Advanced Methodology for European Laeken Indicators

Abstract

The Laeken indicators are the main indicators to measure social cohesion in Europe, and in particular the impact of economic and social policies of the EU. The Laeken indicators are estimated from complex surveys across Europe, the surveys for the Statistics on Income and Living (SILC). Switzerland carries out a SILC Survey since 2005. The project AMELI develops and evaluates new statistical methods to enhance the quality of the Laeken indicators. The research topics are: 1.) impact of missing values and their treatment 2.) impact of outliers and development of robust estimators for the Laeken indicators 3.) estimation of the accuracy 4.) model based estimation of indicators for small regions 5.) visualisation of data and indicators. AMELI will evaluate the methods in an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study. The outcomes of the AMELI project will enhance the quality of the estimators and support policy and decision makers in Europe in their use of the Laeken indicators.