Background Variables

General background information on both the LISS panel and immigrant panel households is gathered through a separate survey, which the respondents can update every month. Some of the questions in this survey concern the whole household, while others concern the individual household members. However, all questions of this survey are completed by the household contact person only.

The background variables include:

• Number of persons in household
• Relationships between persons in household
• Gender, age, civil status, education level of each person in household
• Type of household
• Gross and net monthly income of each person in household
• Current main activity of each person in household
• Type of accommodation
• Degree of urbanization of place of residence

Please note that the Background Variables are not included in the survey data files. They can be merged with the survey data using the key variable nomem_encr.  

You can view the Background Variables of the LISS panel in the Data Archive. The Background Variables of the immigrant panel will become available in the course of 2011.