HERMAN DELEECK CENTRE FOR SOCIAL POLICY Tim Goedemé and Lorena Zardo Trindade METASILC 2015: A REPORT ON THE CONTENTS AND COMPARABILITY OF THE EU-SILC INCOME VARIABLES WORKING PAPER NO. 20.01 January 2020 University of Antwerp Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy centrumvoorsociaalbeleid.be METASILC 2015: A REPORT ON THE CONTENTS AND COMPARABILITY OF THE EU-SILC INCOME VARIABLES Tim Goedemé1,2 and Lorena Zardo Trindade1 (eds.) 1Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy University of Antwerp 2Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School Department of Social Policy and Intervention University of Oxford This report is also available as INET Oxford Working Paper No. 2020-01, January 2020, Employment, Equity & Growth Programme 2020 Please cite this report and the MetaSILC 2015 database as: Goedemé, T. and Zardo Trindade, L. (eds.) (2020). MetaSILC 2015: A report on the contents and comparability of the EU-SILC income variables, INET Working Paper 2020-1 & CSB Working Paper WP 20/01. Oxford: Institute for New Economic Thinking, University of Oxford & Antwerp: Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp. Goedemé, T. and Zardo Trindade, L. (2020). MetaSILC 2015: A database on the contents and comparability of the EU-SILC income variables [Data file], Antwerp: Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp & Oxford: Institute for New Economic Thinking, University of Oxford. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/TLSZ4S. 1 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CYSTAT Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus CZSO The Czech Statistical Office ELSTAT Hellenic Statistical Authority ESSPROS European System of integrated Social Protection Statistics EU-SILC The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions FYROM The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia INE National Statistical Institute of Portugal INE National Statistics Institute (Spain), INSEE National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (France) ISTAT Italian National Institute of Statistics LIS Cross-National Data Centre in Luxembourg MISSOC Mutual Information System on Social Protection NSIs National Statistical Institutes ONS Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom) PIT Personal Income Tax SC Social Contribution SORS Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia STATEC National Statistical Institute of Luxembourg 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report brings together the detailed findings on the comparability of the income variables, as collected in the MetaSILC 2015 database. We are very grateful to the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) consulted and all those involved in responding to the Net-SILC3 questionnaires circulated to collect the information for MetaSILC 2015 (for a list of participants, see Annex B). In addition, we would like to thank Jeroen Horemans, Adeline Otto, Tess Penne and Wim Van Lancker for analysing with us the MetaSILC 2015 database and writing parts of this report. In addition, we are grateful to Eric Marlier, Anne-Catherine Guio and Eurostat for their support for this project, and their comments and feedback throughout the project. The first results of this project were presented during the Net-SILC 3 ‘International Workshop on “Assessing and improving the validity and comparability of the EU-SILC income, own consumption, health and housing variables” and accompanying conference in Athens, 18-19 April 2018. We are very grateful to Andrea Brandolini, Paolo Consolini, Nadja Lamei, Teresa Munzi, Jarl Quitzau, Holly Sutherland, Veli-Matti Törmälehto, Lars Lyberg and all other participants for their constructive comments and suggestions. This work has been financially supported by the Third Network for the Analysis of EU-SILC (Net-SILC3), funded by Eurostat. Obviously, the opinions expressed in this report as well as the interpretations of the data are our own, as well as any remaining shortcomings and errors. The report does not necessarily represent the views of Eurostat, the European Commission, or the NSIs who responded to the MetaSILC questionnaires or provided feedback at any other stage of writing this report. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS METASILC 2015: A REPORT ON THE CONTENTS AND COMPARABILITY OF THE EU- SILC INCOME VARIABLES ................................................................................................ 1 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ 6 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................10 TECHNICAL NOTES...........................................................................................................12 HY010: TOTAL HOUSEHOLD GROSS INCOME ..............................................................19 HY020: TOTAL DISPOSABLE HOUSEHOLD INCOME ....................................................21 HY022: TOTAL DISPOSABLE HOUSEHOLD INCOME BEFORE SOCIAL TRANSFERS EXCEPT OLD-AGE AND SURVIVOR’ BENEFITS .............................................................24 HY023: TOTAL DISPOSABLE HOUSEHOLD INCOME BEFORE SOCIAL TRANSFERS INCLUDING OLD-AGE AND SURVIVOR’ BENEFITS .......................................................28 HY040G/HY040N: INCOME FROM RENTAL OF A PROPERTY OR LAND .....................32 HY050G/HY050N: FAMILY/CHILDREN RELATED ALLOWANCES .................................42 HY060G/HY060N: SOCIAL EXCLUSION BENEFITS NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED ..59 HY070G/HY070N: HOUSING ALLOWANCES ...................................................................73 HY080G/HY080N: REGULAR INTER-HOUSEHOLD CASH TRANSFER RECEIVED ......83 HY090G/HY090N: INTEREST, DIVIDENDS, PROFITS FROM CAPITAL INVESTMENT IN AN UNINCORPORATED BUSINESS .................................................................................94 HY110G/HY110N: INCOME RECEIVED BY PEOPLE AGED UNDER 16 .......................104 HY120G/HY120N: REGULAR TAXES ON WEALTH .......................................................113 4 HY140G/HY140N: TAX ON INCOME AND SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS .........................120 HY145N: REPAYMENTS/RECEIPTS FOR TAX ADJUSTMENT .....................................132 PY010G/PY010N: EMPLOYEE CASH OR NEAR CASH INCOME ..................................139 PY021G/PY021N: COMPANY CAR .................................................................................154 PY050G/PY050N: CASH BENEFITS OR LOSSES FROM SELF-EMPLOYMENT ..........163 PY080G/PY080N: PENSION FROM INDIVIDUAL PRIVATE PLANS ..............................179 PY090G/PY090N: UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS ...........................................................188 PY100G/PY100N: OLD AGE BENEFITS ..........................................................................200 PY110G/PY110N: SURVIVOR’S BENEFITS ....................................................................215 PY120G/PY120N: SICKNESS BENEFITS ........................................................................227 PY130G/PY130N: DISABILITY BENEFITS ......................................................................238 PY140G/PY140N: EDUCATION ALLOWANCES .............................................................254 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................266 ANNEX A: OVERVIEW OF VARIABLES WITH REMARKS BY COUNTRY ....................269 ANNEX B: RESPONDENTS .............................................................................................271 ANNEX C: QUESTIONNAIRES ........................................................................................272 5 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. List of EU-SILC income related variables and those considered in this paper .......13 Table 2. Countries’ participation status on MetaSILC 2015 .................................................14 Table 3. Country compliance with Eurostat definition for total household gross income (HY010) ...............................................................................................................................20 Table 4. Country compliance with Eurostat definition for total disposable household income (HY020) ...............................................................................................................................22 Table 5. Country compliance with Eurostat definition for total disposable household income before social transfers except old-age and survivor’ benefits (HY022) ................................25 Table 6. Country compliance with Eurostat definition: total disposable household income before social transfers including old-age and survivor’ benefits (HY023) ............................29 Table 7. Variable availability by country: income from rental of a property or land (HY040) 33 Table 8. Country compliance with Eurostat definition: income from rental of a property or land (HY040) .......................................................................................................................34 Table 9. Main source of information and type of values collected by country: income from rental of a property