Meeting 16

Macroeconomic Statistics Liaison Group Meeting
Location: CSO MSLG Zoom
Wednesday, 10 March 2021

Attendees:

Loretta O’Sullivan (BOI), Eimear Flynn (D/Fin), Kieran McQuinn (ESRI), Annette Hughes (EY), Kevin Timoney (IFAC), Austin Hughes (KBC), Tom McDonnell (NERI), Simon Barry (Ulster Bank).p>

CSO: Chris Sibley, John Sheridan, Brian King, Brian Cahill, Edel Flannery,Ruth O’Shaughnessy.

Absent:

Terry Quinn (Central Bank), Seamus Coffey (UCC).

Minutes: 

• The Quarterly National Accounts for 2020Q4, released on March 5th, were reviewed. The new Chapter layout, which allows for the presentation of more nuanced messages using charts and graphs, was discussed, with the MLSG showing broad support for the inclusion of a Chapter of Tables at the end of future QNA releases.

  Compensation of Employees (CoE) was discussed in some detail. The quarterly estimates of CoE make use of the employee earnings data in the Revenue Commissioners' PAYE Modernisation (PMOD) dataset since 2019Q1. Employment numbers are not included in this dataset. The compilation of Modified Gross Domestic Fixed Capital Formation in Modified Domestic Demand, and construction data compiled under the output and expenditure measures of GDP were discussed, and will be presented in more detail at the next MSLG meeting. Industrial production and manufacturing value added; ongoing work on seasonal adjustment methodologies; and trade deflators were also discussed.

• The aim of the new CSO Frontier Publication series "Insights from Real Time Administrative Sources", which may use new methods under development and / or data sources which may be incomplete, is to provide useful new insights into Irish society to users, and get informed feedback on these new methods and outputs, whilst at the same time making sure that the limitations are well explained and understood. 

  Brian Cahill presented the “Impact of Selected COVID-19 Support Schemes on Employees” from the new Frontier Publication series, which was developed using administrative data sources including the PMOD dataset. Possible future uses of Real Time Data sources were discussed, with the MSLG expressing a strong preference for the development of an employment index as the first priority, followed by an earnings index. An indicative timeline for an employment index will be provided at the next MSLG meeting.