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Structure of Earnings Survey

The Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) is conducted by Statistics Austria every four years. The current survey refers to October 2022 and collects data on wages and salaries as well as working hours of employed persons. This information enables detailed analyses of the structure and distribution of earnings according to economic sectors, occupations, age, gender and other characteristics.

The survey is carried out throughout the European Union according to harmonised standards and provides reliable and meaningful comparisons of earnings between the individual Member States. The results for Austria can be found on our website under Structure of Earnings.

All member states of the European Union are obliged by European law to carry out the Structure of Earnings Survey. Statistics Austria is commissioned to conduct the survey by decree of the Federal Minister of Economics on the Structure of Earnings Statistics.

Relevant national legal bases for the Structure of Earnings Survey:

Relevant EU legal bases for the Structure of Earnings Survey:

The data privacy information explains the processing of personal data in the Structure of Earnings Survey. The results are published by Statistics Austria in compliance with the legal provisions on confidentiality.

Please note the obligation to provide information in accordance with the provisions of § 9 of the Federal Statistics Act 2000, Federal Law Gazette I No 163/1999, as amended, and § 10 of the Verdienststrukturstatistik-Verordnung 2007, Federal Law Gazette II No 66/2007, as last amended by Federal Law Gazette II No 99/2011.

The obligation to provide information applies to all enterprises with at least ten employees that were primarily active in Sections B-N and P-S of the Statistical classification of economic activities (ÖNACE 2008) as of the reference date 31 October 2022.

Statistics Austria relies on the cooperation of each individual enterprise in order to be able to achieve results of the required statistical quality and significance. Please submit the data requested in good time, completely and to the best of your knowledge. Those who fail to comply with the obligation to give information by refusing contribution, or who knowingly provides incomplete information or information that does not correspond to the best of their knowledge, commits an administrative offence and is subject to an administrative penal procedure under § 66 of the Federal Statistics Act 2000.

We are aware that the survey is an additional burden for your company. However, we endeavour to keep the effort for you as low as possible. In accordance with the Federal Statistics Act 2000, administrative data were used as far as possible. In this way, we are able to cover more than half of the characteristics with administrative data. The questionnaire therefore only contains those characteristics that cannot be taken from the business register of Statistics Austria or your reports to the tax office or social insurance.

The statutory submission date is May 15, 2023 (§ 10 of the Verdienststrukturstatistik-Verordnung 2007, Federal Law Gazette II No 66/2007, as amended).

The invitation to submit the data for the year 2022 (reference month October 2022) will be dispatched in April 2023.

If the submission deadline cannot be met due to internal events, please contact Statistics Austria as soon as possible for a deadline extension within the scope of the legal possibilities.

Attention: After expiry of the deadline for submission, the respondents will be reminded of the obligation to provide information by means of an RSb letter (registered letter with return receipt) after a first reminder (or extension of the deadline). If this reminder is still not complied with, Statistics Austria is obliged to bring this breach of the duty to provide information to the attention of the competent administrative penal authority (magistrate or district administrative authority).

You will find detailed information and assistance for your report in the explanations for the Structure of Earnings Survey 2022. This and more information can be found in the web questionnaire (eQuest).

In addition, a list of characteristics, a model questionnaire, a guide to your electronic reporting via eQuest-Web and an information sheet on the import/export function (CSV) in the web questionnaire are available on this website. The information on "forgot password" explains the prerequisite for using this function. Unfortunately, these documents are only available in German.

For data transmission to Statistik Austria, please use our questionnaire eQuest-Web (in German). 

A guide (.pdf, in German) will help you to get started with the web questionnaire. In order to be able to use the "Forgot Password" function, we recommend using the "eMail verification" application. Here you can find detailled information on "forgot password" (.pdf, in German).

Request Description
Access Data (in German) Please choose this form if you need login details for your enterprise.

In eQuest, there is also the possibility of a CSV up- and download. On the pages "List of employees" and "Employees", the function to export and import data via CSV file is integrated in the web questionnaire. Simply export the table, fill it in and import it again. The file structure of the import file is fixed and must be adhered to exactly. The info sheet CSV (.pdf, in German) explains the function step by step.

You can also submit your report via the federal Business Service Portal (USP). After registration, the questionnaire is available under "Mein USP - Services - All Services - eQuest Web".

If your company does not have the technical facilities to report electronically, we will be happy to provide you with a paper questionnaire (in German). In this case, please notify us within two weeks of receipt of the letter. After stating your company name and company code, you will receive the written questionnaire by post.

Hotline - General Questions Deadline extensions, reporting requirements, professional questions
Phone: +43 1 711 28-8383
Fax: +43 1 711 28-7445 veste@statistik.gv.at Mo-Thu 08:00am - 4:00pm, Fri 08:00am - 2:00pm

Please provide the company name and the code number of your company
Technical Questions Access web questionnaire eQuest, order access data eQuest (password)
Phone: +43 1 711 28-8966
Mo-Fri 09:00am - 3:00pm
Last updated on 2023-04-13.
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