented in the context of the development of new orders received and turnover.

Authors: Dr. Stefan Linz, Peter Mehlhorn, Siglinde Wolf-Göbel

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1-2016

In recent years, e-commerce has become increasingly important. Based on the outlet type weighting1 of the consumer price index, e-commerce and mail order business accounted for 5.1 % of the entire basket of goods and services for the base year 2010.

Author: Karola Brunner

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 4-2014

This article presents statistical data about small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany. With the help of this information it is possible to derive insights about the economic relevance of SMEs, and structural changes over time become visible.

Author: Dr. René Söllner

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1-2014

The birth rate in Germany has been among the lowest in the world for several decades. Politicians and sociodemographic researchers therefore have a correspondingly strong desire to obtain findings and forecasts which give grounds for optimism.

Author: Olga Pötzsch, economist

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 2-2013

The number of persons in employment in Germany is a key element of the country’s labour market reporting and National Accounts. The German Federal Statistical Office has for many years provided appropriate information from the Employment Accounts for both of these purposes. The article traces the historical development of the Employment Accounts in the system of labour market statistics and in the National Accounts. Special attention should be paid to the major revisions of the National Accounts, which have frequently also formed the framework for important revisions of the Employment Accounts. This article devotes a whole section to the latest revision, carried out in 2011, the main reason for which was the changeover to the Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008) used in the German National Accounts.

Author: Stephan Lüken

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 5-2012

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are very important for the German economy. Users frequently request SME data from official statistics. This paper will provide results of an SME data analysis for reference year 2007.
For this purpose data available from the annual structural statistics is used. By this means no additional burden for enterprises is generated.

Author: Dr. Sandra Jung

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 01-2010

The establishment of producer price indices for advertising and market research explained in this essay is a further, important step towards reducing data gaps in prices for ser-vices. Setting up the methodical concept for the advertising indices in particular was highly complex.

Some initial explanations will be given below of the development of new producer price indices for services. Then, a description will follow of the methodical bases of producer price indices for the economic activities advertising and market research. Finally, the results will be shown and market developments studied.

Author: Manuel Wirsing

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 07-2009

In addition to the national Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Federal Statistical Office publishes a Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Germany. This paper describes the similarities and differences between the two consumer price indices.

Authors: Günther Elbel, Jürgen Preißmann

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 08-2008

Producer price indices have been published for some service sectors since October 2007. These new indices refer to company-related, strong-selling services such as business consultancy, advertising, market research and opinion polling, auditing, tax consultancy, legal activities and industrial cleaning as well as to various services of the transport sector, namely freight transport by road and rail, sea and coastal water transport, air freight services and cargo handling.

Authors: Andreas Martin, Peter Roemer, Anne Selbach-Schneider

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 08-2008

The transport and logistics sector in Germany is of great economic importance, considering its turnover of 185 billion euro and nearly 1.3 million employees (results of services statistics 2005).

Author: Bernhard Goldhammer

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 11-2007

This treatise describes calculations of fixed assets or capital stock and consumption of fixed capital in the context of national accounts in Germany. To start with, we explain the terms used, followed by an overview of fixed assets and consumption of fixed capital estimations, and then we present the Perpetual Inventory Method as the principal method used. We explain both the mathematical model applied in Germany and the computational implementations based on Excel and Visual Basic for Applications. The treatise ends with a description of the data base and the results of capital stock and consumption of fixed capital estimations that were obtained in the context of the 2005 revision of national accounts and the 2006 backward calculations.

Author: Dr. Oda Schmalwasser, Michael Schidlowski

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 11-2006