Understanding Society User Support

Dear Gloria,

Many thanks for your enquiry. I have paassed this on to our income team who are looking into it for you.

Best wishes, Victoria.

On behalf of the Understanding Society data user support team

Dear Gloria,

The Understanding Society measure of labour income is a current measure. It asks for the “usual” amounts of labour income for those that did paid work last week (we convert this to a monthly equivalent). Multiplying this by 12 to get an annual estimate assumes that an individual’s earnings and employment status does not change throughout the year – but clearly some groups do have volatile incomes – so be careful here.

The relevant variables are:

w_inc1lab – net monthly personal
w_fimnlabgrs_dv –gross monthly personal

You asked “How do I take into account the different sources of income in Understanding Society?”. We produce total individual income variables that go beyond a measure of labour income to also include state benefits, unearned income and investment income. These are:

w_fimngrs_dv -Gross monthly personal income
w_netinc1 –net monthly personal income

For more details consult the Understanding Society User Guide starting page 88. https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/mainstage

Best wishes, Victoria

On behalf of the Understanding Society Data User Support Team