Integration at the micro level of data on persons receiving national assistance benefits

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Arts, C.H.^{; 1}

Affiliations: Statistics Netherlands, Socioeconomic Statistics Division, P.O. Box 4000, 2270 JM Voorburg, Netherlands

Note: [1] The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies of Statistics Netherlands. This article is based on an article written by C.H. Arts, J.C.M. Imbens and C.M. Kragt, which was published in the Sociaal Economische Maandstatistiek, June 1995, number 6, pp. 21–39.

Abstract: This article describes the compilation procedure for statistics on the labour market position of persons receiving national assistance. In the past such information could not be compiled adequately because the number of persons receiving social security benefits is severely underestimated in the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The reasons for this underestimation have become clear by micro matching the LFS with the data files of the social security administrations concerning persons receiving national assistance. The main reason is that respondents do not always report correctly in the LFS that they receive assistance. A quarter of the underestimation is caused by selective non-response in the LFS of persons receiving assistance. The micro match also enables us to provide complete information on the labour market position of persons receiving national assistance. This is done in two ways. Firstly, the LFS data are supplemented with data on persons who do not report their receiving of national assistance correctly in the LFS. Secondly, weighting to the administrative totals corrects for the effect of selective non-response in the LFS. About one out of ten people receiving national assistance is working twelve hours or more per week; five out of ten are immediately available for the labour market and three out of ten do not want a job for twelve hours or more a week. Comparison at the micro level of the data files of the employment offices showed that 85 percent of the people who had to be registered at an employment office were actually registered.

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-1996-13407

Journal: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 385-396, 1996