Netherlands

Title: Budget Survey 2000

GENERAL INFORMATION AND BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Background

Further information is available from Statistics Netherlands of Kloosterweg 1, 6412 cn, Heerlen, phone: 045 570 7220, fax: 045 570 6272, e-mail: hdrn@cbs.nl.
Data have been collected by household survey since 1978.

2. Purpose and coverage

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

• to obtain weights for consumer price index
• to estimate household expenditure for national accounts
• 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
• to study consumer behaviour 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
• for market research purposes

Geographic coverage: National without any specific geographic areas excluded.

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

• one person private households
• private households with more than one person
• households of other foreigners in the country

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

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

Unit members: ¹ Visitors (not usual residents) temporarily living in the dwelling are not included as unit members. 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 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. These data are collected in the period from 01/00 to 05/01. This survey is conducted annually. The statistics are published annually.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

4. Sample design

The Primary, Secondary and Ultimate Sampling Units are address, household and household respectively.

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

• geographical regions
• rural/urban

Households/Consumption Unit, Income Unit, Family Unit were stratified using the following criteria:

• income class
• social class of the head
• sex single person household; household size

The sampling frames for the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) and Ultimate Sampling Unit (USU) were a set of administrative registers (or combination of such registers) 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 2395 households or other units and 22.800 interviews. The overall response rate for the survey was 17 percent.

Enumeration procedure: Enumeration uses a single round survey design in which each reporting unit is enumerated only once. 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:⁷

• wages and salaries
• employer social security contributions
• employee social security contributions
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: car/transportation
• profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)
• services from owner-occupied dwellings , excluded for other reasons: not considered, but expenditure.
• interest received , excluded for other reasons: not considered income, but expenditure.
• old age benefits
• other pensions
• unemployment benefits
• family-related allowances
• sickness benefits
• invalidity benefits
• education-related allowances
• housing allowances
• survivors benefits
• other social insurance benefits
• other social assistance benefits
• regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular cash gifts

The following receipts are collected but not separately:⁷

• cash bonuses and gratuities
• commissions and tips
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• termination and redundancy payments
• dividends , excluded for other reasons: not considered income, but expenditure.
• rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house) , excluded for other reasons: not considered income, but expenditure.
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land) , excluded for other reasons: not considered income, but expenditure.
• royalties
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular inheritances or trusts

The following receipts are not collected:⁷

• 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: 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 other consumer durables (net)
• regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute
• free government dwelling
• subsidized government dwelling
• food subsidies
• medical reimbursements
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: cash, e.g. scholarships
• 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 classified as income from paid employment:

• wages and salaries
• cash bonuses and gratuities
• commissions and tips
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• termination and redundancy payments
• employer social security contributions
• employee social security contributions
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: car/transportation
• royalties

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

• profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)

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

• unemployment benefits
• sickness benefits
• invalidity benefits

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

• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
• old age benefits
• other pensions
• family-related allowances
• education-related allowances
• housing allowances
• survivors benefits
• other social insurance benefits
• other social assistance benefits
• 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 excluded for other reasons:

• services from owner-occupied dwellings
• interest received
• dividends
• rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house)
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land)

The reference period for:

• wages and salaries was calendar year
• cash bonuses and gratuities was calendar year
• commissions and tips was calendar year
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• termination and redundancy payments was calendar year
• employer social security contributions was calendar year
• employee social security contributions was calendar year
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: car/transportation was calendar year
• profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income) was calendar year
• services from owner-occupied dwellings was calendar year
• interest received was calendar year
• dividends was calendar year
• rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house) was calendar year
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land) was calendar year
• royalties was calendar year
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes was calendar year
• old age benefits was calendar year
• other pensions was calendar year
• unemployment benefits was calendar year
• family-related allowances was calendar year
• sickness benefits was calendar year
• invalidity benefits was calendar year
• education-related allowances was calendar year
• housing allowances was calendar year
• survivors benefits was calendar year
• other social insurance benefits was calendar year
• other social assistance benefits was calendar year
• regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support was calendar year
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular inheritances or trusts was calendar year
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular cash gifts was calendar year

Income data were collected separately for each person receiving income. Components of income for an individual were collected from one person who reported for all individuals. Negative values (business losses) were included when computing self-employment income.

6. Expenditure data

Data collection method:
Diaries are used to collect expenditure data and are maintained for year: bigger expenses during holidays .

Diaries are used to collect expenditure on the following items:²

• food
• alcohol, tobacco
• other household non-durables (such as newspapers, batteries)
• clothing, footwear
• other personal non-durables (such as perfumes)
• household services (such as plumber)
• personal services (such as driving lessons, haircuts)

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 2800 separate categories at the finest level. ⁴

7. Other Data Collection Issues

The following other topics are covered:⁵

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

Households are requested to indicate whether durable goods are new or second-hand when their acquisition is recorded.

Non-response: There is no substitution for non-response, whether by non-contact or by refusal.

Non-response is reduced using the following measures:

• more than one repeat visits
• other incentives : presents
• other measures : motivation by interviewer

Reporting errors are reduced using the following measures:⁶

• careful instrument design
• bounding interview
• adequate cues or props for prompting
• quality control

DATA PROCESSING, ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

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

Extreme values are retained without change. ⁸ In-kind receipts and consumption of own production are included in the estimates. ⁹ In-kind receipts are valued using: the imputed in office processing using market prices. Consumption of own production is valued using: the imputed in office processing using market prices.

Treatment of owner-occupied housing: Values of owner-occupied housing are included in the total income/expenditure estimates and are valued using the rental equivalent net of housing costs usually paid by owners.

The following information is used in this valuation:

• imputed based on housing and rent data

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 if there is sufficient paid to do so. Supplementary sources are used to adjust estimates for under- or over-reporting. households in intittutions, inland navigators are excluded from data analysis.

Weighting:
Weighting factors are used to adjust for:

• sampling
• non-response
• bench-marking

Sampling errors: Sampling errors are computed for all aggregates and these sampling errors are published.¹⁰

Tabulation and Analysis: Statistics are presented showing averages per year 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
• income percentiles
• principal source of household income
• household size
• structure of household

Documentation and Dissemination:

Published methodological information: users manuel, 2002

Additional statistics (or special tables on request) are available for public use, free of charge (statline on CBS- site: Eurostat`s internet site) and with charges (tables on request).

Separate tables are published for the following special population groups:

• households with wages/salaries as main source of income
• low income households
• see variables indicated in question 83