Comparability

Comparability - geographical

All EU member states are obliged to provide the IPC under the guidelines in Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 on short-term statistics. These statistics can thus be compared internationally through Eurostat, where indices from the various EU member states are disseminated. However, international comparison must be made with that in mind, that there are two different recommended methods for compiling the statistics, which the EU member states can choose from.

Comparability over time

Until autumn 2014 the IPC was calculated on basis of the quarterly gross value added in Construction from the National Account. There are no major breaks in the series from 2001 until 2014. From autumn 2014 the IPC has been calculated on the basis of working time account - corrected for productivity. The time series is calculated back to January 2000 with the new method.

Coherence - cross domain

Since the indices are based on working hours from the Working Time Accounts (WTA), there is a high degree of coherence with these statistics.

In connection with the change of method there was a comparison with index for gross value added in Construction from National Account. In the long run (12 months), there is a good agreement with the National Accounts gross value added for the construction sector.

Coherence - internal

In the former method there has been few problems of coherence between CC1, CC2 and the total. These problems seems not existing in the new method.