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Co-ordination within
OECD
The main forum for internal
co-ordination between the various OECD Directorates
responsible for statistical activities is the
Statistical Policy Group (SPG). In 1995, the
SPG was involved in the following activities
of particular importance: -- the definition
of functional requirements for a future corporate
data environment (data warehouse), in which
all validated OECD statistics should be stored
and documented in a coherent way and be simultaneously
accessible to all internal users;
- the establishment of
a list of metadata elements (elements to document
statistical data);
- the exchange of information
on projects for migrating statistical databases
to new IT environments, with the aim of achieving
an optimal degree of standardisation of classifications
and IT tools used in the process of collecting
and compiling statistics;
- a systematic survey on
statistical reporting requirements for Member
countries, with the objective of giving accession
countries a consolidated view of statistical
obligations linked to OECD membership.
National Accounts
All OECD Member countries
have agreed to adopt the 1993 SNA which was
developed by OECD and four other international
agencies. During 1995, OECD started to revise
two key functional classifications incorporated
in the SNA (COICOP; COFOG) and completed a methodological
manual on inflation accounting.
A joint meeting with the Economic
Commission for Europe was held in Paris on national
accounts; the main topic was the implementation
of the 1993 SNA. OECD co-operates closely with
Eurostat in the calculation of purchasing power
parities for its Member countries and in data
collection and development of conceptual frameworks
for services statistics. Common questionnaires
are used for the collection of national accounts
and trade-in-services statistics, and work-sharing
arrangements have been developed with other
international agencies in several areas, including
national accounts, purchasing power parities,
and foreign trade.
In view of the World Conference
on Women in Beijing, an inventory of sources
and methods for the Household Production
in OECD Countries: Data Sources and Measurement
Methods has been prepared and published.
Time Series of Economic
Statistics
In recent years, a number
of major changes in the methods used to produce
principal publications with economic statistics
were completed. New production methods made
it possible to recommence the publication of
the annual Historical Statistics after
a lapse of three years and to make this publication
available in electronic format for the first
time. Data and definition contents of several
publications were reviewed, and various diskette
products were converted to more user-friendly
presentation software, and an integrated presentation
of data and metadata for electronic versions
of the monthly publication Main Economic
Indicators was prepared. A high-level
seminar of users was organised at the occasion
of the 30th anniversary of this publication,
which contains monthly and quarterly statistics
for OECD Member countries on a wide variety
of economic areas, including business tendency
surveys and leading indicators.
Foreign Trade Statistics
During 1995, the OECD databases
were expanded to include data for new Member
and non-Member countries. The OECD has revised
and expanded its metadata base on the concepts
and definitions underlying Member countries'
foreign trade statistics. The OECD also maintains
conversion keys to provide unbroken time series
when countries change commodity classifications.
Service Statistics
OECD collects data on international
service transactions of OECD countries and maintains
the corresponding database. A report on Services:
Measuring Real Annual Value Added was
published. A new OECD-EUROSTAT classification
of trade in services, linked to the Service
components of the Fifth Edition of the IMF Balance
of Payments Manual, was finalised in 1995.
Labour Statistics
The OECD database on labour
force statistics and standardised unemployment
rates has been co-ordinated with EUROSTAT's
data for EU countries.
Transition Economies
There were two main
strands to this work, which is undertaken in
the framework of the work programme of the Centre
for Co-operation with Economies in Transition
-- the provision of technical advice to help
statistical agencies in transition countries
adapt their statistical systems to the needs
of a market economy, and the regular collection
and publication of statistics to monitor short-term
developments in the economies in transition.
The OECD is the focal point
for the development of national accounts, purchasing
power parities and related price statistics
and short-term economic indicators. Technical
assistance was provided through a series of
seminars and workshops and through extended
visits to statistical agencies in transition
countries in order to review progress, identify
problems and find practical solutions. During
1995, national accounts data for ten Central
and Eastern European countries were published
by OECD for the first time in National
Accounts in Central and Eastern Europe.
These also now appear regularly in Short-term
Economic Indicators: Countries
in Transition. Similar data for a number
of countries of the CIS were issued as working
papers.
In a programme beginning in
1993, twenty-four transition countries have
been co-operating with OECD and other international
and national agencies to develop purchasing
power parities for 1993 or 1994. This work reached
an important milestone in 1995 with workshops
arranged to discuss preliminary results. Final
results are expected early in 1996.
In co-operation with Eurostat,
the OECD has launched a programme to develop
business tendency surveys in all transition
countries. During 1995 the result of the complete
set of harmonised questions was included in
Short-term Economic Indicators:
Countries in Transition in addition
to the business survey series published since
1993.
The quarterly bulletin
Short-term Economic Indicators was
expanded as indicated above and by the inclusion
of new series for all countries and the inclusion
of Slovenia. The information in it is also available
on diskettes and is accompanied by notes on
the definitions, sources and international comparability
of the statistical series.
Environmental Indicators
and Statistics
Work continued on the
development of environmental indicators, with
the aim of gaining broad international agreement
on core sets of indicators that policy makers
can use to assess environmental conditions,
trends and the results of their policies.
The OECD Environmental
Data Compendium 1995 was published. This
bi-annual publication builds on environmental
data collection, treatment, harmonisation and
quality assurance work carried out in liaison
with Member countries. For the first time it
includes data for Mexico.
Under a joint programme with
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), OECD, in co-operation with the International
Energy Agency (IEA), led a major technical development
effort to produce international guidelines for
inventorying and reporting on the greenhouse
gases covered by the Framework Convention on
Climate Change (FCCC). The final Guidelines
for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
were published in 1995, and adopted officially
by the first FCCC Conference of Parties in Berlin,
Germany. OECD is continuing to lead the technical
effort to supplement the first guidelines with
additional materials, and make necessary revisions.
Statistics on Development Co-operation (DAC
Statistics)
DAC statistics are the
sole source of comprehensive data on official
and private financial resource flows and external
debt for virtually all countries in the world
that are not OECD Members. Most of the data
are provided by Members to the Secretariat in
the annual DAC questionnaire supplemented by
ongoing reporting on individual transactions
in the Creditor Reporting System.
A full-scale review
of the statistical systems (by the Working Party
on Statistical Problems) was virtually complete
by end-1995. It covered all aspects of data
relevance, quality, definitions and concepts.
The findings and decisions of the Working Party
will be incorporated in the 1996 edition of
the DAC Questionnaire, supported by revised
Directives. The Questionnaire has been shortened
by cutting several tables and streamlined to
include data on new policy thrusts in development
co-operation, clarification of data on debt
reorganisation and improved norms for reporting
private flows. The sectoral breakdown of ODA
flows and the underlying coding system have
been completely overhauled.
The Development Co-operation
Directorate collects detailed data on official
aid and other resource flows to the Central
and Eastern European countries (CEECs) and the
New Independent States of the former Soviet
Union (NIS). The OECD is the only source of
comprehensive and comparable data on gross and
net disbursements to CEECs/NIS. The data include
resource flows from OECD countries, other bilateral
donors and the multilateral agencies.
Public Sector Statistics
Trends in Public
Sector Pay in OECD Countries:
1995 Edition was
published as the first of an ongoing series.
The series is built upon a database of regularly
reported statistical data, complemented by monitoring
of developments that affect methods of public
sector pay determination, industrial relations
and employment policies.
Financial Statistics
The Group of Financial
Statisticians works to improve the scope, methodology,
coverage and international comparability of
financial statistics and serves as a forum for
consultation and co-ordination among experts
from OECD countries and international organisations.
The group continued its work on the methodology
of international portfolio investment statistics,
the adaptation of financial accounts to the
rules established under the revised Systems
of National Accounts (SNA), the improvement
of statistical information on foreign direct
investment, on institutional savings and investors
and on the survey of financial statements of
banks in OECD countries.
The Group revised the third
edition of the OECD Benchmark Definition
of Foreign Direct Investment, (a detailed
reference for compilers of balance-of-payments
statistics) to bring it into line with the Fifth
Edition of the IMF Balance of Payments Manual.
Under the guidance of the
Group, the Organisation maintains a number of
databases, which are used as primary sources
for analytical work as well as for statistical
publications. OECD Financial Statistics,
which is a unique source of comparative data
on sectorial financial accounts, is supplemented
by Non-financial Enterprises -- Financial
Statements and Financial Statistics
Monthly. The latter provides comprehensive
information on national and international financial
markets. Data on balance sheets and income and
expenditure accounts of banks in OECD countries
are provided in the annual publication Bank
Profitability -- Financial Statements of Banks.
The new joint OECD/Eurostat data bank on flows
and stocks of FDI in OECD countries is made
available to the public through the OECD International
direct investment statistics year-book,
which in 1995 was published for the third time.
The Group held a Financial
Accounts Seminar in order to exchange country
experiences in a period where countries are
working on the implementation of the New System
of National Accounts and the European Sector
Accounts. The Proceedings of the Seminar will
be published.
Insurance Statistics
The Working Group on Insurance
Statistics continued its efforts to harmonise
and disseminate insurance statistics. Progress
was also made in harmonising data collection
with EUROSTAT. The Fourth Edition of the
Insurance Statistics Yearbook, covering
the period 1986 to 1993, was published in June.
Tourism statistics
OECD will continue to
publish information on policies and statistics
in its Annual Report on Tourism Policy and
International Tourism in OECD Countries.
The 1995 report included an in-depth study on
Tourism and Employment.
In 1995, OECD advanced its
project on Tourism Economic Accounts (TEA),
comprising the collection and analysis of data
and methodological developments. A publication
on TEA to be released in 1996, OECD Tourism
Statistics: Design and Application for Policies
is aimed at a better understanding of tourism
as an economic phenomenon.
A second OECD-EUROSTAT forum
on tourism statistics with the collaboration
of the Italian Central Statistics Office and
in close association with the private sector
and academics took place in Italy. The focal
points were employment, the analysis of the
global economic impact of the tourism industry
and the structure of tourism demand.
Science and Technology
Statistics and Indicators
Among international
organisations, the leading position of OECD
in the area of science and technology statistics
and indicators is readily confirmed by the impressive
progress it achieved in 1995 in terms of measurement
and methodology. Particular emphasis was placed
on adapting the S&T system of indicators
to evolving policy concerns and requirements,
especially in the areas of innovation, human
resources and R&D performed in the services
sector. In co-operation with Eurostat, the
OECD issued the Canberra Manual
on the measurement of human resources
devoted to science and technology;
a first exercise to compile internationally
comparable human resources in science and technology
(HRST) stock data using these norms was initiated;
and a major endeavour was to revise the Oslo
Manual on the measurement of innovation, taking
into account the results of the Community Innovatic
Survey (CIS). Steps were taken to improve the
coverage of services in national R&D surveys.
In response to concern expressed at Ministerial
level, preparatory work for the development
of new indicators for a knowledge-based economy
was launched in December.
Main Science
and Technology Indicators
and the Basic Statistics
of Science and Technology
each had two issues published (paper and diskettes).
A special presentation at the Conference of
European Statisticians in June was devoted to
OECD work on science and technology statistics
and indicators, and a monograph of recent data
was issued for the meeting of the Committee
for Scientific and Technological Policy at Ministerial
level.
Work continued on upgrading
statistical systems in the Partners in Transition
(PIT) countries and Russia, to bring data collection
and databases on research and development closer
to OECD methods, particularly the Frascati
Manual; progress was reviewed at a workshop
in December.
Industrial Statistics
Industrial statistics
work focused on managing and updating databases,
developing methodologies and classifications,
and the exchange of information among Member
countries for analytical and policy-related
purposes.
Standard databases have been
regularly updated and published on a quarterly
basis for short-term indicators of industrial
activity (IIA), and on an annual basis both
for industrial structure statistics (ISIS) compiled
from the results of a joint OECD/UNIDO questionnaire,
and for the national accounts STAN (structural
analysis) database estimated by the Secretariat.
ISIS has been extended to include data on the
energy consumed by industry. Pioneering work
on internationally comparable input/output (I/O)
tables covering 13 countries has been completed,
and the I/O tables published both on paper and
diskette. STAN-related databases on bilateral
trade (BRD) and business enterprise R&D
(ANBERD) have also been updated and made publicly
available. The compilation of information on
the industrial activities of foreign affiliates
has been consolidated and improved in view of
the future regular publication of this database,
which will be a major OECD asset for activities
related to globalisation. Work on statistics
on small- and medium-sized enterprises has continued,
covering key economic variables disaggregated
by enterprise and establishment size.
Development work has been
channelled in a number of
directions. In co-operation with the UN
Task Force on Industrial Statistics, efforts
are under way to ensure a smooth transition
of international industrial classifications
from ISIC REV2 to ISIC REV3. New series of constant-price
value-added data have been included in the STAN
database, and methodologies to estimate industry-level
capital stock series have been developed. In
the area of globalisation indicators, new methods
for measuring trade flows according to the nationality
of trading firms rather than their country of
origin have been elaborated. New classifications
of high technology sectors and products jointly
developed with Eurostat have been proposed to
Member countries.
Finally, the use of
short-term qualitative business data to derive
forecasts of production indices, and experience
with panel-based longitudinal data sets have
both been the object of information exchange
among Member countries.
Industrial Subsidies
While a number of reporting
gaps remain, the OECD subsidy database now contains
some 1 500 industrial subsidy programmes. The
number has almost doubled from that of the previous
phase, 1986-89, reflecting a marked improvement
in reporting by Member countries.
With regard to methodology,
early 1995 saw the publication of Industrial
Subsidies: A Reporting Manual. This book
contains definitions, concepts and calculation
schemes for measuring public support to industry,
has become -- both in and outside the OECD area
-- an international reference and for monitoring
industrial support practices. The project has
benefited from close co-operation
between the OECD and the WTO Secretariats, initiated
in 1995.
Migration Statistics
The annual report on
Trends in International Migration was
published in June. It describes migratory flows
and the development of the population in OECD
countries, and analyses the place of migrants
in the labour market. It also addresses the
development of international migration in Asia
and Central and Eastern Europe. Finally, a special
part is devoted to statistics on the acquisition
of citizenship in the OECD countries.
A database on international
migration has been established, in close co-operation
with EUROSTAT and the United Nations' Population
Division. Furthermore, work has been carried
out to develop a general framework for classifying
immigration flows by category.
Social Policy Database
The quantitative base
for the Secretariat's analytical work on social
policy was taken forward with further work on
a detailed data base on trends in aggregate
social expenditure and changes in the composition
of this expenditure. The detailed time-series
in the publication (to be released in 1996)
will be accompanied by an interpretive guide
to the data and its underlying concepts, including
definitions of the scope and nature of social
expenditure programmes and social benefits.
There will also be a description of the relationship
between the OECD data base and the European
System of Social Protection Statistics developed
by EUROSTAT.
Income Distribution Statistics
Income Distribution
in OECD Countries: Evidence from the Luxemburg
Income Study
was published in the Social Policy Studies Series.
This study, compares the extent to which income
is dispersed between households on a standardised
basis.
Health Statistics
The third edition of OECD
Health Data was published in May. The latest
edition of the data base, covering the 1960
to 1993 period, contains many new series, notably
on health financing and pharmaceutical expenditures.
Education Statistics and
Indicators
A seven-country collaborative
study on the types and levels of adult literacy
was undertaken, and subsequently published under
the title Literacy, Economy and Society.
The Third General Assembly
of the International Education Statistics and
Indicators (INES) project was organised in Lahti,
Finland in June and attended by over 200 delegates
representing 23 Member and 10 non-Member countries.
The aim of the General Assembly was to assess
work carried out over the past three years,
to list the unfinished activities and to identify
future priorities for the project.
Agricultural Statistics
Given the increasing
importance of quantitative analysis and the
need to exploit fully opportunities offered
by new technologies, the first OECD Experts'
Meeting on Agricultural Statistics and Information
Systems took place in June. It provided an opportunity
for Member countries to review the work in these
areas and to provide guidance on future directions.
Development was undertaken
of an Executive Information System (EIS) to
make data available to users from their desktop.
It allowed the streamlining of the production
of electronic data products for sale. Data availability
was improved in a number of areas, including
inter alia, the main agricultural indicators.
Regional Statistics
The Working Group on
Regional Development is preparing an OECD inventory
of regional development statistics which will
be made available to policymakers.
Following initial work
consisting of elaborating a list of rural indicators
that are internationally comparable, the OECD
Programme on Rural Development has concentrated
on employment indicators in rural areas. This
work consists of two elements: indicators of
the structure and dynamics of rural labour markets
(covering rural areas in all OECD countries),
and six case studies highlighting specific aspects
in a selected number of countries. The report
will be published in first half of 1996.
Energy Statistics
The Energy Statistics
Division of the International Energy Agency
(IEA) further broadened and improved the collection
of renewable energy statistics. The division
was equally active in monitoring the experiences
of Member countries in meeting requests for
new data. The Division's participation in the
joint IPCC/OECD/IEA programme for the production
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories grew beyond providing advice
on the methods for estimating emissions from
fuel combustion to responsibility for the publication
process and a technical editing role.
Co-operation with non-OECD
Member countries and organisations continued
to expand. The division augmented its contribution
to the energy policy reviews undertaken by the
Non-Member Country Office to include assessments
of the data collection systems and statistical
organisation in the countries reviewed.
Transport Statistics
The European Conference
of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) annually publishes
a leaflet on Trends in the Transport Sector,
a bulletin on Statistical Trends in Transport
and a Statistical Report on Road Accidents;
every 5 years, it publishes a statistical study
on investment in the transport sector. These
cover the 30 European countries who are members
of the ECMT. A common questionnaire has been
developed with EUROSTAT and the ECE.
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