Frequently Asked Questions
What does this entail?
The publication Labor Market Mobility in Tax Sources It is a statistical analysis, of a quasi-census nature, that addresses the labor market from the perspective of mobility. This statistic allows for the analysis of new hires, terminations, and periods of employment in salaried work, both from the perspective of geographical mobility and sectoral mobility of workers.
What new information can be found in this publication?
The statistics previously published by the Tax Agency had a static approach. The most comprehensive static information, of tax origin, on the labor market, is published in Labor Market and Pensions in Tax Sources, of an annual nature. The publication Labor Market Mobility in Tax Sources It provides a complementary, dynamic view, making it useful for longitudinal analysis. Specifically, it provides a wide variety of information regarding the movements of new hires, terminations and continued employment in salaried positions, as well as movements between Autonomous Communities and sectors of activity. Since the 2013-2014 biennium, the detail of the geographical classification has increased and data is provided at the provincial level. Furthermore, the growing demand for information on wages has led to the inclusion in this statistic of a new variable for classifying labor mobility: salary brackets. This classification is available from the biennium 2014-2015.
What does it contribute to labor market analysis?
Among the many aspects that researchers have pointed out as inefficiencies in the Spanish labor market are the high turnover between employment and unemployment situations or the low mobility of workers, both sectorally and, above all, geographically. These aspects have almost always been investigated with the support of microdata samples. With aggregated data, mobility is often judged, for lack of a better approximation, by comparing figures that reflect the specific situation at two specific points in time. That is, assuming that movements are the changes that occur between two still photos of the same reality. This approach is imperfect, as it ignores all the intermediate movements that occur to generate the final photograph. The statistics introduced here provide information regarding the movements of entry and exit from the labor market, and add very rich information regarding the geographical and sectoral mobility of salaried workers, so it is undoubtedly a very useful tool to measure these key aspects of the market and, even more importantly, to see how these measurements change over time.
Where do you get the information from?
From the records of salaried workers contained in the Annual Summary Declaration of Withholdings and Payments on Account on Employment Income (Model 190) which, in turn, feeds the aforementioned publication Labor Market and Pensions in Tax Sources.
Who are the subjects analyzed in this publication?
Employees who provide their services in the so-called Common Tax Regime Territory (that is, those who work in the Basque Country and Navarre are excluded) and who have worked a minimum period, which is set at 15 days, approximated by the minimum interprofessional wage. This last restriction establishes a difference between the population of this new publication and the one listed in the statistics. Labor Market and Pensions in Tax Sources which includes all salaried workers regardless of the time worked.
What can be known about these workers?
In addition to the distribution of salaried workers by age, gender and nationality, it is possible to analyze the population that remains as salaried workers, as well as those who enter and leave that condition in two consecutive periods. It allows us to know the mobility of salaried workers between Autonomous Communities, between provinces (since the biennium 2013-2014 the detail of the geographical classification is increased by providing information at the province level), and the proportion of salaried workers who change sector of activity. In summary, it allows you to understand the dynamics of the labor market from a geographical and sectoral perspective.
What age classification is used in this publication?
Employees are classified by age brackets considering the age reached in year t, except when information on employee terminations in the Labor Market is presented, in which case the age reached in year (t-1) is considered. The age ranges used are as follows:
- Under 18 years old
- From 18 to 25 years old
- From 26 to 35 years old
- From 36 to 45 years old
- From 46 to 55 years old
- From 56 to 65 years old
- Over 65 years old
Due to statistical confidentiality, the mobility of salaried workers between Autonomous Communities and Sectors of activity by age groups is presented with the following grouping of groups:
- Under 26 years old
- From 26 to 35 years old
- From 36 to 55 years old
- Over 55 years old
What does this source provide about salaries?
In addition to the information already known about average salaries through statistics Labor Market and Pensions in Tax SourcesThis includes the corresponding salaries of those entering the market, those who have left, or those who remain, all enriched by the perspective of activity, place of residence, gender, age, or nationality. Furthermore, starting from the 2014-2015 biennium, labor mobility is presented classified by the salary bracket that corresponds to each worker based on the salary they receive.
What is the concept of salary compensation to the effect of this statistic?
It is the sum of the amounts recorded as cash and in-kind payments in form 190 under code A by all your employers. This amount is defined as the total annual amount of remuneration paid to workers, which constitutes the basis for calculating withholdings, in accordance with the provisions of Article 83.2 of the Personal Income Tax Regulations (Royal Decree 439/2007). From the 2018 financial year onwards, this concept of salary remuneration is supplemented by public maternity or paternity benefits exempt from Personal Income Tax.
Are the data on salaried workers comparable to those published by other sources of information?
The number of salaried workers in the publications of the Tax Agency differs from that which can be found in other sources such as the Active Population Survey, the Social Security Affiliation register or the National Accounts. Apart from the different definitions and scopes, the main reason for these differences is the fact that the populations in statistics based on tax sources are enumerations of individuals who have gone through a certain situation and not an annual average, which is how figures are usually presented in other labor market statistics. In other words, an individual who has only worked one month in the year adds 1 to the statistics derived from tax sources, while they would add 1/12 to the annual data of the rest of the statistics cited.
And are the salary figures comparable?
There are also differences, for similar reasons. The average salary in tax-related sources refers to a limited geographical area and is measured as declared work income divided by the number of employees. The approximate wage bill based on labor income has slight conceptual differences with the wage bill measured in other statistical sources. But above all, as has been mentioned, salaried workers are measured here without taking into account the time they have remained in the labor market. This creates a downward bias in the average salary compared to other statistics where the denominator is the number of salaried workers on an average annual basis.