Spain

Title: Panel de Hogares de la Unión Europea

GENERAL INFORMATION AND BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Background

Further information is available from Instituto Nacional de Estadistica of Paseo de la Castellana, 183 28046 Madrid, phone: 0034 91 58 39 298, fax: 0034 91 58 39 529, e-mail: curena@ine.es.
Data have been collected by household survey since 1994.

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 patterns of disadvantaged groups, including pensioner households, single parent households, etc
to study income/expenditure disparities among socio-economic groups
for general poverty and/or income distribution studies
to study effects on income and expenditure of policy changes, especially tax changes

Geographic coverage: National with the following geographic areas excluded: Ceuta and Mellila.

Population coverage:¹
The following types of household are included in the data collection:

one person private households
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
nomadic and other households difficult to reach: caravans, shacks, huts, etc.

Units:
Dwelling units are used in the sample selection and are characterised by:

single structure - detached housing unit
single unit in a structure containing more than one housing unit
multiple structures within a compound (e.g. huts)

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
- sharing meals
- sharing a common budget for (at least) food and housing expenditures

Unit members: Usual residents temporarily living away from the dwelling are included, if away continuously for less than 12 months. Visitors (not usual residents) temporarily living in the dwelling are included, if staying continuously for more than 12 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: ²
The concept of head of household/other unit is used in this survey and is characterised by:

acknowledged as such by other household/unit members

3. Reference periods

This survey is conducted annually. The statistics are published annually.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

4. Sample design

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

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

geographical regions
size of municipality

The sampling frames for the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) and Ultimate Sampling Unit (USU) were the list of Census enumeration areas and respectively.⁵ The sample size was 7992 households or other units and 7208 interviews. ⁶ The overall response rate for the survey was 60.4 percent.⁷ Errors/biases were minimized by using an updated sampling frame, controlled substitution in the primary sample.

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 8 years, and each reporting household/unit is enumerated 8 times in total. If a reporting household/unit drops out from the panel, it is abandonned. 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 separately:

wages and salaries¹⁰
remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
termination and redundancy payments
profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)¹¹
rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house), net of expenses
rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land)
regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute
retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
old age benefits
other pensions¹²
unemployment benefits¹²
family-related allowances¹²
sickness benefits
invalidity benefits¹²
education-related allowances
housing allowances
survivors benefits¹²
other social assistance benefits
regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support

The following receipts are collected but not separately:

cash bonuses and gratuities¹⁰
commissions and tips¹⁰
employee social security contributions¹⁰
interest received
dividends
royalties
regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: cash, e.g. scholarships
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:

employer 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
drawing for own use from unincorporated enterprises
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
food subsidies
medical reimbursements
other social insurance benefits
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
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 classified as income from paid employment:

wages and salaries¹⁰
cash bonuses and gratuities¹⁰
commissions and tips¹⁰
employee social security contributions¹⁰

The following receipts are classified as income from self-employment:

profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)¹¹

The following receipts are classified as property income:

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

The following receipts are classified as employment-related transfer income:

remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
termination and redundancy payments
retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
old age benefits
other pensions¹²
unemployment benefits¹²
family-related allowances¹²
sickness benefits
invalidity benefits¹²
survivors benefits¹²

The following receipts are classified as transfer income but not employment-related:

regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute
education-related allowances
housing allowances
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 collected using the last month as the reference period:

wages and salaries¹⁰
cash bonuses and gratuities¹⁰
commissions and tips¹⁰
employee social security contributions¹⁰

The reference period for:

remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
termination and redundancy payments was calendar year preceding the interview
profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)¹¹
interest received was calendar year preceding the interview
dividends was calendar year preceding the interview
rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house), net of expense was calendar year preceding the interview
rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land) was calendar year preceding the interview
royalties was calendar year preceding the interview
regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute
retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes was Calendar year preceding the interview
old age benefits was calendar year preceding the interview
other pensions¹² was calendar year preceding the interview
unemployment benefits¹² was calendar year preceding the interview
family-related allowances¹² was calendar year preceding the interview
sickness benefits was calendar year preceding the interview
invalidity benefits¹² was calendar year preceding the interview
education-related allowances was calendar year preceding the interview
housing allowances was calendar year preceding the interview
survivors benefits¹² was calendar year preceding the interview
other social assistance benefits was calendar year preceding the interview
regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: cash, e.g. scholarships was housing, received directly.
regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support was calendar year preceding the interview
regular inter-household transfers received from: regular cash gifts was calendar year preceding the interview

Negative values (business losses) were excluded when computing self-employment income.

6. Expenditure data

Expenditure data are not collected from this source.

7. Other Data Collection Issues

The following other topics are covered:

demographic characteristics
education attainment of members
employment status of members
occupation 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. ⁹

Non-response is reduced using the following measures:

more than one repeat visits
other incentives : a gift

Reporting errors are reduced using consulting payrolls, group interviews to prepare documentation.

DATA PROCESSING, ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

Answers are not pre-coded on data collection forms, but are coded by office staff.

The responses are edited by the following:

field supervisors
office staff

Extreme values are retained without change. 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: Some households/units are excluded from analysis because of incomplete response. Missing values are imputed only on some occasions income is imputed. 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 , size of household, autonomous community, age and sex

Sampling errors: Sampling errors are not computed.

Tabulation and Analysis: Statistics are presented showing averages per year and statistics are analysed and tabulated for households and for individuals separately.

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

age of reference person or head of household
sex of reference person or head of household
occupation of reference person or head of household
other characteristic of reference person or head of household, level of education
income percentiles, deciles, quartiles
principal source of household income
household size
structure of household
other characteristic of household

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

household size

Documentation and Dissemination:
Published survey reports: Panel de Hogares de la Unión Europea. Principales resultados, Marzo de cada año (aproximadamente )
Published methodological information: El panel de Hogares de la Unión Europea. Metodología (1996)

Additional statistics (or special tables on request) are available for public use, free of charge (on request).

Separate tables are published for the following special population groups:¹³

low income households

Files of unidentifiable unit data are available (or available on request) for public use, with charges.

(1) The initial sample is only for principal family dwellings. As it is a pure sample, persons in the primary sample who move to communal establishments such as hotels, boarding houses, residential accommodation, military establishments, student hostels, boarding schools are included in the survey. Persons who move to institutions such as prisons, convents, reception centres, health institutions are not included in the survey. Any person in the primary sample who moves to a country in the European Union is included in the survey. Outside the EU, not. (2) The main provider is the member who regularly contributes most to the household expenditures. The reference person is d efined as the main provider if economically active or not economically active if there is no other economically active member of the household. If the main provider is not active, his spouse is considered the reference person if active, otherwis e the oldest active person. (3) The statistics on income and/or expenditures when distributed/published refer to the period from month 1 of year t to month 12 of year t. (4) The data are compiled from October in year t to December in year t. (5) Sub-sample of the sample in another larger survey (socio-demographic survey). (6) 7,206 households participated including substitutions. (7) Percentage of participating households including substitutions out of total master sampleof households = 7 206/11 930. (8) Depending on the type of income, data is requested at household or individual level. (9) Only primary sample. (10) The following receipts are also compiled using the calendar year preceding the interview as the reference period: wages and salaries, cash bonuses & gratuities, commissions and tips, employee social security contributions. (11) Last annual period for which information is available, preferably January-December in year t1. (12) The following receipts are also classified as "tra nsfer income" but not as "employmen t-related income": other pensions, unemployment benefit, family allowances, sickness benefit, survivors' pensions. (13) Households in receipt of social benefits, households whose main source of income is social benefits, households suffering from specific housing problems, adults in education, employees, adults caring for children, etc.