Prague EU-SILC Best Practice Workshop, 14th and 15th September 2017 The final estimates on income variables obtained by using only Administrative data in It-silc: 2011 vs 2015 Clodia Delle Fratte and Francesca Lariccia Prague EU-SILC Best Practice Workshop, 14th and 15th September 2017

Outline Introduction Background Aims Data&Methods Results Concluding remarks

Introduction/1 The Italian EU-SILC (It-Silc) survey was launched in 2004 and data were collected by means of a multi-sources data collection strategy. The final It-Silc database is obtained by means of integration at micro level of Survey data and Administrative archives. The leading idea is to exploit Administrative archives in order to fill in the survey missing values, reduce the measurement errors (correct outliers or unreliable values), improve the under reporting on income components and relative earners.

Main steps in the It-Silc production process: Introduction/2 Main steps in the It-Silc production process: the estimates of income variables Raw survey data Correction of individual structural variables Correction of household structural variables Imputation of unit non-response Correction and imputation of qualitative variables Integration of Survey data and Administrative archives Correction and imputation of quantitative variables Final integrated It-Silc database: Income variables

Integration of Survey and Administrative data Introduction/3 Integration of Survey and Administrative data Method to combine micro data from different database A flow process, starting from the analysis of the phenomenon and data-sources, and finishing with the reconciliation of values reported in the different sources. Record linkage: the individual ‘matching-key’ is the tax code, i.e. the personal ID number assigned to each person by the Italian tax authority. Reclassification and reconciliation of income components in the matched dataset: identification of income recipients, for different types of income; formulation of hypotheses for the reconciliation of inconsistencies between type of income components and/or income values.

As shown in the Workshop in London (data It-silc 2011) Background/1 As shown in the Workshop in London (data It-silc 2011) the integrated It-silc database improves the quality of final estimates on income variables, respect to estimates obtained by considering only Survey data DISADVANTAGES Timeliness Coherence Efficiency ADVANTAGES Accuracy Completeness

As shown in the Workshop in London (data It-silc 2011) Background/2 As shown in the Workshop in London (data It-silc 2011) for some income components is possible to produce good estimates using exclusively Administrative archives, by replacing the direct interview: Pensions income Employee income ADVANTAGES Cost and response burden: reduction by eliminating items from the questionnaire when administrative information is available; Efficiency: process more ‘easy’ due to the elimination of the integration for some administrative income components.

As shown in the Workshop in London (data It-silc 2011) Background/3 As shown in the Workshop in London (data It-silc 2011) for some income components is possible to produce good estimates using exclusively Administrative archives, by replacing the direct interview: Pension income Employee income DISADVANTAGES Timeliness: temporal constraint related to the acquisition timing of administrative data; Coherence: administrative data are collected by conforming the administrative aims and definitions (not statistical).

Aims Evaluate the stability of the impact of Administrative data on final income variables In particular: analyse final estimates on income variables obtained by using only Administrative data; confirm whether for the same income components is possible to produce good estimates using exclusively Administrative archives (by replacing the direct interview).

Repeat the same analysis shown in the London Workshop (data It-silc 2011) Starting from the final integrated It-Silc database 2015, construction of Administrative database 2015 by using the same process already adopted in 2011; Comparison of estimates of income variables (administrative data vs It-Silc): - levels and recipients of main individual net income components (employee income, self-employment income, and pension income) Estimates using exclusively Administrative sources, by replacing the direct interview Data&Methods results 2011 VS results 2015

Costruction of Administrative database 2015: Results Costruction of Administrative database 2015: estimates of income variables Final integrated It-Silc database Administrative archives (tax registers, pension registers) Refusal and not contactable : 17,046 cases Units with Administrative income data: 28,665 cases Only It-Silc : 7,428 (matched without tax returns  adm. income 0) + 485 (co-resident)+ 239 cases (not matched)

Costruction of Administrative database 2015: Results Costruction of Administrative database 2015: estimates of income variables Units of final integrated it-silc matched 28,665 7,428 matched without tax returns income 0 The ADMINISTRATIVE database Units of final integrated it-silc not matched 485 (co-resident)+ 239 cases (not matched) Imputation of income components on the base of the administrative data: employee, self-employment, and pension

Main individual net income components Results Main individual net income components Respect to the exclusive use of Administrative data It-Silc estimates: Employee income* number of recipients +8.1% +12.0% median income -0.9% -2.1% Self-employment income number of recipients +20.2% +21.4% median income +35.8% +26.1% Pension income number of recipients +3.1% +2.3% median income -1.1% -0.5% * In Administrative data the employee income includes only taxable fringe benefits 2011 2015

Results Total household net income = - It-Silc Employee income Finally, for which income components is possible to produce good estimates using exclusively Administrative archives (by replacing the direct interview)? Total household net income = - It-Silc Employee income + Administrative Employee income Total household net income = - It-Silc Self-employment income + Administrative Self-employment income Total household net income = - It-Silc Pension income + Administrative Pension income 1 2 3

+ Administrative Employee income Results Total household net income = - It-Silc Employee income + Administrative Employee income 1 2011 Mean: -2.5% Median: -3.7% 2015 Mean: -3.8% Median: -3.8%

Results Total household net income = - It-Silc Self-employment income + Administrative Self-employment income 2 2011 Mean: -4.5% Median: -4.2% 2015 Mean: -3.3% Median: -2.8%

+ Administrative Pension income Results Total household net income = - It-Silc Pension income + Administrative Pension income 3 2011 Mean: +0.6% Median: -0.1% 2015 Mean: -0.6% Median: -0.3% Mean: - 0.6% Median: -0.3%

Comparison between 2011 and 2015 highlights Concluding remarks/1 Comparison between 2011 and 2015 highlights Self-employment income NO Pension income YES in fact from It-Silc 2016 we eliminate the most important pensions from the direct interview Employee income NO however, we are analyzing ways to simplify some parts of the questionnaire concerning employee incomes by exploit administrative information

Employee income  Persistence of income profile Concluding remarks/1 Employee income  Persistence of income profile We know that, in Italy, for some kinds of employee (public sector, permanent contract, etc.), the profile does not change over the years. If in the 1st wave the sample data is confirmed by the administrative data, in the following waves we can eliminate some questions related to employees, as already acquired in the 1st wave.   Simplification of the questionnaire and reduction of the response burden.

Thank you! & Questions COMMENTS Clodia Delle Fratte dellefra@istat.it Francesca Lariccia lariccia@istat.it