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National Household Income and Expenditure Survey Methodology (ENIGH) 2013 Continuous Statistics Office
This document puts forth the objectives of the survey and details aspects that need to be considered before
using the data produced by it.
2014
I
Contents
I Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1
II Objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 General Objective ...................................................................................................................... 3
2.2 Specific Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 3
III Background ...................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1 Legal basis ................................................................................................................................. 4
3.2 National Household Income and Expenditure surveys conducted in Costa Rica ...................... 4
IV Reference Framework ..................................................................................................................... 6
4.1 Supporting documents .............................................................................................................. 6
4.1.1 Household income and expenditure statistics .................................................................... 6
4.1.2 Expert group on household income statistics ..................................................................... 6
4.1.3 Household income and expenditures within the framework of the SNA and the household
surveys ......................................................................................................................................... 7
4.1.4 System of National Accounts Manual 2008 ....................................................................... 7
V Limits ................................................................................................................................................ 9
5.1 Geographic scope ...................................................................................................................... 9
5.1.1 Central Region .................................................................................................................... 9
5.1.2 Chorotega Region ............................................................................................................. 10
5.1.3 Central Pacific Region ....................................................................................................... 10
5.1.4 Brunca Region .................................................................................................................. 10
5.1.5 Huetar Caribbean Region ................................................................................................. 10
5.1.6 Huetar North Region ........................................................................................................ 10
5.2 Temporal scope ....................................................................................................................... 11
5.3 Population scope ..................................................................................................................... 12
VI Objects of study ............................................................................................................................ 13
6.1 Housing unit ............................................................................................................................ 13
6.1.1 Individual housing unit ..................................................................................................... 13
6.1.2 Collective housing unit ..................................................................................................... 13
6.2 Household ............................................................................................................................... 14
6.2.1 Housing units with more than one household ................................................................. 14
II
6.3 Usual resident ......................................................................................................................... 14
6.3.1 Household member .......................................................................................................... 15
VII Conceptual framework ................................................................................................................ 16
7.1 Occupation and employment .................................................................................................. 16
7.1.1 Economic activity ............................................................................................................. 16
7.1.2 Activity condition ............................................................................................................. 16
7.1.3 Type of employment ........................................................................................................ 18
7.1.3.2 Independent work ......................................................................................................... 19
7.1.4 Employment situation ...................................................................................................... 20
7.1.5 Amount of jobs ................................................................................................................. 22
7.1.6 Other employment characteristics................................................................................... 22
7.2 Household income .................................................................................................................. 23
7.2.1 Current income ................................................................................................................ 24
7.2.1 Imputed cost of housing unit ........................................................................................... 32
7.2.2 Capital transactions .......................................................................................................... 33
7.3 Household expenditure ........................................................................................................... 34
7.3.1 Current expenditure ......................................................................................................... 35
7.3.2 Capital transactions .......................................................................................................... 41
7.3.3 Special considerations on goods and services expenditure ............................................. 43
VIII Main changes in ENIGH 2013 with regards to ENIG 2004 .......................................................... 47
8.1 Changes made to data collection tools ................................................................................... 47
8.1.1 Access to goods and services ........................................................................................... 47
8.1.2 Employment ..................................................................................................................... 48
8.1.3 Income .............................................................................................................................. 48
8.1.4 Expenditure ...................................................................................................................... 49
8.2 Operational changes ............................................................................................................... 53
8.2 Collection of supermarket invoices to record expenditure digitally ................................... 53
8.2.8.2 Field work data entry .................................................................................................... 54
IX General considerations and uses .................................................................................................. 55
9.1 General Considerations ........................................................................................................... 55
9.1.1 Approximate wellbeing by household income and expenditure ..................................... 55
9.1.2 Information bias ............................................................................................................... 55
9.2 Uses ......................................................................................................................................... 57
X Sample design ................................................................................................................................ 59
III
10.1 Population and coverage ...................................................................................................... 59
10.2 Sampling frame ..................................................................................................................... 59
10.3 Study domains ....................................................................................................................... 59
10.4 Sample size, distribution and selection ................................................................................. 60
10.5 Expansion factors .................................................................................................................. 60
10.6 Sampling errors ..................................................................................................................... 61
XI Data collection tools ...................................................................................................................... 63
11.1 Form 1: Socioeconomic and sociodemographic characteristics ........................................... 63
11.2 Form 2: Daily household expenditure ................................................................................... 64
11.3 Form 3: Weekly personal expenditure and expenditure from other periods....................... 65
11.4 Form 4: Expenditure from other periods .............................................................................. 65
11.5 Who fills out the forms? ........................................................................................................ 66
11.5.1 General informant .......................................................................................................... 66
11.5.2 Self-informant................................................................................................................. 66
11.5.3 Informant from a different household ........................................................................... 66
XII Classifications ............................................................................................................................... 67
12.1 Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose ........................................................... 67
12.2 Costa Rican Classification of Economic Activities ................................................................. 68
12.3 Costa Rican Classification of Occupations ............................................................................. 69
XIII Field work and processing ........................................................................................................... 71
13.1 Organization of field work ..................................................................................................... 71
13.2 Data re-entry ......................................................................................................................... 73
13.4 Validation .............................................................................................................................. 74
13.3.1 Revision of encoding ...................................................................................................... 75
13.3.2 Analysis of data consistency ........................................................................................... 75
13.3.3 Revision of household balance sheet ............................................................................. 76
13.4 Other subprocesses of information processing .................................................................... 76
13.4.1 Verification of invoices ................................................................................................... 76
13.4.2 Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 76
13.5 Computer system .................................................................................................................. 77
XIV Estimations, imputations and data adjustments ........................................................................ 78
14.1 Imputations for unknown values in current income and expenditure ................................. 78
14.2 Imputation of food expenditure aggregated data ................................................................ 80
14.3 Imputation of self-consumption expenditure or income in kind .......................................... 82
IV
14.4 Mid-point adjustment to survey data ................................................................................... 82
14.5 Treatment of special expenditure ......................................................................................... 85
14.5.1 Disaggregation of gambling expenditure ....................................................................... 85
14.5.2 Disaggregation of insurance installments ...................................................................... 86
14.5.3 Estimation of rental value .............................................................................................. 88
XV Dissemination .............................................................................................................................. 92
Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 95
V
Presentation
The National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2013 (ENIGH 2013) was conducted
between October 2012 and October 2013, with a sample of 7020 housing units.
In this document, the objectives, background and reference framework for the income and
expenditure surveys are described; in addition, the objects of study in the survey are determined.
The terms used to define economic activity, employment and income and expenditure are specified
in the conceptual framework.
Further on, the main differences between ENIGH 2013 and the survey conducted in 2004 are
contrasted against one another, uses and considerations of survey users are discussed, and the
sample selection methodology - and other related aspects - are specified. Data collection tools, and
the main classifications employed, are described; the processes that must be completed before
analyzing and interpreting results are also discussed.
Four forms were used for the purpose of collecting information. The first form is comprised of 11
sections, including: housing unit characteristics and services; household possession of goods and
services; characteristics of household members and their employment status; income from different
sources and expenditure in installments; other transfers paid; and financial services expenditure.
Through form 2, a record of daily food expenditure, and expenses from goods frequently used
throughout the week, is obtained. Data on personal expenditure is collected in form 3. Lastly, regular
and/or less frequent expenses are recorded in form 4 (using the previous month - or the last three,
six or twelve months - as reference).
This document aims to guide users towards an adequate analysis and interpretation of the
information provided, considering the definitions, limitations and improvements described in ENIGH
2013.
VI
Acronyms and symbols
CAECR-2011: Costa Rican Classification of Economic Activities 2011
CCSS: Costa Rican Social Security Administration
COICOP: Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose
ECLAC: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
ISIC Rev. 4: United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities
- Fourth Revision -
ISCO-08: International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008
CNP: National Production Council
COCR-2011: Costa Rican Classification of Occupations 2011
ENAHO: National Household Survey
ENIG 2004: National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2004
ENIGH 2013: National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2013
INEC: National Institute of Statistics and Censuses
IMAS: Institute of Mixed Welfare
CPI: Consumer Price Index
NPIs: Nonprofit Institutions
NPISHs: Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households
MMV: Housing Units Sampling Frame
ILO: International Labor Organization
PPS: Probability Proportional to Size
SNA: System of National Accounts
1
I Introduction
The National Household Income and Expenditure Survey provides updated information on the
composition of the budget of Costa Rican households, whether they are comprised of citizens or
foreigners residing in the country. The surveys provide information on household income and its
distribution in the acquisition of goods and services.
All information obtained from this type of surveys is vital for determining the household
consumption and income structures, and for helping guide policies and development plans aimed
at maximizing society’s wellbeing. Moreover, the National Household Income and Expenditure
Survey 2013 (ENIGH 2013) allows for the update of the weighted food and service expenditure that
make up the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and for the creation of the Basic Food Basket [Canasta
Básica Alimentaria CBA], used in the measurement of poverty. All the while, ENIGH 2013 provides
data for the compilation of the institutional accounts sequence of households for the System of
National Accounts (SNA) and for the update of the expenditure structures that are implicit in the
base year of the accounts.
The survey was conducted for the sixth time in Costa Rica. It started on October 2012 and was
completed on October 19th, 2013. It was conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and
Censuses (INEC).
The experience on Income and Expenditure Surveys in Costa Rica dates back to 1949, and from then
on, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (former General Management of Statistics and
Censuses) has conducted six surveys. This document contains the methodology employed in ENIGH
2013, the most recently conducted survey.
The ENIGH 2013 project involves three major stages:
Survey planning and organization: The conceptual framework and the interviewer’s and supervisor’s manuals are created; information is encoded and entered; the sample design, the tests (experimental and pilot tests) and staff training take place.
Field work: Surveys are applied to households; data encoding and entering are performed on-site. This involves supervising and receiving information at the office.
Data processing, publication and dissemination of results: data are validated; variables and results reports are created.
The major modifications in this sixth survey are the following: 1) it has a representative sample at
the level of Planning Regions; 2) donations in kind received from the Estate and the Non-Profit
Institutions Serving Households (NPISHs) are included; improvements are made to recording
information procedures; research is conducted on the end use of goods acquired by households in
order to obtain more accurate information on household consumption.
2
With the aim of meeting its objectives, the ENIGH 2013 required personnel to perform field work
for 12 months, to obtain income and expenditure from seasonal categories.
This document constitutes a conceptual framework upon which the methodology of the present
statistical research is developed, abiding by the resolutions and recommendations of the Household
Income and Consumption Expenditure in the framework of the SNA; furthermore, it is related to
household surveys by the Economic Commission for Latin America, the Canberra Group on
Household Income Statistics, the International Labor Organization and the System of National
Accounts (SNA 2008). In addition, the knowledge from ENIG 2004 and different international studies
are used as basis for the measurement of the main variables.
Regarding chapter distribution, Chapter II contains the general objective and the specific objectives;
Chapter III, the background; Chapter IV, the reference framework; Chapter V, delimitations of the
survey; Chapter VI, the objects of study; Chapter VII, the conceptual framework; Chapter VIII main
changes in ENIGH 2013 with regards to that conducted previously in 2004; Chapter IX contains the
main considerations and uses of the survey; in Chapter X, the sample design and the sampling errors
are presented; lastly, Chapters XI, XII, XIII, XIV and XV cover data collection tools, classifications, field
work and processing, estimations, imputations and data adjustments, and dissemination of results.
3
II Objectives
2.1 General Objective
Update information on Costa Rican household income and expenditure, with
the purpose of determining the origin and structure of income and
expenditure patterns, as well as other aspects related to the measurement of
wellbeing.
2.2 Specific Objectives
Determine the structure of Costa Rican household income, as well as its composition and distribution among all households in Costa Rica.
Identify the household income structure in order to analyze consumption and basic needs of population groups.
Generate information on the weighting coefficients of goods and services expenditure which make up the Consumer Price Index, with the purpose of updating the consumption basket.
Provide basic information on the composition of the household account in the framework of the System of National Accounts, with the aim of providing an up-to-date input for the structure of the Gross Domestic Product.
Provide information that allows for the update of the Basic Food Basket and its cost, in order to obtain poverty profiles by applying different methodologies.
4
III Background
Household income and expenditure surveys are important because, aside from updating the income
and expenditure structures, they allow to evaluate household wellbeing, as well as obtain
information to update the weight of the Consumer Price Index, and create the account for the
household sector for the estimation of the Gross Domestic Product.
Household income and expenditure surveys are conducted in Costa Rica due to their importance,
but also because it is required by law in accordance with Act No. 7839; the act through which INEC
was established. These surveys have been previously conducted on five occasions, as they provided
statistics of national interest. The legal basis by which this task is assigned to INEC and the surveys
conducted previously in Costa Rica are detailed below.
3.1 Legal basis According to article 15 of Act No. 7839 of the National Statistical System (Ley N. 7839 Sistema de
Estadística Nacional, 1998), INEC is in charge of conducting the National Household Income and
Expenditure Survey. Subparagraph c of article 15 of Act No. 7839 states the following:
“INEC shall be responsible for the production of the following national statistics:
…
c) those obtained from multiple purposes housing surveys, agriculture surveys, household income
and expenditure surveys1, economic surveys and consumer and producer of goods and services
prices indexes, and foreign trade statistics.”
Since visiting and interviewing every household in the country is costly - and although this is only
carried out in national housing and population censuses, and with shorter and simpler forms - the
statistical technique of probability sampling is used, which allows the selection of a sample of
housing units and households from across the country, that is representative of, and that allows to
draw inferences on the Costa Rican population.
3.2 National Household Income and Expenditure surveys conducted in
Costa Rica The first income and expenditure survey in Costa Rica was conducted by the General Management
of Statistics and Censuses in 1949. The General Management was responsible for these surveys until
1 Highlighted by ENIGH 2013
5
1998, when the National Institute of Statistics and Census was created under Act No. 7839 as an
autonomous entity; since then, this institute has been responsible for conducting these surveys.
The surveys have been improved in regards to geographic and population coverage. In addition,
each survey conducted has implemented a broader and more detailed scope, which allows to
produce more information for the study of households in the country, and for the development of
poverty measurement methodologies and social and economic research.
The main objective of the first two surveys was to define the household expenditure structure and
establish and update the weighting coefficients of the Consumer Price Index; however, the surveys
also aimed to determine the structure and distribution of income, provide information to improve
national account estimates, and carry out social analyses of the reference populations (San José,
Metropolitan Area and urban areas, respectively).
The initial objectives of the 1988 and 2004 surveys remained unchanged, but were applied at a
national level. Additionally, a form was included for income and expenses of agricultural producers
and financial transfers.
The year, study domains, and sample size of each income and expenditure survey conducted before ENIGH 2013 are detailed below.
Figure 1 Income and expenditure surveys conducted previously in Costa Rica
1949
•Family Income and Expenditure Survey for San José
•Sample: 258 families
1961
•Family Income and Expenditure Survey for the Metropolitan Area
•Sample: 500 families
1974
•Family Income and Expenditure Survey for the urban areas
•Sample: 3,000 families
1988
•National Household Income and Expenditure Survey
•Sample: 4,884 housing units
2004
•National Household Income and Expenditure Survey
•Sample: 5,287 housing units
6
IV Reference Framework
ENIGH 2013 was updated on the basis of a series of recommendations, summarized in several
documents, which serve as reference for multiple topics in this survey. Including: Income and
expenditure statistics (Organización Internacional del Trabajo, 2003), the expert group on
household income statistics (Grupo Canberra, 2002), the System of National Accounts' 2008 Manual
(Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008), and the Household Income and Consumption Expenditure
within the framework of the System of National Accounts (SNA) and the ECLAC Household Survey
study (Camelo, 2001). Experiences from ENIG 2004 and household income and expenditure surveys
from other countries were also considered.
The main supporting documents that served as reference for ENIGH 2013 are described below.
4.1 Supporting documents
4.1.1 Household income and expenditure statistics
Report II, 17th International Conference of Labor Statisticians held in Geneva in 2003.
This report is consistent with the main objective of the ILO: to protect the health and working
conditions of workers and their families.
The conference held most recently - from which the report is derived - addressed the objectives,
the frequency, and the scope of the household income and expenditure surveys, in addition to its
organizational structure, data collection procedures, and basic concepts and definitions.
Other considerations were raised for discussion in this conference, including: basic methodology,
classification, tabulation and presentation of results.
The two core topics are: (1) household income and consumption expenditure statistics; and (2)
consumer price indexes.
4.1.2 Expert group on household income statistics
It is a document prepared by the International Expert Group on Household Income Statistics; which
met for the first time in Canberra, Australia. For this reason, the expert group is known as The
Canberra Group.
The objective of the group was to improve national household income statistics by creating
standards for concepts and practices related to the production of statistics and the distribution of
income.
7
The group held four meetings, each of which produced one report. The final versions thereof were
compiled in a book, wherein the general guidelines, concepts, and methods to present income
results, among other related aspects, are established.
4.1.3 Household income and expenditures within the framework of the SNA and
the household surveys
This report was prepared by Heber Camelo, in his capacity as ECLAC officer, and is used in view of
divergences among countries, or among different surveys within a country, in the operationalization
of concepts of income and consumption expenditure and household surveys. The report streamlines
the most widely applied concepts of the SNA involved in measuring the household income and
expenditures, and in defining households as statistical units and units of socioeconomic analysis. It
highlights the differences between how household surveys are conducted and the
recommendations of the SNA, with the purpose of improving data collection tools.
Furthermore, different household classification alternatives are analyzed for income, consumption
and wellbeing studies; overall household information (income, size, social class, area of residence)
is considered, as well as information on the head of the household or a reference person (activity
condition, level of education, occupational qualification, etc.).
The definition and scope of household final consumption expenditures were raised for discussion
on the basis of the analysis of valuation criteria, recording time, and the accounting relationships
with other components of the final expenditure.
Moreover, the SNA recommendations for measuring and valuating of production for self-
consumption; goods and services received as payment in kind for work done by household
members; purchase and sale of used goods; purchase of goods and services provided to households
by the Government or Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISHs); barter transactions and
forms of measuring consumption of insurance services and gambling.
4.1.4 System of National Accounts Manual 2008
The System of National Accounts 2008 (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008) is a statistical
framework that provides a complete, coherent and flexible set of macroeconomic accounts for the
making of policies, analysis and research purposes. It was created under the auspices of the United
Nations, the European Commission, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development,
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The SNA 1993 was used in the past.
The SNA 20082 is an updated version which considers the ever-changing needs of users, new
economic developments and breakthroughs in methodological research, and encourages all
2 The SNA 2008 comprises two separate volumes: (1) volume 1, consisting of 17 chapters; and (2) volume 2, consisting of 12 chapters
and four annexes.
8
countries to compile and disseminate their national accounts on the basis of the SNA 2008 as soon
as possible.
The major household changes implemented between the SNA 1993 and the SNA 2008 are shown
below.
“Intangible produced assets” are now called “intellectual property products”, and are treated as capital services.
The SNA 2008 provides a wider overview of financial services.
The treatment of remittances derived from people traveling abroad was broadened, which allowed for the coverage of flows to resemble the economic reality.
The SNA 2008 contains a chapter dedicated to the measurement of the activities carried out in households as informal work (informal sector), and the activities that remain hidden from formal statistical measurement (non-observed economy).
9
V Limits
This chapter aims to inform users about the scope of the National Household Income and
Expenditure Survey.
5.1 Geographic scope ENIGH 2013 was conducted at a national level. The survey involved 468 Primary Sampling Units
(PSU), each of which was composed of 15 housing units, spread across all the planning regions.
The PSUs are geographic areas defined by the INEC cartography unit on the basis of the census
cartography. The size of the PSU must take the amount of housing units into consideration and be
as homogeneous as possible: urban areas were, on average, comprised of 125 housing units; rural
areas were, on the other hand, comprised of 100 housing units on average (Unidad de Cartografía,
INEC, 2014).
The sample selected was representative at a regional level and by area (both urban and rural), and
the strata of the urban area of the Central Region were: high, medium and low.
In accordance with Decree 7944-P (Decreto de División Regional del Territorio de Costa Rica, para
los efectos de investigación y planificación del desarrollo socioeconómico, 1978), the six planning
regions with their corresponding cantons are:
5.1.1 Central Region
The Central Region is the most densely populated. It is comprised of multiple cantons in the
Provinces of San José, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia.
San José: San José, Escazú, Desamparados, Puriscal, Aserrí, Mora, Tarrazú, Goicoechea, Santa Ana, Alajuelita, Coronado, Acosta, Moravia, Tibás, Montes de Oca, Dota, Curridabat, León Cortés, Turrubares.
Alajuela: Alajuela (except the district of Sarapiquí), San Ramón (except the district of San Isidro de Peñas Blancas), Grecia (except the district of Río Cuarto), Atenas, Naranjo, Palmares, Poás, Alfaro Ruiz, Valverde Vega.
Cartago: Cartago, Paraíso, La Unión, Jiménez, Turrialba, Alvarado, Oreamuno, El Guarco.
Heredia: Heredia, Barva, Santo Domingo, Santa Bárbara, San Rafael, San Isidro, Belén, Flores, San Pablo.
10
5.1.2 Chorotega Region
The Chorotega Region is comprised of the entire province of Guanacaste. Its cantons are listed
below:
Liberia, Nicoya, Santa Cruz, Bagaces, Carrillo, Cañas, Abangares, Tilarán, Nandayure, La Cruz
and Hojancha.
5.1.3 Central Pacific Region
This region is comprised of the province of Puntarenas, the area between the north and the center
of the country, and two cantons in Alajuela. Its cantons are listed below:
Puntarenas: Puntarenas, Esparza, Montes de Oro, Aguirre, Parrita and Garabito.
Alajuela: San Mateo and Orotina.
5.1.4 Brunca Region
This region is comprised of the southern area of the country, namely the following cantons:
San José: Pérez Zeledón.
Puntarenas: Buenos Aires, Osa, Golfito, Coto Brus and Corredores.
5.1.5 Huetar Caribbean Region
This region is comprised of the cantons of the province of Limón:
Limón, Pococí, Siquirres, Talamanca, Matina and Guácimo.
5.1.6 Huetar North Region
This region is comprised of cantons in the northern part of the country, cantons and districts
in Alajuela, and the canton of Sarapiquí in Heredia. Its cantons and districts are listed below:
Alajuela: San Carlos, Los Chiles, Guatuso, Upala, the district of Sarapiquí in the canton of Alajuela, the district of San Isidro de Peñas Blancas in the canton of San Ramón, and the district of Río Cuarto in the canton of Grecia.
Heredia: Sarapiquí.
11
5.2 Temporal scope Due to the fact that the data requested from informants refers to periods that range from the week
of reference to one, three, six or twelve months earlier, it should be noted that - depending on the
type of record - the information collected may include up to an additional year of reference for some
income and expenditure data.
The following diagram shows the reference period of each ten-day period, numbered 1 to 36, for
income and expenditure.
Figure 2 Reference period of the ENIGH 2013 data
As shown in the picture above, the Survey was completed on October 19, 2013. The only information
collected in this month was in regards to daily expenditure. This is the only variable gathered solely
during the survey period, as it usually takes one full week to collect the information of each
household. Therefore, time is organized in periods of ten days, as each group follows up on the 15
assigned housing units during this period. The reference period for income from scholarships and
expenditures from the previous month is September 2012 to September 2013. The quarterly
expenditures reflect the information collected from July 2012 to September 2013, whereas the
biannual expenditures reflect the information collected from April 2012 to September 2013. The
reference period for income different from scholarships and expenditures from the last 12 months
is October 2011 to October 2013.
12
5.3 Population scope This survey is applied to persons usually resident in households that form part of the sample of 7020
selected individual housing units and low income multi-unit dwellings [translator’s note: low income
multi-unit dwellings are rooms or spaces in a building used to accommodate one or several people,
with one single exit to the street, one common hallway and shared restroom and shower]. In other
words, collective housing units (containing six or more households), hotels, hospitals, boarding
housing units, jails, boarding schools, and other types of accommodations not defined by low
income multi-unit dwellings, are excluded.
For the purpose of this document, the term "persons usually resident in the households" is defined
by those household members who reside in the housing unit and meet the requirements specified
in part VI, section 3. Should none of them reside in the selected household, the household would
only be made of persons not usually resident in the households and is thus excluded from
participation in the survey.
13
VI Objects of study
The 6th Costa Rican National Household Income and Expenditure Survey is a research endeavor
involving households in the 7020 selected housing units. It is conducted through a stratified, two-
stage, replicated probability area sample design, showing the reality of all housing units and
households in the country.
The concepts of housing unit and each budgetary unit are defined below. The characteristics persons
have to meet in order to be a part of the study population are also described.
6.1 Housing unit A housing unit is a construction work surrounded by walls and covered by a roof, where people
sleep, prepare meals and protect themselves from weather. To be considered a housing unit, this
structure must have an entrance or direct access from the street or through hallways, stairs,
backyards or other, without having to enter another housing unit first. Two types of housing units
exist: individual housing unit and collective housing unit.
6.1.1 Individual housing unit
It is a facility structurally separated and independent, used to accommodate one person (single-
member) or a group of persons (one or more households).
6.1.2 Collective housing unit
It refers to any facility used by the government, a private enterprise or an institution to solve social
needs or specific shared-accommodation interests. It is inhabited by persons, usually with no kinship
relationship, who live together for health, education, religion or work reasons. In most cases, a third
party imposes a set of rules for co-existence that residents have to respect. Examples of collective
housing units include hospitals, jails, orphanages, boarding housing units, student dorms, nursing
homes and convents.
The target population is composed of individual housing units. Collective housing units, which
account for 0.07% of the total housing units in the country according to the Housing and Population
Census 2011 (INEC, s.f.), are excluded from the survey. They are highly heterogeneous units, with
characteristics so specific, other research tools are required.
In the case of households with more than one housing unit (for instance, one to spend most of the
time and the other for vacation), the household is thus considered to have a main residence (where
they reside most of the time) and a secondary residence (temporary residence).
14
6.2 Household It refers to one person or group of persons, usual residents of an individual house, with or without
kinship relationships, who add together their income and wealth and collectively consume certain
kinds of goods and services, especially those related to nutrition and accommodation (Sistema de
Cuentas Nacionales, 2008, págs. 71, párrafo 4.4).
Housing units where six or fewer non-family members reside will be treated as households. Housing
units with more than six members with no kinship relationships are considered to be collective
households3 and to be coexisting in a collective housing unit and thus are excluded from the study,
as explained previously.
6.2.1 Housing units with more than one household
One or more households can live in the same house. When a housing unit is inhabited by two or
more households, the household of the housing unit owner, the household of the person who
received it as a loan or as payment for work done, or the household of the person who made a
verbal or written agreement with the lesser (rented housing units), is considered the main
household.
Should two households in a housing unit claim the same rights over it, the main household will be
considered to be the one with the largest number of members.
Should more than one household exist in the same house, all existing households are to be studied,
starting with the main household.
6.3 Usual resident A person is considered to be a usual resident of a housing unit if he/she meets at least one of the
following criteria:
Usually residing in the housing unit and, at the time of the survey, has lived in it for over six months.
Has lived in it for six months or less but intends to continue for a period longer than six months.
Has lived in it for six months or less, has no intention of staying for over six months but has no other fixed place to stay.
Is temporarily absent from the housing unit due to circumstantial reasons (work, studies, travel, etc.) but is never absent for over six months.
3 A collective housing unit is a group of persons with no kinship relationships but with shared basic services, who live together for health,
education, religion or work reasons, such as baches, convents, inmates, etc.
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6.3.1 Household member
It refers to the person usually resident in the housing unit who contributes to the shared household
budget or otherwise depends on it, holds any right over the household collective resources and
takes part in the decision-making process related to consumption or other economic activities
performed jointly by the household.
The following persons usually resident in the housing unit are not considered household members:
Paid servants and other domestic workers who reside in the same housing unit as the employer and are provided with accommodation and meals as remuneration in kind. These employees are not entitled to the collective resources in their employer’s households; therefore, they must be considered members of a different household.
Persons admitted to institutions such as convents, jails, nursing homes who will likely live there for a period longer than six months. They must be considered as collective household members.
Persons performing volunteer activities and living in the household for over six months because of a special assignment but who have another household in the country or abroad.
Students from other areas in the country who are temporarily residing in the household, as long as they have a household in which they normally reside.
Exchange students who are residing in a household for over six months while completing their studies and who have a household outside the country.
Lodgers paying for accommodation, meals or both who do not have another usual residence.
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VII Conceptual framework
Each of the variables measured by ENIGH 2013 are defined in this chapter: household activity,
employment and income and expenditure.
Although the survey deals with income and expenditure, defining the concepts of activity and
employment is necessary, in order to better understand where income comes from and how each
source of income is defined, especially those work-related.
7.1 Occupation and employment
7.1.1 Economic activity
An economic activity is a set of actions and activities carried out by persons, institutions and
enterprises with the purpose of producing and selling or exchanging goods and services in the
market, as well as those given free of charge or at a lower price by the State or Non-Profit Institutions
(NPI). Productive activities include agricultural activities, mining, manufacturing, construction and
rendering of services, including trade.
In addition, productive activities also include the production of goods for final self-consumption, the
formation of fixed capital, the services of households occupied by the owners, and paid domestic
services, as recommended in the System of National Accounts Manual 2008 (Sistema de Cuentas
Nacionales, 2008).
Accordingly, service production activities in the household for final self-consumption are excluded,
such as cleaning, decorating, repairing, preparing meals, child caring and care giving, transport, etc.
Moreover, participation in production activities exclusive for self-consumption will be excluded, as
they are private activities whose production is not aimed at selling or exchanging goods; in other
words, they are not economic activities.
7.1.2 Activity condition
Activity condition refers to the distinction made to population aged 154 or older according to their
participation in the job market during the reference period. According to their activity condition,
the population is classified as workforce or population outside the workforce.
Figure 3 describes the separation of the population aged 15 or older by activity condition.
4 The foregoing is due to the following: a) consistency with the minimum working age established in the Children and Adolescents Code; b) the constitutional guarantee of covering compulsory schooling up to Basic General Education (9th grade); c) the decrease in the economic participation of adolescents, consistent with an increase in the schooling rates; d) the reduction of costs by researching on a smaller population size.
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Figure 3
Concept of activity condition
7.1.2.1 Population inside the workforce
It refers to the set of household members aged 15 or older who, at the time of the survey, were
participating in the production of economic goods and services or were otherwise willing to
participate; in other words, people with an occupation and people without an occupation. Also
referred to as Economically Active Population (EAP).
7.1.2.1.1 People employed
People with an occupation refers to household members aged 15 or older who performed any
economic activity, for at least an hour, during the reference week, or who were employed but were
temporarily absent during that week due to circumstantial, planned or unexpected reasons
(sickness, vacation, strike, scholarship, damage to equipment, flooding, etc.).
7.1.2.1.3 People unemployed
People inside the workforce who were not employed during the reference week, who were available
to participate in the production of economic goods and services within up to two weeks and who
looked for a job directly during the past four weeks but failed to find one.
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7.1.2.2 Population outside the workforce
Household members aged 15 or older who are not part of the workforce; that is, they are not
considered neither employed or unemployed, according to the previous definitions.
Population outside the workforce includes:
Retiree: receives an allowance on a regular basis as a disability, old-age or war pension, among others.
Rentier: receives income on a regular basis from the renting of property, deposit interest, holding of financial instruments, royalties, dividends, company income or others.
Student: studies in primary school, secondary school or higher education institutions on a regular basis.
Person who performs domestic chores in their own household: is dedicated solely to the chores of their own household.
Persons with a disability that prevents them from working: suffer from physical or mental conditions that prevent them from working.
Other: other household member situations that do not fall into any of the previous categories and that are not considered part of the workforce either. For instance, this group includes persons over 15 years of age without an occupation and discouraged persons (persons who are willing to work but do not pursue it because they believe they will fail to find a job).
7.1.3 Type of employment
Employment comprises the set of tasks assigned to a person or performed by a person,
independently or for an employer. The types of employment may be classified as follows: as
employee, as employment according to the contractual relationship and working conditions
established by the employer or as independent worker.
Each one of these classifications is explained below:
7.1.3.1 Employee
Any activity developed by household members under a formal or informal employment contract
with an employer, who may be a company or a person, to whom the person reports and on whom
he/she is directly or indirectly dependent is an employee. Furthermore, the employee receives
compensation on a monthly, biweekly, weekly, or hourly basis, or by piecework, usually as a wage
or salary, or otherwise as sales commissions, honorariums, payments in kind, among others.
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7.1.3.2 Independent work
It is performed by household members who do not receive a fixed compensation on a monthly basis,
for a period of time or by a set production unit, as they depend directly on the benefits derived from
the goods and services produced. Independent workers make the operational decisions that affect
the company, or delegate that decision-making, but keep the responsibility. Employers (who hire
staff for their activity), self-employed workers (who do not hire staff), unpaid family workers and
producer cooperative members are included.
7.1.3.3 Temporary absence from work
Temporary absence from work occurs when the persons with an occupation do not work during the
reference week due to circumstantial reasons but still hold a formal relation with their activity.
Temporary absence in paid employment versus independent work is defined according to the
following conditions.
The following cases are considered for paid employment:
When there is continuity in the total or partial monetary remuneration from the employer during the period of absence.
When the absence is attributed to work situations and no payment is received during the absence or interruption of work, as long as the period of absence does not exceed one month.
When the absence is attributed to personal situations and no payment is received during the interruption of work, as long as a return date is set, or the period of absence does not exceed one month.
Regarding independent work, the person absent from work is considered to have an occupation
provided the following conditions:
When in spite of having a commercial unit or office, he/she did not work because no customers arrived and no work was requested.
When a temporary closure or cease of operations occurs (due to remodeling or repairing of facilities, equipment maintenance or malfunction, bad weather, etc.) without receiving income, as long as it does not exceed one month.
The temporary absence criterion does not apply to unpaid workers and those working with no
position in a company (occasional work); in other words, they are not considered to have an
occupation if they did not work during the reference week.
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7.1.4 Employment situation
The employment situation of people with an occupation - according to their independence from, or
dependence on, the employment - is classified in the following categories:
7.1.4.1 Paid worker
Person working in a dependent relationship with a private enterprise (incorporated or not) or with
the Government (public sector), who receives a wage or salary as compensation for work, whether
monetary, in kind or both. These workers do not participate in the decision-making or management
of relations of production. The following are included in this category:
Family members who are partners in an incorporated company or owners thereof, or family members who receive a salary for working in the company and whose salary is unrelated to the benefits they may receive from the profitability of the business. Also included are persons who work in their own activity or unincorporated enterprise that behaves similar to incorporated companies and holds separate and sufficient accounting records (called quasi-corporations in the SNA).
Paid workers in an employment relationship (employment contract or agreement) with a company to which they agree to provide goods or services developed outside company facilities using company equipment and materials provided by the company.
Domestic servants in a dependent relationship with one or more households, performing domestic tasks and receiving a wage or salary as compensation for work, whether monetary, in kind or both.
7.1.4.2 Independent worker
An independent worker may be an employer or an active partner, or a self-employed worker.
Though subtle, differences exist among them; therefore, each one is defined below:
7.1.4.2.1 Employer or active partner
A person who owns a company, individually or jointly, who is self-employed and who hires one or
more paid workers continuously. The company owner has control over the management and
operation; however, this control may be partial or even non-existent.
This category also includes:
The owner who is part of the company’s workforce, who does not receive a specific, regular salary but who does receive income or profit as business man, making no distinction as to capital income and compensation for work done.
The owner of unincorporated enterprises, who is self-employed and who hires staff in order to render services to other companies through subcontracting (outsourcing), with the peculiarity that those workers5 develop the production process outside the contracting
5 System of National Accounts, 2008. P. 10, paragraphs from 7.34 to 7.38
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company. This contracting party and the subcontractor agree on providing a certain number of goods or services so the subcontracting company is uninvolved in the production process developed by the contracted company yet exerts control over the quality of the requested products or services. Production costs (equipment, materials and others) may or may not be provided by the contracting company.
This category does not include persons who own incorporated companies, who do not work in the
company and only receive accountability reports of the activities developed. They are considered
rentiers and thus are outside the workforce.
7.1.4.2.2 Self-employed worker
This category considers persons using their own workforce, by themselves or with one or more
partners, in order to run their own company, or otherwise practice a profession or occupation
independently, without hiring paid staff continuously. As owner, this person makes all decisions
concerning the economic activity performed.
The following are included in this category:
Family members who are partners in an unincorporated enterprise or owners thereof, who work in their own activity or company and who receive income making no distinction as to compensation received for work done and profit or income received as independent worker.
Workers rendering services to a company without a formal or informal contract or agreement of employment with the contracting company and who receive compensation dependent on the cost of goods or services used as input during production (intermediate goods or services). These workers make the decisions concerning production and service-rendering methods but have no control over defining conditions of purchase of inputs and sale of their products, as the economic activity is managed by an only customer.
The occasional worker6 who develops an economic activity of his own, either because it is a one-time activity or it is performed upon request and is coinciding with the reference week.
7.1.4.3 Unpaid worker
A person working for a company or independent worker without receiving compensation in cash or
in kind for work done. An unpaid worker does not participate in the decisions related to production
methods or purchase and sale of goods, and the activity of which he/she is part of the workforce is
dedicated to the production for sale.
6 Chamberos (informal workers) are an example of occasional workers that, unlike persons who coincidentally worked during the reference week, do not meet the periodicity criteria.
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7.1.5 Amount of jobs
Employed persons may have more than one job during the reference period, and these are
determined by the number of establishments in which the person works.
Persons working as domestic servants in several households are an exception, as households are
not economic production units. If the person works performing the same domestic tasks in several
households, they are considered to have one job only.
Persons usually working occasional or sporadic activities, such as paid farm workers working in
different properties, are considered to have one job only, as the relationship with the production
unit is brief and generally not simultaneous. The same applies to chamberos and camaroneros
(informal workers).
If the person has more than one job, the main job must be distinguished from the secondary job, in
accordance with the definitions provided below.
7.1.5.1 Main job
It is the job worked for the longest time during the reference period. Should the same amount of
time be reported for both, the one generating the highest income is considered the main job.
7.1.5.2 Secondary job
It is the “additional” job worked for fewer hours during the reference period, or the one generating
less income in comparison with the main job (in case both required the same number of hours).
7.1.6 Other employment characteristics
Additional employment characteristics for each job (main and secondary) include: Hours normally
worked, main economic activity, occupation performed and the institutional sector of the economic
establishment.
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7.2 Household income Figure 4 shows the household income structure.
Figure 4 Household income classification
Household income is all which is received in cash or in kind from sources such as wages and salaries,
self-employment income, interest and dividends of invested funds, pensions or other social security
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benefits and other transfers received regularly, as well as any large and irregular receipts from
inheritances, withdrawal of savings and the like.
Household income can be classified in current income (received on a regular basis) and other non-
current income (received irregularly and in generally large amounts), which are considered to be
capital transactions. Figure 4 shows the components regarded in the definition of total income.
Each of the types of income shown in the chart is explained below:
7.2.1 Current income
Measuring this type of regular household income is one of the main objectives of ENIGH 2013, as it
is mainly used to satisfy consumption needs. This income is defined as:
Household income consists of receipts in cash, in kind or in services, that are usually
recurrent and regular and are received by the household or by individual members of
the household at annual or at less frequent intervals. During the reference period when
they are received, such receipts are potentially available for current consumption and,
as a rule, do not reduce the net worth of the household (Organización Internacional del
Trabajo, 2003, pág. 11).
The main characteristics of this type of income are based on this concept:
It may monetary or in kind, regardless of whether they are goods, services or both.
It must be regular or recurrent, as it is received and expected by households for their usual consumption. Accordingly, it is determined it must be received at least on a yearly basis or less frequently, although exceptions exist concerning this periodicity, as detailed further on.
It must contribute to the household’s economic wellbeing. Wellbeing is understood as the ability of households to satisfy their needs.
As methodology to measure this income, the International Labor Organization recommendation
consisting in dividing its components in major groups according to source is adopted. Moreover,
these sources can be divided in different ways (Organización Internacional del Trabajo, 2003). Figure
4 shows the composition applied in operational terms in ENIGH 2013, which is detailed below.
7.2.1.1 Income from employment
It comprises all receipts in cash or in kind (valued at market price) received for having a paid job or
independent work (as employer or self-employed worker).
7.2.1.1 Employee income
Employee income is defined as follows:
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It comprises direct salaries7 for time worked and work done, cash bonuses and
gratuities, commissions and tips, directors’ fees, profit-sharing bonuses and other forms
of profit-related pay, or other remuneration, as well as free or subsidized goods and
services from an employer and severance and termination pay (Organización
Internacional del Trabajo, 2003, pág. 87).
Employee income is divided by form of payment as follows:
Cash income
All cash income received by an employee. Comprised of:
Gross wages and salaries: Wages and salaries are defined as “remuneration payable at regular intervals (i.e.: weekly, monthly or otherwise) including payments by results and piecework payments.” (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008, págs. 160, párrafo 7.44) The concept of gross wages and salaries also comprises the incentives for exclusivity of employment, seniority, annuities, career and others.
Income additional to gross salary: occasional, extraordinary payments made not always for a specific reason, for instance, good performance, goals achieved, customer satisfaction, regulations by law or for the fulfillment of functions and tasks. These include the following: - Overtime: payments in cash for the hours worked exceeding the working day agreed
upon in the contract of employment. - Christmas salary bonus: payment corresponding to a “thirteenth month”, which
accounts to the average of all gross monetary income (salary and additional) received during a year.
- School salary: it is a withholding of 8.19% from the monthly income received during a calendar year, paid at the end of January of the following year. It is compulsory solely for public sector employees.
- Utilities, incentives and awards: Cash income received by the employee as a result of the distribution among the employees of part of the total profit of the company.
- Allowance: Payments in cash payable to senior officers or executives as remuneration for any company meetings attended.
- Commissions: Cash income generally paid in proportion to sales or products and services placed on the market. An employee may not have a base salary and receive remuneration only as commissions.
- Tips: Gratuities that are occasionally paid in cash by customers to employees for service provided or work done. These include the service tax and the taxes the customer is willing to pay voluntarily. These payments are not included in the salary recorded by the employer.
- Per diem allowance: Cash provided to an employee covering work-related expenses, such as lodging, meals, while representing the company in the country or abroad. Expenses reimbursed through invoices are not included in per diem allowances.
- Other payments: Regular cash income paid to the employee by the employer so the former may directly pay for goods and services not work-related, or otherwise spend on personal or family interests, for example, in the form of a monthly sum of money to pay for transportation to and from the work place.
7 This refers to gross salaries with no deductions.
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Severance and termination pay: Total amount in cash received by the employee upon dismissal or termination of the contract of employment (benefits by law). These benefits include severance pay, accumulated Christmas salary bonus, accumulated vacation pay and the corresponding salary. This income, although irregular, is reported as current income, as it is income received by the employee upon dismissal or termination of the contract of employment, and which normally provides for consumption expenditures while the recipient looks for another job. In accordance with the foregoing, and the recommendations of ILO 2003 and Canberra Group 2002, this is included in ENIGH 2013 as employee income.
Payments in kind
All goods and services furnished to employees as part of the working conditions. To be considered
income in kind, these goods and services must not be required for work, and must be made available
for the employee and the household members.
These payments in kind are received on a regular basis as compensation for work done; therefore,
no expenditures are incurred by the employee. The cost of the goods or services received was
studied for the purpose of this research project8.
Employees may receive goods and services that are partially subsidized. The cost is the difference
between what the interviewee believes the service costs, and the actual amount paid. For instance,
if the recipient pays 75 colones a day for the bus service provided by the employer, and he/she
believes the cost for the service is 200 colones, then the value of the payment in kind for the daily
transportation service would be 125 colones.
The most common payments in kind are:
Meals and beverages: meals and beverages not served provided by employers so employees can take them home to their families.
Clothing and footwear: all clothing and footwear provided by the employer that, because of its particular characteristics, the employee may wear in their spare time. Work uniforms not available for everyday use, such as police, chef and firefighter gear or attire, are excluded.
Cafeteria: all meals prepared and served in a cafeteria for workers, subsidized or free of cost, including breakfast, lunch and dinner. If meals received are low-cost (a cup of coffee with no side dish, for instance), they are not considered for ENIGH 2013.
Child day care service: service provided to the employee in which their children are taken care of in the company or at a children’s center. It may be free of charge or subsidized.
Housing unit or room: housing unit or room made available to the employee as part of pay for work done, for temporary or permanent residence with or without family members. Housing units and rooms are not provided when the employee and their family are not able to make use of them, as this would be considered intermediate company consumption
8 If the recipient (employee) is unaware of the exact cost, they are requested to assign an approximate cost (monetary value at market price).
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Water, electricity, internet services: the total or partial pay made by the employer for the employee’s household water, electricity and internet services.
Home phone and mobile phone: home phone, mobile phone - or both - covered totally or partially by the employer for the employee’s personal and work-related use.
Vehicle for own use: the employer provides the employee with a vehicle for use during working hours as well as non-working hours.
Vehicle maintenance: employee’s personal vehicle maintenance costs covered partially by the employer (oil change, circulation permits, repairs, among others).
Transportation: transportation services provided to employees by the company from or to convenient locations or from the work place.
Fuel: fuel paid by the employer through coupons or any exchange items for the employee’s personal use of the vehicle (provided by the company or their own).
Delivery of shares: the option of delivering company shares to employees as part of remuneration for outstanding performance or company profit. They are normally granted to high- and medium- ranking workers. They shall be calculated at market price at the time of delivery to the recipient.
Certain additional types of goods and services granted by the company or employer are not
considered employee income because they are provided as a requirement for the job and not to
use during spare time or to meet the employee’s needs or that of household members. These goods
and services are considered intermediate company consumption and are not to be taken into
account.
7.2.1.1 Independent worker income
Income received - once production costs are subtracted (intermediate consumption) - by workers
who perform their own economic activity. Income comes from the sale of goods and services in the
market, as well as from barter transactions, household consumption or a combination thereof.
Production costs correspond to retribution to hired workers; cost of raw materials; insurance
premiums; equipment maintenance; vehicles; water, gas and electricity; taxes; transportation
services; advertising; professional services; rentals and depreciation (decrease in value of assets9).
All these expenses must be associated solely to the production process (intermediate consumption).
These activities are developed in households as producers of goods and services, which are defined
as Unincorporated Enterprises. The level of formality in accounting is what defines income for
independent work, as this group comprises companies with partial, insufficient or non-existing
records, and consequently income received by the owner as remuneration for work performed
cannot be distinguished from income from profitability of capital invested in the company. As a
whole, this income is called mixed income10.
9 In view of the variety of methods existing to calculate depreciation, this cost is not included as intermediate consumption expense. 10 Mixed income includes any income that is received, whether by a humble shoe shiner or by a wealthy business owner with many employees, as long as the company or business is an unincorporated enterprise.
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For ENIGH 2013, unincorporated enterprises are those not registered in the Public Record, which
do not issue stamped invoices or tickets, do not keep accounting records certified by a public
accountant, or have no salary assigned for work done.
Mixed income includes net company profit and loss, and net cost of goods produced for self-
consumption or barter transactions, as defined below.
Company profit or loss
The net operating profit or loss (i.e.: the difference between the income derived from the sale of
goods and services and the intermediate company expenses) earned by owners or partners working
in unincorporated enterprises.
Goods for self-consumption and barter transactions
The market value of all goods and services produced in unincorporated enterprises, for self-
consumption or self-supply, to be exchanged for other goods (barter transactions) or donated to
other households or NPISHs.
7.2.1.2 Income derived from rents
Income derived from rents is defined as income that was received as a result of ownership of assets11
provided to others for their use. Assets may be financial or non-financial, such as fixed assets and/or
natural resources (above-ground land and underground land).
Income from rents is derived from rental and lease agreements, interests, rental of natural
resources, and rents derived from intangible assets and/or intellectual property12. These are
detailed below.
7.2.1.2.1 Rental income
Net income13 received by the owner of a fixed tangible asset14 used by a third party; whether in the
country or abroad.
Income derived of tangible fixed assets includes:
Rental of rooms and housing units
Rental of buildings, offices and commercial units
Rental of vehicles, motorcycles and machinery
Rental of agricultural (tractor, sprayer) or industrial equipment (packaging machine)
11 They refer to the goods, rights and cash of a household. 12 All intangible assets capable of generating future economic benefits, including copyrights and/or invention patents. 13 It is defined as rental income minus the intermediate consumption expenses incurred by the lessee to make these tangible assets available for third parties. 14 All tangible goods that can be physically manipulated and that take up space.
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7.2.1.2.2 Income derived from financial investments
Income received by the owner of financial assets for making them available to third parties,
regardless of whether the asset was issued abroad or in the country. A distinction is made between
income from interest receipts and income from benefits or dividends.
Interest
As established in the SNA 2008, interests are sums of money payable to the owner of a financial
asset for having provided funds to another institutional unit15. For instance, interest receipts may
be payments from term deposits, savings accounts or investment funds in a financial institution, as
well as loans provided by a household member.
Benefits distributed by cooperatives
Benefits obtained from the contributions paid by cooperative members during a period, after which
they are redistributed.
Dividends
Cash return on cash invested, by an investor acting as partner, in a business. In other words, when
an investor makes a capital contribution and is thus rewarded.
7.2.1.2.3 Income derived from natural resources
Cash received by the owner of natural resources, or unproduced assets, for the use thereof by third
parties. Includes income received for rental of above-ground land and/or underground land.
Some examples of income derived from natural resources are:
Rental of land for agricultural purposes
Rental of underground land for mining
Rental of land for stock breeding
Rental of land for parking
Rental of land for patronage festivals
If, upon renting a property where construction work is taking place, there is no possible way to
determine the amount that is payable on account of the construction work and the amount that is
payable on account of rent, the total income received will be recorded under the category with the
greatest difference in value between the land and the construction work.
15 An Institutional Unit is “that which has the capacity to own goods and assets, to incur liabilities and to perform, on its behalf, economic
activities and transactions with other units (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008, págs. 71, párrafo 4.2).”
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7.2.1.2.4 Income derived from property rights
Capital returns and/or income derived from the production of intangible assets, and from the lease
thereof, for use by third parties. The major and most common rights are specified below:
Rental of registered trademarks
Rights granted by a company to one or several persons in a particular area for the use of a product,
activity or trade name. It is commonly referred to as franchise.
Rental of licenses
Set of exclusive rights granted temporarily by a government or authority to the owner of the license,
which is subject to use or rental, such as, for example, the rental of a liquor license required to open
a bar.
Rental of copyrights
Inventions may be patented and, as part of the rights granted, are subject to industrial use, either
through direct production or rental of the patent. Income from rental of copyrights: rental income
that is received for the creation of literary, artistic, didactic or scientific work.
7.2.1.3 Current cash transfers
Cash received by households on a regular basis, excepting insurance benefits. They may be received
from the Government, Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISHs) or other households.
Their peculiarity lies in that they are nonreciprocal; they are granted without requiring anything in
return.
Among the most common current transfers received in cash are:
7.2.1.3.1 Scholarships
They are economic contributions granted to aid a person in their studies. Scholarships may be
provided by the government or any other national of foreign institution, and they may be used for
primary, secondary, and technical education, as well as higher education and postgraduate
education.
7.2.1.3.2 Insurance compensations
Through insurance premiums, insurance companies are forced to reimburse any damage occurred
in any eventuality foreseen in the contract. Under the concept of current income, only non-life
insurance is included, as this income does not modify household net worth. Because they are large,
life insurance transfers are considered capital transfers. The major insurance transfers are the
following:
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Insurance compensation for damaged goods: compensation received by the insured for damage caused in an eventuality, such as fire or theft, to insured assets.
Insurance compensation for workplace accident: amount received by the insured for accidents suffered in the workplace.
Insurance compensation for damage caused by a third party: received from an insurer or individual when being affected by actions of a third party.
Insurance compensation for lost or stolen credit and debit cards: granted for cards lost or stolen in a burglary, assault or scam.
Sick leaves: cash income from insurance (generally social security) provided to cover income not received during absence from work due to the partial or total loss of abilities, which impede the person from performing normally or attending the workplace.
Total or partial reimbursements received for health, education, death and other expenditures: amount provided by an insurer to household members for expenditures incurred. The insurer pays in full or partially once the invoice is submitted.
7.2.1.3.3 Maternity leaves
Monetary income received by an insured female employee during her absence from work the month
prior to childbirth and the three subsequent months, to allow for her adequately looking after her
pregnancy and maternity needs.
7.2.1.3.4 Pensions
A pension is the net16 sum of money a person receives on a regular basis from the government, an
insurance company, autonomous pension systems, from abroad or from households.
Pensions included in this category are:
Disability, Old Age and Death Pensions
Cash income received on a regular basis by a person in the following cases: When the age and the number of social security contributions required to retire are reached (old age pension); when a person becomes disabled due to sickness or accident (disability pension); and upon the death of the spouse, mother or father on whom the person depended financially (death pension).
Non-Contributory State Pension
Economic assistance provided in cash through subsidies by the state to disabled people, old people and people in extreme poverty. These - unlike Disability, Old Age and Death pensions - do not require social security contributions.
Pensions from abroad
Cash sum received by people with pension plans abroad.
16 Without including social security contributions.
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Food allowance
Cash income received by a person to pay for living essentials. Normally, food allowance is provided by parents to their children; however, children may provide it to their parents because of old age or inability to work.
Food allowance and Disability, Old Age and Death Pension Christmas salary bonus
Payment corresponding to a “thirteenth month”, which accounts for the total income received as pension during a year.
7.2.1.3.5 Other permanent assistance received from households, NPISHs and the
government
Income, in cash or in kind, received from other households, from the NPISHs, or from the
government, on a regular basis, and in return nothing is required.
The International Labor Organization (Organización Internacional del Trabajo, 2003) defines them,
in the case of households, as family support payments, regular receipts from inheritances and trust
funds; and in the case of Non-Profit Institutions and the government, as regular donations or
financial support. Current transfers from other households include:
Permanent monetary assistance received from relatives and others residing in the country or abroad. They are referred to as remittances, if the money is transferred from abroad.
Presents in kind received from other households on a regular basis: Food, clothing, medicine and other household items. They must be valued at market price for recording purposes.
Regular monetary support received from the NPISHs or charitable institutions, like churches.
Support from the IMAS (Institute of Mixed Welfare): economic assistance provided by IMAS to low-income families to meet their basic needs.
Cash assistance received from other public institutions on a regular basis: Aside from IMAS, scholarships, and non-contributory state pensions, there are other institutions that transfer money to households, such as municipalities and the Family Allowances Program.
7.2.1 Imputed cost of housing unit
Within the current income, an imputed rental cost is given to households living in their own housing
units, as the System of National Accounts considers it an accommodation service produced by
households for owners.
It is the market cost, with maintenance costs deducted, the owner of a housing unit would have to
pay if he/she were to rent it.
This concept comprises housing units paid in full, those currently being paid and those that were
donated.
An econometric model was employed to estimate it based on housing unit and household
information. Housing unit maintenance expenses were subtracted from the estimate. The
imputation methodology is presented in further detail in section 14.5.3.
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7.2.2 Capital transactions
With the purpose of creating the household balance sheet17 to explain major differences between
consumption and current income, income from financial transactions, non-financial transactions
and other capital receipts received by households are studied.
A capital transfer is the acquisition or ownership of a financial or non-financial asset18. It is that in
which a household exchanges a particular set of benefits with another economic unit through
payments defined as a financial right, thus a liability19.
These transactions modify the net worth20, for example, income received for the sale of property
and machinery (drawing down of assets), income received for a loan requested (increasing liabilities)
or inheritance, among others. This is because households usually do not receive this income as part
of their consumption budget. They are usually irregular and are generally large sums of money that
households do not spend entirely during the reference period.
Therefore, they are not considered part of current income and thus should not be considered for
consumption of goods and services, as explained in the System of National Accounts 2008 Manual
(Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008), as it is assumed households will not treat a capital transfer
that happens to be received during a particular period as being wholly available for final
consumption within the same accounting period. Nonetheless, they do have an effect on the
household balance sheet. As a result, both income and monetary disbursements are recorded.
Capital transactions that increase the balance sheet positively may be financial or non-financial.
7.2.2.1 Financial transactions
In order to define financial capital transactions, income from sale and withdrawal of assets and
incurring of financial liabilities are considered.
Financial income comprises all financial rights (withdrawal of savings, certificates, guarantee bonds,
debt securities or money received through a loan) and ownership through either sale of shares21,
(listed and not listed in the stock exchange) and other ownership of corporations (withdrawal of
investments on branches, trusts, limited liability companies and solidarity associations and
17 Household balance sheet is the measurement of the monthly economic situation of households (surplus, deficit or equilibrium) through the sum of the assets minus the total monthly liabilities (income minus expenditure). This balance helps show the origin and resources of household funds and interpret the causes of the differences between income and expenditure. 18 Assets are stores of value that generate a benefit or series of benefits received by its owner for tenure or use thereof during a period of time. Assets may or may not be financial. This survey, just as the SNA 2008, will consider only economic assets (moral attributes of persons and other intangible or non-economic assets are excluded). 19 A liability is created when the debtor acquires the obligation, in certain circumstances, of making a payment or series of payments to the creditor. Non-financial liabilities are not recognized in the SNA; therefore, the term liability refers necessarily to a financial liability. 20 Net worth is the difference between the set of assets (property, goods, rights and obligations) minus the liabilities (debts); in other words, the difference between the total assets and total liabilities is called net worth. 21 Shares are considered financial assets although the financial right of their holders over the corporation may not be a fixed or previously
determined monetary amount.
34
cooperatives, or unincorporated funds and notional units for ownership of real estate and other
natural resources).
7.2.2.2 Non-financial transactions
Cash income received for the sale of non-financial assets, chiefly:
Sale of plots of land
Sale of housing units
Sale of valuable antiques
Sale of domestic animals
Sale of high-cost jewelry and works of art
7.2.2.3 Other income
Similar to capital transactions, other income is large and occasionally unexpected income derived
from activities unrelated to the sale of financial and non-financial assets, such as:
Life insurance compensations: single income in cash received by a person from the death of a relative who assigned him/her as recipient. It is a significant one-off amount received by a person.
Inheritances: sum of money transferred by a person to another upon the death of the latter. For the purposes of this survey, only inheritances in cash will be considered. Inheritances in kind are recorded according to the value determined by the household informant (at retail market price).
Income from gambling: cash income received for participating or winning in lottery games, chances, tico bingo, gambling winnings, or casino games.
Temporary gifts or financial support received from other households.
7.3 Household expenditure The sum of the goods and services purchased at the market, acquired free of charge, or produced
by households, in order to satisfy the needs of their members, or for other compulsory payments.
In order to analyze household expenditure, the concept of total expenditure is employed, which
comprises both current expenditure and capital transfers.
Current expenditure occurs at a regular frequency and are composed of the acquisitions made by
the household in order to satisfy their consumption needs and requests, and of paid current
transfers made by households to the government, to social security, to other households, to NPISHs
or as compensation for damage, with no remuneration.
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Expenditure in capital transfers of households are those in the purchase of financial liabilities22 and
assets23. These expenditures are less frequent and are usually large amounts.
Figure 5 shows the household expenditure structure.
7.3.1 Current expenditure
Current expenditure comprises purchases and disbursements for household consumption
expenditures and transfers. In general, these expenditures are incurred at a specific frequency,
according to the needs and wants of the household or national and international legislation.
Consumption expenditure refers to the goods and services acquired by households in order to
satisfy their needs and wants (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008, págs. 207, párrafo 9.3). Current
transfers paid are taxes, insurance, donations and other frequent and relatively small transfers of
households.
Collecting information on consumption expenditure is key, as like household current income, it is an
essential indicator for the analysis of wellbeing, with the only difference that consumption
expenditures are less exposed to circumstantial fluctuations than income is.
22 A liability is an obligation of the debtor implying a payment or a series of payments to the creditor under certain circumstances. 23Assets are stores of value that generate a benefit or series of benefits received by its owner during a period of time. Assets may or may not be financial. For most of the financial assets a corresponding liability exists.
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Figure 5 Household expenditure classification
7.3.1.1 Consumption expenditure
Consumption expenditure is the cost of goods and services acquired by households in order to
satisfy their needs and wants. It includes direct monetary purchases of consumer goods and services
acquired in the country and abroad and the estimated cost of non-monetary transactions, as barter
37
transactions, income in kind, self-consumption, self-supply and donations24 (Sistema de Cuentas
Nacionales, 2008).
Consumer goods and services may be bought and sold in the market or be received at low or no
cost. Goods are classified in durable goods, which can be used repeatedly for over a year; semi-
durable goods, which can be used repeatedly for less than a year; and non-durable goods, used
solely for one-time consumption.
7.3.1.1.1 Household consumption expenditure classification
Household consumption expenditure is a large aggregate, which is why it should be disaggregated.
For this purpose, the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) will be used,
containing 14 groups of which only the first 12 refer to households.
7.3.1.1.2 Time for recording consumer goods and services
Consumption expenditure should be recorded on the basis of their acquisition, which is the time
when households become owners of the goods or when the rendering of services is completed.
Three special cases may apply when recording consumption expenditure. The first case refers to the
acquisition by installments of durable or semi-durable goods through credit, financial leasing, or
other. These are recorded from the moment the payment commitment is made. Even though the
purchaser is not yet necessarily the legal owner, he/she does exercise take on an economic
responsibility. This means in the survey the record begins the moment the purchase of the product
is agreed upon, although acquisition may take place before payment or before the completion of
payment.
The second case refers to when goods have been donated to the household or received as a form
of payment, in which case consumption expenditures are recorded starting the moment the goods
are made available to the household.
Lastly, in the case of housing unit services, consumption from the previous period is recorded, as
information available on public services like water, telephone, and electricity corresponds to
amounts already billed from the previous month.
24 Donations in kind and gifts from other households are recorded in expenditure forms, namely through the
question concerning payment method or method of acquisition of goods and services received, where it is
recorded as “donated by another household” (it would thus be considered consumption expenditure). However,
from the donor household’s perspective it would be recorded as shopping destination: to be donated to another
household (it is not considered consumption expenditure; it is a transfer in kind to another household).
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7.3.1.1.3 Forms of acquisition
Consumer goods and services expenditure, like income, may monetary or non-monetary. Monetary
expenditure transactions are the most common and refer to those in which an agreed payment is
made in cash, credit, checks, transfers, etc.
In these cases, purchases are valued directly in colones at the moment of acquisition, as mentioned
in the previous section. However, households may also acquire goods and services through non-
monetary transactions, where no money is involved in the payment method. In these cases, indirect
valuation is required, as described below:
Barter transactions expenditure: Barter transactions is one where goods and/or services are exchanged for other different goods and/or services, agreed by the two parties as being of equal cost, without the use of money. Barter expenditures are recorded at prices paid by households, upon valuation of the goods and/or services provided as a form of payment.
Expenditure on goods and services from income in kind: They refer to the cost of goods, services and assets provided by employers to employees as remuneration in kind for work done. Because these goods and services may be uses for personal purposes, they are also included in household expenditure. The most common types of payments in kind are:
- Meals and beverages provided on a regular basis - Housing or accommodation services that may be used by all household members. - Vehicle services or other durable goods for the employee’s personal use - Goods and services produced by the employer during his own production processes - Transportation from and to the work place, as well as free or subsidized parking (otherwise
charged). - Children’s day care services
According to the SNA 2008, valuation of that received in kind must be in accordance with the how the employer acquires the goods and the form of payment to workers25; however, since workers usually do not have this information to provide, the market value of these goods, services and capital is used.
Expenditure on goods and services from own-account production (self-consumption and self-supply): They are the value of goods that the household produces or withdraws from the business for own consumption or use. In the case of services, only those related to sales or supply to third parties are included. Although the SNA 2008 recommends using cost price26, market price is used, as this information is not always available in such detail.
Gifts received from other households: They refer to the value of goods and services received at low or no cost for household consumption. According to the SNA 2008, when received at no cost and produced in the donor household, gifts should be valued at cost price27; however, considering the difficulty of this estimate for the recipients of the
25 When purchased by or given at no cost to the employer, they are valued at market price. Those produced by the employer are valued at producer price. When provided at a lower cost, the expenditure in kind are the difference between the total value and the amount paid. In case of interests foregone, the estimate of the value is equal to the difference between the average rate and the interest paid (System of National Accounts, 2008). 26 Cost price is market price minus the trade and transport margins and the Value-Added Tax paid. 27 Technically, those produced by the donor household should be valued at cost price; nonetheless, received goods are valued at market price and, although interests foregone should be included according to the SNA, they are excluded in view of the difficulty of their estimation.
39
donation, gifts are valued at market price. Similarly, if provided at a price lower than market price, the amount paid is considered as consumption expenditure.
7.3.1.1.4 Household consumption expenditure valuation
Regarding household expenditure, monetary transactions are recorded at market prices based on
cash payments; and self-consumption, barter transactions, donations and salary in kind are
recorded at prices estimated by households.
For credit purchases, if informants are unaware of the spot price, they are inquired of the amount
and number of installments in order to obtain an approximate value at market price.
7.3.1.2 Current transfers paid
Current transfers paid are expenditure incurred by the household or any of its members as
contributions or donations to other entities without receiving anything in return. They affect
household consumption and savings and are usually frequent and regular payments.
They can be made to the State (income taxes, other direct taxes, fines and compulsory fees); as
social contributions (social security and pensions); to Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households28
(organizations, professional associations, trade unions and others); to other households (donations,
remittances, food allowances, parental support and others); or as compensation for damage. The
foregoing is detailed below:
7.3.1.2.1 Transfers made to the Government
These are the taxes and compulsory payments, with no counterparts, paid by households to the
Government. They include:
Income taxes
Payments required on the basis of income received by persons or households. If deducted in the
source, they can be recorded in the periods when they are paid, but when the payment is to be
made until the following accounting period, uncertainty may arise, and thus taxes are recorded
based on the previous period (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008).
The following are comprised in income taxes:
Taxes on individual or household income: levied on the person’s sources of income (salary, property rentals, pensions and others). They include those deducted by employers, surtaxes and income tax of holders of Unincorporated Enterprises29.
28 Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households are institutions that produce goods and services for sale at low or no cost and which are not controlled by the government. They are referred to as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). 29 These enterprises are households that produce goods and services for sale or exchange. They are not incorporated as a legal entity separate from the owner.
40
Capital gains income: levied on gains, regardless of the periods during which they were earned.
Other current taxes on capital: levied on the value of assets (land and buildings) or on net worth (taxes on improvements), on other assets (jewelry or other signs of wealth), as well as on capital transfer (tax on inheritances or succession rights and taxes on donations).
Fines and other fiscal sanctions
Fines and other sanctions imposed by tax authorities due to evaded or delayed tax payments. They
are registered as taxes, as they are seldom reported separately.
Other fees
Payments made periodically by households (generally once a year) for a license, such as possession
and use of vehicles, ships and aircrafts; or to obtain certificates such as hunting, fishing and target
shooting permits. These fees are paid on property or use of certain goods or activities that are
restricted. They generally require little to no work from the government.
This group includes taxes on international transactions: remittances, international travel,
investments and purchases abroad, etc.
7.3.1.2.2 Social contributions
Contributions paid to social security and pension systems, with the purpose of obtaining the
corresponding benefits.
Social contributions to the health care system
Social contributions are payments made or imputed by household members to compulsory or
voluntary social insurance, with the aim of ensuring health and maternity benefits for the current
or future period. Both the insured and people depending on them are entitled to this right.
Contributions may be paid by employees, self-employed workers and unemployed/inactive persons.
Social contributions to the pensions system
Payments made with the purpose of receiving a pension30 (lifelong payments31 due to retirement,
old age or disability). These systems follow a process in which persons make periodic contributions
to fund their retirement plan, as well as that of their relatives.
Complementary voluntary pension funding is included as social contribution, as it also complies with
the principle of redistribution among those who have contributed to the funding.
The contribution is recorded at the time in which the payment obligation is created. The amount
recorded is that paid between the previous month and the day of the survey.
30 Technically, service fees of administrators should be excluded, but because obtaining data with this disaggregation is difficult, what is recorded is the total amount paid by households. 31 Lifelong payments are those made starting on the event up until the death of the recipient.
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7.3.1.2.3 Transfers to Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households
Payments made by households or its members as membership fees, subscriptions, voluntary
donations and others, periodically or occasionally. These institutions may be professional
associations, trade unions, solidarity associations and other household service institutions.
Transfers in cash and the value of transfers in kind are included32.
7.3.1.2.4 Inter-household transfers
Transfers made by households to other households residing or not in the country, such as donations,
food allowances, parental support. They refer to all transfers in cash and the value of transfers in
kind33. These are recorded as anything reported by the household as “donations to other
households”, in terms of the end use of the acquisition.
7.3.1.2.5 Compensation payments
Payments made by a household or its members as compensation for damages caused to other
persons or properties. They may be compulsory or agreed upon out of court. An example of this
payment is compensation paid for damage caused by children to neighboring property.
7.3.2 Capital transactions
A capital transfer is the acquisition or ownership of a financial or non-financial asset. They are
classified as capital if they involve the transfer of an asset to one of the parties (buyer-seller).
They are generally one-off, irregular, large amounts, and may be financial or non-financial
transactions.
7.3.2.1 Financial transactions
They serve as a mechanism through which households exchange a particular set of financial benefits
among themselves or with other institutional units34 residing in the country or abroad, by making
payments in order for one unit to acquire a financial claim35 or asset and the other a liability.
32 According to the SNA 2008, donations of new or recently acquired food, clothing, blankets, medicine and the like are treated as transfers in cash used for the purchase of said items. Donations of valuables are recorded as capital transfers, unless they are used or unwanted by households, in which case they are not recorded as transfers. 33In this case, transfers in kind are valued at cost price if produced by the household, and at market price if purchased. 34 Institutional units are physical or legal entities, with legal and decision-making capacities, as well as the capacity to hold assets and incur liabilities, and they may residents or non-residents. 35 A financial claim is the payment or series of payments due by the household under the terms of a liability.
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They are recorded once the household makes the disbursement for the financial asset or liability,
which comprise:
Acquisition of assets: - Share purchase - Bond purchase - Securities purchase - Securities repurchase - Investment fund shares payments - Savings deposits - Margins - Term deposits - Other deposits - Life insurance premiums
Liability pay: - Foreclosure payments - Layaways (system by which a customer pays a deposit for an item at a
store to be held by the owner, who delivers the item to the customer once the total payments required are completed, with no interest charged)
- Loan payments to third parties outside the household - Mortgage payments - Credit card payments - Loan payments (personal, housing, plot of land, etc.) - Other accounts payable
7.3.2.2 Non-financial transactions
Acquisition or use of non-financial assets by households, where money is exchanged to receive
capital goods.
They include the value of assets acquired through barter transactions, of those received as capital
transfer in kind, and those withheld by producers for own use (such as construction of own house).
The value of a non-financial asset is recorded at the time of transfer and comprises the following
kinds:
Purchase of housing unit
Expansion, reconstruction or remodeling of housing unit
Antique furniture purchased mainly for its value
Precious stones and jewelry of known value
Paintings, sculptures and other works of art
Other valuables not previously classified (stamp collections, coins, china, books and others)
Structures, machinery, equipment and cultivated assets (plant or animals) used in production activities
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Improvement of existing fixed assets, to increase their productive capacity or to extend their service life, or both
Lands and plots of land
Water resources
Non-cultivated forests
Mineral deposits of high economic value
Property transfer costs 36 (related to the acquisition and disposition of assets)
Leasing contracts and licenses (patents)
7.3.2.3 Other capital expenditure
Other one-off, irregular and large expenditures are considered capital expenditure but come from
activities unrelated to the acquisition or sale of assets and liabilities.
These expenditures include: loss of assets due to misplacement, theft or natural disaster, and the
acquisition of call options.
7.3.3 Special considerations on goods and services expenditure
Some goods and services expenditure require special considerations, either because they have to
be imputed or because the expenditure have to be disaggregated into consumption expenditure
and expenditure different from consumption, due to classification reasons or because they are paid
to the government upon receipt of specific services.
7.3.3.1 Repairs due to damage caused by housing unit occupiers
Repairs due to damage caused by occupiers (tenants or owners) are consumption expenditure.
These expenditures include the value of the materials acquired and the payments for specialized
services.
However, owners may incur two other types of expenses for the housing unit:
Maintenance
Increase property value
Maintenance expenses are considered intermediate expenses in housing service production, and
should these expenses imply an increase in the value of the housing unit, they are considered gross
36 Expenditure associated with the transfer of assets are professional expenditure (service fees paid to attorneys, architects, inspectors, engineers, appraisers, real estate agents, auctioneers and others); commercial and transport expenditure billed separately to the buyers; taxes payable by the unit acquiring the asset through transfer and those payable for the sale of an asset; shipment, installing and/or uninstalling expenditure not included in the price for the asset acquired or sold; and any additional expenditure incurred at the end of the service life of an asset, such as those required to ensure structure safety or to restore the environment where it is located.
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capital formation (non-financial capital transaction). Similar to repairs due to damages,
maintenance expenses include expenses on materials and specialized services.
Considering the three kinds of expenses are similar in that they are incurred for the housing unit,
using the same inputs and materials, besides the amount and costs of materials, the informant must
specify whether they were for repairs, maintenance, remodeling or expansion, in order to separate
the information as accurately as possible.
7.3.3.2 Imputed rental of housing units
Imputation is performed when estimating expenditure not really incurred is required. In the case of
owner-occupied housing units, rental expenditures are estimated although its occupiers do not pay
rent (the same occurs when the service is donated or provided as income in kind).
The imputed rental is the value of the services derived from that housing unit. The occupier is
requested to estimate how much the rental cost of the services offered by the housing unit would
be; however, in order to avoid subjective undervaluing and overvaluing, information on the housing
unit and the household is used to prepare an estimate model (Grosskoff, 1998).
The equivalence of the rental is estimated only for the housing unit considered as the main
residence37.
In the case of owner-occupied housing units, the inputs and services used for repairs or maintenance
should be deducted from the imputed housing unit value, as they are expenses incurred by
households for the housing unit.
7.3.3.3 Lottery and gambling
Expenditure incurred by households when buying lottery tickets or gambling comprise two
elements38: the payment for the service to the unit organizing the lottery or gambling, which is
considered entertainment expenditure (consumption expenditure) and a capital transaction paid to
winners (Camelo, 2001). Considering household members are generally unaware of the proportions
of this disaggregation, the lump sum of expenditure on lottery and gambling was requested and
subsequently disaggregated at the office.
The disaggregation methodology is presented in further detail in section 14.5.1.
37 Secondary residences are not included. 38 According to the SNA 2008, some lottery games and gambling may involve a third element, which is donations to charity (normally a Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households). This third element is excluded, as it is a subheading of income received by those managing these games.
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7.3.3.4 Insurance policy premiums
Insurance policy premiums are payments for coverage against fire, flood, crash, collision,
subsidence, theft, assault, accident, illness, as well as financial loss caused by multiple events
(illness, accidents or death).
Insurance policies are willfully purchased by households for their own benefit, independently from
their employers or the government, and apart from any social security system.
Because part of the payments for insurance is a transfer to households and the other a payment for
a service, the insurance contributions reported by the informants are disaggregated at the office.
The insurance expenditure disaggregation methodology is presented in further detail in section
14.5.2.
7.3.3.5 Expenditure on financial services, except insurance and pension services
Banking fees and expenditure paid by lenders and borrowers for financial intermediation services.
This service should be included in consumption expenditure. However, this does not comprise lump
sums paid by households for loans or use of credit cards (considered capital transactions).
Also included are interest, commissions and surcharges on credit cards and loans, commissions and
payments for the use of checks, bills and deposit certificates, among other services. In the case of
acquisition of currencies or other financial assets, the difference between the buying price and the
selling price is recorded39.
Only expenditures on financial services charged explicitly are considered in ENIGH 2013. Should only
information on total amounts be available, such as loan and credit card payments, which are
irrespective of the difference between repayment and interest, the total amount will be recorded
as part of the capital transaction, without contemplating any consumption expenditure.
7.3.3.6 Services paid to the government
Payments for the granting of licenses for certain regulated activities (as a way of measuring
competency and qualification, efficiency, equipment safety or others), which are not compulsory
payments if the use of the goods or services is not required, are consumption expenditures and are
considered to be proportional to the service rendered.
39 This is estimated using the equivalent amount in colones for the number of currencies purchased or sold and the exchange rate differential.
46
Examples of these payments include those made for the issuance and renewal of driver’s and pilot's
licenses and gun licenses, as well as for the issuance and renewal of passports, airport fees, court
fees, and other government fees.
There are other government fees that are not classified as consumption expenditure, such as
payments that are not proportional to the service rendered and is not classified as consumption,
and patents and other marketable licenses that are non-financial capital.
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VIII Main changes in ENIGH 2013 with regards to ENIG 2004 This survey was conducted eight years after that conducted in 2004, in a context with increasingly
dynamic markets, broader financial services and technology as an ally for income and expenditure
management. In addition, the methodology was reviewed with the purpose of obtaining an
approximation as accurate as possible of household wellbeing. In view of the foregoing, changes
were made to data collection tools and operations, with the aim of improving continuously.
Furthermore, a few conceptual changes were made in compliance with the most recent
international recommendations for the compilation of household accounts (SNA 2008), in the
context of the System of National Accounts.
8.1 Changes made to data collection tools Changes to tools are made to capture information adequately, in order to pursue compliance with
the survey objectives, as well as to make it easier for informants to provide responses without
duplicating or omitting information.
In the following sections, the most relevant differences between ENIG 2004 and ENIGH 2013 are
explained, in order to allow the user to compare as required and know the limitations he/she may
encounter.
8.1.1 Access to goods and services
8.1.1.1 Holding of goods
Other goods were included that allow for more accurate measurement of socioeconomic conditions
of persons, for instance water tank, tablet (if any, how many) and wireless router. Moreover,
although both surveys inquire about internet connection, ENIG 2004 focused on connection from
the housing unit, whereas ENIGH 2013 inquired about internet access in any form and from any
device.
In addition, two subcategories of goods were created. The color television category was subdivided
into plasma TV, LCD TV or LED TV, and conventional TV; the computer category was disaggregated
into laptop and desktop.
In regards to ENIG 2004, holding of an oven, microwave and video camera was excluded.
8.1.1.2 Social transfers in kind
The section concerning social transfers from the government and non-profit institutions was
adapted according to the transfers deemed more important at the time, specifying the population
48
group to which they are aimed. Inquiry about Costa Rican Social Security Administration health care
services and the quantification of the use of consultation services by kind and medical center was
broadened for each household member.
8.1.2 Employment
8.1.2.1 Activity condition
In order to determine the activity condition of persons, using the same concepts and questions used
in the National Household Survey (ENAHO) was suggested. This survey had recently made
substantial changes to ensure compliance with recent ILO recommendations. Among the changes
regarding ENIG 2004 are the minimum age to determine the activity condition, which was changed
from 12 years old to 15 years old or older; and the availability to start work within the following two
weeks in order to be classified as unemployed.
8.1.3 Income
8.1.3.1 Average annual income
In ENIG 2004 information was requested on amounts received on average in the last six months40,
whereas in ENIGH 2013, information on the average monthly amount for the last twelve41 months
was requested in order to estimate the average monthly income for the year. The purpose of
expanding the time period was to obtain data on household income during all seasons and thus
obtain a more accurate average situation of household wellbeing, given that seasonal employment
would not be included in the average if, when interviewing the household, the worker claims to
have worked over six months ago.
8.1.3.2 Income of employer or self-employed worker with an incorporated
enterprise
In ENIG 2004, as in ENIGH 2013, for a person to be classified as formal independent worker, he/she
had to be an employer or a self-employed worker and hold accounting records to quantify income
and expenses. Additionally, in ENIGH 2013, the enterprise had to be incorporated as such in the
property register, issue stamped invoices or tickets for customers, and the employer had to receive
a salary on a regular basis.
40 Excluding income from Christmas salary bonus (on pension and on regular salary) and on school salary. 41 Excluding amounts of primary and secondary school scholarships granted by the government or NPISHs.
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8.1.3.3 Transfers of independent non-farm workers42
Income tax and social contributions payments are deducted from activity gains and become
household expenditure. For analysis, they are excluded only when working with the net income.
8.1.3.4 Income of independent farm workers
In ENIG 2004, a more detailed form was employed to record Agricultural Income, which aimed at
quantifying the production account for these mixed income activities. However, in ENIGH 2013
simpler information was requested about net gains obtained from the activity, with the purpose of
approximating the available income received by the household from this activity to spend on current
expenditure.
8.1.3.5 Income from self-contained activities
Since investments are profitable and may be used on more than one occasion, disbursements
represent capital formation for the activity, rather than current expenses. Therefore, in ENIGH 2013
information was requested independently on the investment amount, in order for gains to be more
closely approximate to the difference between income and current expenses.
Investments are not added to the activity account nor the household account.
8.1.3.6 Income from gifts received
Although in ENIG 2004 information was requested on donations received from other households, it
was not included as consumption expenditure nor was it considered as household income. On the
contrary, in ENIGH 2013 donations received are taken into account as household income (non-
monetary) and are also considered household consumption expenditure, in compliance with the
National Accounts Manual, which considers transfers in kind received from other households as a
form of acquisition.
8.1.4 Expenditure
8.1.4.1 Destination of household expenditure
With the purpose of approximating household own-consumption expenditure (which may be
considered a more appropriate measure for the measurement of wellbeing), a variable was added
(column) at the end of expenditure forms, by which to determine if disbursements were made for
own consumption of the good or service by the household or for donation to other households or
Non-Profit Institutions.
42 Although it should have focused on farm workers as well, this study was applied to non-farmers only.
50
Adding this column has two implications for ENIG 2004:
Household consumption expenditure decreases in proportion to what is disbursed for gifts and donations, as those with a destination different from own household are excluded. At the same time, consumption expenditure increases for each household in proportion to what is received in kind at no cost from other households or Non-Profit Institutions.
Unlike in 2004, when it was impossible to quantify, new expenditure on transfers in kind by donor households is now reported.
8.1.4.2 Disaggregation of “where did you acquire it?” and “how did you acquire it?”
The number of places and forms of acquisition is larger due to a greater variety of points of purchase
and payment methods.
Regarding, Where did you acquire it?, 41 points were defined, as shown below:
- Supermarket - Mall - Bar/Club - Meat/fish market - Farmers’ market - Produce market - Municipal market - Convenience store - Workplace cafeteria - School or high school cafeteria - University cafeteria - Food court - Restaurant/snack bar/cafe/ice cream shop - Appliances and devices store - Bazaars/passementerie shops/diaper
manufacturer - Gas and service station - Lab/clinic/ medical center - Optical store/orthopedic and clinical items
shop - Clothing store/shoe store/perfumery - Department store
- Veterinary/pet store - Beauty salons - Recreation/sports center (stadiums) - Street vendor or door-to-door vendor - Own production - Cease of operations - Received free of charge from a private
enterprise - Received or purchased from other
households - Used items store - Specialized commercial unit43 - Abroad - Online (shopping) - CEN-CINAI - Day center for the elderly - Community center - Private academic institutions - Public academic institutions - Other state institutions - Religious organization - Other Non-profit Institutions - Other
Regarding payment methods, 17 categories were defined, as shown below:
43 Specialized stores were defined according to goods and items sold, in relation to the type of good and service inquired about during
the different periods.
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- In cash - Debit card - Credit card - Barter transactions - Credit44 - Own production - Cease of operations - Remuneration in kind - Credit - Received from other households
- Received free of charge from other private enterprises
- Received from public or charity institutions - Redeemed card points - Meal coupons - Renting or leasing agreement - Acquired illegally (pirated)45 - Other
8.1.4.3 Frequency of food purchasing
In order to validate and improve the recording of food expenditure, a section was created to inquire
about the frequency of purchase of 23 food groups commonly consumed in the country. For each
group, the frequency may be daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly; longer than a month or none. The
objective was to have the interviewer contrast the responses with what the household recorded
ultimately in the weekly expenditure forms, in order to avoid under-reporting.
8.1.4.4 Meals prepared outside the household
In ENIG 2004, there were two sections in the weekly purchases form regarding meals prepared
outside the household. The first section was for meals prepared outside the household but
consumed therein, and the second for meals and beverages consumed in restaurants, cafes, food
stands or social institutions. A column for valuation was included in both sections.
In ENIGH 2013, food donated by NPISHs and the government is recorded in a separate section (D),
and valuation is not required, as it is a social transfer in kind, which is hard for informants to quantify
and inquired about only to make calculations in addition to results presented as per survey
objectives. Food purchased in any other way was recorded in a single section, assuming the item
code itself showed the difference between meals prepared outside the household and those
purchased to be prepared in the household. Additionally, the point of purchase variable allows for
the identification of meals served, prepared for takeout or not prepared, regardless of whether they
are consumed inside or outside the household (irrelevant for expenditure grouping).
8.1.4.5 Change in inquiry periods
In ENIG 2004, expenditure on both medicinal and pharmaceutical products and formal education
was inquired about regarding the previous quarter. In ENIGH 2013, these medicinal products were
considered daily expenditure when they were non-prescribed, and monthly expenditures when they
44 For credit purchases, the good or service is acquired but paid -with no interest- until it is received. It usually occurs in convenience
stores when the debtor is an acquaintance. 45 Illegal acquisition was included in order to identify cases in which households acquire electricity, internet and cable services, for
example, through another household or public institution without prior permission.
52
were prescribed, considering they are taken regularly. Education services, although not paid on a
monthly basis (especially higher education), are received every month; therefore, the value
recorded is that from the previous month.
8.1.4.6 Telecommunication services expenditure
Before 2011, for 17 years the only telecommunications service provider had been the Costa Rican
Institute of Electricity. Since then, telecommunication services were granted in concession to other
mobile network operators. Consequently, four new operators began operations. This situation gave
way to the use of prepaid and postpaid mobile phone plans.
Due to the foregoing, although in ENIG 2004 mobile phone service payments were recorded as
monthly expenditure, in ENIGH 2013 they were recorded as monthly expenditure only for postpaid
telecommunication services without plan and other postpaid services with a plan different from
mobile phone service. Postpaid mobile phone service with plan was also recorded as monthly
expenditure, in the mobile phone service plan module (where details were recorded on the
operator, name and term of the plan, device, internet, multimedia messages and other messages
different from text, and call minutes); for prepaid mobile phone service, recharge and purchase of
cards were recorded as daily expenditure.
8.1.4.7 Expenses on repair of damage, maintenance, remodeling or expansion of
housing unit occupied by the household
In compliance with the recommendations of the System of National Accounts, in ENIGH 2013
expenses was separated by damages, maintenance, and remodeling or expansion, as reported by
informants.
In the previous survey, these three expenses had been treated as housing unit repairs and were
considered household consumption expenditure; however, due to the difference among these three
types of expenses, in terms of amounts and what they represent to household occupiers46, they
were differentiated using a variable for each type of expenses. Accordingly, expenditure on damage
is distinguished from that on general maintenance or expansion (which corresponds to capital
expenses). This difference in expenditure allows for the identification of intermediate consumption
expenses -maintenance- for services of own housing unit, deducted from the rental value.
8.1.4.8 Installments and transfers paid per member
In ENIG 2004, information on individual installments and transfers was requested only from paid
workers and only if the expenditures were automatic deductions. In the case of other types of
46 Differences are further explained in the conceptual framework.
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payment and workers with different employment conditions, this information was recorded for the
household in general.
In ENIGH 2013, this information was inquired of every household member aged 15 or older,
regardless of their position at the company and type of payment.
8.1.4.9 Financial services
In view of the fact that one of the most innovative topics in the System of National Accounts 2008
Manual was financial services, a major effort was made to capture these expenditures incurred by
households. A total of five questions were asked, including that regarding the amount paid for the
purchase or sale of currencies. The questions referred to commissions on transfers to other banks,
card membership, commissions on loans, and other financial payments in the last 12 months, per
member. Regarding the exchange rate differential (expenditure on purchase or sale of currencies),
information was requested on currency and amount purchased or sold by each member, with the
purpose of estimating the financial cost.
8.1.4.10 Section in the individual expenditure form concerning expenditure from
other periods
In order to obtain further information on expenditure from other periods incurred by each
household member aged 12 or older, a section was added to the form concerning personal weekly
expenditure, through which to request information on monthly, quarterly, biannual and annual
expenditure. This aimed to obtain information from those household members who are difficult to
reach during the week in order to ask them about these general expenditures, which are recorded
as household expenditure but incurred personally.
8.2 Operational changes Operational changes are those aimed at having a more efficient information collection process. In
this case, two aspects were changed: collection of invoices to record expenditure digitally and data
entry performed by field work interviewers.
8.2 Collection of supermarket invoices to record expenditure digitally
Considering the difficulty of transcribing invoice information, because of time spent and
thoroughness required to specify brand, size or weight, in ENIGH 2013 other alternatives were
considered to speed up and expedite the recording of daily household food purchases. Supermarket
invoice information was recorded in a digital file and sent to the establishments, from which digital
files were received with the disaggregation of purchases, including product, brand, quantity, weight
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and final price descriptions. This information was attached digitally to the household expenditure
record47.
8.2.8.2 Field work data entry
In ENIGH 2013, data entry was performed by interviewers during field work for the first time. This
took place upon filling out the questionnaires, using an ad hoc system.
This implementation sped up and expedited the process, for the same interviewer performed the
encoding and data entry, while applying inconsistencies in the data entry system allowed for more
accurate and complete information.
47 Agreements were made with five of the main supermarket chains in the country, whose names were shown in form 2, in order for the interviewer or the informant to mark the corresponding option.
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IX General considerations and uses
Some general considerations for users of National Household Income and Expenditure Survey data
are detailed below. In addition, the most general uses of the survey for both new and experienced
users are described.
9.1 General Considerations Aspects to be taken into account by data users for an adequate use of information are detailed
below.
9.1.1 Approximate wellbeing by household income and expenditure
Household wellbeing depends on many factors. Besides income and expenditure, it also depends on
age of members, status of health, and transfers in kind received form the government or NPISHs.
ENIGH 2013 has sufficient inputs available to assess wellbeing through income and expenditure of
Costa Rican households by area, region, and income quintiles or deciles.
9.1.2 Information bias
9.1.2.1 Information provided by households
Information contained in the forms is that provided by households. No comparisons are made with
CCSS reports, with the Ministry of Finance, or any other source.
This gives way to bias, as informants may omit information or provide false amounts.
9.1.2.2 Survey period, reference period and estimate period
All income and expenditure surveys have a survey period, a reference period, and an estimation
period.
Survey period: time period during which field work occurs (visits to housing units) in order to collect household information through interviews. Visits were paid from October 1, 2012 to October 19, 2013, which corresponds to 36 ten-day periods.
Reference period: period from which income and expenditure information is requested. For the variables, the reference period should be sufficiently short so that informants are able to remember events and transactions easily and thus avoid omissions. Accordingly, this period should be sufficiently long so that it comprises a significant number of events or transactions. With the exception of daily household expenditure, both income and expenditure should be provided on the basis of information remembered. Reference periods may vary according to the need to capture the variables in the study. Some examples of these periods for expenditure variables are a week, the previous month, the last three months, the last six months and the last twelve months (full previous months). Variables related to income have as period the previous month and the last twelve months.
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Estimation period: this period is an “average month”. The estimation period is the one used for the survey analysis.
9.1.2.3 Non-response bias
Because some households fail to complete the survey, the consequences of these non-response
cases are unknown.
The reasons for non-response in ENIGH 2013 are described below:
Refusal to provide information: when a person or persons living in selected housing units
refuse to be interviewed or otherwise provide insufficient information.
Absent during period or informant not reached: when informants from the selected
housing unit are absent or are not reached during the first three days of field work; that is,
when no person able to provide information is reached48.
Difficult access: when the survey cannot be applied because access to the housing unit
selected is impeded by floods, landslides or the like.
Language barrier or illness: when the survey cannot be applied, either because the
informant does not speak Spanish and no interpreter is available, or because the household
is composed of a senior citizen who does not understand the questions, or a person with an
intellectual disability and no information is obtained from his/her caregiver from another
household.
Housing unit with non-usual residents (occupiers usually residing in another housing unit):
when, at the time of the survey, the individual housing unit (normally used to accommodate
households permanently) accommodates only non-usual residents.
Unoccupied housing unit (for rent or sale, abandoned, other): when the housing unit is
uninhabited because it has not been rented or purchased, including housing units partially
demolished, to be demolished or abandoned.
Under construction or repair: housing units uninhabited due to construction, repairing or
remodeling processes.
Housing units for temporary use (temporary accommodation for seasonal workers,
baches [translator’s note: site set up to accommodate temporary workers, usually within
the working premises, such as construction sites, plantations, etc.], family holiday, summer
break): housing units used for certain occasional activities, like vacation, summer break and
seasonal employment.
Establishment: when a housing unit selected is used for a purpose different from habitation
by a household, for example, as a commercial unit, warehouse, office, etc.
48 Exceptionally, the survey can be applied on the fourth day only if authorized by the supervisor and upon asking the informant if he/she remembers the expenditures from the last three days.
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Other (burned down, swept away by river, other): applies to housing units burned down
or demolished, collective households, or any other cause not previously mentioned.
9.2 Uses In addition to the uses of survey information suggested in the objectives of the survey, some of the
most common and required by INEC and research institutions, as mentioned in the International
Labor Organization Household Income and Expenditure Statistics Second Report (Organización
Internacional del Trabajo, 2003) are:
Obtaining weighting coefficients for the Consumer Price Index (CPI): although other sources may be used, a survey including expenditure is the best option.
Updating the Basic Food Basket: information on acquisition of food by households is obtained from the household information recorded, which then becomes input for the composition of the Basic Food Basket. The CPI updates the price on a monthly basis.
Studying population groups: it allows for the study of population groups at the bottom end of this distribution by income (poverty), dispersion (inequality), as well as social exclusion and its dimensions: employment, health, education and housing conditions.
Analyzing the characteristics of population groups: population groups at different levels of the income/consumption expenditure distribution can be measured. The level, nature and structure of living conditions of households in time and space are also measured. Specifically, specific sub-populations, such as the elderly, the young and various categories of workers may also be measured.
Analyzing nutrition, health, and access to education: Statistics on income and consumption expenditure provided by households play a highly important role for the analysis of nutrition, health and access to education.
Performing quality control of the estimations of household expenditure components: due to fundamental differences in the objective and frequency of compilation and preparation of statistics and the publication of data from the Central Bank, the information is used as reference and is contrasted with that obtained from statistics of other kind (for example, those based on microdata).
Describing the welfare of society: one of the most important and accessible indicators of household wellbeing is economic wellbeing, which is the total economic resources allowing the household to acquire goods and services. Changes of these resources throughout time and space are also assessed, as well as disparity in distribution among population groups.
Studying consumption and buying habits: information is obtained on the different population groups, regarding periodicity of purchase of food, beverages, and other daily consumption products, and in regards to which food groups these products belong to.
Researching on redistributive effects: this includes income of households with various characteristics of taxation and other fiscal policies; the effects of state benefits and family support policies on the income/consumption expenditure
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distribution; social security income (pensions and other monetary and non-monetary benefits).
Analyzing income and labor market: this includes the analysis of income distribution, economic activity and returns to labor, capital and land; as well as relationships between income and characteristics of work.
Studying savings behavior: this includes the study of indebtedness and ownership of assets of individuals in different types of households.
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X Sample design
The sample design of ENIGH 2013 is a stratified, two-stage, replicated probability area sample
design. It is probabilistic because the selected households have a known probability of being
selected, which allows for making inferences about the population based on the theory of
probabilities. It is by areas because the sampling frame used for the selection of the sample is
composed of geographic areas, or Primary Sampling Units (PSU), which group a set of housing units,
and every housing unit in the country is associated to one and only one PSU. It is stratified because
prior to the selection, the framework PSU were classified in strata with geographic and
socioeconomic characteristics as homogeneous as possible. It is two-stage because it comprises two
stages. During the first, the PSU are selected, and during the second housing units within the PSU
are selected. It is replicated because the sample was selected in four replications, one for each
survey quarter. This allowed for preliminary estimations by quarter or replication, however with a
margin of error greater than that of the whole survey.
10.1 Population and coverage The population studied in ENIGH 2013 is defined as the set of all individual housing units and their
occupiers, who are permanent residents, within national territory, during the information collection
period. Accordingly, the coverage of the survey is national. Population residing in collective housing
units (hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, jail, convents, households composed of over six persons
without kinship relationship, etc.) is excluded from the study.
10.2 Sampling frame The housing unit sampling frame was created based on information from the National Housing and
Population Census 2011 (MMV-2011). This frame is composed of 10,381 PSU, 64% of which are
urban and 56.8% are in the Central Region. The frame was stratified by socioeconomic level, with
an indicator created based on information from the National Population Census 2011 and the
National Household Survey 2001 (ENAHO 2011)49. According to this indicator, at national level 41%
of PSU were classified in the lower stratum and 8% in the upper stratum.
10.3 Study domains In addition to representation at national level and by urban and rural area, the sample is
representative at planning region level.
49 INEC. Analysis of Bases ENAHO-Census, Household Stratification San José, Costa Rica. 2012
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10.4 Sample size, distribution and selection In order to determine the sample size in ENIGH 2013, the effective sample size of housing units in
ENIG 2004 was used as basis. The levels of precision of this survey were evaluated in terms of main
sources of income and expenditure groups by area and planning region. Using that same sample
size, adjustments were made to improve precision in some strata: An adjustment of 20% was
achieved due to sample loss, and a sample size of 7020 housing units was achieved. Concerning field
work, a subsample of 15 housing units per PSU was considered. A sample of 468 PSU distributed in
four replications of equal size and design was achieved, one for each survey quarter, as shown in
table 1.
Table 1
Sample distribution by planning region and area
Source: Sampling unit, INEC. The selection of the PSU sample was performed with Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) within
each stratum. The selection of the housing unit samples within each PSU was performed
systematically, individually in the case of urban PSU and in groups of three housing units in the case
of rural PSU.
10.5 Expansion factors The expansion factor refers to the value each selected housing unit in the sample represents of the
rest of housing units that were not selected. This factor is obtained as the inverse of the selection
probability in each sampling stage and is calculated at selection stratum level. Each PSU, housing
unit and person within the same stratum has the same basic expansion factor.
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Non-response and the out-of-date sampling frame have an effect on selection probabilities and,
consequently, on expansion factors associated to each housing unit and person in the survey. In
order to correct or adjust the selection probabilities, three types of adjustments are made to the
basic expansion factor:
Non-response: It corrects the effect of housing units not surveyed due to refusals, access limitations or informants not reached.
PSU update: It corrects the selection probabilities according to the increase of housing units observed during field work within each PSU in the sample.
Projections: It deals with the out-of-date sampling frame by updating it with information on the Population Projections prepared from the National Censuses 201150.
The first two adjustments are made at PSU level, and the third adjustment is made at planning region level. The factor of each group is shown in table 2.
Table 2 Basic and Final Expansion Factors, and field work results by area and planning region
Source: Sampling unit, INEC.
10.6 Sampling errors Sampling errors of estimations in ENIGH 2013 are calculated using the SPSS program in the Complex
Sample Modules. This module considers the sample design of the survey and produces tabular data
with the following measures:
Parameter estimated value
Standard error
50 INEC, 2011. Population Estimations and Projections by sex and age. San José, Costa Rica.
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Coefficients of variation
95% confidence interval
Square root of the design effect
Number of observations on which the estimation is based ENIGH 2013 provides a considerable number of estimations; however, for practical purposes,
sampling errors are provided only for the main estimations in the survey; sampling errors for other
groups and specific variables are calculated upon request from users.
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XI Data collection tools
To apply the survey, four forms were used during visits to households.
The following image describes each of the forms and the information collected.
Figure 6
Description of forms used in ENIGH 2013
Each form is divided into different sections and has different objectives, as described below:
11.1 Form 1: Socioeconomic and sociodemographic characteristics This form has 11 sections concerning housing unit characteristics and services; household
possession of goods and services; characteristics of household members and their employment
status; income from different sources and expenditure in installments; other transfers paid and
financial services expenditure.
Section A is applied to all housing units, B to households. Section C inquires about the residence
status of persons in the household, and sections D and E inquire about social characteristics and
transfers in kind of all members.
Sections F to J-1508 inquire about occupation, employment and income characteristics of members
aged 15 or older. Additionally, the form contains section J-1509, aimed at unemployed and inactive
members and for those aged 15 or younger who were employed in the last 12 months.
Form 1
Sociodemographic and socioeconomic
characteristics (income and transfers paid).
Form 2
Household shopping and consumption habits and
daily expenditure
Form 3
Personal expenditure.
Form 4
Household expenditure from
other periods
ENIGH
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Lastly, section K-1601 inquires about installments and other transfers paid, as well as financial
services expenditure of each person aged 15 or older.
Each one of these sections is listed below:
A. Housing unit characteristics and services
B. Household characteristics
C. Residence status
D. Sociodemographic characteristics
E. Social transfers from the Government and Non-Profit Institutions
F. Activity condition
G. People with an occupation
H. Main paid job
I. Independent work
J-1501. Income from main paid job
J-1502. Income of employer or self-employed worker with an incorporated enterprise
J-1503. Income from main independent work (non-farm workers)
J-1504. Income from main independent work (farm workers)
J-1505. Income from secondary job
J-1506. Income from rentals and rents
J-1507. Transfers received in cash
J-1508. Other occasional income
J-1509. Income from previous work and that of persons aged 15 or older.
K-1601. Installments and other transfers paid
11.2 Form 2: Daily household expenditure Form 2 is used to obtain the record of daily food expenditure and expenditure from goods and
services frequently used throughout the week. Information on shopping and consumption habits is
collected, after which purchases are recorded during the seven days of the week, in the following
sections:
A. Household shopping habits
B. Household members consumption habits
C. Daily household purchases
D. Meals and beverages received free of charge from the State or charity institutions
Moreover, information from supermarket invoices was recorded, including products for other
households.
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11.3 Form 3: Weekly personal expenditure and expenditure from other
periods The objective of this form is to obtain information on the expenditure of household members aged
12 or older.
In view of the fact that some household members manage a portion of the income autonomously,
this form serves as complement to the record of daily expenditure and expenses from other periods.
The form includes the following sections and subsections:
A. Daily personal expenditure
B. Personal expenditure from other periods
- Personal postpaid mobile communication service expenditure in the last month
- Other personal expenditure from the last month
- Personal expenditure from the last three months
- Personal expenditure from the last six months
- Personal expenditure from the last twelve months
11.4 Form 4: Expenditure from other periods While there are highly frequent expenditures, some expenditures are not as frequent.
Consequently, expenditures are recorded corresponding to the previous month, or to the last three,
six or twelve months. For classification, frequency of pay and purchase, or legislation, such as that
requiring certain payments once a year are taken into account.
Monthly expenditure: general housing unit services; communication services; housekeeping services; dry cleaner’s and laundry service; recreation and cultural activities; newspaper and magazine subscriptions; care services; formal primary and secondary education; formal university and technical education; school supplies and stationery; books; print and recorded materials; materials for recording or printing; personal care goods and services; and medicinal and pharmaceutical products.
Quarterly expenditures: kitchen supplies; dinnerware and household utensils; children’s and baby’s clothing; men’s and women’s clothing; fabric; tailoring; clothing accessories; domestic animals; plants; private medical and dentistry services; medical examinations and treatments; and therapy equipment.
Biannual expenditures: bed linen and table linen; games and toys; recreational equipment; vehicle repair and maintenance services; house tools and equipment; small house and personal care appliances; various house conservation and maintenance materials; and courses.
Annual expenditures: large household appliances; furniture and accessories; audiovisual and information equipment; photography and video equipment; musical instruments; vehicles; professional and technical services; tourism packages and accommodation services; tourism and moving transportation; insurance and permits; taxes; capital transactions; and asset loss.
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Through these forms, all household income and expenditure are obtained according to their sources
and destinations, as long as they were received or incurred during the corresponding inquiry
periods.
11.5 Who fills out the forms? As mentioned earlier, forms are aimed at the household as a whole; however, some of the forms
apply to the household in general, and some to each member individually. Therefore, the informant
best suited to provide basic and general household information is contacted; in other cases, each
member of the household is interviewed separately.
Accordingly, three types of informants exist:
11.5.1 General informant
The general informant is the person aged 15 or older who is knowledgeable of the household and
its members and, preferably, does the household shopping.
This informant shall provide the information for sections A to E of form 1 and for forms 2 and 4
completely.
11.5.2 Self-informant
Considering the survey studies information on income (sections F to J-1509), which must be
provided by a household member aged 15 or older, and certain personal expenditure (K-1601 and
form 3), provided by a household member aged 12 or older, the member providing the information
directly to the interviewer is referred to as self-informant.
11.5.3 Informant from a different household
When the survey is to be applied to a household whose members have any kind of mental disability
that prevents them from making decisions, a person from a different household taking care of the
maintenance costs becomes the informant.
In these cases, this person, although not a household member, serves as informant for the survey.
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XII Classifications Results from studies like the Household Income and Expenditure Survey are useful for cross-
sectional analysis, as well as for longitudinal analysis and comparative studies among nations.
Therefore, employing internationally equivalent classifications is convenient for the purpose of
making comparisons among periods and countries.
In ENIGH 2013 three of those classifications are used. The first is the Classification of Individual
Consumption by Purpose (COICOP); the second, the Costa Rican Classification of Economic Activities
(CAECR-2011); and third, the Costa Rican Classification of Occupations (COCR-2011). The general
working guidelines for the three are detailed below.
12.1 Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose A code is used for consumer goods and services expenditure in ENIGH. In addition, a code is used
for classification as per international consensus, called Classification of Individual Consumption by
Purpose (COICOP).
The COICOP is a vital part of the System of National Accounts. It was created to be used in household
budget surveys, consumer price indices and international comparisons of the GDP and its
expenditure.
It is made of four digits, of which the first two correspond to 14 divisions, the next to the group and
the last to the class.
The purposes defined in the COICOP are based on the consumption expenditure classification
developed by statistics entities for use in diverse analytical applications.
Although the COICOP is not strictly linked to any set consumer behavior model, the classification
records at a general level changes in consumption upon changes in household income. For instance,
in comparison with high-income households, low-income households generally spend a relatively
high percentage of their budgets in food.
Individual consumption expenditures are incurred for the benefit of specific households or persons.
In ENIGH 2013, divisions 01 to 12 of the COICOP are used; the remaining two are excluded, as 13
corresponds to individual consumption expenditure of NPISHs, and 14 corresponds to individual
consumption expenditure of general government, not applicable to households.
The 12 groups are:
1. Food and non-alcoholic beverages 2. Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics 3. Clothing and footwear 4. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels 5. Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance
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6. Health51 7. Transport 8. Communication 9. Recreation and culture 10. Education 11. Restaurants52 and hotels 12. Miscellaneous goods and services
For household consumption expenditure, units of classification are expenditure incurred for the
purchase of consumer goods and services, making these basic statistics a classification by purpose,
with groups according to goods and services, such as nutrition, protection of the body from weather,
prevention and cure of diseases, knowledge acquisition, travel, etc.
Most goods and services can be unambiguously assigned to one purpose; however, some goods and
services could be assigned to more than one purpose. Those include fuel, which may be used for
transport or recreation vehicles, or bicycles, which are employed for both transport and recreational
purposes. In these cases, classification follows the predominant purpose.
12.2 Costa Rican Classification of Economic Activities The Costa Rican Classification of Economic Activities (CAECR) is used to group productive activities,
that is, economic activities developed by the different national economic units. The CAECR is based
on the UN International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC Rev. 4) and
comprises a set of classification concepts, definitions, principles and standards.
The structure of this classification is subdivided in five alphanumeric levels (one letter and five digits)
which depend on the level of aggregation of economic activities. The first level corresponds to the
sections, identified with a letter. For each section there are divisions with two digits, groups with
one digit, classes with one digit, and subclasses complete the code.
This classification contains 21 sections, subdivided in 88 divisions, 238 groups, 419 classes and 285
subclasses. In ENIGH 2013 the main and secondary economic activities were classified at the most
disaggregated level.
The most aggregated levels in the sections of the classification are detailed below:
A. Agriculture, livestock industry, forestry and fishing B. Mining and quarrying C. Manufacturing D. Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
51 Private expenditure incurred or funded by the CCSS are recorded as long as the household members receiving the service are not insured, were billed for the service and intend on paying for it. 52 Meals prepared and consumed outside the household are included, as well as those prepared outside the household and consumed therein, which were acquired in establishments dedicated to providing meals or in other housing units.
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E. Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities F. Construction G. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles H. Transportation and storage I. Accommodation and food service activities J. Information and communication K. Financial and insurance activities L. Real estate activities M. Professional, scientific and technical activities N. Administrative and support service activity O. Public administration and defense; compulsory social security P. Education Q. Human health and social work activities R. Arts, entertainment and recreation S. Other Service Activities T. Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use U. Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies
12.3 Costa Rican Classification of Occupations The Costa Rican Classification of Occupations 2011 (COCR 2011) is a standardized reference for the
organization of jobs in an establishment, sector or country in groups defined according to their
typical tasks, called occupations. Occupations are further grouped by degree of similarity in
competencies or tasks.
The classification of occupations allows for an encoding process as true to the reality of occupations
at national level as possible, as well as for international comparability, which is why COCR 2011 is
compatible with the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 08) of the
International Labor Organization.
The structure of COCR-2011 is made of four levels: the major group has one digit, the primary
subgroup has one as well and the secondary subgroups and minor subgroups have three and four
digits, respectively. This hierarchical structure comprises 9 major groups, 42 primary subgroups, 130
secondary subgroups and 441 minor subgroups.
The main occupation and secondary occupation of people with an occupation in the reference
period were coded in ENIGH 2013.
The nine major groups are:
1. Managers
2. Professionals 3. Technicians and associate professionals 4. Clerical support workers
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5. Service and sales workers 6. Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers 7. Craft and related trades workers 8. Plant and machine operators and assemblers 9. Elementary occupations
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XIII Field work and processing Before ENIGH 2013, a test was conducted to determine the possibility of recording the product
inventory before and after the recording period, as well as the contrast between the records from
one week to that from two weeks. From this experiment the use of the inventory and the two-
week expenditure record was discarded. The forms, except for the inventory, were very similar to
those used in ENIG 2004.
Subsequently, a pilot survey was conducted with better-adapted forms; lastly, the National Survey
was conducted.
During the three processes, staff was trained; field work was conducted; information was entered,
re-entered and validated; and results were analyzed. The stages of field work, including data entry,
re-entry and validation in the National Survey are presented below.
13.1 Organization of field work Field work in the sixth National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH) was conducted
from October 1, 2012 to October 19, 2013. It consisted in collecting information in the households
living in the selected housing units in Costa Rica.
For each working period (ten-day period) 13 Primary Sampling Units were visited, the same number
of groups was available, made of three interviewers, one field supervisor and one car driver. All PSUs
were visited by one of the general supervisors53.
The housing unit sample is distributed in four three-month replications. During each, personnel
rotation occurred among the groups.
One interviewer, during a ten-day working period, conducts interviews in five housing units, for a
total of 15 housing units per group. Workloads may vary depending on the balance of the number
of effective interviews (there may be fewer than five due to non-response or more due to housing
units with more than one household).
Additionally, there was a support group composed of two supervisors and six interviewers, which
allowed for uninterrupted work throughout the year, as those who were on sick leave, or otherwise
absent due to personal reasons, were replaced. This group was in charge of conducting the pending
surveys through household visits or telephone calls; inquiring about product prices; and preparing
the material for the coming ten-day periods.
Figure 7 contains the sample distribution by number of housing units, ten-day periods and PSU.
53 There were three general supervisors.
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Figure 7
Sample Design
For this project, surveys were completed using sheets of paper. Interviewers performed data entry
on site for the first time in the history of ENIGH. To carry out this task, each group had two
computers.
Every 10 days, field work was organized (complete ten-day period) to determine workloads for each
group. During this period, households were contacted in order to answer concerns and arrange
visits. The distribution of activities throughout the 10 days is shown in table 3.
Technology was a key ally; only two meetings with the entire field work personnel were held
throughout the year. Nonetheless, emails, Google Drive and smart phone applications made
communication more effective, assertive and economical for supervisors and interviewers. For
instance, supervisors were able to review a balance sent as an image and work online.
Because each field work supervisor is in charge of locating PSU and housing units, they carry a map
as input, created by the INEC Cartography Unit. Digital cartography was used for the first time, and
it facilitated the work of supervisors.
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Table 3
Work distribution throughout the ten-day period
Because data entry was performed on site, inconsistencies, needing clarification from households
or explanatory notes, were obtained. In addition, the system estimated the balance of each
household: any balance under -10% or above 10% required the interviewer to provide a justification
based on observations from data and informant responses, or otherwise to request further details
from households. As a result, clearer information was obtained, along with the justifications
required for the validation process.
13.2 Data re-entry The data re-entry process consists in entering a second time data from forms filled out during field
work. Only the content of forms was entered, excluding totals, codes for Where did you acquire it?,
How did you pay for it? and What was its destination?, from the daily expenditure section contained
in forms 2 and 3, as they were written in letters or as control data54.
54 The officer in charge of data re-entry was in charge of reviewing the forms from the housing units composing the assigned PSU and,
upon noticing an error, writing it down as an observation in a separate sheet of paper, signaling the corresponding correction be made
during the validation process.
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The average work of each re-entry officer was three PSU per ten-day period, that is, approximately
one PSU every three days.
Table 4 below shows the description of each error.
Table 4
Description of the types of re-entry errors
Data entry errors were recorded in an error template, which identified information on the
PSU, housing unit, household, and supervisor, interviewer and re-entry officer codes, as well
as form number, section, question and error code.
13.4 Validation Data validation was the second stage of survey data processing. In this stage, information collected
during field work is revised.
This process is important as errors - such as omissions, blank answers, and/or multiple responses -
tend to occur due to unacceptable or out-of-range values, incorrect application of instructions, and
inconsistencies between responses, especially open-ended responses. Additionally, any errors from
data entry may be added.
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The survey methodology and organization required data processing to begin 10 days after starting
operations, first re-entry and 10 days later validation.
The workload for one validation officer was one PSU for nine days. During this time period, the
following activities were to be held: revision of encoding of open-ended questions in the four
questionnaires; analysis of data consistency and possible solutions; analysis of final consistency of
household balance sheet; and verification of validation.
To perform this validation, three sub-stages were designed: revision of encoding, revision of
inconsistencies with and without invoice information, and revision of household balance sheet.
13.3.1 Revision of encoding
Revision of encoding consisted in a review of encoding performed during field work, and a data
analysis, with the purpose of improving encoding and correcting possible errors or omissions.
In addition, in some cases during this stage encoding and entering information for the first time was
necessary, as data collection was occasionally set as a priority, before data entry and encoding.
13.3.2 Analysis of data consistency
Analysis of inconsistencies comprised two stages. In the first stage, most of the inconsistencies were
revised, excluding the revision of household daily expenditure reported by the informant through
supermarket invoices. During the second stage, inconsistencies between socioeconomic
characteristics and daily household and personal expenditure were analyzed, including information
reported through invoices.
In this sub-stage, the consistency of all information recorded in forms was analyzed, in terms of
values of variables and their congruency.
Computer technicians programmed 827 types of inconsistencies, facilitating the identification of
data congruency.
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13.3.3 Revision of household balance sheet
It refers to the analysis of the consistency between income and expenditure in the cases in which
current balance (current income minus current expenditure), the total balance (total income minus
total expenditure) or the effective balance (total income minus total expenditure excluding
purchases made by credit or credit card and including credit card payments and credit installments)
exceeds the ±20% range.
In the validation stage, an exhaustive data revision was conducted, guaranteeing the information in
the questionnaires was complete and consistent. For this end, all information collected from
informants and other sources was reviewed, encoded, revised for consistency and entered.
13.4 Other subprocesses of information processing Besides validation, two other processes were conducted with the purpose of guaranteeing the
information was consistent: verification of invoices collected during field work and analysis.
13.4.1 Verification of invoices
Once the database with the disaggregation of every purchase was received from supermarket
chains, verifying information from invoices consisted in revising, encoding and entering food and
other goods purchased by households in supermarket chains, with which agreements were settled
in order to send information from every invoice. This was conducted with the purpose of obtaining
detailed expenditure information in digital form, substituting transcription tasks during field work.
13.4.2 Analysis
During the analysis stage, extreme values in income and expenditures were revised, as well as the
consistency of the equivalence of some meals per ten-day period. At the same time, the behavior
of expenditure groups, income quintiles, etc. was monitored.
An image illustrating data processing (stage following field work), containing each subprocess, is
shown below.
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Figure 8
Process following field work
13.5 Computer system During the survey, the CSPro software version 4.1 was used.
For data entry, the Information Technology Unit emulated the survey forms digitally, to make them
user-friendly. Furthermore, access to an online FTP server was available for supervisors to update
the system easily and conveniently.
In each process, PSU information was assigned as well as the codes of personnel in charge of each
household. Using the software, databases were uploaded and downloaded for field work, and data
was transferred automatically among subsequent process.
Furthermore, the necessary programming was available for the revision of inconsistencies, and the
counting and classification of errors, and was intended to be an input for staff performance
evaluation throughout the process.
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XIV Estimations, imputations and data adjustments
Upon completion of the revision and validation of household information, and with the purpose of
having a complete and reliable database for statistical inference, other procedures of imputation
and analysis of final information were conducted for unknown values (current income and
expenditure), aggregate estimations of expenditure, rental imputation for those living in own
housing unit (imputed value), and other cases related to self-consumption expenditure of
independent workers and expenditure from income in kind of employees.
14.1 Imputations for unknown values in current income and expenditure Unknown values in both income and expenditure were mostly completed during the validation
process through telephone calls after household visits and through indirect sources, such as public
institutions and enterprises, from which information obtained on paid salaries, prices of items and
services, tax and social security withholding rates, among others. As a result, records with unknown
values ultimately accounted for percentages much lower than the total.
Table 5 contains the frequencies of valid and unknown cases by type of income.
For the most part, unknown cases do not exceed 1% of the total records of each type; only two cases
(utilities of employers or formal independent workers, and interest on bank deposits) exceed 5% of
the total records of its type. In spite of showing the highest frequencies, net salaries and utilities of
informal independent workers account for only 0.2% and 0.8% respectively.
Accordingly, no complex imputation method was deemed necessary; simple, group means
procedures were applied, evaluating different variables for each subpopulation (recipients with
similar characteristics). For the estimation of income from employment, variables concerning
education, occupation, branch of economic activity, area, time worked in current job, institutional
sector, and position at the company were considered. For other types of income, no specific
variables were considered.
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Table 5
Number of valid and unknown records by type of income
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For current expenditure different from food, a similar case-by-case revision procedure was
conducted in order to determine the imputation procedure, as only 186 unknown expenditure
records were obtained. Of these records, 64% focused on three specific types of records, showing
the following representation percentage by expenditure code:
Land tax (88 cases, 4.0%)
Public municipal services (21 cases, 0.7%)
Tax on vehicle ownership, circulation permit (10 cases, 0.5%)
The remaining cases showed low frequencies (from one to five cases) and percentages lower than
0.5% in relation to the total known values in each type. For these cases, imputation of the value of
group means was applied. These means were defined by the household current income decile. This
same procedure was conducted for the cases of land tax and vehicle ownership.
Finally, for the case of municipal services, the imputation of the average value of district of residence
was applied, considering its belonging to the same local government, who usually applies similar
basic fees.
14.2 Imputation of food expenditure aggregated data In the case of daily household expenditure on food, in situations where informants are unaware,
and in order to avoid under-reporting or refusal when completing daily purchases during the week,
interviewers were allowed to collect information in aggregated amounts of expenditure on goods
normally incurred on a weekly basis. Consequently, the following cases were recorded:
Estimated value of expenditure on meats
Estimated value of expenditure on fruits and vegetables
Estimated value of expenditure on meals outside the household
Estimated value of expenditure on large supermarket purchase
Estimated value of complementary expenditure in supermarkets and the like
A total of 352 estimations were recorded in the daily household expenditure form, which allowed
for the improvement of the capture of this type of information. However, the specific classification
of items, including amounts, weights and prices, remained pending. Consequently, implementing a
procedure was deemed necessary, one by which to disaggregate the lump sum, impute expenditure
on the different consumer goods, and follow the pattern of other households with similar
characteristics.
In order to determine the population groups to be used in imputation, the following consumption-
related variables were used: geographic location (four categories), household income (by quintile)
and household size (four categories), based on previous behavior of this type of variable.
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For the selection of the goods for which expenditure was to be imputed, household consumption
structure was obtained for each population group, according to the above-mentioned variables,
which resulted in 80 imputation groups.
The expenditure structure to be imputed was defined for each estimated expenditure group; for
example, in fruits and vegetables, only items considered of this nature were used. In the case of
estimated values of supermarket purchases, only meals and beverages are considered for the
disaggregation of the lump sum.
The following table shows the distribution of the estimated values of expenditure grouped by
population subgroups, as well as the number of households from which the expenditure structure
to be imputed will be obtained. For example, within the Urban Central Region group, in one of the
members and in the second quintile, two disaggregation and 14 households were identified from
which the average structure can be obtained.
Table 6
Distribution of cases with estimation of expenditure grouped by per capita income quintile
according to imputation domains
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14.3 Imputation of self-consumption expenditure or income in kind For this imputation, households considered were exclusively those who reported income for self-
consumption or as salary in kind in the form of food and who did not report any expenditure of this
nature.
Information collected on income served as estimation of the expenditure amount, of both
independent workers (farmers and non-farmers) and employees, which the household should have
reported.
In the cases of self-consumption expenditure (405 in total), the article to be imputed was identified
firstly. For this purpose, information from other similar cases within the same database was used,
in addition to the economic activity and occupation developed by the independent work recipient.
For instance, for agricultural activities, the main product reported was imputed.
The self-consumption values to be imputed were placed in the reference period (weekly, quarterly,
biannual or annual); the point of purchase and payment method was itemized as "cease of
operations". For food equivalence and amounts, the same information regarding prices and amount
by cost was used, as well as that regarding National Production Council prices for the survey period.
For non-food, the amount was set at one for every case.
The increase in average household expenditure was 21,781 colones for the cases involved and 1,546
colones in the general average expenditure of all households.
A similar procedure was followed with salary in kind in the form of food, where only served food
was considered. The value reported for income was recorded in the daily expenditure form (changed
to weekly periods). The information used for imputation was taken from data reported by the rest
of households in similar conditions. In terms of point of purchase and payment method, cafeteria in
work place and remuneration in kind were used respectively. In total, 385 cases of this sort were
imputed, accounting for an increase of 6,801 colones in household expenditure and of 450 colones
in the general expenditure average of all households.
14.4 Mid-point adjustment to survey data Because the survey is conducted throughout a year, during which prices vary, both income and
expenditure must be converted from current prices to constant prices.
Information was collected from October 1, 2012 to October 19, 2013, thus prices were set at the
mid-point of the period, that is, April 2013. The inflation rate in that period was 4.49%.
The process is described below:
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The household consumption expenditure structure was grouped by month, according to CPI expenditure groups.
The amounts from April were used as base (equal to 100), and the change in CPI was subtracted from every month if in the first six months, and added to every month if in the period between May and October 2013.
All data in this table were used as numerators of the denominator equal to 100; in other words, each value was divided by 100 and subsequently multiplied by the value reported by households, during the ten-day periods in each month.
The figure below summarizes the process to convert current amounts into constant amounts.
Figure 9
Converting income and expenditure from current amounts to constant amounts
Deflated structures converted to colones from April 2013 do not show significant change, neither
by month nor on average. This is shown in table 7, which compares values of prices referring to April
2013 and average values of ENIGH 2013, by which it is determined that the differences in average
income are not significant.
This occurs at both expenditure level as well as income level. Consequently, without disregarding
the variation in the CPI, the analysis allowed to conclude that using the consumption structure and
the structure of income converted to current prices from the survey period does not lead to any
inflation bias. Accordingly, converting data from each survey month into April 2013 prices is deemed
unnecessary; therefore, data was analyzed as received from field work.
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Table 7
Comparison of values and composition of prices referring to April 2013 and average values of
ENIGH 2013
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14.5 Treatment of special expenditure
14.5.1 Disaggregation of gambling expenditure
In ENIGH 2013, information is requested on purchases of lottery tickets, chances, tiempos, bingo,
and the like, that is, expenditure of households during the reference week. (Translator's Note:
chances and tiempos are other types of games of chance, similar to lottery tickets)
The special treatment is due to the fact that buying lottery tickets and bets includes the payment
for the service to the organizing unit (if an NPI, it will donate part of the payment to charity) and the
transfer paid to winners. The former corresponds to consumption expenditure and the latter to
transfers to other households (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008). For the purposes of ENIGH
2013, this information will be disaggregated in two parts:
Percentage for management and for donation to other NPISHs or utilities for casinos, persons and other private entities: every organizing unit uses part of the payments received for administrative expenditure. In the case of games managed by a NPISHs, a percentage is donated to charity (whether its own, of another NPISHs or of other households or persons); persons and enterprises organizing games make profit from the activity.
Percentage for transfers to other households: it corresponds to the total prizes given to winners by those organizing the game.
These games are classified as entertainment expenditure. The cost of the service, which is the gross
value of the production of the economic activity and the effective consumption of households, can
be estimated indirectly, as the difference between payments made and prizes won by households
(Organización de las Naciones Unidas, s.f.).
Because of the diversity of authorized and non-authorized games, and because information about
the differential between what is received by institutions, enterprises or persons organizing the
games and what is paid to households is not always reported, those amounts were estimated based
on the rate of prizes given by the San Jose Social Protection Board [Junta de Protección Social de San
José JPSSJ] from October 2012 to September 2013.
Rates were calculated based on income received by the JPSSJ from effective sales of different games.
Income is subsequently weighted according to the importance of each game in the total income
received by JPSSJ from sales, and an average of all games is obtained, which will be applied for games
not specified on the list.
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Table 8
Distribution rates of prizes given to households and payment for service
October 2012 to September 2013
Source: Data from the report by the JPSSJ, 2013.
The percentage received by households includes prizes paid effectively as well as prizes from “funds
and bags”, which is a fund where the JPSSJ stores unclaimed prizes.
The composition used for lottery, chances, tiempos and scratch-offs is the one showed by the
corresponding line in table 8; for the rest of the games, the weighted average is used, in other words,
67% as transfers to other households and 33% as consumption expenditure, as this is what is paid
for the service and what entities subsequently donate or otherwise keep as utilities, in line with the
nature of their operations.
14.5.2 Disaggregation of insurance installments
According to the System of National Accounts 2008 Manual (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008),
insurance policies are willfully purchased by households for their own benefit, independently from
their employers or the government, and apart from any social security system. These comprise net
premiums and compensations related to direct insurance, which are described below:
Net premiums related to insurance and service charges: they comprise the effective premiums payable by policy holders in order to obtain insurance coverage during the accounting period, as well as service charges payable to the insurance provider.
Compensation related to insurance: they are the amounts payable for damage resulting from eventualities covered by insurance policies during the current accounting period. They are treated as current transfers to the person receiving compensation, even if they are large sums paid due to accidental destruction of a fixed asset or serious injury caused to a person. Cases in which compensation is likely to be granted at a later time are excluded and thus recorded at the time when the insurance provider recognizes the liability (it may not match the time when the compensation amount is agreed or paid). In the case of insurance against damage to third parties, compensations are recorded as amounts payable directly by the insurance companies to the parties involved. In exceptional circumstance, part of compensations is not recorded as current transfers but as capital transfers (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008).
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In regards to property insurance (house, car), health insurance (accident and illness) and life
insurance, household consumption expenditure is composed of the cost of the service, which may
be estimated as the difference between gross premiums and lump sum compensations. In the case
of non-life insurance, the remaining expenditure is considered a transfer between households and
is thus classified within expenditure non-imputable to consumption. Life insurance is considered
capital expenditure (Organización de las Naciones Unidas, s.f.).
Because the National Insurance Institute [Instituto Nacional de Seguros INS] is responsible for
approximately 80% of all coverages (Superintendencia General de Seguros de Costa Rica, s.f.),
disaggregation of each item is performed according to information obtained from INS financial
reports (Instituto Nacional de Seguros de Costa Rica, 2013).
Table 9
Income from premiums, benefits and payment for INS non-life
insurance services, October 2012 to September 2013 (in colones)1
Source: Data from INS Financial Statement
Data from table 9 is used to make calculations and disaggregate premiums paid by households into
consumption (payment for service) and capital transfers or capital expenditure (compensation
payments)55, as applicable.
55 The payment for the circulation permit includes a payment of 20.65% for compulsory vehicle insurance, which was disaggregated from the overall payment. The payment of 79.35% as circulation tax and the remaining amount was treated as per the methodology explained above.
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14.5.3 Estimation of rental value
The accommodation services produced by households, are herein called “rental value”, is one of the
services produced and consumed by them (final self-consumption). According to the SNA Manual,
persons who one the housing units where they reside are considered owners of unincorporated
enterprises producing accommodation services for own consumption. This service is valued as equal
to the rental fees they would have to pay in the market for accommodation of the same size, quality
and type. Housing unit services imputed values are recorded as final consumption expenditure of
owners (Sistema de Cuentas Nacionales, 2008).
This rental value is generally inquired of informants, yet they tend to overestimate it by disregarding
the age and other characteristics of the housing unit and by adding a subjective value that does not
match the facts. Alternatively, records with categories for types of housing units could be requested
from companies managing rentals; however, gathering information on all geographic areas is
complicated, in addition to the basic development this activity has had in the country.
This issue does not occur with rental expenditure, which is considered consumption expenditure.
The difference is, when the housing unit is occupied by its owner, the value related to consumption
due to use arises, not requiring monetary expenditure from the occupier.
As a result, expenditure information of households who pay rent is contrasted with housing units
with similar characteristics, and in case the rental value of the housing unit shows bias, an estimated
value56 is assigned by a regression of an existing market such as rental of housing units with specific
characteristics (Grosskoff, 1998).
An estimation of the rental value is made for all housing units, as those who do not participate in
the rental market have difficulties with estimations because they are unaware of the values
negotiated and the parameters that take play.
Table 10 below shows the number of housing units used for the regression and the number with
imputed values.
56 The amount reported by households is used to contrast estimations.
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Table 10
Rented housing units and housing units to be imputed by region
It was performed using two groups, as the differences between them were significant. Also, a
portion of the sample had to remain in order for the models to be robust.
First, two econometric models were applied for rented housing units, one for the Central Region
and another for the rest of the country, using dependent variables according to area (urban, rural),
such as current income of household members, size of housing unit, quality of construction and
other ownership variables and characteristics of the head of household. The response variable
reflects the rental expenditure amount.
Subsequently, these models are used (applying the corresponding coefficients) to impute the
amount, valued by the informant, of the service rendered by the housing unit (for the case of own
housing units received as gift or donation, lent for work or by another household), as long as no
payment is involved on the occupier’s end.
Should more than one household inhabit a single housing unit, the model is applied to the main
household, and the value is divided by the number of bedrooms for exclusive use by each
household57.
The models are described below:
Regression model for the Central Region
𝐿𝑁𝑉𝐿𝑅𝐶 = 6.401 + 0.579 ∗ 𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑐 + 0.241 ∗ 𝐿𝑁𝐼𝐶 + 0.198 ∗ 𝐿𝑁𝑚2 + 0.165
∗ 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑝𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜 + 0.116 ∗ 𝐻009𝐸𝑆𝑇𝐴𝐷𝑂𝑇𝐸𝐶𝐻𝑂+ 0.219
∗ 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜 + 0.497 ∗ 𝐻038𝐴𝐺𝑈𝐴𝐶𝐴𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑁𝑇𝐸+ 0.152
∗ 𝐻067𝑆𝐸𝑅𝑉𝐼𝐶𝐼𝑂𝐷𝑂𝑀𝐸𝑆𝑇𝐼𝐶𝑂
Where:
LNVLRC: Natural logarithm of rental value amount of the Central Region
Zonarec: Recoded area, 1 Urban; 0 Rural
LNIC: Natural logarithm of household current income
57 This treatment was applied to a total of 65 housing units.
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LNm2: Form 1, section A, Question 13 (m2 of construction) recoded with Natural Logarithm of the
mid-points of each range (20, 35, 50, 80, 125, 175, and 300).
materialpisoreco: Form 1, section A, question 7 (predominant floor material), recoded, mosaic,
ceramic or terrazzo 1; all the others 0.
H009_ESTADO_TECHO: Form 1, section A, question 9.b (what is the condition of the roof in this
housing unit), Poor 1; Fair 2; Good 3.
materialparedesreco: Form 1, section A, question 4 (predominant wall material), block or brick 1;
all the others 0.
H038_AGUA_CALIENTE: Form 1, section B, question 4.d (does this household have hot water for
the entire house), Yes 1; No 0.
H067_SERVICIO_DOMÉSTICO: Question 7 (payment to persons for performing domestic chores),
section B, Yes 1; No 0.
Regression model for the Rest of the Country
𝐿𝑁𝑉𝐿𝑅𝑃 = 6.658 + 0.163 ∗ 𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜 + 0.164 ∗ 𝐿𝑁𝐼𝐶 + 0.126 ∗ 𝐿𝑁𝑚2 + 0.197
∗ 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑝𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜 + 0.181 ∗ 𝐻005𝐶𝐼𝐸𝐿𝑂𝑅𝐴𝑆𝑂 + 0.087 ∗ H008ESTADOPAREDES
+ 0.137 ∗ 𝐻052𝑇𝑉𝐶𝐴𝐿𝐵𝐿𝐸+ 0.087 ∗ H011DORMITORIOS + 0.099 ∗ LNEscolaridad
+ 0.158 ∗ LNEdad + 0.190 ∗ 𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜
Where:
LNVLRP: Natural logarithm of rental value amount of the rest of the country
Zonarec: Recoded area, 1 Urban; 0 Rural
LNIC: Natural logarithm of household current income
LNm2: Form 1, section A, Question 13 (m2 of construction) recoded with Natural Logarithm of the
mid-points of each range (20, 35, 50, 80, 125, 175, and 300).
materialpisoreco: Form 1, section A, question 7 (predominant floor material), recoded, mosaic,
ceramic or terrazzo 1; all the others 0.
H005_CIELORASO: Form 1, section A, question 6 (the housing unit has a ceiling), Yes 1; No 0.
H009_ESTADO_PAREDES: Form 1, section A, question 9.a (what is the condition of the walls in this
housing unit), Poor 1; Fair 2; Good 3.
H052_TV_CABLE: Form 1, section B, question 4.l (does this household have cable, satellite or IP
television), Yes 1; No 0.
H011_DORMITORIOS: Form 1, section A, Question 10 (number of bedrooms in the housing unit)
LNEscolaridad: Natural logarithm of schooling58 of head of household
58 In the case of schooling years equal to zero, the logarithm is assigned 1 to prevent the system from taking it as a missing value.
91
Eliminacbasurareco: Form 1, section A, Question 20 (main method of garbage disposal) recoded,
garbage truck 1; all the others 0.
LNEdad: Natural logarithm of age of head of household
14.5.4 Results of estimation models
Both the adjusted R-squared and the standard deviation of the predicted value are considered
acceptable values, and the results, satisfactory. Table 11 shows the data.
Table 11
Adjustment of the imputation model of rental value
Source: Prepared by author.
14.5.5 Adjusted imputed rental
Because certain housing unit maintenance expenses are incurred only by the owner, they are
deducted from the imputed rental of owner occupied dwellings by the model.
In other words, housing unit maintenance expenses reported in page 34 of type 7 are deducted from
the imputed rental monthly value of owner occupied dwellings, as these expenses are considered
to be aimed at preserving the value of the housing unit.
92
XV Dissemination Because of the importance and transcendence of ENIGH 2013, communication activities involving users are considered the culmination of the production of household income and expenditure statistics.
Accordingly, communicating results aims to satisfy the demands for information posed by users, while promoting the institution’s image.
For this end, the document titled Main Results was prepared and later published online and
distributed to users. In order to extend the survey information, tables were prepared showing the
main results and were made available in the INEC web site in the <Income and Expenditure Survey
2013> section. Tables are arranged by topic:
• Characteristics of households and persons
• Expenditure
• Income
• Ownership of housing unit
Databases are also made available to users through the web in the <Accelerated Data
Program> section.
• Persons database: It is composed of 246 variables. This database contains information on sociodemographic characteristics of household members, social transfers, activity condition, employment and personal income. Each person has identification variables (Primary Sampling Unit sequence number), housing unit number), household number, residence area, planning region and line number), the expansion factor and the current per capita income quintile and decile with no rental value, by household as well as national per capita and residence area.
Sociodemographic household member information is composed of 12 variables, among
which are kinship relationship, sex, age, type of insurance and education. Information on
social transfers from the government and non-profit organizations is composed of 48
variables, which describe student benefits, assistance from the IMAS, care giving, assistance
for senior citizens, health services and support from non-profit institutions.
Information on activity condition comprises 20 variables, concerning whether the person
worked during the previous week; whether he/she participated in activities receiving
payment in cash or in kind; whether he/she was absent from work; the reasons for not
working during the previous week; the persons’ availability for work; and whether he/she
attempted to find a job. Information on employment characteristics comprises 43 variables,
among which are number of jobs; hours worked per week; institutional sector; branch of
economic activity; position at the company; work place: size of company; labor continuity;
payment method; payment period; types of deductions from salary.
93
Information on household income comprises 96 variables, among which are employee
income; employer/self-employed income; independent income; farm work income; income
from secondary job; income from rentals; transfers received in cash; other occasional
income, as well as total current income, with or without rental value by recipient (gross or
net) and total income with or without rental value (gross or net).
• Household database: It contains information on characteristics of selected households and
housing units. This information comprises sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, income by source and type of household expenditure.
This dataset comprises 313 variables, in the following order:
- Identification variables: Primary Sampling Units sequence number; housing unit number; household number; residence area; planning region; date of survey; identification; and number of households in the housing unit.
- Characteristics of housing unit where household resides variables: Contain 28 variables regarding type of housing unit, ownership and condition.
- Characteristics of the household in the housing unit variables: Contain 48 variables
concerning household characteristics, such as ownership of items and vehicles, public
and domestic services in the household.
- Sociodemographic characteristics variables: Contain 8 variables concerning number of household members, and sex, age and schooling of head of household.
- Activity condition variables: Comprise the identification of household members: those with an occupation, unemployed, outside the workforce, recipient household members and employed recipients.
- Social transfer variables: Comprise variables concerning social transfers from the government and non-profit institutions. Comprise 45 variables, which describe student benefits, assistance from the IMAS, care giving, assistance for senior citizens, health services and support from non-profit institutions.
- Income variables: Comprise 72 variables that make up current income, capital income and total income. Current income and total income contain the variables that allow the calculation of gross and net income, and income by household or per capita (with or without rental value).
- Expenditure variables: There are 93 variables concerning current expenditure, capital transactions and total household expenditure. Both current expenditure and total expenditure comprise variables concerning total household expenditure and per capita expenditure (with or without rental value).
Lastly, these variables comprise the expansion factor and the current per capita income
quintile and decile with no rental value, by household as well as national per capita and
residence area.
94
• Expenditure database: It comprises detailed information on household expenditure. It includes type of item or service acquired by households; monthly equivalence of food and beverages in milliliters and grams; monthly expenditure amount in colones; point of purchase; payment/acquisition method; destination of each good or service acquired; each of which is grouped by type of expenditure: consumption, non-consumption, intermediate consumption, capital expenditure, negative consumption and transfers in kind.
This dataset is composed of 16 variables, as in addition to those mentioned, it includes identification variables, the expansion factor and the current per capita income quintiles and deciles with no rental value, by national coverage and area.
It is the hope of this institution that this information serves as research and development input for
other organizations and enterprises.
95
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