Research project AG/KK/157 (Research action AG)
Context of the project
The project DOCDWH includes the substantive deepening and methodological development of the Datawarehouse Labour Market and Social Protection whereby (1) the current basic data from the institutions of social security, and metadata will be deepened and (2) supplemented with new data and metadata.
To realise these objectives, the project builds on the AGORA project DW-AMSB(AG/01/115) of which the objective was to make a thorough content analysis of the sources integrated in the Datawarehouse Labour Market and Social Protection and to elaborate a methodological manual. The project is led by Prof. J. Berghman (Centre for Sociological Research – K.U.Leuven), who is the coordinator of the project, and the supervisors Prof. P. Desmarez (METICES/TEF – Université Libre de Bruxelles) and Prof. L. Sels (Steunpunt WSE – K.U.Leuven). The project is on demand of the Crossroads Bank for Social Security and the Federal Public Service for Social Security and takes place from December 2009 till November 2013.
Objectives
To realise these two central objectives, the research team will divide the work into four work packages with associated tasks.
1) At the start of the project an international seminar will be organized to assess the comparability of the Datawarehouse with other databases compiled on the basis of administrative registers in consultation with international experts in this field. The focus of the seminar will be on the usability of the data for international reporting.
2) The second work package involves the analysis of the current scope of the Datawarehouse in which the in-depth expansion is the central point. On key issues, namely employment, unemployment and non-professional activities and social protection, national and international statistical sources, in particular the EU-LFS and EU-SILC will be inventoried and analyzed to ensure the comparability of the Datawarehouse with these sources. It will also analyze the strengths/ weaknesses and deficiencies of the Datawarehouse as compared with the inventoried national and international statistical sources. From this analysis, proposals are being formulated for the publication of new web applications (e.g. labour mobility) and recurrent tables. In addition new derived variables will be created based on existing data. So the coupling of different files will lead to the construction of an income variable that besides the income itself will also indicate the nature of the income.
3) In the third work package the extension of Datawarehouse in the width is put first. The scope of the Datawarehouse will be extended with data from statistical databases by realising a link between these databases and Datawarehouse. The data from VDAB/FOREM/Actiris/ADG (regional unemployment institutions), from research project AG/00/143, will be added as first to the Datawarehouse as well as the data from the National Social Security Office decentralized statistics. In addition, the research team will apply their expertise concerning the effective connection of divers Belgium statistical sources by cooperation with other authorities.
4) Methodological expansion comprises a key element of the Datawarehouse and is therefore subject of the fourth work package. Firstly, the expansion includes the preparation of documentation for any new primary and secondary sources that will be submitted in the Datawarehouse. There also must be investigated whether these new sources require a necessary adaptation of the nomenclature of the socio-economic position and new derived variables will be created. The nomenclature will permanently be controlled on his validity in the Belgium and international context. To guarantee the quality of the Datawarehouse, it is necessary to map the primary data that is the basis of the loaded data. Since the Datawarehouse is built from administrative data, in addition to the analysis of any new sources further attention must be given to updating the current documentation. The changes to the files and the measures should be monitored and documented in the further development of Content Management System. Finally, the addition of a legal aspect makes part of the development of the Datawarehouse. For each source, a non-exhaustive inventory will be made of the measures and legislation that either affect the data within the institutions or influence the scope and definition of the owners. This will allow an analysis of the impact these changes have on legislation in different populations within the Datawarehouse. To frame this legal aspect in a uniform manner within the Datawarehouse, first a frame will be developed that allows research teams to integrate this information into the Content Management System.
Expected results
The different work packages will result in the following outcome:
- Actualized documentation about the available files, variables and codes in the Datawarehouse, that was produced by the research projects AG/01/115 and AG/00/143, supplemented with information about the data collection in the primary databases. This documentation will be accessible by the Content Management System.
- Actualized description of the new data of the Datawarehouse. This documentation will be integrated in the Content Management System and will be accessible for the users of the Datawarehouse.
- A report concerning the comparability of the Datawarehouse with the EU-LFS and EU-SILC, with special attention for the international reporting requirements about employment policy and poverty prevention policy and the strengths/weaknesses and deficiencies of the Datawarehouse concerning these subjects.
- For each public institution a non-exhaustive overview of legislation and policy measures, relevant for these institutions, with an indication of the domains and populations of the Datawarehouse for which an impact of the measures can be expected.
- A set of new derived variables about origin, career periods and income which will be illustrated at the group of users of the Datawarehouse. These derived variables can be used for socio-economic research and will be accessible by integrating them in new and existing web applications and ad hoc demands.
- Documented web applications about socio-economic mobility and family composition.
- As part of the working group ‘the impact of social security benefits on different sectors’, a description based on the Datawarehouse of the categories, limited by the institutions of social security, and for the users of the Datawarehouse a description of the channels of interaction and of the identified categories.
