EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) methodology - 2011 intergenerational transmission of disadvantages

This article is part of a set of articles describing the methodology applied for the computation of the statistical indicators pertinent to the subject area of 2011 - Intergenerational transmission of disadvantages (ilc_igt) within the overall domain of Income and living conditions. For these indicators, the article provides a methodological and practical framework of reference. The indicators relevant to the subject area of intergenerational transmission of disadvantages are the following:

Transition of education level from parents to current adults (population aged 25 - 59)
Transition of ability to make ends meet from childhood to current situation (population aged 25 - 59)

Moreover, since the indicators are of multidimensional structure and can be analysed simultaneously along several dimensions, the separate datasets providing these indicators along with the different combinations of dimensions are also presented.

Full article

Description

The indicator on transition of education level from parents to current adults (population aged 25 - 59) refers to the distribution of population aged 25 to 59 in 2011, according to their transition to a lower, same or higher educational level compared to that of their parents (when current adults were aged 14); shown separately for each combination of sex, educational level of current adults and educational level of their parents.

The indicator on transition of ability to make ends meet from childhood to current situation (population aged 25 - 59) refers to the distribution of population aged 25 to 59 in 2011, according to their transition to a lower, same or higher ability to make ends meet compared to that of their parents (when current adults were aged 14); shown separately for each combination of sex, ability of current adults in making ends meet and ability of their parents in making ends meet.

Statistical population

The statistical population consists of all individuals aged 25 to 59 years (with a year of birth comprised between 1951 and 1985, both years being included). Individuals with missing any of the breakdown variables are excluded from the calculation. Persons not in the age range (25-59) are excluded from the target population.

Persons living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the target population.

Reference period

The reference period for all dimensions along with the indicators are disseminated is the survey year of the ad-hoc module (2011). Indicators refer to the to the period when current adults (aged 25-59) in 2011 were 14 years olds.

Unit of measurement

The transition of education level from parents to current adults (population aged 25 - 59) and the transition of ability to make ends meet from childhood to current adults (population aged 25 - 59) are given as a percentage of total population aged 25-59.

Dimensions

The separate datasets provide each indicator along with the Geopolitical entity and time dimensions and the dimensions presented below.

The transition of education level from parents to current adults (population aged 25 - 59) is presented broken down by education level and type of transition.

The transition of ability to make ends meet from childhood to current adults (population aged 25 - 59) is presented broken down by ability to make ends meet (SUBJNNOM) and type of transition.

Calculation method

1. Transition of education level from parents to current adults (population aged 25 - 59):

The dataset shows the percentage of adults aged 25-59 in 2011, broken down by sex and level of educational attainment and according to the level of education of their parents when current adults aged 14. For each class of adults, specified by the combination of sex and educational level and level of education of their parents, the percentage that undergoes a transition of the educational level from the previous generation (TRANS1G) in the reference year (2011) is computed as follows.

The weight variable used is the Weight for the respondent (res_wgt).

[math]INTERG\_TRANS_{at\_sex/ISCED/TRANS1G}=\frac{\sum \limits_{ \forall i\in A\_at\_sex/ISCED/TRANS1G}res\_wgt_i}{\sum \limits_{\forall i\in A\_at\_sex/ISCED}res\_wgt_i} \times 100[/math]

where A denotes the population whose age was 25-59 at the time of the survey (2011).

With regard to the calculation of the transition of education level from parents to current adults (population aged 25 - 59), the following methodological issues should be taken into consideration:

The characteristics in childhood of current adults refer to the period when they were 14 years old.
The highest level of education of parents refers to the level of education that the father or mother (or person considered as a father or mother) had attained before or during the period when the respondent was around 14 years old. The father or mother (or person considered as the father or mother) could be living in the same private household as the respondent or elsewhere. The father or mother could also have died before or during the reference period.

2. Transition of ability to make ends meet from childhood to current situation (population aged 25 - 59):

The dataset shows the percentage of adults aged 25-59 in 2011, broken down by sex, the person’s ability to make ends meet (subjnmon) and the ability of their parents to make ends meet when current adults aged 14. For each class of adults, specified by the combination of sex, person’s ability to make ends meet and ability of their parents in making ends meet, the percentage that undergoes a transition of the ability to make ends meet from the previous generation (TRANS1G) in the reference year (2011) is computed as follows.

The weight variable used is the weight for the respondent (res_wgt)

[math]INTERG\_TRANS_{at\_sex/SUBJNMON/TRANS1G}=\frac{\sum \limits_{ \forall i\in A\_at\_sex/SUBJNMON/TRANS1G}res\_wgt_i}{\sum \limits_{\forall i\in A\_at\_sex/SUBJNMON}res\_wgt_i} \times 100[/math]