Other prices and costs

This section contains price data excluding consumer price statistics. It covers industrial producer prices, commodity prices, real estate prices and labour cost statistics. These are all important cost factors and therefore might have an impact on consumer price developments.

The AMECO database is compiled by the DG-ECFIN in the European Commission. It contains annual macro-economic time series submitted by the Member States and “filtered” by the Commission. These data are used in the forecast exercises done two times per year (Spring and Autumn). It is the official source for some variables, especially those related to public finances.

Since 2018 there is only a limited interim forecast concerning GDP growth and inflation and as coincidence the Winter forecast data will not be introduced in AMECO anymore.

Current vintage: Spring 2022; more information can be found on DG-ECFIN website:

• European Economic Forecast - Spring 2022
• Economic forecasts
• AMECO database

ESA95 National Accounts

Gross domestic product (GDP) and its components, value added by economic activity and employment statistics are part of the ESA 95 annual and quarterly national accounts produced by the European Commission (Eurostat) and national statistical authorities. Euro area results are estimated using information for the individual countries.

GDP is the value of an economy’s total output of goods and services less intermediate consumption, plus net taxes on products and imports. GDP can be broken down by output, expenditure or income components. The main expenditure aggregates that make up GDP are household final consumption, government final consumption, gross fixed capital formation, changes in inventories, and imports and exports of goods and services (including intra-euro area trade).

Employment covers employees and the self-employed working in resident production units. Employment data are measured in number of persons in employment and total hours worked; other possible measures for employment are number of jobs and full-time equivalents.

The GDP deflators and unit labour costs and its components (compensation per employee and labour productivity) are calculated by the ECB based on the ESA95 national accounts data.

The GDP deflators and unit labour costs and its components (compensation per employee and labour productivity) are calculated by the ECB based on the ESA95 national accounts data.

Labour productivity reflects the output that can be produced with a given input of labour. It can be measured in several ways, but is commonly measured as GDP divided by either total employment (by people in employment, i.e. including both employees and self-employed) or total hours worked. The headline ECB measure calculates labour productivity as GDP divided by persons in employment.

Compensation per employee is the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, that is payable by employers to employees in return for work, i.e. gross wages and salaries, as well as bonuses, overtime payments and employers’ social security contributions, divided by the total number of employees.

Unit labour costs are a measure of total labour costs per unit of output calculated as the ratio of compensation per employee to labour productivity (defined as GDP per person employed).

Capital stock data are estimated by the ECB based on available national capital stock data in the ESA 95 framework. The gross capital stock is defined as the value of all fixed assets still in use. Fixed assets are all produced assets that are used repeatedly or continuously in the production process for more than a year. Main assets types are: Metal products, machinery and transport equipment, housing, non-residential construction and other products (including products of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture). It excludes land. Net capital stock is the gross capital, at a point in time, less the consumption of fixed capital accrued up to that point. It takes into account the depreciation of the assets through time as a result of physical deterioration, foreseeable obsolescence or normal accidental damage.

The labour cost indices are published by the European Commission (Eurostat) and national statistical authorities and measure the changes in labour costs per hour worked in industry (including construction) and market services. A breakdown of hourly labour costs for the euro area is available by labour cost component (wages and salaries, other labour costs) and by economic activity (NACE sections).

Link to the NACE Rev2 detailed structure: PDF

The Main aggregates in the national accounts (MNA dataset) include gross domestic product (GDP), value added by main economic activity, main expenditure components and aggregated income statistics. These data are collected and disseminated by the European Commission (Eurostat) and the national statistical authorities.

The MNA dataset also includes additional indicators calculated by the ECB such as implicit GDP deflators, contributions to growth, unit labour costs and its components (compensation per employee and labour productivity), as well as business investment. Data for the euro area / EU and the European countries are available.

Gross domestic product (GDP) and its components - value added by economic activity, expenditure and income statistics - are part of the ESA 2010 annual and quarterly national accounts produced by the European Commission (Eurostat) and national statistical authorities. Euro area results are estimated using information for the individual countries.

GDP is the value of an economy’s total output of goods and services less intermediate consumption, plus net taxes on products and imports. GDP can be also broken down by expenditure or income components. The main expenditure aggregates that make up GDP are household final consumption, government final consumption, gross fixed capital formation, changes in inventories, and imports and exports of goods and services (including intra-euro area trade) while the income components include gross operating surplus and mixed income, compensation of employees, taxes on production and imports, and subsidies.

The GDP deflators and unit labour costs and its components (compensation per employee and labour productivity) are calculated by the ECB based on the ESA 2010 national accounts data.

The GDP deflators are the ratios of the series in current prices and volume series, where the current price series for the countries are adjusted for national exchange rate movements before joining the euro area.

Unit labour costs are a measure of total labour costs per unit of output calculated as the ratio of compensation per employee to labour productivity (defined as GDP per person employed).

Labour productivity reflects the output that can be produced with a given input of labour. It can be measured in several ways, but is commonly measured as GDP divided by either total employment (by people in employment, i.e. including both employees and self-employed) or total hours worked. The headline ECB measure calculates labour productivity as GDP divided by persons in employment.

Compensation per employee is the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, that is payable by employers to employees in return for work, i.e. gross wages and salaries, as well as bonuses, overtime payments and employers’ social security contributions, divided by the total number of employees.

For more information refer to ESA2010 manual and ESA2010 Transmission Program (Table 1).

Available headline data are generally compiled from commercial data supplied by MSCI (www.msci.com). For the experimental European aggregates, when a country prefers a different source these data are included replacing that reported by MSCI and using the appropriate code. The data are heterogeneous in terms of the transaction or valuation based methodologies used. Therefore, comparisons between countries or of different sources within individual countries should be made with caution. The indicators are generally available at quarterly frequency. Breakdowns of the data are also available but these are strictly shown by the type of data collection i.e. transaction based or valuation based.

The residential property price indicator for the euro area is an average of non-harmonised country indicators based on data from national sources. It generally includes new and existing dwellings as well as houses and apartments; however, the coverage varies to some extent across countries. It gives an indication of the broad trend-development of residential property prices in the euro area, but does not have the same accuracy as other euro area statistics.

Industrial and service producer price indices, industrial production, industrial new orders, industrial turnover, service turnover and retail sales data are published by the European Commission (Eurostat). Euro area results are obtained by aggregating data for individual countries compiled by national statistical authorities. They are broken down following the classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE) and by the Main Industrial Groupings (MIGS) derived from it.

Industrial producer prices reflect the ex-factory-gate prices (transportation costs are not included) of all products sold by industry excluding construction on the domestic markets of the euro area countries, excluding imports. They include indirect taxes except VAT and other deductible taxes. Service producer price indices and construction output price indices follow the same concept, reflecting the development of the prices finally received by the service providers and construction companies.

Industrial production reflects the volume growth of value added of the industries concerned.

Industrial new orders measure the orders received during the reference period and cover industries working mainly on the basis of orders – in particular textile, pulp and paper, chemical, metal, capital goods and durable consumer goods industries. The data are calculated on the basis of current prices. The legal obligation for the EU members to compile such indices ceased in 2012. Since then, the ECB had published an estimate for euro area new orders, based on actual data for new orders for a limited set of countries still producing these indicators, survey data and turnover data. With an ever declining number of countries providing new orders data, leaving only three of them in mid-2021, the ECB stopped producing the estimate with publication of September 2021 data.

Indices for turnover in industry, services and for the retail trade measure the turnover, including all duties and taxes with the exception of VAT, invoiced during the reference period. Retail trade turnover covers all retail trade excluding sales of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and except repairs.

Unemployment rates published by the European Commission (Eurostat) and conform to International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines. They refer to persons actively seeking work as a share of the labour force, using harmonised criteria and definitions. Please note that since December 2020 the dataset is published under the Labour Force Survey Indicators (LFSI) naming convention. Please refer to the mapping between discontinued STS series and the LFSI codes for more information.

The labour cost indices are published by the European Commission (Eurostat) and national statistical authorities and measure the changes in labour costs per hour worked in industry (including construction) and market services. A breakdown of hourly labour costs for the euro area is available by labour cost component (wages and salaries, other labour costs) and by economic activity (NACE sections).

The new passenger cars data for euro area are seasonally and working day adjusted by the ECB based on data compiled by ACEA (the European Automobile Manufacturers Association). New passenger car registrations cover registrations of both private and commercial passenger cars.

Link to the NACE Rev2 detailed structure: PDF