52. The Group decided that its requests for information should be limited to the fiscal years of participating countries most closely coinciding with the calendar years of 1980, 1981 and 1982, as such information might be available in 1983 when the Group started its work. It was considered important that the collection of information be undertaken in such a manner as to enable the Group to construct both price indexes and purchasing-power parities on the basis of data for the same types of items. 53. The Group also decided that the prices to be requested should be average prices for each of the three years mentioned above. 54. For the collection of information the Group constructed three questionnaires, one for each major cost category, The first of these was on operating costs. 8. Operating costs 1. Collection of data 55. As items within this cost category are fairly well known and rather similar their nature among countries , the questionnaire on operating costs could contain precise requests for information on prices and quantities for several specified items within all sub-subcategories of the matrix , such as military personnel, civilian personnel and materials for current use. in 56. For the personnel categories, two types of salary data were requested, one excluding and one including social security costs, such as health insurance, pension fees and other similar contributions that have to be made by the employer / . . . A/40/421 English Page 19 for the benefit of the employees in addition to their salaries. In each category, a number of ranks and professions were selected as representative of the military and civilian personnel categories respectively. Contacts were also requested to qive the number of man-years for each of these ranks and professions, as this 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the collection of data for the purpose of constructing price indexes and purchasing-power parities, which suggests that the topic is related to economic development. The specific focus on operating costs, salaries, and social security costs also points towards a category related to employment and economic development.

**Category**
Employment, Economic development