lessons from the eurobarometer 2007 sublec international workshop brussels 25 february 2008...
TRANSCRIPT
Lessons from the Eurobarometer 2007SUBLEC International workshopBrussels 25 February 2008
Presented by:
Arnold Riedmann,TNS Infratest Sozialforschung, Munich
2 Sozialforschung
Contents
1. Introduction:
(a) Background
(b) Concept
(c) Methodology
2. Participation in undeclared work (UDW): Some EB figures on the quantitative dimensions
3. Selected figures on structures and motives
4. Lessons learnt and recommendations for future surveys
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BackgroundMajor challenges of a cross-national survey on ‚unlawful behaviour‘:
Country differences regarding the rules of taxation
Differences in the acceptance of UDW among population
Differences in the public interest/debates on the topic
2006: Feasibility study on a direct survey on UDW
Review of previous surveys
Proposal for a survey design
Recommendation to test 2 different questionnaire approaches in pilot survey:
(A) The „explicit approach“:
Asks directly for undeclared activities which would have to be declared but were not
Respondent is assumed to be fully aware of tax legislation
Uses the commonly known national term for „undeclared work“
(B) The „implicit approach“:
Asks first for various types of working activities, then asks whether income from these was declared or not
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Survey concept applied in the Eurobarometer
Only ‚explicit approach‘ tested in the Eurobarometer
Introduction by some general questions on the supposed spread and structures of UDW
Explicit definition of UDW given to the respondents: „Activities not or not fully reported to the tax or social security authorities and where the person who acquired the good or service was aware of this.“
Concept includes both the demand and the supply side
UDW for money and UDW done for payment in kind (exchange of services, payment with goods)
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Methodological characteristics of the EB
Face-to-face interviews (mostly CAPI, partly paper & pencil)
Random walk
Net sample size: ~ 1.000 interviews in most of the countries
UDW module as part of an omnibus survey with various other topics
Respondent‘s decision on participation in the survey not based on attitude towards UDW
General response rate does not allow conclusions on the acceptance of the survey!
Some hints on the acceptance can be derived from rates of item-non- response in the core questions on the participation in UDW
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A BC D
Types of undeclared work that can be covered by a survey among individuals
individual(supply/doer)
firm(demand/purchaser)
individual (demand/purchaser)
UDW
firm(supply/doer)
Covered from thesupply perspective (envelope wages)
Covered from two perspectives:
supply & demand
Covered from the demand perspective
Cannot be covered by a directsurvey among individuals
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Coverage of UDW of immigrants
Supply perspective of UDW done by individuals ("Did you do undeclared work?")
Demand perspective of UDW doneby individuals for private HH("Did you buy undeclared work?")
immigrants
problems ofaccessibilityand language
immigrants
Answers from demand perspectiveindependent of accessibility and language of supplier.
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Demand of UDW by country
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0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
CY DE ES PT IE PL UK FR FI RO IT HU LT LU BG EE CZ SK MT EL SI AT BE SE LV NL DK
EU-27: 11%
Base: total population aged 15+
"Have you in the last twelve months acquired any goods/services of which you had a good reason to assume that they embodied undeclared work?"
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Supply side I - Supply by country
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0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
CY UK MT DE ES PT IT IE FI RO EL PL LU BG SI FR SK BE HU LT CZ AT SE EE NL LV DK
EU-27: 5%
Base: total population aged 15+
"Did you yourself carry out any undeclared activities in the last 12 months for which you were paid in money or in kind? Herewith we mean again activities which were not or not fully reported to the tax or social security authorities and where the person who acquired the good or services was aware of this?"
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Supply side II - Envelope wages by country
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0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
DE FR LU MT UK DK IE NL CZ EL FI SE CY AT PT ES SI BE IT SK EE HU LT PL BG LV RO
EU-27: 5%
Base: DEPENDENT EMPLOYEES ONLY!
"Sometimes employers prefer to pay all our part of the regular salary or the remuneration for extra work or overtime hours cash-in-hand and without declaring it to tax or social security authorities. Did your employer pay all or part of your income in the last 12 months in this way?"
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Supply III – Total supply EU-27
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5%
2%
6%
Supply Envelope wages Total
Base: total population aged 15+
Envelope wages as specific part of supply side to be added to the „normal“ measured supply for a full picture of theundeclared work measured with the survey
5% envelope wages among dependent employees = 2% envelope wages calculated on base of total population (15+)
~1% overlap (people reporting both the „normal supply“ of UDW and the reception of envelope wages
+ =
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Supply side IV - Total supply by country
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0,0%
5,0%
10,0%
15,0%
20,0%
25,0%
MT CY DE UK EL IE PT ES FI IT LU SI BE FR PL SK CZ AT HU LT BG SE EE NL RO DK LV
EU-27: 6%
Base: total population aged 15+
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Amount of supplied undeclared workAverage annual hours per involved person (for most important undeclared activity only!)(calculated as no. of weeks having worked undeclared x average no. of hours per week)
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~ 200 hrs.
~ 350 hrs.
~ 330 hrs.
~ 110 hrs.
~ 60 hrs.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Base: total population aged 15+
Southern Europeancountries
Eastern/Central European NMS
EU-27
Continental countriesincl. UK and IE
Nordic countries
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Comparison of EB indicators on participation in UDWContinental countries (as % of population)
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
DE UK IE LU FR BE AT NL
Measured supply incl. envelopeEstimated supply of UDWRespondent personally knows suppliersMeasured Demand of UDW
Base: total population aged 15+
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Structure of undeclared work: By sector
Envelope wages Other supply of udw
19%
19%
4%
6%
13%
13%
4%
5%
2%
10%Others
Hotel, restaurants
Repair
Pers. Services
Transport
Household Services
Construction 16%
5%
19%
3%
9%
3%
7%
8%
4%
15%
Industry
Retail
Agriculture
Difference to 100%: DK/NA
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Destinators (for whom?)Base: Suppliers of „other“ undeclared work (except envelope wages)
5%
20%
20%
55%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Personal environment:Friends, colleagues,
relatives, neighbours
Firms or businesses
Other private persons
Others
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Reasons for doing undeclared work (Supply side)
Base: Suppliers of other undeclared work (except envelope wages)
47
23
16
16
13
12
8
5
5
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Both parties benefited from it
It is just a seasonal work and so it is not worth to declare it
You could not find a regular job
Working undeclared is common practice in your region/sector of activity so there is no real alternative
Taxes and/or social security contributions are too high
The person(s) who acquired it insisted on the non-declaration
Bureaucracy/red tape to carry out a regular economic activity is too complicated
You were able to ask for a higher fee for your work
The state does not do anything for you, so why should you pay taxes
Multiple responses
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Comparison of perceived detection risk and reported supply of UDW
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
SE DK BG NL CZ SI MT ES SK LV RO FR FI LU CY BE PL DE IT EL HU AT IE UK EE LT PT
Perception of detection risk as fairly/very high
Measured total supply incl. envelope
Base: total population aged 15+
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Alternatives to buying UDW
53
13
12
9
13
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
I would have renounced frompurchasing this good or service
I would have bought itfrom the regular market
The job would have been done by myself oranother member of my household
I would have postponed the acquisitionof this service or good
Others, DK, NA
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Acceptance of different forms of unlawful behaviour in society(scale from 1 = absolutely unacceptable to 10 = absolutely acceptable)
SozialforschungBase: total population aged 15+
Countries with lowest levels of acceptance of UDW: CY, MT, FI, EL Countries with highest levels of acceptance of UDW: LT, AT, SK, BE, BG, PL, HU
Using public transport without valid ticket 2,8
Reception of welfare without entitlement 1,9
UDW by private person for firm (envel.) 2,3
UDW by firm for firm 2,1
UDW by firm for private HH 2,4
UDW by private person for private HH 3,5
Lessons learnt from the EB and recommendations for a national Belgian survey on undeclared work
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Achievements of the EB pilot survey
Worked well in some countries, as far as can be judged on base of existing other information sources; problem: there is no benchmark for measuring the validity of the results
Envelope wage question module provided plausible results as far as country differences are concerned and gave valuable structural insight into the phenomenon
Showed broad variety of forms of undeclared work with different characteristics
Information on sectors and groups of persons most affected by UDW
Insight into people‘s motives for doing UDW (e.g.: bureaucratic hindrances are not the main motive for most groups)
Policy-relevant information on alternatives people would choose if UDW was not available ( amount of UDW potentially transferable to regular employment)
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Observed weaknesses of the EB survey concept on UDW
Measured levels of participation in UDW for some countries unrealistically low
Generally: direct survey shows only lower level of participation in UDW
In some countries only specific parts of undeclared work satisfactorily captured with the survey (e.g.: hardly any construction work in Southern Europe)
Possible explanations:
UDW done for payment in kind obviously covered to a relatively small degree only
Applied questionnaire concept presupposes that people know taxation rules
Complex definition of UDW in the questionnaire possibly not well understood by parts of respondents (e.g. by lower educated people)
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Assessment by regions
EB concept worked well in the three Nordic countries (DK, FI, SE)
Worked obviously well in some Continental countries, for many others an assessment is difficult in lack of statistical data
Mixed results from Eastern/Central European NMS:
Survey revealed large importance of envelope wages
Other forms of UDW likely to be underestimated
Picture for Southern Europe most unsatisfactory:
Partly large differences between supply and demand (presumably large parts of UDW done by immigrants)
Large differences between perceived and reported level of UDW
Generally unexpectedly low measures
Certain parts obviously hardly covered (e.g. construction work)
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Proposals for improving the instrumentTest both questionnaire approaches against each other (explicit vs. implicit)
Adapt questionnaire(s) to Belgian situation (e.g. specific priming questions)
Simplify questionnaire:
Simplification of the definition of UDW
Separation of UDW paid in money and UDW paid in kind (or: Skip ‚in kind‘)
Concentration on a set of core structural indicators
Skip questions about monetary categories
Positive experiences with envelope wage module custom-tailor of further questions to specific occupational groups (e.g. self-employed)?
Consider methods for covering undeclared work done by immigrants, e.g.:
Ask purchasers of UDW on nationality of supplier
Additional questionnaire versions in languages spoken by most relevant groups of immigrants
Higher number of interviews (minimum: 3.000)