Monthly employers' sentiment indicators; Doing more with business survey data

Timely information on the direction of labour market developments is very important. A central indicator are vacancies, which are most sensitive to business cycle developments and lead the other labour market indicators. Using indicators from the various business surveys, monthly composite sentiment indicators, termed the employers’ sentiment, are constructed. These give a fast and reliable indication of the direction of vacancy development. This is due to the fact that vacancy development is intimately connected to developments in business conditions, as reflected in business survey indicators.