The European Community Household Panel is a panel survey of 15 European countries that ran from 1994 to 2001, covering a wide range of topics such as income, health, education, housing, demographics and employment characteristics. Its website contains information about the dataset itself and about where to find ECHP based data in Eurostat. As from 2003 the ECHP has been succeeded by the EU SILC

Marlier, Eric

Archive of European Integration

The EC Household Panel 
Newsletter 
Eric Marlier 
Stat ist ics 
in focus 
· · · · · · · 
POPULATION AND 
SOCIAL CONDITIONS 
POPULATION AND LIVING 
CONDITIONS 
< 
THEME 3-2/1999 
eurostat 
EDITORIAL 
Again, the Eurostat ECHP team has gone through a busy and challenging period 
since the last issue of its Newsletter... but it was worth it given the concrete 
major step forward that has been made! So, welcome to this fifth edition of the 
EC Household Panel Newsletter, entirely devoted to a key issue that has been in 
the dreams of many (potential) ECHP users since our survey generated its first 
EU-12 data-set: the issue of data availability. 
Latest developments in ECHP data availability have to do with the following two 
areas: 
Data anonymisation: As already mentioned in our last Newsletter, 
ECHP micro-data contain information considered "confidential" in terms 
of the EU Council regulation N° 322/97 of 17/2/97 on Community 
statistics, the so-called EU "Statistical Law". Therefore, direct access to 
these original data has had to be more restrictive than what is desirable 
for a full exploitation of the data despite the strong interest expressed by 
many researchers and other users. Also, the structure of the ECHP 
"production database" is complex and thus very difficult for use outside 
as well as inside Eurostat, which increases significantly the risk of errors 
in using the data. 
Data dissemination: In view of this situation and given the growing 
demand for ECHP data from both inside and outside the Commission, 
Eurostat decided to construct back in November 1997 a user-friendly 
"longitudinal users' database" containing "anonymised" ECHP 
household's and personal micro-data. Rules for disseminating this users' 
database, and more specifically the access and price policy applied, 
have now been agreed upon. 
These two areas will be covered in detail in the present issue. 
Manuscript completed on: 15.01.99 
ISSN 1024-4352 
Catalogue number: CA-NK-99-002-EN-C 
Price in Luxembourg (excl. VAT): 
Single copy: EUR 6 
D A T A A N O N Y M | s N 
You may remember from our previous Newsletter that 
the anonymisation of ECHP micro-data has required the 
definition of "objective anonymisation criteria" to be met 
by our "users' database" (UDB). By "objective", it is 
meant that once these criteria are applied to the various 
ECHP files, there should be no risk that an individual 
statistical unit could be identified through "all the means 
that might reasonably be used by a third party to identify 
the said statistical unit" ("Statistical Law"). 
Provided that all these criteria are met, ECHP data can 
thus be considered "non-confidential" in the sense of the 
Statistical Law and therefore made more widely 
available, although direct access to such anonymised 
data needs to be restricted by means of research 
contracts stipulating the strict conditions of use and 
access (see below). 
It is in this context that at the 1997 ECHP Working 
Group (Luxembourg, 13-14/11/97), Eurostat proposed to 
ECHP National Data Collection Units (NDUs - either 
national statistical institutes or research centres, 
depending on the country) a first set of such 
anonymisation criteria to be applied to the various ECHP 
files. It also submitted for discussion different rules, 
contractual requirements that should allow easier access 
to these "anonymised" data. The objective was therefore 
to open up access to ECHP micro-data without 
jeopardising both the necessary conditions of data 
confidentiality and the value of the data. 
Extensive negotiations with all ECHP NDUs concerning 
the final set of "anonymisation criteria" to be applied to 
the UDB as well as the rules for accessing this UDB, 
have been conducted up to November 1998. Apart from 
some minor differences, all 14 Member States that are 
taking part in the ECHP have agreed on the same set of 
criteria and rules, meaning that they have supported 
both the idea of direct access to anonymised micro-data 
and the concrete EU harmonised proposal for 
anonymisation submitted by Eurostat. 
Those readers interested may receive a comprehensive 
list of these criteria from Eurostat; this list also forms part 
of the documentation that is provided on the CD-ROM 
containing the UDB. 
Access and Price p0| jcy 
Eurostat has restricted direct access to the anonymised 
micro-data contained in the ECHP UDB by means of 
"ECHP research contracts" These contracts, which 
are signed with Eurostat, stipulate the strict conditions of 
data use and access such as: 
We will not enter into the details of this contractual 
aspect of the dissemination policy, but rather focus on 
the various categories of ECHP data users defined by 
Eurostat and the respective pricing policy applied to 
these. 
(a) The contractor must ensure that the files contained 
in the UDB are used exclusively for the research 
purposes clearly specified in the contract, excluding 
in particular any possible administrative use. 
(b) The contractor will be required to take all the 
necessary regulatory, administrative, technical and 
organisational measures to ensure that none of 
these data are distributed to third parties, and that 
there will be no attempt to identify nor will the 
contractor claim to have done so, by any means 
whatsoever, any individual statistical unit. In 
particular, the UDB shall not be connected with other 
data sets from any other source. 
(c) Any ECHP data recipients will be required to provide 
Eurostat with a copy of all reports (including 
'papers'...) they produce using ECHP data. 
(d) Forthose "ECHP research contracts" allowing it: any 
research other than the project(s) specifically 
described in the contract shall require the explicit 
and unambiguous written consent from Eurostat; 
etc. 
Eurostat has decided to apply a dissemination policy for 
the UDB that would both encourage ECHP research and 
increase the visibility of the instrument. The specific 
pricing strategy and accessing/utilisation rules applied to 
each category of ECHP users have been developed in 
order to try and achieve these aims. In particular, the 
pricing strategy makes it possible for those users 
interested to get a significant reduction in price in 
exchange for a Eurostat "by-product". 
These "by-products"... 
• are a possibility, not a 'right', that Eurostat offers to 
users interested in the case of a common interest of 
both the institution(s)/organisation(s)/company(ies) 
concerned and Eurostat; 
• are negotiated in detail in terms of content, timing, 
etc. and must be original, e.g. should not have been 
published anywhere else in the case of a 
publication; 
• are the property of Eurostat 
Statistics in focus — Theme 3 — 2/1999- m eurostat 
TYPES OF USERS AND PRICES FOR 1994-1996 WAVES DATA 
STUDENTS, INDIVIDUAL RESEARCHERS... (THESIS, 
ETC.) 
There is normally no possibility for individual 
persons to acquire the CD-ROM directly. Such 
requests need to come from the institution/ 
organisation where the person interested is 
studying/working. 
Data are used solely for the purpose of the 
projects specified in the contracts with the 
Commission. All data analysts involved in this 
project pertain to the SAME institution/ 
organisation/company. 
PRICE: EUR 12.000 
(or EUR 4.000 plus one by-product) 
Β A L L ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT EXCLUSIVELY ON 
BEHALF OF THE COMMISSION 
B.1 Analyses are conducted solely by 
Commission staff/personnel 
PRICE: Free 
B.2 Analyses are conducted by external experts in 
the context of a SINGLE contract signed with 
the Commission 
B.2.1 All data analysts involved pertain to 
the same institution/organisation/company 
PRICE: EUR 6.000 
(or EUR 2.000 plus one by-product) 
B.2.2 All data analysts involved are 
contractual members of a network that as 
such has a contract with the Commission (e.g. 
DGXII TSER, TMR or BIOMED research 
networks) 
Access is given only to data analysts that are 
listed in this (TSER/...) contract signed with the 
Commission. 
PRICE: EUR 12.000 
(or EUR 4.000 plus one by-product) 
B.2.3 Data analysts involved pertain to two 
or more institutions/organisations/companies 
that are not organised in a "Commission 
network" 
Access is given only to data analysts that are 
listed in this contract signed with the Commission. 
PRICE: EUR 12.000 
(or EUR 4.000 plus one by-product) 
B.3 Analyses are carried out by external experts in 
the context of SEVERAL contracts signed with 
the Commission 
C ALL ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT EXCLUSIVELY 
EITHER ON BEHALF OF OTHER E U INSTITUTIONS OR 
ON BEHALF OF E U AGENCIES 
All categories under "B" above strictly apply. 
"Commission" simply needs to be replaced with 
the name of the relevant EU body. 
D ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ 
PERSONNEL OF A GIVEN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC 
ORGANISATION (E.G. THE O E C D , A SPECIFIC U N 
BODY...) - A L L ANALYSES ARE CONDUCTED 
EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF OF THIS ORGANISATION 
Except if stated otherwise in a memorandum 
signed with Eurostat: 
PRICE: EUR 6.000 
(or free plus one by-product) 
E ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ 
PERSONNEL OF A GIVEN FEDERAL OR REGIONAL 
MINISTRY/ADMINISTRATION - A L L ANALYSES ARE 
CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF OF THIS BODY 
Except if stated otherwise in a memorandum 
signed with Eurostat: 
PRICE: EUR 6.000 
(or free plus one by-product) 
F ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ 
PERSONNEL OF A S I N G L E INSTITUTION/ORGANI-
SATION/COMPANY. DATA ARE USED FOR THE 
PURPOSE OF ONE OR SEVERAL PROJECTS 
PRICE: EUR 12.000 
(or EUR 4.000 plus one by-product) 
G ANY USER OTHER THAN THOSE D E S C R I B E D ABOVE 
(INCLUDING NETWORKS/ASSOCIATIONS NOT COVERED 
IN "B.2.2" OR "B.2.3" ABOVE) 
Possibilities of acquiring the UDB as well as the 
price and the related data access/use issues, will 
need to be examined on an ad hoc basis by 
Eurostat. 
eurostat 
-2/1999— S ta t i s t i c s in focus — Theme 3 
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Statistics in Focus: Population and social conditions. The EC Household Panel
Newsletter. 1999.2

Statistics 
The EC Household Panel 
Newsletter (2/99) 
Eric Manier 
, . ... : . 
in focus 
· · · · · · · ♦ 
POPULATION AND 
SOCIAL CONDITIONS 
THEME 3-8/1999 
POPULATION AND LIVING 
CONDITIONS 
Contents 
ECHP general publication 2 
Future of the ECHP in the short 
and longer term 2 
Income, poverty and social 
exclusion statistics 3 
*** 
* • * * 
* ■ * *** eure Jr »stat 
Manuscript completed on: 15.06.99 
ISSN 1024-4352 
Catalogue number: CA-NK-99-008-EN-C 
Price in Luxembourg per single copy 
(excl. VAT): EUR 6 
EDITORIAL 
Since December 1998, direct access to a user-friendly longitudinal users' 
database containing "anonymised" ECHP household's and personal micro-
data is possible through ECHP research contracts stipulating the strict 
conditions of data access and use. The previous edition of our Newsletter was 
entirely devoted to this key issue of ECHP data availability, and in particular 
the latest developments in data anonymisation and dissemination. The main 
focus of the present edition is on the first ECHP large-scale publication 
("European Community Household Panel (ECHP): Selected indicators from 
the 1995 wave"), which will appear in June/July this year and should whet the 
appetite of numerous users and encourage an extensive use of this unique 
data-set. 
Apart from a presentation of this publication, two important topics are covered 
in this issue: 
> Future development of the ECHP: In 1994, the ECHP was launched for 
a first 3-year round, i.e. the 1994-1996 waves. In 1996, the Statistical 
Programme Committee (SPC) meeting, that gathers the Director 
Generals of EU National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), approved the 
Eurostat proposal to go on with the survey for another 3 years (1997-
1999). On 1-2 June 1999, the future of our instrument in the short and 
longer term was discussed at the first meeting of the Directors for Social 
Statistics of EU NSIs. Contact at this level offered a precious means to 
accelerate the discussion and decision processes of the SPC. 
> Eurostat present activities in income, poverty and social exclusion 
statistics: As already reported in our fourth Newsletter (1/98), Eurostat 
activities in this area were re-launched at a High Level Think Tank 
meeting in January 1998. One of the outcomes of this meeting was the 
setting-up of a Task Force that met for the first time in March 1998, in 
Luxembourg. This Task Force discussed various technical issues as well 
as ways of reporting on social exclusion and poverty statistics. It also 
carried out several analyses of EU and national data sources, drawing 
extensively on ECHP data. A Working Group first approved the Task 
Force's "Recommendations on Social Exclusion and Poverty Statistics" in 
October 1998. In November 1998 (Doc. CPS 98/31/2), they were agreed 
by the SPC. The Eurostat work programme for 1999 in this area 
concentrates on 4 major themes. 
ECHP general publication 
With the Treaty of Amsterdam, EU Member States have 
negotiated, ratified and, since 1 May 1999, implemented 
a set of major political commitments. One of these is to 
place citizens' rights and employment at the heart of the 
EU. 
of this publication (aggregates, averages and indices). 
This represents a first attempt at the interpretation and 
analysis of the data. In pursuing the same analytical 
objective, several results are cross-tabulated with 
various socio-demographic variables. 
In this context, there is an increasing need to acquire 
internationally comparable data on the social and 
economic conditions of persons and households in the 
EU in order to build up knowledge in this area. The 
ECHP has clearly a central role in the development of 
such socio-economic statistics. 
The first ECHP "general publication", which will be 
issued very soon, provides results from the 1995 wave 
of the ECHP and focuses on three key areas: income, 
housing and work. Prior to this publication, some limited 
results had been issued, mainly in the context of the 
Eurostat Statistics in Focus series. 
This large-scale publication is structured around 3 main 
parts: 
1) Part A provides information on sampling, reliability 
of results, imputation of missing income data, 
weighting procedures and calculation methods; 
2) Part Β provides the general background information 
and the key definitions used; 
3) Part C presents the main survey results in the three 
domains covered. 
Each of the three sections in Part C (C1-C3) starts with 
a "specific information background" describing the 
sources, concepts, classifications and methods used, as 
well as the wording of questions. These short texts are 
followed by tables that contain the results. Included are 
a large number of indicators, either based on existing 
methodology or developed specifically for the purpose 
In order to present the general statistical framework of 
the publication, a complete set of background statistics 
on the national universes (households and persons) and 
the distribution of the classification variables used in the 
socio-demographic breakdowns is provided in an 
Annex. Also annexed are the addresses of the ECHP 
National Data Collection Units. 
Main ECHP results included in the publication cover the 
following areas: 
• Income: Income components of households and 
persons (including earnings from work, private 
income and the various social transfers), distribution 
of persons by income quantiles (with respective 
share of total national income, mean total income per 
capita, mean equivalised income received per capita 
from main income sources, share of children and 
elderly people...), Gini coefficients, low- and high-
income thresholds and populations concerned, 
subjective and non-monetary indicators of economic 
position, assessed minimum income required to 
make ends meet, income satisfaction, etc. 
• Housing: Dwelling type and tenure status, number 
of rooms in dwelling, overcrowded households, 
amenities and housing problems, (re-)payments 
problems, housing satisfaction, etc. 
• Work: Earnings, job characteristics (supervisory/ 
non-supervisory responsibilities, private/public 
sector...), employment history (including experience 
of unemployment...), reasons for working part-time, 
job search activity, job satisfaction, etc. 
Future of the ECHP in the short and longer term 
On 1-2 June 1999, the future development of the ECHP 
in the short and medium term was discussed at the first 
meeting of the Directors for Social Statistics of EU NSIs. 
For the near future, the decision is to continue the 
existing ECHP for another 3 waves (2000-2002) with 
essentially the same structure and similar content. 
However: 
• minor amendments to the questionnaire could be 
envisaged if they are required to meet users' needs 
in a satisfactory manner; 
• an attempt will be made at improving the 
representativeness of the national samples through 
appropriate sample supplementation, at least in 
surveys with heavy and/or selective loss due to 
attrition. 
Work on these technical issues has already started. As 
is often the case, possibilities here will clearly be a 
matter of cost, technical resources and timing. 
For the longer term, that is after the year 2002, an 
open and flexible view on the content and structure for 
Statistics in focus — Theme 3 — 8/1999 ■ eurostat 
an EU-harmonised social survey centred mainly on 
income and work will need to be taken. 
A Task Force will carefully look at all options. Given the 
steps to be taken from now onwards, so as to be ready 
with a fully developed integrated solution (with tested 
design and procedures) by the end of 2002 at the latest, 
this Task Force should be set up during the fourth 
quarter of this year. 
The content of the future survey will have to be 
determined primarily in terms of its role in the European 
system of social statistics, and more particularly on how 
present and potential information needs can be properly 
satisfied. The aim must be to generate information to 
support the EU policies, such as those relating to the 
Amsterdam Treaty and the Employment Guidelines. 
As to the structure and technical arrangements of the 
survey, the choice between a panel and a cross-
sectional survey will need to be re-debated. A key issue 
is to determine whether the needs for dynamic data 
linked at micro level (income with labour, health, 
education...), required e.g. for the longitudinal analysis 
of social exclusion, justify the complexity and cost of a 
multi-purpose panel survey. For those countries in 
which this possibility exists, another important issue has 
to be investigated: ways of getting comparable data 
partly or exclusively from existing national cross-
sectional surveys and/or administrative registers. 
Possible options go therefore from "continuing the 
existing ECHP" to "launching a new, fully revised panel 
survey" or "launching a multi-purpose EU-harmonised 
cross-sectional survey centred essentially on income 
and labour (involving, where possible, adaptation of 
existing national cross-sectional social surveys)"... 
Combinations of both the cross-sectional and panel 
approaches are also options that have to be carefully 
considered. 
Income, poverty and social exclusion statistics 
The 1999 Eurostat work programme in income, poverty 
and social exclusion statistics is conducted with 
technical help from the Dutch NSI (CBS). It is focused 
on 4 major themes: 
1) Income methodology: Eurostat has initiated an 
inventory of income definitions and concepts 
including an assessment of the robustness of the 
various income sources used in all 15 Member 
States. The goal is to have clear guidelines as to 
the treatment of income and income components at 
the EU level. 
2) Analysis of monetary poverty: The SPC 
"Recommendations on Social Exclusion and 
Poverty Statistics" of Nov. 1998 specify the ways to 
compute different low-income thresholds and 
estimates. Calculations along these lines have been 
performed using ECHP data from the 1994 and 
1995 waves (see also "ECHP general publication" 
above). 1996 data will be used later in the year and 
it is hoped that some longitudinal analysis can be 
carried out as well on all three waves. Two of the 
Recommendations depart fundamentally from the 
previous practice in EU poverty statistics: 
• in order to avoid the impact of extreme values at 
both ends of the income distribution, the median 
rather than the mean equivalised income are 
used for calculating the low-income thresholds 
("poverty lines"): these thresholds are now put 
at 60% of the median and no longer at 50% of 
the mean equivalised income; 
• the median and mean equivalised income refer 
now to the income distribution of persons rather 
than households. 
3) Establishment of a framework for analysis of 
social exclusion: The starting point is low-income 
persons and their labour market status. This group 
is analysed in relation to their living conditions in 
general - their educational level, health status, 
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Statistics in Focus: Population and social conditions. The EC Household Panel
Newsletter (2/99). 1999.8

in focus POPULATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS THEME 3-16/1999 POPULATION AND LIVING CONDITIONS Contents ECHP research contracts to date ..2 New pricing policy 2 Types of users and prices for 1994-1996 waves data 3 i *** * * * * * * *** eure jf »stat Manuscript completed on: 10.12.1999 ISSN 1024-4352 Catalogue number: CA-NK-99-016-EN-C Price in Luxembourg per single copy (excl. VAT): EUR 6 © European Communities, 1999 The EC Household Panel Newsletter (3/99) Eric Marlier EDITORIAL The new, more comprehensive and substantially revised ECHP Users' Data Base (UDB), containing 1994-1996 micro-data, has just become available. This gives us a good opportunity to look back and consider the major steps that have been made in ECHP data availability over the last two years; in particular, the actual impact for the scientific community, i.e. the new research projects that the UDB is already or will soon be fostering. It also gives us a good occasion to look forward and announce a major change in our pricing policy, which has been made possible only because of the success met so far. The price of the UDB will be reduced significantly as of 1 January 2000. We hope this will boost further the interest in and use of this unique source of comparable information on income and living conditions in the EU. As you may remember, it is in the new legal framework provided by the so-called EU Statistical Law that Eurostat developed a strategy back in November 1997 to meet the growing interest for ECHP based statistics more satisfactorily. It decided then to construct the UDB, with a view to opening up access to ECHP micro-data without jeopardising both the necessary conditions of data confidentiality and the value of the data. The UDB contains anonymised ECHP household and personal micro-data, in the sense that there should be no risk that an individual statistical unit could be identified in this data-set through "all the means that might reasonably be used by a third party to identify the said statistical unit" (Statistical Law). It is user-friendly and truly longitudinal in structure. Thanks to the UDB, the first version of which was finalised mid-December 1998, ECHP data have become more widely available, although direct access to this anonymised dataset is restricted by means of ECHP research contracts that are signed with Eurostat and stipulate the strict conditions of data use and access. It is worth pointing out that this direct access offered to researchers still remains exceptional at EU-level. This precursory role highlights the fact that users have always been a key focus of the project. The first ECHP research contract was signed in January 1999, that is almost one year ago. ECHP research contracts to date We are about to blow out the first candle of our new ECHP data dissemination policy, and it is now time for us to analyse the actual impact of this breakthrough in EU comparative socio-economic research. The focus hereafter is thus on analyses carried out outside Eurostat and ECHP National Data Collection Units (NDUs), i.e. the direct use of ECHP micro-data that has been made possible through the dissemination of the UDB. The emphasis is on stressing the diversity of projects carried out in the context of ECHP research contracts rather than on trying to present an exhaustive list of these. To date, 24 ECHP research contracts have already been or are about to be signed: (a) Five of them involve exclusively the Commission, another EU institution or an NDU. (b) Two of them involve international organisations. (c) As to the remaining 17 contracts, they involve many more than 17 data users given that some of them were signed in the context of research projects funded by one of the European Commission research programs (TSER, TMR, BIOMED...). Under strict rules specified in the ECHP research contracts, some or all of the data analysts who are contractual members of a network in charge of one of these projects may be given access to the UDB. The consequence of this is that, excluding the few NDUs that participate in some of these projects, not less than 60 universities, research institutes or research departments in public administrations can now access directly the anonymised and user-friendly ECHP data-set. These bodies are disseminated in 14 EU Member States (the exception being Luxembourg, a country where the NDU is very much involved in international research networks) as well as Norway and Switzerland. The research projects specified in these ECHP research contracts are numerous, extremely varied and ambitious. Their focus is on comparable and multi-dimensional data on income and living conditions in the broadest sense. Some of these projects include longitudinal analyses that are likely to require at least three waves of the ECHP. Here are a few examples of the studies planned in the current research contracts: • Low-wage employment and the working poor: proportion of low-wage workers, analysis of this population in terms of both individual and job's characteristics, extent of poverty among workers... • Relationship between standard of living, social policy, labour market and the role of the family. For instance: transitions on the labour market and standard of living, individual income versus household standard of living... • Construction of a tax-benefit micro-simulation model covering all 15 EU countries and based on household micro-data from ECHP and other data sources. • Employment precarity, unemployment and social exclusion. • Family structure, labour market participation and the dynamics of social exclusion. • Transitions from education to work. • Inequalities in health (self-reported health status), economic determinants of the distribution of health and health care... • Gender earnings differentials: relative importance of gender-specific and wage structure factors in determining earnings differentials between men and women, relationship between gender earnings differentials and gender differences in the pattern of job mobility... New pricing policy As can be seen from the above, we have been quite successful in the dissemination of our data. This has encouraged the different departments concerned at Eurostat to reconsider fundamentally the pricing policy applied to the UDB. We will not come back on the details of the contractual aspect of the ECHP dissemination policy: ECHP research contracts themselves are not affected at all by the change in policy. The decision is indeed only about the price of the UDB, which will be reduced significantly as of 1 January 2000, with the hope that this will boost further the use of this unique research tool. So, our focus here is on the various categories of ECHP data users defined by Eurostat and the respective pricing policy applied to these. Prices below are for 1994-1996 waves data. As before, the specific pricing strategy and accessing/ utilisation rules applied to each category of ECHP users have been developed in order to try and achieve two major aims: encourage ECHP research and increase the visibility of the instrument. Statistics in focus — Theme 3 — 16/1999 m eurostat In particular, the pricing strategy still makes it possible for those users interested to get a significant reduction in price in exchange for a Eurostat "by-product". As described in our January 99 Newsletter, these "products"... • are a possibility, not a 'right', that Eurostat may offer to users interested in the case of a real common interest of both the organisation(s) concerned and Eurostat; are negotiated in detail in terms of content, timing... and must be original, e.g. should not have been published anywhere else in the case of a publication; are the property of Eurostat. Types of users and prices for 1994-1996 waves data A STUDENTS, INDIVIDUAL RESEARCHERS... There is normally no possibility for individual persons to acquire the CD-ROM directly. Such requests need to come from the organisation where the person interested is studying or working. Β ALL ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF OF THE COMMISSION B.1 Analyses are conducted Commission staff/personnel PRICE: Free solely by B.2 Analyses are conducted by external experts in the context of a SINGLE contract signed with the Commission B.2.1 All data analysts involved pertain to the same organisation PRICE: ~ 3.000 EUR (or 1.000 plus one by-product) B.2.2 All data analysts involved are contractual members of a network that as such has a contract with the Commission (e.g. DGXII TSER, TMR or BIOMED research networks) Access is given only to data analysts listed in this (TSER/...) contract signed with the Commission. PRICE: 6.000 EUR (or 2.000 plus one by-product) B.2.3 Data analysts involved pertain to two or more organisations that are not organised in a "Commission network" Access is given only to data analysts listed in this contract signed with the Commission. PRICE: 6.000 EUR (or 2.000 plus one by-product) B.3 Analyses are carried out by external experts in the context of SEVERAL contracts signed with the Commission Data are used solely for the purpose of the projects specified in the contracts with the Commission. All data analysts involved in this project pertain to the SAME organisation. PRICE: 6.000 EUR (or 2.000 plus one by-product) C ALL ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT EXCLUSIVELY EITHER ON BEHALF OF OTHER EU INSTITUTIONS OR ON BEHALF OF EU AGENCIES All categories under "B" above strictly apply. "Commission" simply needs to be replaced with the name of the relevant EU body. D ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ PERSONNEL OF A GIVEN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC ORGANISATION (E.G. A SPECIFIC UN BODY...) - ALL ANALYSES ARE CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF OF THIS ORGANISATION Except if stated otherwise in a memorandum signed with Eurostat: PRICE: 3.000 EUR (or free plus one by-product) E ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ PERSONNEL OF A GIVEN FEDERAL OR REGIONAL MINISTRY/ ADMINISTRATION - ALL ANALYSES ARE CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF IF THIS BODY Except if stated otherwise in a memorandum signed with Eurostat: PRICE: 3.000 EUR (or free plus one by-product) F ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ PERSONNEL OF A SINGLE ORGANISATION. DATA ARE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF ONE OR SEVERAL PROJECTS PRICE: 6.000 EUR (or 2.000 plus one by-product) G ANY USER OTHER THAN THOSE DESCRIBED ABOVE (INCLUDING NETWORKS/ASSOCIATIONS NOT COVERED IN "B.2.2" OR "B.2.3" ABOVE) Possibilities of acquiring the UDB as well as the price and related data access/use issues, will need to be examined on an ad hoc basis by Eurostat. eurostat 16/1999 — Theme 3 — Statistics in focus Further information: > Reference publications Title European Community Household Panel (ECHP): Selected indicators from the 1995 wave Catalogue No CA-22-99-765-EN-C Price EUR 45 To obtain information or to order publications, data bases and special sets of data, please contact the Data Shop network: B E L G I Q U B B E L G I Ë D A N M A R K D E U T S C H L A N D ESPANA F R A N C E ITALIA - R o m a Eurostat Data Shop Bruxeiles/Brussel Chaussee «"Etterbeek 13 Etterbeeksesteenweg 13 B-1049 BRUXELLES/BRUSSEL Tel. (32-2) 299 66 66 Fax (32-2) 295 01 25 E-Mail: datashop. brussels@cec. eu. ¡nt E-Mail: DANMARKS STATISTIK Bibliotek og Information Eurostat Data Shop Sejrøgade 11 DK-2100 KØBENHAVN 0 Tel. (45-39) 17 30 30 Fax(45-39)1730 03 dk STATISTISCHES BUNDESAMT Eurostat Data Shop Berlin Otto-Braun-Straße 70-72 D-10178 BERLIN Tel. (49-30) 23 24 64 27/28 Fax (49-30) 23 24 64 30 E-Mail: datashop@statistik-bund.de INE Eurostat Data Shop Paseo de la Castellana, 183 Oficina 009 Entrada por Estèbanez Calderón E-28046 MADRID Tel. (34-91) 583 91 67 Fax (34-91) 579 71 20 E-Mail: datashop.eurostat@ine.es INSEE Info Service Eurostat Data Shop 195, rue de Bercy Tour Gamma A F-75582 PARIS CEDEX 12 Tel. (33-1) 53 17 88 44 Fax (33-1) 5317 88 22 E-Mail: datashop@insee.fr ISTAT Centro di Informazione Statistica Sede di Roma, Eurostat Data Shop via Cesare Balbo, 11 a 1-00184 ROMA Tel. 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Statistics in Focus: Population and social conditions. The EC Household Panel
Newsletter (3/99). 1999.16

The EC Household Panel Newsletter Eric Marlier Stat ist ics in focus · · · · · · · POPULATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS POPULATION AND LIVING CONDITIONS < THEME 3-2/1999 eurostat EDITORIAL Again, the Eurostat ECHP team has gone through a busy and challenging period since the last issue of its Newsletter... but it was worth it given the concrete major step forward that has been made! So, welcome to this fifth edition of the EC Household Panel Newsletter, entirely devoted to a key issue that has been in the dreams of many (potential) ECHP users since our survey generated its first EU-12 data-set: the issue of data availability. Latest developments in ECHP data availability have to do with the following two areas: Data anonymisation: As already mentioned in our last Newsletter, ECHP micro-data contain information considered "confidential" in terms of the EU Council regulation N° 322/97 of 17/2/97 on Community statistics, the so-called EU "Statistical Law". Therefore, direct access to these original data has had to be more restrictive than what is desirable for a full exploitation of the data despite the strong interest expressed by many researchers and other users. Also, the structure of the ECHP "production database" is complex and thus very difficult for use outside as well as inside Eurostat, which increases significantly the risk of errors in using the data. Data dissemination: In view of this situation and given the growing demand for ECHP data from both inside and outside the Commission, Eurostat decided to construct back in November 1997 a user-friendly "longitudinal users' database" containing "anonymised" ECHP household's and personal micro-data. Rules for disseminating this users' database, and more specifically the access and price policy applied, have now been agreed upon. These two areas will be covered in detail in the present issue. Manuscript completed on: 15.01.99 ISSN 1024-4352 Catalogue number: CA-NK-99-002-EN-C Price in Luxembourg (excl. VAT): Single copy: EUR 6 D A T A A N O N Y M | s N You may remember from our previous Newsletter that the anonymisation of ECHP micro-data has required the definition of "objective anonymisation criteria" to be met by our "users' database" (UDB). By "objective", it is meant that once these criteria are applied to the various ECHP files, there should be no risk that an individual statistical unit could be identified through "all the means that might reasonably be used by a third party to identify the said statistical unit" ("Statistical Law"). Provided that all these criteria are met, ECHP data can thus be considered "non-confidential" in the sense of the Statistical Law and therefore made more widely available, although direct access to such anonymised data needs to be restricted by means of research contracts stipulating the strict conditions of use and access (see below). It is in this context that at the 1997 ECHP Working Group (Luxembourg, 13-14/11/97), Eurostat proposed to ECHP National Data Collection Units (NDUs - either national statistical institutes or research centres, depending on the country) a first set of such anonymisation criteria to be applied to the various ECHP files. It also submitted for discussion different rules, contractual requirements that should allow easier access to these "anonymised" data. The objective was therefore to open up access to ECHP micro-data without jeopardising both the necessary conditions of data confidentiality and the value of the data. Extensive negotiations with all ECHP NDUs concerning the final set of "anonymisation criteria" to be applied to the UDB as well as the rules for accessing this UDB, have been conducted up to November 1998. Apart from some minor differences, all 14 Member States that are taking part in the ECHP have agreed on the same set of criteria and rules, meaning that they have supported both the idea of direct access to anonymised micro-data and the concrete EU harmonised proposal for anonymisation submitted by Eurostat. Those readers interested may receive a comprehensive list of these criteria from Eurostat; this list also forms part of the documentation that is provided on the CD-ROM containing the UDB. Access and Price p0| jcy Eurostat has restricted direct access to the anonymised micro-data contained in the ECHP UDB by means of "ECHP research contracts" These contracts, which are signed with Eurostat, stipulate the strict conditions of data use and access such as: We will not enter into the details of this contractual aspect of the dissemination policy, but rather focus on the various categories of ECHP data users defined by Eurostat and the respective pricing policy applied to these. (a) The contractor must ensure that the files contained in the UDB are used exclusively for the research purposes clearly specified in the contract, excluding in particular any possible administrative use. (b) The contractor will be required to take all the necessary regulatory, administrative, technical and organisational measures to ensure that none of these data are distributed to third parties, and that there will be no attempt to identify nor will the contractor claim to have done so, by any means whatsoever, any individual statistical unit. In particular, the UDB shall not be connected with other data sets from any other source. (c) Any ECHP data recipients will be required to provide Eurostat with a copy of all reports (including 'papers'...) they produce using ECHP data. (d) Forthose "ECHP research contracts" allowing it: any research other than the project(s) specifically described in the contract shall require the explicit and unambiguous written consent from Eurostat; etc. Eurostat has decided to apply a dissemination policy for the UDB that would both encourage ECHP research and increase the visibility of the instrument. The specific pricing strategy and accessing/utilisation rules applied to each category of ECHP users have been developed in order to try and achieve these aims. In particular, the pricing strategy makes it possible for those users interested to get a significant reduction in price in exchange for a Eurostat "by-product". These "by-products"... • are a possibility, not a 'right', that Eurostat offers to users interested in the case of a common interest of both the institution(s)/organisation(s)/company(ies) concerned and Eurostat; • are negotiated in detail in terms of content, timing, etc. and must be original, e.g. should not have been published anywhere else in the case of a publication; • are the property of Eurostat Statistics in focus — Theme 3 — 2/1999- m eurostat TYPES OF USERS AND PRICES FOR 1994-1996 WAVES DATA STUDENTS, INDIVIDUAL RESEARCHERS... (THESIS, ETC.) There is normally no possibility for individual persons to acquire the CD-ROM directly. Such requests need to come from the institution/ organisation where the person interested is studying/working. Data are used solely for the purpose of the projects specified in the contracts with the Commission. All data analysts involved in this project pertain to the SAME institution/ organisation/company. PRICE: EUR 12.000 (or EUR 4.000 plus one by-product) Β A L L ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF OF THE COMMISSION B.1 Analyses are conducted solely by Commission staff/personnel PRICE: Free B.2 Analyses are conducted by external experts in the context of a SINGLE contract signed with the Commission B.2.1 All data analysts involved pertain to the same institution/organisation/company PRICE: EUR 6.000 (or EUR 2.000 plus one by-product) B.2.2 All data analysts involved are contractual members of a network that as such has a contract with the Commission (e.g. DGXII TSER, TMR or BIOMED research networks) Access is given only to data analysts that are listed in this (TSER/...) contract signed with the Commission. PRICE: EUR 12.000 (or EUR 4.000 plus one by-product) B.2.3 Data analysts involved pertain to two or more institutions/organisations/companies that are not organised in a "Commission network" Access is given only to data analysts that are listed in this contract signed with the Commission. PRICE: EUR 12.000 (or EUR 4.000 plus one by-product) B.3 Analyses are carried out by external experts in the context of SEVERAL contracts signed with the Commission C ALL ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT EXCLUSIVELY EITHER ON BEHALF OF OTHER E U INSTITUTIONS OR ON BEHALF OF E U AGENCIES All categories under "B" above strictly apply. "Commission" simply needs to be replaced with the name of the relevant EU body. D ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ PERSONNEL OF A GIVEN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC ORGANISATION (E.G. THE O E C D , A SPECIFIC U N BODY...) - A L L ANALYSES ARE CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF OF THIS ORGANISATION Except if stated otherwise in a memorandum signed with Eurostat: PRICE: EUR 6.000 (or free plus one by-product) E ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ PERSONNEL OF A GIVEN FEDERAL OR REGIONAL MINISTRY/ADMINISTRATION - A L L ANALYSES ARE CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF OF THIS BODY Except if stated otherwise in a memorandum signed with Eurostat: PRICE: EUR 6.000 (or free plus one by-product) F ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ PERSONNEL OF A S I N G L E INSTITUTION/ORGANI-SATION/COMPANY. DATA ARE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF ONE OR SEVERAL PROJECTS PRICE: EUR 12.000 (or EUR 4.000 plus one by-product) G ANY USER OTHER THAN THOSE D E S C R I B E D ABOVE (INCLUDING NETWORKS/ASSOCIATIONS NOT COVERED IN "B.2.2" OR "B.2.3" ABOVE) Possibilities of acquiring the UDB as well as the price and the related data access/use issues, will need to be examined on an ad hoc basis by Eurostat. eurostat -2/1999— S ta t i s t i c s in focus — Theme 3 Further information: Data bases New Cronos Domain To obtain information or to order publications, data bases and special sets of data, please contact the Data Shop network: BELGIQUE/BELGIE D A N M A R K DEUTSCHLAND ESPANA F R A N C E ITALIA - Roma Eurostat Data Shop Briuelles/Brussel Chaussée d'Etterbeek 13 Etterbeeksesteenweg 13 B-1049 BRUXELLES / BRUSSEL Tel. 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in focus 
POPULATION AND 
SOCIAL CONDITIONS 
THEME 3-16/1999 
POPULATION AND LIVING 
CONDITIONS 
Contents 
ECHP research contracts to date ..2 
New pricing policy 2 
Types of users and prices for 
1994-1996 waves data 3 
i 
*** * * * * * * *** eure 
jf 
»stat 
Manuscript completed on: 10.12.1999 
ISSN 1024-4352 
Catalogue number: CA-NK-99-016-EN-C 
Price in Luxembourg per single copy 
(excl. VAT): EUR 6 
© European Communities, 1999 
The EC Household Panel 
Newsletter (3/99) 
Eric Marlier 
EDITORIAL 
The new, more comprehensive and substantially revised ECHP Users' Data 
Base (UDB), containing 1994-1996 micro-data, has just become available. 
This gives us a good opportunity to look back and consider the major steps 
that have been made in ECHP data availability over the last two years; in 
particular, the actual impact for the scientific community, i.e. the new research 
projects that the UDB is already or will soon be fostering. 
It also gives us a good occasion to look forward and announce a major 
change in our pricing policy, which has been made possible only because of 
the success met so far. The price of the UDB will be reduced significantly as 
of 1 January 2000. We hope this will boost further the interest in and use of 
this unique source of comparable information on income and living conditions 
in the EU. 
As you may remember, it is in the new legal framework provided by the so-
called EU Statistical Law that Eurostat developed a strategy back in 
November 1997 to meet the growing interest for ECHP based statistics more 
satisfactorily. It decided then to construct the UDB, with a view to opening up 
access to ECHP micro-data without jeopardising both the necessary 
conditions of data confidentiality and the value of the data. 
The UDB contains anonymised ECHP household and personal micro-data, in 
the sense that there should be no risk that an individual statistical unit could 
be identified in this data-set through "all the means that might reasonably be 
used by a third party to identify the said statistical unit" (Statistical Law). It is 
user-friendly and truly longitudinal in structure. 
Thanks to the UDB, the first version of which was finalised mid-December 
1998, ECHP data have become more widely available, although direct access 
to this anonymised dataset is restricted by means of ECHP research contracts 
that are signed with Eurostat and stipulate the strict conditions of data use 
and access. 
It is worth pointing out that this direct access offered to researchers still 
remains exceptional at EU-level. This precursory role highlights the fact that 
users have always been a key focus of the project. 
The first ECHP research contract was signed in January 1999, that is almost 
one year ago. 
ECHP research contracts to date 
We are about to blow out the first candle of our new 
ECHP data dissemination policy, and it is now time for 
us to analyse the actual impact of this breakthrough in 
EU comparative socio-economic research. 
The focus hereafter is thus on analyses carried out 
outside Eurostat and ECHP National Data Collection 
Units (NDUs), i.e. the direct use of ECHP micro-data 
that has been made possible through the dissemination 
of the UDB. 
The emphasis is on stressing the diversity of projects 
carried out in the context of ECHP research contracts 
rather than on trying to present an exhaustive list of 
these. 
To date, 24 ECHP research contracts have already 
been or are about to be signed: 
(a) Five of them involve exclusively the Commission, 
another EU institution or an NDU. 
(b) Two of them involve international organisations. 
(c) As to the remaining 17 contracts, they involve 
many more than 17 data users given that some of 
them were signed in the context of research 
projects funded by one of the European 
Commission research programs (TSER, TMR, 
BIOMED...). Under strict rules specified in the 
ECHP research contracts, some or all of the data 
analysts who are contractual members of a 
network in charge of one of these projects may be 
given access to the UDB. The consequence of this 
is that, excluding the few NDUs that participate in 
some of these projects, not less than 60 
universities, research institutes or research 
departments in public administrations can now 
access directly the anonymised and user-friendly 
ECHP data-set. These bodies are disseminated in 
14 EU Member States (the exception being 
Luxembourg, a country where the NDU is very 
much involved in international research networks) 
as well as Norway and Switzerland. 
The research projects specified in these ECHP research 
contracts are numerous, extremely varied and 
ambitious. Their focus is on comparable and multi-
dimensional data on income and living conditions in the 
broadest sense. Some of these projects include 
longitudinal analyses that are likely to require at least 
three waves of the ECHP. 
Here are a few examples of the studies planned in the 
current research contracts: 
• Low-wage employment and the working poor: 
proportion of low-wage workers, analysis of this 
population in terms of both individual and job's 
characteristics, extent of poverty among workers... 
• Relationship between standard of living, social 
policy, labour market and the role of the family. For 
instance: transitions on the labour market and 
standard of living, individual income versus 
household standard of living... 
• Construction of a tax-benefit micro-simulation model 
covering all 15 EU countries and based on 
household micro-data from ECHP and other data 
sources. 
• Employment precarity, unemployment and social 
exclusion. 
• Family structure, labour market participation and the 
dynamics of social exclusion. 
• Transitions from education to work. 
• Inequalities in health (self-reported health status), 
economic determinants of the distribution of health 
and health care... 
• Gender earnings differentials: relative importance of 
gender-specific and wage structure factors in 
determining earnings differentials between men and 
women, relationship between gender earnings 
differentials and gender differences in the pattern of 
job mobility... 
New pricing policy 
As can be seen from the above, we have been quite 
successful in the dissemination of our data. This has 
encouraged the different departments concerned at 
Eurostat to reconsider fundamentally the pricing policy 
applied to the UDB. 
We will not come back on the details of the contractual 
aspect of the ECHP dissemination policy: ECHP 
research contracts themselves are not affected at all by 
the change in policy. 
The decision is indeed only about the price of the UDB, 
which will be reduced significantly as of 1 January 2000, 
with the hope that this will boost further the use of this 
unique research tool. 
So, our focus here is on the various categories of ECHP 
data users defined by Eurostat and the respective 
pricing policy applied to these. Prices below are for 
1994-1996 waves data. 
As before, the specific pricing strategy and accessing/ 
utilisation rules applied to each category of ECHP users 
have been developed in order to try and achieve two 
major aims: encourage ECHP research and increase 
the visibility of the instrument. 
Statistics in focus — Theme 3 — 16/1999 m 
eurostat 
In particular, the pricing strategy still makes it possible 
for those users interested to get a significant reduction 
in price in exchange for a Eurostat "by-product". 
As described in our January 99 Newsletter, these 
"products"... 
• are a possibility, not a 'right', that Eurostat may offer 
to users interested in the case of a real common 
interest of both the organisation(s) concerned and 
Eurostat; 
are negotiated in detail in terms of content, timing... 
and must be original, e.g. should not have been 
published anywhere else in the case of a 
publication; 
are the property of Eurostat. 
Types of users and prices for 1994-1996 waves data 
A STUDENTS, INDIVIDUAL RESEARCHERS... 
There is normally no possibility for individual persons to 
acquire the CD-ROM directly. Such requests need to 
come from the organisation where the person interested 
is studying or working. 
Β ALL ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT EXCLUSIVELY 
ON BEHALF OF THE COMMISSION 
B.1 Analyses are conducted 
Commission staff/personnel 
PRICE: Free 
solely by 
B.2 Analyses are conducted by external experts 
in the context of a SINGLE contract signed with the 
Commission 
B.2.1 All data analysts involved pertain to the 
same organisation 
PRICE: ~ 3.000 EUR 
(or 1.000 plus one by-product) 
B.2.2 All data analysts involved are contractual 
members of a network that as such has a contract 
with the Commission (e.g. DGXII TSER, TMR or 
BIOMED research networks) 
Access is given only to data analysts listed in this 
(TSER/...) contract signed with the Commission. 
PRICE: 6.000 EUR 
(or 2.000 plus one by-product) 
B.2.3 Data analysts involved pertain to two or 
more organisations that are not organised in a 
"Commission network" 
Access is given only to data analysts listed in this 
contract signed with the Commission. 
PRICE: 6.000 EUR 
(or 2.000 plus one by-product) 
B.3 Analyses are carried out by external experts 
in the context of SEVERAL contracts signed with 
the Commission 
Data are used solely for the purpose of the projects 
specified in the contracts with the Commission. All data 
analysts involved in this project pertain to the SAME 
organisation. 
PRICE: 6.000 EUR 
(or 2.000 plus one by-product) 
C ALL ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT EXCLUSIVELY 
EITHER ON BEHALF OF OTHER EU INSTITUTIONS OR ON 
BEHALF OF EU AGENCIES 
All categories under "B" above strictly apply. 
"Commission" simply needs to be replaced with the 
name of the relevant EU body. 
D ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ 
PERSONNEL OF A GIVEN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC 
ORGANISATION (E.G. A SPECIFIC UN BODY...) - ALL 
ANALYSES ARE CONDUCTED EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF OF 
THIS ORGANISATION 
Except if stated otherwise in a memorandum signed 
with Eurostat: 
PRICE: 3.000 EUR 
(or free plus one by-product) 
E ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ 
PERSONNEL OF A GIVEN FEDERAL OR REGIONAL MINISTRY/ 
ADMINISTRATION - ALL ANALYSES ARE CONDUCTED 
EXCLUSIVELY ON BEHALF IF THIS BODY 
Except if stated otherwise in a memorandum signed 
with Eurostat: 
PRICE: 3.000 EUR 
(or free plus one by-product) 
F ANALYSES ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE STAFF/ 
PERSONNEL OF A SINGLE ORGANISATION. DATA ARE USED 
FOR THE PURPOSE OF ONE OR SEVERAL PROJECTS 
PRICE: 6.000 EUR 
(or 2.000 plus one by-product) 
G ANY USER OTHER THAN THOSE DESCRIBED ABOVE 
(INCLUDING NETWORKS/ASSOCIATIONS NOT COVERED IN 
"B.2.2" OR "B.2.3" ABOVE) 
Possibilities of acquiring the UDB as well as the price 
and related data access/use issues, will need to be 
examined on an ad hoc basis by Eurostat. 
eurostat 
16/1999 — Theme 3 — Statistics in focus 
Further information: 
> Reference publications 
Title European Community Household Panel (ECHP): Selected indicators from the 1995 wave 
Catalogue No CA-22-99-765-EN-C Price EUR 45 
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Statistics The EC Household Panel Newsletter (2/99) Eric Manier , . ... : . in focus · · · · · · · ♦ POPULATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS THEME 3-8/1999 POPULATION AND LIVING CONDITIONS Contents ECHP general publication 2 Future of the ECHP in the short and longer term 2 Income, poverty and social exclusion statistics 3 *** * • * * * ■ * *** eure Jr »stat Manuscript completed on: 15.06.99 ISSN 1024-4352 Catalogue number: CA-NK-99-008-EN-C Price in Luxembourg per single copy (excl. VAT): EUR 6 EDITORIAL Since December 1998, direct access to a user-friendly longitudinal users' database containing "anonymised" ECHP household's and personal micro-data is possible through ECHP research contracts stipulating the strict conditions of data access and use. The previous edition of our Newsletter was entirely devoted to this key issue of ECHP data availability, and in particular the latest developments in data anonymisation and dissemination. The main focus of the present edition is on the first ECHP large-scale publication ("European Community Household Panel (ECHP): Selected indicators from the 1995 wave"), which will appear in June/July this year and should whet the appetite of numerous users and encourage an extensive use of this unique data-set. Apart from a presentation of this publication, two important topics are covered in this issue: > Future development of the ECHP: In 1994, the ECHP was launched for a first 3-year round, i.e. the 1994-1996 waves. In 1996, the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) meeting, that gathers the Director Generals of EU National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), approved the Eurostat proposal to go on with the survey for another 3 years (1997-1999). On 1-2 June 1999, the future of our instrument in the short and longer term was discussed at the first meeting of the Directors for Social Statistics of EU NSIs. Contact at this level offered a precious means to accelerate the discussion and decision processes of the SPC. > Eurostat present activities in income, poverty and social exclusion statistics: As already reported in our fourth Newsletter (1/98), Eurostat activities in this area were re-launched at a High Level Think Tank meeting in January 1998. One of the outcomes of this meeting was the setting-up of a Task Force that met for the first time in March 1998, in Luxembourg. This Task Force discussed various technical issues as well as ways of reporting on social exclusion and poverty statistics. It also carried out several analyses of EU and national data sources, drawing extensively on ECHP data. A Working Group first approved the Task Force's "Recommendations on Social Exclusion and Poverty Statistics" in October 1998. In November 1998 (Doc. CPS 98/31/2), they were agreed by the SPC. The Eurostat work programme for 1999 in this area concentrates on 4 major themes. ECHP general publication With the Treaty of Amsterdam, EU Member States have negotiated, ratified and, since 1 May 1999, implemented a set of major political commitments. One of these is to place citizens' rights and employment at the heart of the EU. of this publication (aggregates, averages and indices). This represents a first attempt at the interpretation and analysis of the data. In pursuing the same analytical objective, several results are cross-tabulated with various socio-demographic variables. In this context, there is an increasing need to acquire internationally comparable data on the social and economic conditions of persons and households in the EU in order to build up knowledge in this area. The ECHP has clearly a central role in the development of such socio-economic statistics. The first ECHP "general publication", which will be issued very soon, provides results from the 1995 wave of the ECHP and focuses on three key areas: income, housing and work. Prior to this publication, some limited results had been issued, mainly in the context of the Eurostat Statistics in Focus series. This large-scale publication is structured around 3 main parts: 1) Part A provides information on sampling, reliability of results, imputation of missing income data, weighting procedures and calculation methods; 2) Part Β provides the general background information and the key definitions used; 3) Part C presents the main survey results in the three domains covered. Each of the three sections in Part C (C1-C3) starts with a "specific information background" describing the sources, concepts, classifications and methods used, as well as the wording of questions. These short texts are followed by tables that contain the results. Included are a large number of indicators, either based on existing methodology or developed specifically for the purpose In order to present the general statistical framework of the publication, a complete set of background statistics on the national universes (households and persons) and the distribution of the classification variables used in the socio-demographic breakdowns is provided in an Annex. Also annexed are the addresses of the ECHP National Data Collection Units. Main ECHP results included in the publication cover the following areas: • Income: Income components of households and persons (including earnings from work, private income and the various social transfers), distribution of persons by income quantiles (with respective share of total national income, mean total income per capita, mean equivalised income received per capita from main income sources, share of children and elderly people...), Gini coefficients, low- and high-income thresholds and populations concerned, subjective and non-monetary indicators of economic position, assessed minimum income required to make ends meet, income satisfaction, etc. • Housing: Dwelling type and tenure status, number of rooms in dwelling, overcrowded households, amenities and housing problems, (re-)payments problems, housing satisfaction, etc. • Work: Earnings, job characteristics (supervisory/ non-supervisory responsibilities, private/public sector...), employment history (including experience of unemployment...), reasons for working part-time, job search activity, job satisfaction, etc. Future of the ECHP in the short and longer term On 1-2 June 1999, the future development of the ECHP in the short and medium term was discussed at the first meeting of the Directors for Social Statistics of EU NSIs. For the near future, the decision is to continue the existing ECHP for another 3 waves (2000-2002) with essentially the same structure and similar content. However: • minor amendments to the questionnaire could be envisaged if they are required to meet users' needs in a satisfactory manner; • an attempt will be made at improving the representativeness of the national samples through appropriate sample supplementation, at least in surveys with heavy and/or selective loss due to attrition. Work on these technical issues has already started. As is often the case, possibilities here will clearly be a matter of cost, technical resources and timing. For the longer term, that is after the year 2002, an open and flexible view on the content and structure for Statistics in focus — Theme 3 — 8/1999 ■ eurostat an EU-harmonised social survey centred mainly on income and work will need to be taken. A Task Force will carefully look at all options. Given the steps to be taken from now onwards, so as to be ready with a fully developed integrated solution (with tested design and procedures) by the end of 2002 at the latest, this Task Force should be set up during the fourth quarter of this year. The content of the future survey will have to be determined primarily in terms of its role in the European system of social statistics, and more particularly on how present and potential information needs can be properly satisfied. The aim must be to generate information to support the EU policies, such as those relating to the Amsterdam Treaty and the Employment Guidelines. As to the structure and technical arrangements of the survey, the choice between a panel and a cross-sectional survey will need to be re-debated. A key issue is to determine whether the needs for dynamic data linked at micro level (income with labour, health, education...), required e.g. for the longitudinal analysis of social exclusion, justify the complexity and cost of a multi-purpose panel survey. For those countries in which this possibility exists, another important issue has to be investigated: ways of getting comparable data partly or exclusively from existing national cross-sectional surveys and/or administrative registers. Possible options go therefore from "continuing the existing ECHP" to "launching a new, fully revised panel survey" or "launching a multi-purpose EU-harmonised cross-sectional survey centred essentially on income and labour (involving, where possible, adaptation of existing national cross-sectional social surveys)"... Combinations of both the cross-sectional and panel approaches are also options that have to be carefully considered. Income, poverty and social exclusion statistics The 1999 Eurostat work programme in income, poverty and social exclusion statistics is conducted with technical help from the Dutch NSI (CBS). It is focused on 4 major themes: 1) Income methodology: Eurostat has initiated an inventory of income definitions and concepts including an assessment of the robustness of the various income sources used in all 15 Member States. The goal is to have clear guidelines as to the treatment of income and income components at the EU level. 2) Analysis of monetary poverty: The SPC "Recommendations on Social Exclusion and Poverty Statistics" of Nov. 1998 specify the ways to compute different low-income thresholds and estimates. Calculations along these lines have been performed using ECHP data from the 1994 and 1995 waves (see also "ECHP general publication" above). 1996 data will be used later in the year and it is hoped that some longitudinal analysis can be carried out as well on all three waves. Two of the Recommendations depart fundamentally from the previous practice in EU poverty statistics: • in order to avoid the impact of extreme values at both ends of the income distribution, the median rather than the mean equivalised income are used for calculating the low-income thresholds ("poverty lines"): these thresholds are now put at 60% of the median and no longer at 50% of the mean equivalised income; • the median and mean equivalised income refer now to the income distribution of persons rather than households. 3) Establishment of a framework for analysis of social exclusion: The starting point is low-income persons and their labour market status. This group is analysed in relation to their living conditions in general - their educational level, health status, housing situation as well as their subjective perception of their economic and social conditions. ECHP data are equally used for these analyses. 4) Reporting on statistics on poverty and social exclusion: The Recommendations put emphasis on the need for clear guidelines for publishing data in the area as the information will often be politically sensitive. This includes well-documented infor-mation about sources and methods as well as a thorough check on data quality. The first report on statistics on social exclusion and poverty is due to be published by mid 2000. Further information can be obtained from Lene Mejer: Tel.: (352)4301-32382 E-mail: lene.mejer@eurostat.cec.be eurostat 8/1999 — Theme 3 — Statistics in focus Further information: > Databases New Cronos Theme 3 - Population and social conditions To obtain information or to order publications, data bases and special sets of data, please contact the Data Shop network: B E L G I Q U E / B E L G I Ë Eurostat Data Shop Bruxelles/Brussel Chaussée d'Etterbeek 13 Etterbeeksesteenweg 13 B-1049 BRUXELLES/ BRUSSEL Tel. 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