During the 2000-2001 biennium, a major activity within the Socio-Economic Security programme consisted of collecting information worldwide on all the dimensions of workers’ securities . The final objective was to create a database that would enable carrying out a series of analysis on, and indicators of, socio economic security.

This manual reports on the methodology and content of the work for this database in as far as social security programmes and variables are concerned. The work could be defined as a translation exercise. It has mainly consisted in building a database composed of statistically usable variables (categories, numerical values, etc.) on the basis of a global source containing a textual description of such programmes.

Three sorts of application justify this social security database:

II. SCOPE OF THE DATABASE Top

1. List of countries

Presently, the database contains information for 124 countries from all regions and sub-regions of the world. The long-term objective is to cover all ILO member countries and present time series data on social security variables. The current set of countries under study can be found in Annex I.

2. Definition of the eight selected social security branches

The ILO convention no. 102 defines minimum standards of social needs for nine main social security branches:

- medical care
- sickness benefit
- maternity benefit
- old-age benefit
- invalidity benefit
- survivors'benefit
- family benefit
- employment injury benefit
- unemployment benefit

A wider definition based on the functionalities of social protection includes the following branches:

- housing
- social exclusion/social assistance

Due to time constraints and the difficulty of covering all programmes in detail, only nationwide and compulsory cash benefit social security programmes were included in the database. Medical care, housing and social exclusion/social assistance programmes were excluded because they are developed locally, like most social exclusion programmes. They could also consist of benefits-in-kind, such as health care, or are split between many provisions, as in the case of housing programmes.

The eight selected branches can be briefly defined as follows:

3. Definition of the six selected “types of social security programmes”

The provisioning of social security can follow different approaches. As defined in the literature, such approaches or programmes can be regrouped according to their major characteristics. The aim is to collect information on all nationwide compulsory social security programmes. The following 6 main types of programmes have been retained:

4. Design of the database

Data collection has been processed using a Questionnaire to be applied at the country level, which has been structured around the above 8 social security branches. For each, there are both quantitative (coverage, contribution rates, etc.) and qualitative or categorical questions. The former are responded by entering the numerical values, the latter through a range of predefined coded answers.

There are 172 questions for each country. Not every country has programmes for each of the 8 branches or sometimes there is a programme but no information is available for the questions. Some questions are common to all branches (e.g. number of programmes, types of programmes, etc.…) and some are specific to a branch (e.g. in Family Allowances: Equal benefit amount for each child).

III. METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE DATABASE Top

1. Criteria used for selecting the Main Programme

a. Some countries have a multiplicity of programmes for a single social security branch. The number of such programmes is recorded in question “1. Number of programmes”. For simplification and given the objective of this database, it has been decided to enter detailed information for only one (the main programme).

b. The main programme has been selected on the basis of information available in SSPTW (larger coverage, higher contribution rates and/or higher benefits). If such information was not available, the main programme was selected depending on demographic/economic, and other relevant factors or common knowledge. This solution is a priori acceptable as it can be expected that all programmes from a particular branch should be based on a same “principle” or legislation and therefore a main programme should be representative of all other.

c. If in some cases there are several types of programme in operation, such as social assistance and social insurance, only the latter is retained because it has a potentially broader impact in terms of income redistribution and coverage. Also for more pragmatic reasons, our main source of information (SSPTW/ISSA) would rarely provide detailed information on social assistance. When several programmes coexist, “social assistance” programme has been excluded as a rule.

d. If legislations are developed in a country at the regional level (for instance at the state level in the USA, or provinces in Canada), only the information concerning one (the main or representative) state or province can be selected (e.g. Ontario in Canada). This option is unfortunately very unsatisfactory as in many countries there is not one major programme but several different ones. At this stage, priority has been given to extend geographical coverage.

2. Phasing in/out: Transitional cases

When there are old and new social security schemes operating at the same time, only the new one needs to be retained. This is because the old one is usually being phased out.

3. Minimum eligibility conditions, maximum benefit rate and maximum duration of benefits

a. When a programme provides a single rate of benefits, this can be easily recorded. However, in some countries or branches there is a series of (progressive) rates . In this case, a rule has been adopted, which states that only the maximum benefit rate should be recorded. The same should be done with the maximum duration of benefit.

b. Concerning the time related qualifying conditions for entitlement to benefits, it has been decided to indicate the minimum period that enables the beneficiary to obtain his or her rights even though it can be at a lower rate than the maximum benefit rate.

4. Codification

a. When the information required for a particular question is not available in the sources (SSPTW/ISSA and CSS), “no answer” (code 999) is used.

b. When no social security programme is mentioned in the SSPTW, “not applicable” (code 888) should be entered for all questions of the branch, except for the question “1. Number of programme(s)”where the answer should be 0 (None).

c. If programmes do not provide cash benefits but only benefits in kind, the answer to question “1. Number of programme(s)” should be “only benefits in kind” (code –1).

d. When the information available does not fit the question and/or the predefined answers, then “Other/see note” (code 666) should be entered. For checking the note, use directly the original source indicated.

e. It is not necessary to mention the source for each question as the single major source (SSPTW) is used. The source is only cited in the codebook when it is different from the SSPTW.

f. Each of the 172 questions in the database is identified through a letter referring to the social security branch (C- Sickness, D- Maternity, E- Old age, F- Invalidity, G- Survivors’, H- Family allowances, I- Work injury, J- Unemployment) and a number referring to the standard or specific question/variable (From 1 to 33) (see 6. below). For example, G.6 refers to the branch “survivor” (G) and to the standard question “coverage” (6).

g. When there is one global contribution for several social security branches, the rule is to indicate the contribution of only one branch, which should be the “main” branch. If there is one contribution covering several branches (e.g. Old-age, Disability, Death), just indicate the contribution in the main branch (e.g. Old-age). “Main” is defined in the Source (SSPTW). However, a code has to be entered in each of the branch(es) covered by this contribution. For coding that case (one contribution for several branches), please note that the following codes should be used: C = 13, D = 14, E = 15, F = 16, G = 17, H = 18, I = 19, J = 20. For example, if the contribution is associated to Old age (e.g. Part E = code 15), the question is answered by entering
“ -15” in the other branch(es)

h. In some cases more than one answer is required (e.g. if there is more than one law for a particular branch). In this case, under Remark, the variable is split in sub- categories (eg Question: C.4_1, C.4_2, C.4_3, etc.).

5. Units

For quantitative questions, the unit of the answer is indicated in the codebook. It can be a number of days, weeks, percentages, etc. When a date is required, all four digits for years (e.g. 1970) should be entered.

6. Standard questions/variables for each of the eight branches

Information on the eight social security branches for each country are mainly collected through a series of standard questions, which are common to all branches. To complement the information base, a few specific questions, which are only applicable to a particular branch are added (e.g. existence of an early retirement provision in the old age branch).

The list of the standard questions/variables is as follows.

1. Number of programme(s)
2. Expenditure of all programmes in the branch as a percentage of GDP.
3. Date of the first law
4. Number of current law(s)
5. Types of programmes (see II.4 above)
6. Coverage (population group subject to the programme )
7. Employee contribution
8. Employer contribution
9. Financing from government
10. Means-tested conditions for benefits
11. Period and condition of residence in the country to be eligible to benefits
16_1. Qualifying period of contribution
16_2. Qualifying period of work
19. Earnings-related cash benefits (maximum calculation rate for benefits)
20. Evolution/indexation of benefit
21. Duration of benefit