Israel Review on Social Indicators in the Mediterranean region Prepared for the workshop on harmonizing social indicators Presented by: Dudi Ben-Naim, Anwar Hassan, Yafit Alfandari 1/3/2011 1 Files Used to calculate the social Indicators Education Administrative Files and Labour Force Survey Labour Force Data- Labour Force Survey Life Conditions and ICT- Household Expenditure Survey and Income Survey 2 Labour Force Survey The Labour Force Survey is a major survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics among households since 1954. The survey follows the development of the Labour force in Israel, its size and characteristics, as well as the extent of unemployment and other trends. Although the main purpose of the survey is to provide information regarding the Labour market in Israel, it also contains an abundance of demographic and economic information, and is widely used by researchers in the social sciences, both in the private and the public sector. LFS publications contains detailed data on Labour force characteristics, age, years of schooling, type of school last attended, data on immigrants of 1990 and after, etc. It is also a source of data on living conditions, mobility in employment, and many other topics. 3 1
4 Education Administrative Files 1- Student registry (under the supervision of the ministry of education and the ministry of labour) 2-School registry 3-Teacher registry 4-Social Survey and especially the labour force Survey (No administrative files are available on literacy. Therefore, the LFS survey is used as the data source for literacy statistics). 5 The Income Survey The Israeli income survey has been conducted annually since 1965 The survey is conducted at the fourth wave (panel) of the Labor Force Survey It is a cross sectional survey It measures the total income of households and individuals in Israel The total income includes the income from all the sources - work, pension, capital, funds, assistance etc. 6 2
Changes in the survey from 1997 The data on Income (from the LFS labor force survey ) combined with the Income data from the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) the sample size has been increased to 14,500 households per year The survey population includes all localities urban and non urban, except Kibbutzim, collective settlements and Bedouins living outside of localities. The survey covers 95% of the population The response rate is approximately 86%. 7 The Income Survey sample and research unit Sample Unit- Dwelling (an apartment) Research Unit 1- Household- a group of people who live together in one dwelling most of the week and shares food budget 2- Individuals aged 15+ 8 Sample size The Household expenditure Survey: about 6,000 households per year The Combined Income Survey: about 14,500 households and about 36,000 individuals aged 15+, per year 9 3
The Israeli Household Expenditure Survey The Israeli expenditure survey has been conducted since the early 50s. Until 1997 the survey was conducted every 5 years, and from 1997 the survey is conducted annually. It measures the total expenditures and the total income of households in Israel and the ownership on durable goods and services The main target of the survey is obtaining the weights to be used for the consumption basket, for the Consumer Price Index 10 Benefits and Progress under Medstat 2 Program Harmonized definitions and data of sub-sectors education-labor force survey, education-living conditions Education- harmonization of data with international standards to ISCED 2/3 Compatibility of Standard Classification of Occupations and Economic Industries. 11 Difficulties Publication and Dissemination Learning to prepare quality reports, framework and indices Learn to produce an effective press release and to identify what is important and interesting Presenting international comparisons. 12 4
Difficulties- Poverty Line Still, there is a lack of uniformity- have to harmonize the data according to international definitions and requirements Poverty and Living Conditions: Unclear Definition of standard person, the equivalence scales of the OECD has been changed to the square root of the number of persons in the household ; in the old equivalence scale of the OECD we can t identify a person aged 14, since our research population include persons aged 15+ 13 Common Challenges in Israel Better coordination for an efficient division of labor; Expanding the use of administrative data (requires cooperation); Learn to produce an effective press release and to identify what's important and what's interesting Harmonize the data according to international definitions and requirements 14 Specific Challenges in Israel Ongoing updating and adjustment to the OECD definitions Planning online table generator in all the surveys Institutional coordination group for social statistics and poverty Near cash money transfers to the household new calculation of poverty line (with the Central Bank, Ministry of Finance, the National Insurance Institute, Ministry of Welfare and Social affairs). 15 5
Changes in Social Statistics Data Labour Force Survey- Moving from quarterly to monthly at the end of 2011 Planning new Longitudinal Survey Pre test planed to 2012 Internet publications, dissemination of data-files, presentations, press releases 16 dudib@cbs.gov.il anwarh@cbs.gov.il yafita@cbs.gov.il 17 6