Harmonising Business Statistics Databases in Nordic NSIs: Challenges and Achievements

1. Establishing Harmonised Business Statistics Databases in the Nordic NSIs – challenges and achievements

2. Content of the talk The Nordic approach to produce tailored and highly detailed, but standardised statistical output The nuts and bolts of harmonised databases and shared syntax • Main purposes of micro data linking • Database content and structure • Syntax collaboration • Examples of statistical output produced • How important are small and medium sized enterprises in the Nordics? • Assessing the largest enterprise groups in the Nordics • Conclusion and Road ahead

3. Main purposes ofmicro data linking • Accomodating emerging and shifting user demands • Actuality and swift responses to accommodate shifting analytical and policy agendas • Analysis of cause and effects requires linking different types of variables at enterprise level • Tailoring of output in an agile and cost efficient way by utilising existing statistical registers • Accomodating policy demands of not increasing the respondent burden on enterprises • Establishing new statisticalevidencewithoutlaunching new surveys

4. What do we mean by micro data linking? – Linking different statistical registers at enterprise level utilising unique enterprise identification numbers

5. The nuts and bolts I – Concepts of harmonised databases and shared syntaxes 1. Statistical Business Register Enriching the existingstatistical registers with otheravailable business statistics. 2. Data validationacrossstatistical registers Focus on unit identification, identity over time, variable values, crossvalidationand correct links. 3. Establishing databases stored in each NSI. Consisting of the total population of enterprises with selected variables 4. Centrallyscriptedsyntax and decentralisedcodeexecution 5. Harmonised output tables and cross country analysis.

6. The nuts and bolts II - Building a shared syntax; a short guide to micro data linking 1. Making the (draft) syntax simple enough to do the job intended. 2. Do not assume that people can read your mind. 3. When the centrally scripted syntax it ready for testing it is distributed to the other NSIs for review and performance. The review goes through three main questions: • Can the syntax run locally without errors occurring? • Is it logically and theoretically correct? • Does it deliver the agreed output?

7. Examples of collaborative output I -How important are small and medium sized enterprises in the Nordics?

8. Examples of collaborative output II -Assessing the importance of the largest enterprise groups (top 100) • Domestic employ and foreign employment of the largest 100 groups (by domestic employment) • The largest 100 groups are employ more employees abroad than domestically • Especially Swedish groups have a large international presence • Decline in both domestic and foreign employment since 2008 in Swedish and Finnish groups, increase in foreign employment in Danish groups

9. Conclusion • By utilizing harmonised Business Statistics Databases and centrally scripted standardized syntax we have the ability to produce detailed cross tables without sharing microdata between the Nordic statistical institutions or project partners • Micro data linking enables the NSIs to tailor cross national, varied output from the same type of database set-up and to serve quite different analytical purposes • This without putting any further burden on enterprises in terms of increased data collection and burdens of response • Next step: Integration of business and social statistics, e.g. linking educational information with enterprise data

10. Thank you for your attention Questions and comments are welcome Establishing Harmonised Business Statistics Databases in the Nordic NSIs – challenges and achievements Peter Bøegh Nielsen, Statistics Denmark (corresponding author), pbn@dst.dk Andreas Poldahl, Statistics Sweden, Andreas.Poldahl@scb.se Henri Luomaranta, Statistics Finland, henri.luomaranta@stat.fi Jelle van der Kamp, Statistics Denmark jlk@dst.dk Kalle Emil Holst Hansen, Statistics Denmark khs@dst.dk