The changing conditions for Austrian Statistics and their repercussions on office organization and output

Abstract

The Austrian Central Statistical Office (ACSO) is facing new requirements provoked by the emergence of the Single Market and by developments in Central and Eastern Europe. This will have consequences for ACSO's structure, output planning, applied statistical techniques and methods, and electronic data processing.

For example, if Austria becomes a member of the European Economic Area, statistical standards and rules of the Community must be applied. Therefore, ACSO's target for the 1990s is to achieve fully EC-compatible national statistics. Some fields are already highly adapted to international standards. However, the non-agricultural census – to give an example – lacks some methodological requirements. The enterprise needs to be introduced as the reporting statistical unit.

Along with those methodological changes, EDP-oriented facilities should be introduced. Up to now there exists an “all governing” EDP department, but it is planned to initiate a more user-oriented system of workstations for statisticians.