Economic totals per region, 1995-2001

Table explanation

Description topics

Compensation of employees

Compensation of employees is the total renumeration paid by employers
to their employees in return for work done.
Employees are all residents and non-residents working in a paid job.
Managing directors of limited companies are considered to be employees;
therefore their salaries are also included in the compensation of
employees. The same holds for people working in sheltered workshops.
Compensation of employees is distinguished between wages and salaries
and employers' social contributions.
Wages and salaries include income taxes and employees' social
contributions even if they are actually withheld by the employer and paid
directly to tax authorities, social security schemes and pension schemes.
Wages include payments that are periodically and directly paid to
employees. Besides they contain extra's (such as bonuses, overtime pay,
tips, commission), wages in kind (such as free housing, free food,
'company car', day nursery, lower interest rates on mortgages,
free travel (or at reduced prices) and holiday allowances. Furthermore,
certain refunds for costs made by the employee, such as travel expenses
to and from work, are included as well.
Employers' social contributions consist of payments to insurers made by
employers for the benefit of their employees. They can be classified in
employers' social security contributions, employers' private social
contributions (o.w. pension schemes) and the imputed social contributions.
In most cases the employers directly pay the employers' social
contributions to the insurers. However, to show that these contributions
are paid for the benefit of employees, these payments are recorded as two
transactions: a) employers pay employers' social contributions to their
employees, and b) employees pay the same contributions to social
insurance funds.