Main contents start here

Results of Monthly Business Survey of Services

Explanation of Terms

1 Establishment

An "establishment" is defined as a single physical location where an economic activity is conducted and as a general rule, the following prerequisites are satisfied:

1. An economic activity is carried out, under a single entity of management, at a certain fixed place, occupying a demarcated area.
2. The production or supply of goods and services is done on a continuing basis with the help of people and equipment.

2 Enterprise, etc.

An "enterprise" is defined as a corporation (excluding foreign companies) conducting business activities or an establishment of individual proprietorship (if the enterprise is managed under individual proprietorship and the same manager manages multiple establishments, the establishments become collectively a single enterprise).

"Enterprise, etc." refers to those entities, including a part of public enterprises, etc. operated by an enterprise and the national government or a local government.

3 Industry Classification

(1) Industry of Establishment and Enterprises, etc.

This is an industry classification by unit of establishment and enterprises, etc., where establishments are classified according to business activities of the establishment, and enterprises, etc. are classified according to the entire major business activities including establishments under the control of the enterprises, etc., respectively.

(2) Industry of Business Activity

This is an industry classification by unit of business activities conducted by an establishment and enterprise, etc. An establishment is deemed to conduct only a single business activity.

4 Sales (Income), etc.

This is sales (income) for supply of services and sales of article (including indirect tax, consumption tax, etc.) in the establishment or enterprise, etc. The sales (income) are including cost such as purchase amount and salary and total income from all operations of the establishment or enterprise, etc.

Sales (income), etc. are tabulated by unit of establishment or enterprises, etc. and by business activity.

  [Those included in sales (income)]

• Consignment sale --- Sales commission income
• Consignment sale --- Actual sales amount sold by a consignee
• Real estate agents/intermediary service providers --- Agent fee income, intermediary commission income, etc.
• Brokerage service provider --- Brokerage commission income (commission for cleaning, photo (development, printing and enlargement of photos))
• Own consumption/donations --- When consuming goods or products on one's own or donating them, the amount obtained by converting them into money
• Medical and other health services/care services --- Insurance premiums received for medical insurance/nursing care insurance, and self-pay of the user

• "Corporations excluding companies" and "organization other than corporations" --- Income gained by business activities

  [Those not included in sales (income)]

• Nonbusiness interest and dividend income, such as those accrued from deposits and securities
• Nonbusiness income gained from the sale of securities or properties such as land and buildings
• Borrowing
• Expenses provided from headquarters and head offices for operating branch offices
• Working income that a proprietor or its family member of the establishment under individual proprietorship gains outside the working place.

• Income to continue a business or activity at an entity whose legal organization is "corporation excluding companies" and "organization other than corporations" (operating grants, donations, contributions, subsidies, membership fees, contributions of members, etc.)

  [Note]In this survey, income to continue a business or activity is not included in sales (income) in order to more accurately comprehend changes in monthly sales.

  [Time of posting sales (income)]

• For sales (income), those at the time of providing services, etc. are posted, rather than at the time of receiving payments

  Examples:

  • For installment sale, sales are posted at the time of providing services, etc.
  • In case of supplementary tutorial schools, etc. tuitions for three months are received in a lump sum, they are divided and posted equally at each month of the period (three months) of giving classes.
  • For a long-term project for software development, etc., they are posted depending on the status of progress.

5 Persons engaged

Persons engaged refers to those who belong to the establishments and work. Therefore, persons engaged include employees loaned or dispatched to the separately operated establishments such as other companies. Conversely, loaned or dispatched employees from the separately operated establishments such as other companies, who do not receive their wage/salary (including wages in kind) from the establishments concerned, are not included in persons engaged, even if they work at the establishments.

6 Persons Working at the Location of Establishment

Persons working at the location of establishment include all persons who are engaged in the business of the establishment or enterprise, etc. on the business day nearest to the end of the month (excluding dispatched or temporalily transferred employees to other enterprise, but including those who work as dispatched or temporarily transferred employees from other enterprise).

Number of persons working at the location of establishment is tabulated by unit of an establishment or enterprise, etc.

Estimate Method

The figures are estimated by multiplying the reciprocal of the sampling fraction according to the Economic Census* available.
*2021 Economic Census for Business Activity

Notes regarding Statistical Tables

• The figures up to December 2024 are the results of Monthly Survey on Service Industries, and the change over the year from January to December 2025 were calculated using the figures for the same month of the previous year from Monthly Survey on Service Industries.
• In accordance with the update of the information on the population and the replacement of sample, etc. in January 2025, the figures before 2024 were adjusted to calculate in order to make time series comparison possible.
• This survey is a sampling survey, so that the sampling error is included in the figures of the number of enterprises, etc. and establishments, sales (income), and persons working at the location of establishment.
• The sums of its components does not necessarily add up to the total, since the figures are rounded to the unit.
• "-" denotes that there are no applicable figures.

• The method of calculating "Change over the year" is as follows.

  1.     [Change over the year (%)] = {([Pertinent month value of this year]-[Pertinent month value of the previous year])/ [Pertinent month value of the previous year]}*100

  Regarding change over the year of 2025, in order to make it possible to compare values of the period, the figures are calculated by using adjusted pertinent month value of the previous year (2024).

• The figures at the year and month to which "p" is fixed are preliminary.

Top of this page