Definitions of variables based on the German System of National Accounts - click here.

Definitions of the theoretical variables:

For the nominal wage rates (wr) we use the monthly labour costs per employee:

wr = lkmo

The seasonal adjustment (smoothing) is achieved by the definition of the wage rate change (wr_ch) based on a four quarter difference:

wr_ch = (wr - wr(-4))/wr(-4)*100

The unemployment rate (ue) and its moving average (ue_ma) of four quarters is taken from the number of unemployed divided by the amount of working force:

series ue = aleb/ewpers*100

ue_ma = @movav(ue,4)

As indicator for the inflation we utilise the chained consumer price index and, accordingly, the one of the import prices (Pim), and of the export prices (Pex).

infl = (cpripe-cpripe(-4))/cpripe(-4)*100

impe_ch = (impe - impe(-4))/impe(-4)*100

expe_ch= (expe - expe(-4))/expe(-4)*100

The values for the productivity equal the labour productivity per employee.

apew_ch =(apewki-apewki(-4))/apewki(-4)*100

The profit rates (R) are operationalized by property income related to the income of employees.

r = (yuv - yan/ewan*ewslb)/yan*100

r_ch = (r-r(-4))/r(-4)*100

Filtering trend and cyclical components:

Trend of unemployment:

ue_ma.hpf(lambda=1600) ue_ma_trend

Trend of wage rate changes:

wr_ch.hpf(lambda=1600) wr_ch_trend

Further smoothed series:

ue_ma.hpf(lambda=100) ue_ma_hp100

wr_ch.hpf(lambda=100) wr_ch_hp100

Cyclical component of unemployment:

ue_ma_cycle = ue_ma_hp100 - ue_ma_trend

Cyclical component of wage rate changes:

series wr_ch_cycle = wr_ch_hp100 - wr_ch_trend

Other variables: analogous

Back to Survey