Japan

Title: Survey of Household Economy

GENERAL INFORMATION AND BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Background

Further information is available from Statistics Bureau, Ministery of Public Management Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications of Wakamatsu-cho 19-1 Shinjuku-ku Tokyo Japan, phone: 81-3-5273-1171, fax: 81-3-5273-1495, e-mail: cosumer@stat.go.jp.
Data have been collected by household survey since 2001.

2. Purpose and coverage

The following purposes are considered to be very important or of some importance:

• to study the general structure of household incomes/expenditures
• to study income/expenditure disparities among socio-economic groups
• to study consumer behaviour among socio-economic groups

Lesser importance is attached to:

• to obtain weights for consumer price index
• to estimate household expenditure for national accounts
• to study income/expenditure patterns of disadvantaged groups, including pensioner households, single parent households, etc
• for general poverty and/or income distribution studies
• to study effects on income and expenditure of policy changes, especially tax changes
• for market research purposes

Geographic coverage: National with the following geographic areas excluded: remote or inaccessible areas .

Population coverage:
The following types of household are included in the data collection:

• one person private households

The following types of household are excluded in the data collection:

• private households with more than one person
• those in collective housing (such as long term hospitals, prisons, monasteries, military quarters)
• non-resident households of nationals (households of nationals located abroad)
• diplomatic households in the country
• households of other foreigners in the country
• armed forces residing in private housing within military base
• armed forces residing in private housing outside military base

Units: Dwelling units are not used in the sample selection.

Data are recorded for the household unit which is characterised by:

• one person units
• two or more people living together:
  • sharing a single dwelling or compound

Unit members: Usual residents temporarily living away from the dwelling are included, if away continuously for less than 3 months. Visitors (not usual residents) temporarily living in the dwelling are included, if staying continuously for more than 3 months. Domestic staff living in same dwelling/compound are included in the unit. Renters living in same dwelling/compound are not included in the unit. Boarders living in same dwelling/compound are not included in the unit.

Head of unit:
The concept of head of household/other unit is used in this survey and is characterised by:

• main income earner

3. Reference periods

The time period to which income and/or expenditure statistics refer when released/published is from 01/02 to 12/02. This survey is conducted continuously. The statistics are published quartely and annually.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

4. Sample design

The Primary, Secondary and Ultimate Sampling Units are enumeration area/district, none and household respectively.

Stratification:
Areas/districts were stratified using the following criteria:

• geographical regions
• rural/urban
• administrative districts

The sampling frames for the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) and Ultimate Sampling Unit (USU) were the list of Census enumeration areas and a set of administrative registers (or combination of such registers) respectively. Primary Sampling Units (PSU) were selected using probability proportional to size. The sample size was 30000 households or other units. The overall response rate for the survey was 73.3 percent.

Enumeration procedure: Enumeration uses a panel design in which each reporting unit is enumerated more than once. The sample is not divided into representative sub-samples. The panel has an expected lifetime of 1 years, and each reporting household/unit is enumerated 12 times in total. If a reporting household/unit drops out from the panel, it is replaced. If changes occur in composition of the reporting household/unit during the lifetime of the panel, then it continues in the panel. No action is taken to select a smaller set of reporting units for more detailed questioning.

DATA COLLECTION, CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS

5. Income data

Income data are collected. Receipts do not have to be regular and recurring to be considered as income. Income excludes receipts resulting from the sale or reduction of assets and/or from incurring liabilities. Income excludes receipts that are not currently available to the unit.

The following receipts are collected but not separately:¹

• wages and salaries
• cash bonuses and gratuities
• commissions and tips
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)
• drawing for own use from unincorporated enterprises
• interest received
• dividends
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land)
• royalties
• regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
• old age benefits
• other pensions
• unemployment benefits
• family-related allowances
• sickness benefits
• invalidity benefits
• education-related allowances
• housing allowances
• survivors benefits
• food subsidies
• medical reimbursements
• other social insurance benefits
• other social assistance benefits
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: cash, e.g. scholarships
• regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular inheritances or trusts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular cash gifts

The following receipts are not collected:¹

• termination and redundancy payments
• employer social security contributions
• employee social security contributions
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: housing
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: meals
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: car/transportation
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: goods or services produced by employer
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: other goods or services
• goods produced for own consumption
• services produced for own consumption
• goods produced for barter
• services produced for barter
• stock consumed from unincorporated enterprise
• services from owner-occupied dwellings
• services from other consumer durables (net)
• free government dwelling
• subsidized government dwelling
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: goods and services
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: free dwelling
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: subsidized dwelling
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular in-kind gifts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: free dwelling
• regular inter-household transfers received from: subsidized dwelling
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular free services
• social transfers in kind: medical services
• social transfers in kind: public education
• social transfers in kind: transport subsidies
• social transfers in kind: cultural and recreational services
• social transfers in kind: others

The following receipts are collected using the last 12 months as the reference period:

• wages and salaries
• cash bonuses and gratuities
• commissions and tips
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)
• drawing for own use from unincorporated enterprises
• interest received
• dividends
• rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house) , net of expenses
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land)
• royalties
• regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
• old age benefits
• other pensions
• unemployment benefits
• family-related allowances
• sickness benefits
• invalidity benefits
• education-related allowances
• housing allowances
• survivors benefits
• food subsidies
• medical reimbursements
• other social insurance benefits
• other social assistance benefits
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: cash, e.g. scholarships
• regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular inheritances or trusts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular cash gifts

Income data were collected as an aggregate for the whole unit. Negative values (business losses) were excluded when computing self-employment income.

6. Expenditure data

Data collection method:
Diaries are used to collect expenditure data and are maintained for one month.

Diaries are used to collect expenditure on the following items:

• clothing, footwear
• household services (such as plumber)
• personal services (such as driving lessons, haircuts)
• durables

Diaries are not used to collect expenditure on the following items:

• clothing, footwear
• household services (such as plumber)
• personal services (such as driving lessons, haircuts)
• durables

Interviews are not used to collect expenditure data.

Classification: A national classification that is not consistent with COICOP is used for classifying expenditure and has 63 separate categories at the finest level.

7. Other Data Collection Issues

The following other topics are covered:

• demographic characteristics
• education attainment of members
• employment status of members
• ownership of selected durable goods
• housing characteristics

Households are not requested to indicate whether durable goods are new or second-hand when their acquisition is recorded.

Non-response: Non-response households (refusals and non-contacts) are substituted.

Non-response is reduced using the following measures:

• more than one repeat visits
• other incentives : souvenirs
• other measures : demand by telephone

Reporting errors are reduced using the following measures:

• careful instrument design
• adequate cues or props for prompting

DATA PROCESSING, ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

Answers are pre-coded on data collection forms to the extent possible.

Extreme values are amended. Neither in-kind receipts nor consumption of own production is included in the estimates.

Treatment of owner-occupied housing: Values of owner-occupied housing are not included in the total income/expenditure estimates.

Treatment of selected groups/values in analysis: No households/units are excluded from analysis because of incomplete response. Missing values are retained without change . Supplementary sources are not used to adjust estimates for under- or over-reporting. No groups are excluded from data analysis.

Weighting:
Weighting factors are used to adjust for:

• sampling
• non-response
• bench-marking

Sampling errors: Sampling errors are not computed.

Tabulation and Analysis: Statistics are presented showing averages per year² and statistics are analysed and tabulated for households only.

The following classifications are used for tabulation and analysis of expenditure statistics:

• age of reference person or head of household
• sex of reference person or head of household
• other characteristic of reference person or head of household, vocation
• absolute income groups
• household size
• other classification, district, kind of residence

Documentation and Dissemination:

Additional statistics (or special tables on request) are not available for public use. Separate tables are published for households with wages/salaries as main source of income. Files of unidentifiable unit data are not available (or available on request) for public use.