1 Linking micro data. Some Norwegian experiences Øyvind Hagen Statistics Norway Nordic meeting, Faeroe Islands September

2 Comments concerning reporting unit – enterprises - in different statistics To produce statistics we use information from registers as well as surveys Registers are often not designed to have statistics as a main goal Enterprise IDs, in the database of the trading agent, may not be valid for the reporting period. Experiences from other countries? Extra- v intrastat? Smaller enterprises do not appear in many surveys due to response burden 2

3 Enterprise – business registration no. The most important enterprises belong to an enterprise group -EG Different enterprises within an EG may report to the various statistical areas Over time: within a statistical area the reporting unit may also change 3

4 External trade in goods statistics The reporting enterprise might not be the one actually exporting Downstream value chain enterprises act as intermediaries without having actual production e.g. exports of fish. Several producing enterprises may report only using one of the enterprise ID’s. 4

5 External trade versus structural business stat - sbs Norway - profit figures – e.g. gross operating surplus divided by turnover Aim - compare traders to non traders and across activity sector Challenge – certain EG’s may redistribute surplus to specific companies not necessarily present in ITGS data This may explain apparent large differences in profitability between traders and non - traders 5

Norway profit

Enterprise groups 7

8 Further developments Questions Based on findings when merging different statistics by enterprise use EG as reporting unit Do we lose relevant information about the most detailed level? Will bring about more work to be done? Complex EG structure may cause problems concerning the distribution by e.g. industry sector. Have any of the countries tried to make a comparison on EG level? 8

9 Further developments on the area MDL projects data Aim to develop robust rules for linking data on micro level from different statistical areas. Establish relevant indicators which can be efficiently and reliably reproduced 9

10 MDL project data sources National Business Register External Trade commodity/sevices Structural Business Statistics Foreign Affiliates Statistic, outward/inward Community Innovatioan Survey ICT Usage e-Commerce enterprise Survey International Sourcing Business Demography Statistics 10