Transcript Slide 1

Further data linking with
WERS 2004
John Forth
WERS 2004 Information & Advice Service
National Institute
of Economic and
Social Research
Rationale for data linking
• Rationale 1:
– Extend the information set for each workplace or
employee
• Examples:
– Augment workplace records with data on financial
performance
– Augment workplace records with data about wider
enterprise
– Augment workplace or employee records with contextual
data about the industry sector or occupation
Rationale for data linking
• Rationale 2:
– Reduce measurement error in a particular item
• Examples:
– Compare WERS data with external source of information
on legal status or foreign ownership
– Compare WERS financial performance data with other
sources
Rationale for data linking
• Rationale 3:
– Extend the information set for another dataset
• Example:
– Add workplace data from WERS to a separate workplace
or employee-level dataset
Issues in data linking
• Confidentiality
• Extent and reliability of links
• Measurement error
• Loss of information
See also: Chesher and Nesheim (2006) DTI
Occasional Paper No. 3.
Existing instance of linked data
ONS Annual Respondent Database (ARD2) matched
onto WERS 2004
– Data on financial performance of business units (from ABI)
– 847 (48%) of XS workplaces in trading sector
(ASTATUS1<=8) have an ABI 2004 return in ARD2
– Offers data on value-added, profitability, labour costs, capex
– Low survey and item non-response
– Prospect of data for multiple years
– Issue: many returns (~80%) concern whole enterprise
– One solution: combine with FPQ data
Existing instance of linked data
ONS Annual Respondent Database (ARD2) matched
onto WERS 2004
– 1998-2004 Panel Survey: 166 (~25%) of trading sector w/ps
have financial data for both years
– Issue: fewer than 30 have site-level data for both years; no
WERS Financial Performance Questionnaire
– General issue: available only in ONS Virtual Micro-data Lab
Further info: Forth and McNabb (2007) WIAS
Technical Paper No.1
Work in progress
ONS Business Structure Database matched onto
WERS 2004
– Version of the IDBR prepared for research use
– Provides info on legal status and country of ownership
– Provides information on enterprises’ internal structure
– Provides info on demographic events: birth, death,
merger, takeover
– BSD record available for 2,143 (93%) of XS workplaces
– One potential use: identify siblings for 714 (45%) of the
XS workplaces that belong to multi-plant enterprises
Work in progress
WERS 2004 matched onto the ONS Annual Survey of
Earnings and Hours (ASHE)
– Annual survey of 165,000 employees
– Detailed information about hours and earnings (basic,
overtime, incentive payments, pension arrangements)
– WERS can provide more information about the employer
– Around 5,000 ASHE records (3%) link to XS workplaces
– In most cases (95%), there are 2+ ASHE records per
workplace
– One potential use: examine union impact on composition
of earnings
Further opportunities at ONS
• Surveys deriving from IDBR (to be investigated):
– Community Innovation Survey (CIS4): data on
product/process innovation and R&D from 16,000
enterprises over period 2002-2004
– E-commerce Inquiry: annual survey of 10,000 enterprises
covering access to ICT and e-commerce activity
– Annual Inquiry into Foreign Direct Investment: annual
survey of 16,000 enterprises covering foreign ownership
and financial flows
Matching on summary data items
Possible options (dependent on demand):
• Industry:
– Levels: down to SIC 2003 Class / Sub-class level
– Examples: aggregate productivity, profitability, labour
costs
• Occupation:
– Levels: down to SOC 2000 Minor Group
– Examples: composition by gender, ethnicity, age;
average qualifications; average wages
Matching on summary data items
Possible options (dependent on demand):
• Geography:
– Levels: any postcode-based classification that does not
compromise the anonymity of respondents. See National
Statistics Postcode Directory for options.
– Examples: unemployment and vacancy rates by TTWA;
profile of labour force in TTWA; urban/rural indicator.
Comments and suggestions
WERS Information and Advice Service
URL: http://www.wers2004.info
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44(0) 20 7654 1933