Annual Report on Labor Cost Survey Reference Metadata in Euro SDMX Metadata Structure Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina
		1. Contact
		2. Metadata update
		3. Statistical presentation
		4. Unit of measure
		5. Reference period
		6. Institutional mandate
		7. Confidentiality
		8. Release policy
		9.  Frequency of dissemination
		10. Accessibility and clarity
		11. Quality management
		12. Relevance
		13. Accuracy and reliability
		14. Timeliness and punctuality
		15. Coherence and comparability
		16. Cost and burden
		17. Data revision
		18. Statistical processing
		19. Comment
		1. Contact
		1.1. Contact organisation	Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina
		1.2. Contact organisation unit	Sector for Demography and Social Statistics - Labour Market Department
		1.3. Contact name	b) Vladimir Mijović  e) Tijana Popić
		1.4. Contact person function	a) Head of the Labour Market Statistics b) Senior Adviser for Labour Market Statistics
		1.5. Contact mail address	Zelenih beretki 26, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
		1.6. Contact email address	vladimir.mijovic@bhas.gov.ba tijana.popic@bhas.gov.ba
		1.7. Contact phone number	+387 33 911 991;   +387 33 911 962
		1.8. Contact fax number	+387 33 220 622
		2. Metadata update
		2.1. Metadata last certified	10/11/2025
		2.2. Metadata last posted	20/5/2022
		2.3. Metadata last update	10/11/2025
		3. Statistical presentation
		3.1. Data description	The Labor Cost Survey collects data on paid salaries and other labor costs paid by the employer to employed persons, viewed from the perspective of the employer's costs, and not from the aspect of employee benefits. These data enable employers and economic policy makers to understand the situation and structure of labor costs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. this survey collects data on labor costs and includes the costs incurred by the employer on the basis of engagement of the workforce. The collected data provides the possibility to review the level, structure and volume of labor costs in the labor market in BA. The results of this research enable employers and economic policy makers to look at the situation and structure of labor costs in the domestic labor market and compare them with the international labor market. This survey collects data on employees, hours worked, paid hours of work, and labor costs. Methodological settings of the survey are based on the recommendations and definitions of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) and the regulations of the EU Council and the European Commission. It is carried out in a four-year dynamic. The Labor Cost Survey is conducted for the reference year in the autumn of the following year and its implementation in the field lasts for two months.
		3.2. Classification system	Classification of activities in BA: used NACE rev.2 (KDBiH)
		3.3. Sector coverage	The survey covers all economic sectors, except for Sector A – Agriculture, forestry and fishing.
		3.4. Statistical concepts and definitons	The total labor costs are expressed in gross amount and comprise: a) income of employees, b) social contributions of the employer, c) the costs of education, d) other staff costs, minus the amount of subsidies for labor costs and e) subsidies for labor costs. a) Employee benefits include: gross salaries for effective hours (basic salaries and salary allowances, payments based on personal business success or business success of a company), gross wage compensation (for days of vacation, compensation for absences from work for the time state and religious holidays and non-working days determined by law, compensation for wages for work breaks without the fault of employees), other fees (hot meal, transportation, recourse, jubilee awards, remuneration of members of the administrative and supervisory board if they are employed by the payer, ), in-kind payments - enterprise products (payments of salaries in kind and other fees in company products, housing accommodation of employees, costs of using a private car for private purposes). - Basic salaries and salary allowances include: basic salary payments, payroll allowances, shift work, on-call, night work, overtime work, Sundays and holidays, bonuses due to poor working conditions, etc. - Payments based on personal business success include: payments to employees based on personal business success (amount of work done, quality of work, inventiveness and innovation). - Additional payments based on business performance of the company include: additional payments to employees on the basis of periodic and final accounts, 13th salary and other payments according to the collective agreement or the internal regulations of the business entity. - Salary reimbursements during annual leave, state or religious holidays and non-working days determined by law include: paid salaries of employees for holidays, holidays and non-working days determined by law. Also, compensations are included during the absence for vocational education, retraining or re-qualification, during work interruptions due to natural disasters, power failure, machine failure or equipment, lack of raw materials, strikes and other cases prescribed by law, collective agreement or general act. - Other fees include: hot meal, transportation, refunds, jubilee awards, reimbursements of members of the management and supervisory board if they are employed with the payer, etc. - In-kind payments include: the company's net costs for products donated to employees, or the difference in the purchase price and the price at which the products were sold to employees, commodity bonds, food vouchers and coupons for transport. - The cost of housing accommodation of employed persons includes: the cost of housing owned by the company (maintenance and administration costs, taxes and insurance related to such accommodation), the rent of an employer for his employees and the costs for the construction or purchase of accommodation facilities by employed persons (the difference between market-determined interest rates and those that are really given to employees). - Costs for cars include: costs for the private use of official cars by employed persons (cost of leasing, depreciation, insurance premiums, maintenance, repair, parking, garage, fuel, etc.). - Other in-kind payments: include expenses for repairs, maintenance and depreciation of the premises for the provision of services in the field of culture, sports and other leisure activities in relation to employed persons; the costs of keeping children's employees (the cost of kindergarten and the guarding of children at home); suitable gifts for the employees 'children, mobile phone costs, resort expenses, employers' payments to union funds, scholarships under a contract of education, and the like. They do not include costs for salaries, wage compensations and contributions to employees of their own company for services in the field of culture, sports and other leisure activities, all forms of subsidies, clothing costs for use at work, investments in facilities, premises, means of transport and equipment and financial assistance from various funds. b) The social contributions of the employer include: indirect contributions by the employer for social insurance (statutory contributions borne by the employer and additional payments paid by the employer, intended for the social security of employees) and direct social security contributions (wage compensation for sick leave in the burden of the employer, the insurance premium for employees, assistance to employees and their families, severance pay for employees whose work has ceased, retirement benefits, etc.). c) Educational costs include: training costs, courses, seminars, vocational training, external instructors at the expense of the employer, etc. This also includes the costs of maintenance, repair and depreciation of space and equipment intended exclusively for education, used for education.  These costs do not include wages and salaries and contributions to instructors employed by the company, investments in premises and equipment intended for education and education costs paid by employees. d) Other staff costs include: occupational and work clothing costs as well as the costs of recruiting new employees (ad costs, tenders, etc.). e) Subsidies for labor costs include all types of subsidies from the state or other enterprises or organizations solely for subsidizing part or total labor costs. Subsidies are a deductible item from total labor costs. Subsidies that cover contributions and social security payments, education costs and refunds are excluded from the health insurance institution or the pension or disability insurance institution. Paid hours of work include hours for which the employed person received a salary, including hours worked in full-time, shorter or longer working hours and unfulfilled, and paid hours of work (holidays, holidays and vacations, absence due to illness paid by the employer and other paid and not completed hours). Refunded hours are not included (maternity leave, part-time parents, sick leave paid by the employer and other refunded hours). The hours worked are part of the total hours worked, and include realized, actually worked hours (effective working hours) in full-time, in working hours shorter or longer than full-time. Also included are the hours when the employees were in the workplace, and they did not work due to malfunctioning or cleaning of the machines, preparation or cleaning of the tools, the current lack of work, a break of shorter than 30 minutes, writing of working reports, waiting or delays for which the employees are not responsible and they received a salary during that time. Hours worked are not included when the employed persons did not work or were absent from the workplace (daily breaks longer than 30 minutes, vacation, paid holidays, holidays and non-working days determined by law, absence due to sickness of any kind, vocational education, paid holiday up to 7 days, transport to work and work).
		3.5. Statistical unit	The observation unit is any active legal entity with more than 10 employees and selected by random sample method.
		3.6. Statistical population	The target population of the Labour Cost Survey consists of all active enterprises from all activity sectors according to KD BiH 2010 (excluding Sector A) that have 10 or more employees, as recorded in the Statistical Business Register.
		3.7. Reference area	The data refer to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
		3.8 Time coverage	Data from the Labour Cost Survey are produced and disseminated at four-year intervals.
		3.9. Base period
		4. Unit of measure	Data on labor costs are expressed in convertible marks and in percentages.
		5. Reference period	The Labour Cost Survey is conducted for the reference year.
		6. Institutional mandate
		6.1. Legal acts and other agreements	The Labour Cost Survey is conducted on the basis of: - The Law on Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH, Nos. 26/04 and 42/04), the Law on Statistics of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of FBiH, Nos. 63/03 and 9/09), and the Law on Statistics of the Republic of Srpska; - The Annual Work Programme of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina; - Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 on structural statistics on earnings and labour costs; - Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 of 27 July 1999 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 on structural statistics on earnings and labour costs as regards the definition and transmission of information on labour costs; - Commission Regulation (EC) No 1737/2005 of 21 October 2005 amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 as regards the definition and transmission of information on labour costs; and  - Methodological guidelines of the Statistical Office of the European Union (EUROSTAT).
		6.2. Data sharing	Data on Work Cost Surveys are exchanged with EUROSTAT, and long users are available upon request.
		7. Confidentiality
		7.1. Confidentiality-policy	Confidentiality of statistical data is regulated by law and the personnel conducting statistical surveys has the legal obligation to protect confidentiality. Law on Statistics of BiH (Off. Gazette of BiH 26/04 and 42/04 - Chapter XI - Article 23.-29.) establishes the principle of confidentiality as one of the main principles. Agency for statistics of BiH distributes statistics in line with statistical principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in particular with the principle of statistical confidentiality.
		7.2. Confidentiality-data treatment	The document "Rules on the Protection of Statistical Data in the Agency for Statistics" lists procedures for ensuring confidentiality during collection, processing and dissemination - including protocols for securing individual data being accessed, rules for defining confidential cells in output tables and procedures for the detection and prevention of subsequent disclosures as well as access to microdata for research purposes. By signing the Memorandum of Understanding with Agency for statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, data users having access to individual data are obliged to: treat individual anonymized data as confidential in accordance with the rules, regulations and procedures, ensure adequate protection of individual data in accordance with the rules, regulations and procedures, protect the transfer of microdata and destroy the media where the data are, as well as the accompanying documentation, five days after the publication of the results.
		8. Release policy
		8.1. Release calendar	BHAS publishes the Release Calendar every year, specifying the exact dates and times of statistical releases for the following year.
		8.2. Release calendar access	The Calendar placed on:
			https://bhas.gov.ba/Calendar/
		8.3. User access	Data dissemination is carried out via the official website of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina at:
			https://bhas.gov.ba
		9.  Frequency of dissemination	The results of the Labor Cost Survey are published in a four-year dynamics, according to the Data Publishing Calendar.
		10. Accessibility and clarity
		10.1. News release	Data on Labor Cost Surveys in the form of Communications are available on the website of the Agency for Statistics of BiH:
			https://bhas.gov.ba/data/Publikacije/Saopstenja/2021/ETR_02_2021_08_1_HR.pdf
		10.2. Publications	There is no publication with the results of the Labor Cost Survey.
		10.3. On-line database	No data is available on the on-line BHAS database.
		10.4. Micro-data access	Anonymised microdata datasets may be obtained under certain conditions laid down in Article 18 of the Rulebook on the Protection of Statistical Data of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chapter VI – Regulated access to microdata for research purposes, which is available at the following link: https://bhas.gov.ba/data/Dokumenti/pdf/PRAVILNIK_O_ZASTITI_STATISTICKIH_PODATAKA.pdf
		10.5. Other	Websites of other institutions, written requests, telephone mediation, digital media, publications of international organisations, databases intended for internal use, and databases available to external users.
		10.6. Documentation on methodology	Labour Cost Survey:
			https://bhas.gov.ba/data/Publikacije/Saopstenja/2021/LAB_00_2021_Q2_1_BS.pdf
		10.7. Quality documentation	The Quality Report for the Labor Cost Survey is available on the website of the BiH Statistics Agency:
			https://bhas.gov.ba/Content/Read/92?title=Kvalitet
		11. Quality management
		11.1. Quality assurance	The Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina is committed to ensuring quality in the production of official statistics, in accordance with Article 19, paragraph 1 of the Law on Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No. 26/04 and 42/04). The quality management policy, as an integral part of the quality management system, covers the quality of business processes as well as other elements of the management system, including planning and control. In order to ensure a high level of quality of processes and statistical outputs, the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina implements a Total Quality Management (TQM) model developed using the CAF tool. The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a general quality management tool recommended for public sector institutions and is inspired by the excellence model of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The self-assessment process identifies and monitors all organisational results and provides feedback on organisational capacities as well as on the results of policy-making and planning processes. The CAF self-assessment scoring tool is based on 9 key criteria and 28 sub-criteria, which make it possible to measure the achieved level of management quality and to identify critical areas for future improvement. This approach enables a holistic analysis of organisational performance by observing the organisation from multiple perspectives simultaneously. The Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina uses the “CAF Implementation Guidelines” and a ten-step implementation plan, developed to support organisations in applying the CAF model in the most effective and efficient way. The self-assessment process systematically identifies and monitors all relevant organisational results and provides feedback on organisational capacities and the performance of policy and planning processes. The application of this quality monitoring model requires the development of a standardised questionnaire covering all principles defined within the CAF model. In order to ensure the quality of statistical processes and outputs, the Agency has developed the document “Quality Management Policy and Programme”, which is available on the official website of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
			https://bhas.gov.ba/Content/Read/92?title=Kvalitet
		11.2. Quality assessments	Quality of official statistics products (main indicators/statistics) are regularly assessed in quality reports through calculation of quality indicators. On other hand, processes included in statistical production are assessed by specific process quality indicators in quality reports and additionally trough GSBPM documentation.
		12. Relevance
		12.1. User needs	The key users of data from the Labour Cost Survey are: the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Directorate for Economic Planning, the Directorate for European Integration, the Agency for Labour and Employment of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Finance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eurostat, UNDP, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, embassies and consular missions of foreign countries, business entities, private individuals, the general public, the media, etc.
		12.2. User satisfaction	One of the key elements in ensuring the quality of statistical data is monitoring user satisfaction. For this survey, there is no specific user satisfaction survey. The results of the User Satisfaction Survey are available on the website:
			https://bhas.gov.ba
		12.3. Completeness	The Labour Cost Survey is conducted on the basis of Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 and Commission Regulations (EC) No 1726/1999 and No 1737/2005. The Labour Cost Survey is fully harmonised with EU and European Commission regulations.
		13. Accuracy and reliability
		13.1. Overall accuracy	The Labour Cost Survey is a sample-based survey; therefore, the results obtained from this survey are subject to the usual types of errors associated with sampling and survey techniques, including sampling errors, non-sampling errors, measurement errors, processing errors, and non-response errors.
		13.2. Sampling error	For the allocation of business entities by stratum, a" Neyman rule "was applied to the variable number of employees (from the final account) with some modifications of a practical nature.The Neyman rule says that the sample units should be allocated in proportion to the number of elements from the frame by stratum, and multiplied by the standard deviation of the number employees from SPR per stratum. The Neyman rule was modified (modified) as follows: -Business subjects with 50+ employees are fully covered, -If the stratum contains less than 5 business entities, all are covered, -If the Neyman allocation rule determines a sample size of fewer than five business entities (e.g. 2 or 3 entities) in strata that contain five or more business entities, then a minimum of five business entities is included. Based on the described allocation, a stratified random sample was drawn from the total sampling frame. The R software was used as the programming package for calculating estimates, while the calculation of variables was performed using SPSS. Sampling errors arise from the fact that the survey is not conducted as a full enumeration, i.e. it does not cover all business entities. The survey is carried out on a sample, meaning only a subset of business entities is observed. It is also well known that, for a given survey, many different samples could be selected, each producing estimates of key indicators that would differ to a greater or lesser extent. Sampling errors, which unlike non-sampling errors are measurable, indicate the degree of reliability of the obtained indicators. The coefficient of variation (CV) and confidence intervals are used to assess the reliability of indicators. In the Labour Cost Survey (LCS), the following notation is applied: 1.() The data are considered less reliable if the coefficient of variation (CV) is less than 0.20 and equal to or greater than 0.10, or expressed in percentage terms: 10% ≤ CV < 20%. 2.(()) The data are considered unreliable if the coefficient of variation (CV) is less than 0.30 and equal to or greater than 0.20, or expressed in percentage terms: 20% ≤ CV < 30%. 3.The data are considered extremely unreliable if the coefficient of variation (CV) is equal to or greater than 0.30, or expressed in percentage terms: CV ≥ 30%.
		13.3. Non -sampling error	Coverage errors (or frame errors) arise due to differences between the population covered by the sampling frame and the target population. Three types of coverage errors are distinguished: undercoverage (insufficient coverage), overcoverage, and multiple listing (duplication). The fact that the Statistical Business Register as at 31 December of the reference year was used as the sampling frame for this survey, and that the requested data also refer to the reference year, reduces the likelihood of coverage errors. However, coverage errors are inevitable in all statistical surveys, including the Labour Cost Survey. Overcoverage in this survey can be measured through the reasons for non-response. Specifically, if the reason for non-response is that a business entity had ceased operations at the beginning of the reference year, had been liquidated, or did not operate during the reference year, it is considered that it should not have been included in the sampling frame. In the absence of precise information on the reasons for non-response for business entities that are, in some way, considered as “overcoverage”, it was decided that these units would remain classified as non-respondents.
		14. Timeliness and punctuality
		14.1. Timeliness	Preliminary data from the Labour Cost Survey are published 18 months after the end of the reference period, while the final results are published after 24 months.
		14.2. Punctuality	\
		15. Coherence and comparability
		15.1. Comparability-geographical	At the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the entities, and the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
		15.2. Comparability-over time	\
		15.3. Coherence-cross domain	\
		15.4. Coherence-internal	\
		16. Cost and burden	The annual operating costs for carrying out the research are reflected in the material costs and the number of hours worked by the employees of the Agency and the branches of the Brčko District Agency.
		17. Data revision
		17.1. Data revision-policy	The Agency for statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have an official revision policy document.
		17.2. Data revision-practice	Revisions of published data are carried out as needed, for example in the event that an error is detected. In such cases, the revised data are clearly identified, and users are informed through notes accompanying the press release.
		18. Statistical processing
		18.1. Source data	The units of observation in this survey are the sample business entities - legal entities (companies, companies, institutions, associations, foundations and other organizations) registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The units of observation are legal persons from all fields of activity of KD BiH 2010, except for the area: • A - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and The data is collected for legal entities as a whole, and not according to the respective units in the composition. The units of observation are at the same time the reporting units.
		18.2. Frequency of data collection	Data are collected every four years.
		18.3. Data collection	For the implementation of the Labour Cost Survey, a paper questionnaire is used. Reporting units submit completed LCS questionnaires to the entity regional offices within a two-month period. Legal persons complete the LCS questionnaire on the basis of data from accounting and personnel records. Personnel records are used to report data on the number of employees in the reporting units, while accounting records are used to report data on paid wages and other labour costs. The LCS questionnaire is submitted by sample-selected business entities whose headquarters are located in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The deadline for business entities to submit this report to the entity regional offices is 60 days. After all received LCS questionnaires have been entered, the entity regional offices forward the LCS databases to the central statistical offices. The data processing procedure in the central statistical offices includes verification, comparison, editing, and imputation of data. This period also includes the publication of preliminary and final results and the preparation of tables required by Eurostat, while the deadline for preparing the quality report, also prescribed by EU Regulation, is 24 months after the end of the reference period.
		18.4. Data validation	The entity regional offices provide professional assistance to reporting units in case of ambiguities when completing the questionnaire, collect the questionnaires, and monitor the coverage of reports for the regional office in which the business entities operate. They contact by telephone those business entities that do not comply with the deadlines specified in the questionnaire, check the accuracy of completed questionnaires, enter data from the questionnaires, and correct errors. The data entry application includes built-in controls that prevent the entry of arithmetically and logically incorrect data into the database. This method of data entry ensures a database with logically and arithmetically consistent data. The second part of data processing for the Labour Cost Survey is carried out in the central statistical offices. Editing and imputation are performed for empty strata and for strata with more than 50% non-response. Imputation is carried out using data from the regular monthly survey on employees and wages (RAD1) and data from national accounts. In the absence of these sources, imputation is performed based on the average values of variables by activity sections. Additional controls of the obtained data also include comparisons with data from the regular monthly survey on employees and wages (RAD1). After the completion of this processing phase, the database is forwarded to the Department for Sample Design and Survey Methodology, which calculates the variables required for this survey. Weights are calculated at the stratum level and adjusted to the non-response rates by strata. Calibration, post-stratification, and non-response weighting are not applied. Finally, based on the calculated variables, the Department for Labour Market Statistics produces the results of the Labour Cost Survey.
		18.5. Data compilation	Procedures are applied to the data in order to derive new information in accordance with a defined set of rules.
		18.6. Adjustment	No statistical procedures for time series adjustment (seasonal adjustment methods) are used.
		19. Comment	-