Poverty in Germany : A comparison of the household panel studies SOEP and PASS

Abstract

"Results of poverty analyses based on survey data are subject to statistical uncertainties and could be affected by systematic bias. Potential error sources occur in the pre data collection phase (e.g. sampling), the data collection phase (e.g. unit non response or item non response) as well as in the post data collection phase (e.g. weighting or data generation). In order to evaluate study specific influences, a comparison of results based on multiple data sources can be informative. In this project we compare income distributions, poverty indicators, poverty rates of subpopulations, determinants of poverty, the persistence of poverty and the dynamic of poverty over time based on the two household panel studies German panel study 'Labour Market and Social Security' (PASS) and the German socio-economic panel (SOEP). As an additional reference we use findings on poverty based on the German Microcensus. The aim of this project is to better assess the validity of the results of poverty analyses. We find significant differences in the poverty rates between the two panel studies, which fade over time. An approximation can be caused either by an attrition process in the first years of the PASS study or by an improvement in the data quality of income information. However, results of a multivariate analysis on the probability of having an income below the poverty threshold are hardly different between the two studies. Looking at the persistence and dynamic of poverty the two panel studies lead to very similar results. Overall, there is a comparable picture of relative material poverty resulting from the two household panel studies, which differs in some specific aspects. From this, the relevance of replication studies and the importance of using multiple data sources for a research question can be derived." (Author's abstract, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

Cite article

Beste, J., Grabka, M. & Göbel, J. (2018): Armut in Deutschland. Ein Vergleich zwischen den beiden Haushaltspanelstudien SOEP und PASS. In: Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Vol. 12, No. 1, p. 27-62. DOI:10.1007/s11943-018-0221-4