Quality report: Persons Insured for an Earnings-related Pension in Finland
1. Contact
1.1 Contact organisation
The Finnish Centre for Pensions
1.2 Contact organisation unit
Planning Department
1.3 Contact name
1.4 Contact person function
Statistical expert
1.5 Contact mail address
The Finnish Centre for Pensions
FI-00065 ELÄKETURVAKESKUS
Finland
1.6 Contact email address
firstname.lastname@etk.fi
Contact form
1.7 Contact phone number
+358 29 411 20
1.8 Contact fax number
Fax: +358 9 148 1172
2. Metadata update
2.1. Metadata last certified
28 Nov 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
28 Nov 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
28 Nov 2024
3. Statistical presentation
3.1. Data description
In Finland, work done by individuals aged 17–68 is subject to earnings-related pension insurance. The statistics provide an overview of the employment and retirement situations of individuals aged 17–68 who are covered by the earnings-related pension system, as well as the earnings and income that contribute to their earnings-related pensions. The statistics also include information on individuals who have received social benefits that affect the amount of their earnings-related pension.
3.2. Classification system
Persons covered by the earnings-related pension system are divided into those insured for earnings-related pensions and those who are retired. The number of persons insured for earnings-related pensions is classified into two groups: those who were employed at the time of the statistics and those who were not employed nor retired at the time of the statistics. Other classifiers used include the earnings-related pension sector and act, as well as the person’s age and gender.
Average and median earnings and incomes data for those insured for earnings-related pensions are presented, classified by earnings-related pension sector and act, as well as by gender and age. The distribution of earnings is detailed by gender and age group.
The number of persons who have received benefits that accrue earnings-related pensions during unsalaried periods is presented, classified by type of benefit.
3.3. Sector coverage
The statistics are based on comprehensive data, so they include all individuals aged 17–68 covered by the earnings-related pension system.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The concepts and definitions have been presented on the statistics page.
3.5. Statistical unit
Person covered by the earnings-related pension system.
Earnings and incomes for which earnings-related pensions have accrued.
3.6. Statistical population
Persons covered by the Finnish earnings-related pension system.
3.7. Reference area
Finland
3.8. Time coverage
The basic data of the statistics are available from 2005 onwards. For the private sector, the time series starts from 1977. The earnings-related pension-insured earnings data for employees have been produced in the statistics since 2015, and the insured incomes for the self-employed has been included since 2022.
4. Unit of measure
Number of persons.
Earnings and incomes: €/month and €/year (gross amounts).
5. Reference period
Calendar year and 31 December
6. Institutional mandate
6.1. Legal acts and other agreements
The Act on the Finnish Centre for Pensions states that the Finnish Centre for Pensions is responsible for statistical activities within its field of competence.
6.2. Data sharing
Part of the data is delivered to Statistics Finland for the statistics Employment.
7. Confidentiality
7.1. Confidentiality – policy
The Finnish Centre for Pensions is committed to data protection as a fundamental principle of statistics, which ensures the confidentiality of data.
7.2. Confidentiality – data treatment
Data is protected by the necessary physical and technical solutions at the various stages of processing. Employees have access only to the data necessary for their work. Third parties do not have access to the premises where the data is processed. Employees are required to sign a confidentiality agreement when they are hired.
8. Release Policy
The statistics of the Finnish Centre for Pensions are released on weekdays at 9.00 a.m. on the website of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. Any exceptions to the release time are announced separately.
The data in the statistical database are released as open data. The database’s open interface can be freely used under the CC BY 4.0 license, with the Finnich Centre for Pensions being cited as the source of the statistical data.
8.1. Release Calendar
The release dates of the statistics are published in the release calendar. The release calendar for the following year is published towards the end of the year.
8.2. Release calendar access
8.3. User access
The statistics are available to everyone when they are published on the website of the Finnish Centre for Pensions at a previously announced date.
Embargo policy: Media that are bound by the journalist’s guidelines may request material from the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ Communications Department.
9. Frequency of dissemination
The statistics are published once a year.
10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1. News release
The releases of the statistics can be found in the shared open repository Julkari: Persons Insured for an Earnings-related Pension in Finland (Julkari).
Press releases on this topic can be found online at the website of the statistics.
10.2. Publications
Persons insured for an earnings-related pension in Finland (Julkari)
Persons insured for an earnings-related pension in Finland, 2013–2020 (Julkari)
Pensioners and insured in Finland, 2005–2013 (Julkari)
10.3. Online database
Persons insured for earnings-related pension (PxWeb)
10.4. Microdata access
At the Finnish Centre for Pensions, we can extract research material from our registers for scientific research. We disclose the data in compliance with the principles of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities and the Data Protection Act. As a rule, we do not disclose register data for commercial purposes. The scientific research must be identified.
Apply for research access to register data of the Finnish Centre for Pensions (pdf)
11. Quality Management
11.1. Quality assurance
The Finnish Centre for Pensions is committed to the quality principles of Official Statistics of Finland. Our statistical production follows the quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland, which are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.
11.2. Quality assessment
The quality of statistics is assessed at several stages in the statistical process.
12. Relevance
12.1. User needs
Feedback from users is gathered through customer surveys. Feedback is also collected through direct contact. The feedback received is monitored and taken into account in the development of the statistics.
13. Accuracy and reliability
13.1. Overall accuracy
The data is based on administrative registers. The initial data is at the individual level, and it determines the amount of the insured person’s annually accrued earnings-related pension and the final earnings-related pension.
13.2. Sampling error
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13.3. Non-sampling error
The data is based on register extracts made at a specific point in time, so the statistics reflect the situation at the time of extraction. The registers are continuously updated, and retrospective changes are also made to them.
14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1. Timeliness
The statistics are published towards the end of the year following the statistical year.
15. Coherence and comparability
15.1. Comparability – geographical
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15.2. Comparability – over time
The statistics has been produced since 2005. The data in the statistics are broadly comparable between different years from 2007 onwards. There may be small differences in the figures due to corrections and changes made to the statistical software.
The comparability of time series is affected by the following changes:
Due to the 2017 pension reform, the lower age limit for mandatory insurance for employees was lowered to 17 years. This increased the number of young people insured for earnings-related pensions.
The 2017 pension reform raised the retirement age by three-months increments for each cohort starting from those born in 1955. For those born in 1962, the retirement age is 65 years, whereas for those born in 1954, it was 63 years. This change has a significant impact on the number of people aged 63 who are still working.
As the retirement age rises, the age when the insurance obligation ends also rises. For those born between 1958 and 1961, the insurance obligation ends at age 69, and for those born in 1962, at age 70. This change raises the insured populations’ age at when the insurance obligation ends and thus expands the number of age groups examined in the statistics.
Starting from the 2019 data, the earnings information of employees stored in the earnings-related pension system’s register is based on the Incomes Register maintained by the Tax Administration. With the introduction of the Incomes Register, the number of months that wages have been paid over the year has become more specific. Previously, the reported earnings-related pension-insured earnings and periods of work for an employee’s employment relationship were reported once a year and may have included unsalaried periods. Since the Incomes Register only includes months in which wages were paid, monthly earnings are more accurately allocated to the months with wage payments.
The change in the data basis increased the monthly earnings of the public sector and especially the municipal sector under the Public Sector Pensions Act (JuEL), making the change compared to monthly earnings before 2019 appear larger than it is. However, the impact is small when comparing all employees and private sector employees. The change does not affect the comparison of annual earnings.
Additionally, because of the introduction of the Incomes Register, some tables describing the situation at the end of the year in the statistics show a slight shift from the group “employed” to the group “not employed, not retired,” especially in the private sector. This change may complicate comparisons with statistical years before 2019.
In 2020, the statistical history of benefit information for unsalaried periods up to 2019 was updated according to the register situation in August 2020, as some of the benefit information for unsalaried periods had been retrospectively corrected.
From the 2022 data onwards, the definition of those in the municipal sector under JuEL who are not in an employment relationship or who work as civil servants (including family caregivers, private caregivers, trustees, etc.) has been changed. Persons without registered income from this activity have been removed from the statistics.
From the 2022 data onwards, the statistics on employees’ earnings include all those covered by the municipal sector insurance under JuEL. Before 2022, the earnings statistics for insured persons in the municipal sector under JuEL only included those in employment or who worked as civil servants.
15.3. Coherence – cross domain
Differences in the definitions of concepts and the data basis make it difficult to compare with other statistics in the same statistical area.
16. Cost and burden
The production of the statistics is financed annually by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
17. Data Revision
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18. Statistical processing
18.1. Source data
The statistics are based on the registers of the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
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18.3. Data collection
Administrative registers.
18.4. Data validation
Adjustments are made at different stages of statistical production in accordance with the production processes of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. In addition, the results are compared with changes in legislation and with data from previous statistical years.
18.5. Data compilation
The data is extracted from the registers of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. Further processing produces aggregated data and statistical tables.