EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) methodology - health and labour conditions

This article is part of a set of articles describing the methodology applied for the computation of the statistical indicators pertinent to the subject area of Health and labour conditions (ilc_lvhl) within the overall domain of Income and living conditions. For these indicators, the article provides a methodological and practical framework of reference. The indicators relevant to the subject area of health and labour conditions concern the following:

Distribution of population aged 18 and over along with several combination of dimensions.
People living in households with very low work intensity
Labour transitions by labour status
Labour transitions by type of contract
Labour transitions by type of contract - changes in employment security
Labour transitions by pay level
Labour transitions by employment status and pay level - changes in qualifications

Moreover, since the indicators are of multidimensional structure and can be analysed simultaneously along several dimensions, the separate datasets providing these indicators along with the different combinations of dimensions are also presented.

Full article

Description

The distribution of population aged 18 and over along with the dimensions with which is disseminated, refers to the share of population aged 18 and over in each combination of dimensions.

Labour transitions by employment status refer to the distribution (%) of working-age persons by employment status in the survey year (t); compared with their employment status one year before the survey year (t-1).

Labour transitions by type of contract refer to the distribution (%) of working-age persons by employment status in the survey year (t); compared with their employment status one year before the survey year (t-1). Employment status is a combination of employment or not and permanence of employment or not.

Labour transitions by type of contract – Changes in employment security refer to the distribution (%) of working-age persons according to their transition to employment of lower, same or higher job security in the reference year (t); compared with their employment status / type of employment contract one year before the reference one (t-1).

Labour transitions by pay level refer to the distribution (%) of working-age persons by type of income class they move to in the survey year (t); compared with their income class during the last year.

Labour transitions by employment status and pay level – Changes in qualifications refer to the distribution (%) of working-age persons according to their transition to employment of lower, same or higher qualification level (employment status and pay) in the survey year (t); scompared with their employment status during the last year.

People living in households with very low work intensity.

Statistical population

The statistical population consists of all persons living in private households. Persons living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the target population.

However, the indicators covers subsets of population, especially when presented along with different dimensions.

The distribution of population aged 18 and over along with the different dimensions with which is presented refers to the all persons aged 18 years and over living in private households. Especially when broken down by most frequent activity status, people with less than 7 months declared in the calendar of activities are excluded from its computation. Additionally, it covers the employees aged 18 years and over living in private households when broken down by part-time or full-time employment.

The indicator people living in households with very low work intensity refers to all persons aged less than 60 living in private households with very low work intensity. The indicators covers different subsets of its statistical population when presented along with different dimensions. More specifically, it covers the population aged 18 to 59 living in private households with very low work intensity when broken down by the educational level, broad group of citizenship and broad group of country of birth. Specifically when broken down by most frequent activity status, it covers the population aged 18 to 59 years living in private households with very low work intensity, excluding those people with less than 7 months declared in the calendar of activities are excluded from its computation. Additionally, when calculated for children (i.e. children living in households with very low work intensity), it refers to the population aged 0 to 17 living in private households with very low work intensity.

For the computation of labour transitions by labour status, type of contract and pay level all persons aged between 16 and 64 years living in private households are included, excluding those with less than 7 months declared in the calendar of activities. The same statistical population is included in the computation of the indicators labour transitions by type of contract – changes in employment security and labour transitions by employment status and pay level – changes in qualifications.

In any case, people with missing values for any of the different dimensions that the indicators are presented, are excluded from calculations.

Reference period

All indicators are collected and disseminated on an annual basis and refer to the survey year. The indicators labour transitions by employment status, labour transitions by type of contract, labour transitions by type of contract – changes in employment security, labour transitions by pay level as well as labour transitions by employment status and pay level – changes in qualifications, cover a longer period: 2 years.

The reference period for all dimensions along with the indicators are disseminated as well as perception about general health is the survey year, except for age, income, activity status, occupation and self-defined current economic status. As far as age is concerned, it refers to the age of the respondent at the end of the income reference period. The income reference period is a fixed 12-month period (such as the previous calendar or tax year) for all countries except the United Kingdom, for which the income reference period is the current year, and Ireland, for which the survey is continuous and income is collected for the last twelve months. For activity status, the reference period is the previous year to survey year, while occupation refers to current / last situation and self-defined current economic status to the current situation. Specifically for labour transitions by employment status and pay level – changes in qualifications, the employment status refers to the year previous to the survey year.

Unit of measurement

The distribution of population aged 18 and over along with the different dimensions with which is disseminated is expressed as a percentage.

The number of people living in households with very low work intensity (in thousands) is provided. The indicator is also made available as a percentage. Especially when presented broken down by NUTS region, the indicator is also given as a percentage of persons-upper boundary of the 95% confidence interval and as a percentage - lower boundary of the 95% confidence interval.

All indicators that concern labour transitions are made available as a percentage.

Dimensions

The separate datasets provide each indicator along with the Geopolitical entity and time dimensions and the dimensions presented below.

The distribution of population aged 18 and over is presented along with the following dimensions:

health status, age group, sex and levels of self-perceived health status (very good/good/fair/bad/very bad)
most frequent activity status, income group, age group and sex
occupation (ISCO), income group and sex
working status, income group and sex

The indicator concerning people living in households with very low work intensity is presented along with the following dimensions:

age group and sex
most frequent activity status, age group and sex (population aged 18 to 59)
income quantile and household type
educational level (ISCED), age group and sex (population aged 18 to 59)
broad group of citizenship, age group and sex (population aged 18 to 59)
broad group of country of birth, age group and sex (population aged 18 to 59)
tenure status
NUTS 2 regions
degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA)

Moreover the indicator is broken down by |highest education level of parents (ISCED) when calculated for children (aged 0 to 17), i.e. children living in households with very low work intensity.

The dataset labour transitions by labour status includes the following dimensions:

sex and employment status in the year before the reference one: employed persons working full-time/employed persons working part-time/unemployed persons/inactive persons

and provides the distribution of the population by the type of transition during the reference year: transition to full-time work/transition to part-time work/ transition to employed person/transition to unemployment/transition to inactivity

The dataset labour transitions by type of contract includes the following dimensions:

sex and employment status / type of employment contract in the year before the reference one: employees with a permanent job/employees with a temporary job/employed persons except employees/ unemployed persons/inactive persons

and provides the distribution of the population by the type of transition during the reference year: transition to unemployment/transition to inactivity/ transition to employed person except employee/ transition to employee with a permanent job/transition to employee with a temporary job

The dataset labour transitions by type of contract - changes in employment security includes the following dimensions:

sex and employment status / type of employment contract in the year before the reference one: population/ employees with a permanent job/employees with a temporary job/ employed persons except employees/ unemployed persons/ students/ retired persons/ other inactive persons

and provides the distribution of the population by the type of transition during the reference year: transition to the same or higher employment security as previous year/ transition to less employment security than last year

The dataset labour transitions by pay level are disseminated includes the following dimensions:

sex and income decile

and provides the distribution of the population by the type of income transition during the reference year

The dataset labour transitions by employment status and pay level – changes in qualifications includes the following dimensions:

sex and employment status: population/ employed persons/unemployed persons/ students/ other inactive persons

and provides the distribution of the population by the type of transition during the reference year: transition to the same or higher qualification level (employment status and pay) as previous year/transition to lower qualification level (employment status and pay) than last year

Calculation method

1. Distribution of population aged 18 and over along with the different combination of dimensions:

The distribution of population broken down by the combinations of dimensions (k) [math]DISP_{at\_k}[/math] is calculated as the percentage of people (or thousands of people) in each k over the total population.

The weight variable used is the personal cross sectional weight PB040.

[math]DISP_{at\_k}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_k} PB040_i }{\sum\limits_{\forall i} PB040_i}\times 100[/math]

[math]DISP_{at\_k}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_k} PB040_i }{1000}[/math]

No methodological issues pertain to the distribution of population aged 18 and over along with the different combinations of dimensions.

2. People living in households with very low work intensity:

The distribution of population living in household with very low work intensity broken down by each combination of dimensions (k) [math](LOW\_WI_{at\_k})[/math] is calculated as the percentage of people (or thousands of people) living in households with low work intensity (WI<0.2) in each k.

The weight variable used is the Adjusted Cross Sectional Weight (RB050a).

[math]LOW\_WI_{at\_k}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\in j\_at\_k} RB050a_i }{ \sum\limits_{\forall i\in j} RB050a_i}\times 100[/math]

[math]LOW\_WI_{at\_k}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\in j\_at\_k} RB050a_i }{1000}[/math]

where j denotes the population, or subset of population, who is living in a household with very low work intensity (WI<0.2).

With regard to the calculation of the indicator people living in households with very low work intensity, the following methodological issues should taken into consideration:

This indicator measures work intensity at the household level.

3. Labour transitions by employment status:

The dataset shows the percentages of persons who move between employment statuses (or retain the same status) between two consecutive years. Therefore, the weight variable used is the longitudinal weight (two year duration) RB062.

For each class of persons, specified by a combination of dimensions and employment status in the year before the reference one (WSTATUS), the percentage that undergoes transition of type TRANS (TRANS1Y) in the reference year is computed as:

[math]TRANS_{at\_sex/WSTATUS/TRNS1Y}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/WSTATUS/TRANS1Y} RB062_i }{ \sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/WSTATUS} RB062_i}\times 100[/math]

With regard to the calculation of the labour transitions by employment status, the following methodological issues should taken into consideration:

The Adjusted self – defined current economic status (PL31) is a slightly different categorisation of the EU – SILC variable PL031 (‘Self –defined current economic status’). The adjusted variable PL31 allows for 9 categories instead of the 11 categories of the initial variable PL031. Employment status (WSTATUS), which is used in this dataset, consists of aggregates of the adjusted current economic statuses (PL31).
The category inactive persons include students, retired persons, permanently disabled persons, persons in compulsory military community or service, persons fulfilling domestic tasks and care responsibilities and other inactive persons.

4. Labour transitions by type of contract:

The dataset shows the percentages of persons who move between employment statuses (or retain the same status) between two consecutive years. The weight variable used is the Longitudinal weight estimate – Two year duration (SEL_WGT) an estimate of longitudinal weight (two year duration) RB062 for the selected respondent.

For each class of persons, specified by a combination of dimensions and employment status in the year before the reference one (WSTATUS), the percentage that undergoes transition of type TRANS (TRANS1Y) in the reference year is computed as:

[math]TRANS_{at\_k/W\_STATUS/TRANS1Y}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/W\_STATUS/TRANS1Y} SEL\_WGT_i }{ \sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/W\_STATUS} SEL\_WGT_i}\times 100[/math]

With regard to the calculation of the labour transitions by type of contract, the following methodological issues should taken into consideration:

The self – defined working status is the status (employed – permanent job employees, employed – temporary job employees, employed except employees, unemployed, students, retired, other inactive) that individuals declare themselves as their main activity at present. Employment status (WSTATUS), which is used in this dataset, consists of aggregates of the self–defined working statuses.

5. Labour transitions by type of contract – Changes in employment security:

The dataset shows the percentages of persons who move between levels of employment security (or retain the same level) between two consecutive years. Therefore, the weight variable used is the Longitudinal weight estimate – Two year duration (SEL_WGT), an estimate of longitudinal weight (two year duration) RB062 for the selected respondent.

For each class of persons, specified by a combination of dimensions (k) and employment status / type of employment contract in the year before the reference one (CONTRACT_TYP), the percentage that undergoes transition of type TRANS (SECURITY_TRANS_LEVEL) in the reference year is computed as:

[math]TRANS_{at\_k/contract\_typ/security\_trans\_level}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/contract\_typ/security\_trans\_level} SEL\_WGT_i }{ \sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/contract\_typ} SEL\_WGT_i}\times 100[/math]

With regard to the calculation of labour transitions by type of contract - changes in employment security, the following methodological issues should taken into consideration:

The self – defined working status is the status (employed – permanent job employees, employed – temporary job employees, employed except employees, unemployed, students, retired, other inactive) that individuals declare themselves as their main activity at present. Employment status (WSTATUS), which is used in this dataset, consists of aggregates of the self–defined working statuses.

6. Labour transitions by pay level:

The dataset shows the percentages of persons who move between income classes (or stay in the same class) between two consecutive years. The weight variable used is the Longitudinal weight estimate – Two year duration (SEL_WGT), an estimate of longitudinal weight (two year duration) RB062 for the selected respondent.

For each class of persons, specified by their income class in the year before the reference one (Quantile), the percentage that undergoes transition of type TRANS (TRANS1Y) in the reference year is computed as

[math]TRANS_{at\_k/quantile/TRANS1Y}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/quantile/TRANS1Y} SEL\_WGT_i }{ \sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/quantile} SEL\_WGT_i}\times 100[/math]

No methodological issues pertain to the calculation of labour transitions by pay level.

7. Labour transitions by employment status and pay level - Changes in qualifications:

The dataset shows the percentages of persons who move between qualifications levels (or retain the same level) between two consecutive years. Therefore, the weight variable used is the Longitudinal weight estimate – Two year duration (SEL_WGT), an estimate of longitudinal weight (two year duration) RB062 for the selected respondent. For each class of persons, specified by a combination of dimensions and employment status in the year before the reference one (W_STATUS), the percentage that undergoes transition of type TRANS (QUALIFICATION_TRANS_LEVEL) in the reference year is computed as

[math]TRANS_{at\_k/W\_STATUS/qualification\_trans\_level}=\frac{\sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/W\_STATUS/qualification\_trans\_level} SEL\_WGT_i }{ \sum\limits_{\forall i\_at\_k/W\_STATUS} SEL\_WGT_i}\times 100[/math]

With regard to the calculation of the labour transitions by employment status and pay level - changes in qualifications, the following methodological issues should taken into consideration:

This indicator measures activity status at the individual level.

Moreover, there are some methodological limitations that pertain to the following dimensions accompanying the indicators: Age, Activity status, Self-defined working status, Health status, Education level, Degree of urbanisation, NUTS region, Household type, Citizenship, Country of birth, Tenure status, Work intensity of the household.

Main concepts used

For the production of the indicators relevant to the subject area of health and labour conditions, the variables listed below are also involved in computations:

Employment security transition level (W_SEC), Equivalised disposable Income (EQ_INC), Income quantile, Qualification transition level (W_QUAL).

SAS program files

SAS programming routines developed for the computation of the EU-SILC health and labour conditions datasets along with the different dimensions, are listed below.

Dataset	SAS program file
Distribution of population aged 18 and over by health status, age group, sex and degree of urbanisation (ilc_lvhl01)	_lvhl01.sas
Distribution of population over 18 years by most frequent activity status, age group and sex (ilc_lvhl02)	_lvhl02.sas
Distribution of population aged 18 and over by occupation, income group and sex (ilc_lvhl03)	_lvhl03.sas
Distribution of population aged 18 and over by part-time or full-time employment, income group and sex (ilc_lvhl04)	_lvhl04.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by age and sex (population aged 0 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl11)	lvhl11.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by most frequent activity status (population aged 18 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl12)	lvhl12.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by income quintile and household type (population aged 0 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl13)	lvhl13.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by educational attainment level (population aged 18 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl14)	lvhl14.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by broad group of citizenship (population aged 18 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl15)	lvhl15.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by broad group of country of birth (population aged 18 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl16)	lvhl16.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by tenure status (population aged 0 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl17)	lvhl17.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by NUTS 2 regions (population aged 0 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl21)	lvhl21.sas
People living in households with very low work intensity by degree of urbanisation (population aged 0 to 59 years) (ilc_lvhl23)	_lvhl23.sas
Labour transitions by employment status (ilc_lvhl30)	L_lvhl30.sas
Labour transitions by type of contract (ilc_lvhl32)	L_lvhl32.sas
Labour transitions by type of contract - Changes in employment security (ilc_lvhl33)	L_lvhl33.sas
Labour transitions by pay level (ilc_lvhl34)	L_lvhl34.sas
Labour transitions by employment status and pay level - Changes in qualifications (ilc_lvhl35)	L_lvhl35.sas
Children living in households with very low work intensity by educational attainment level of their parents (population aged 0 to 17 years) (ilc_lvhl60)	lvhl60.sas