Glossary:Number of employees - EBS
The number of employees represents the average number of persons who were, at some time during the reference period, employees of the statistical unit.
Explanatory note
While the employment relationship, which qualifies the parties (into employee and employer), is defined in specific legislation or a contract, the term “employee” usually means a person hired by the statistical unit to provide services to it on a regular basis, in exchange for benefits and where the services provided are not part of an independent business. For the sake of clarity, apprentices, if hired under such conditions, are considered employees.
The average should be calculated as the arithmetic mean of the number of employees over the shortest time periods of equal length fitting into the reference period, for which regular observations are practicable (e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.)