Firm characteristics and work conditions
Local geographic conditions play a crucial role in shaping market dynamics. In many countries, researchers can access basic geographic data in LEE datasets, including individuals' home and workplace locations. This data supports analyses of labor market determinants influencing residential mobility and enables the estimation of regional wage differentials between commuting zones, as worker mobility across regions can be monitored over time. Additionally, this data facilitates investigations into the role of cities in wage inequalities.
A detailed understanding of workers' working conditions is crucial for researchers. Administrative data, typically collected by public authorities, often provide limited insights into working conditions, usually restricted to contracted hours. However, in some countries, this data can be supplemented with survey-based information, such as wage components (e.g., bonuses or overtime hours) from the Structure of Earnings Survey. This integration results in a more comprehensive dataset on working conditions, enabling researchers to analyze the factors contributing to the gender wage gap, among other topics.
Furthermore, administrative databases often contain enterprise-related characteristics, enabling researchers to explore firm-level factors such as productivity, ownership, export activities, and other trade-related measures alongside detailed workforce data. These datasets have fueled renewed interest in estimating productivity-wage passthrough parameters in rent-sharing literature. Moreover, firm-level exporting activity data allows assessments of its effects on labor demand, the firm-level gender wage gap, and even spillovers across labor mobility. Additionally, ownership information provides insight into wage effects associated with foreign ownership.
Health and society
A key advantage of certain LEE datasets that integrate multiple national data sources—rather than relying solely on employment reports—is the availability of highly detailed information on social transfers, labor market programs, individual health status, and healthcare and pharmaceutical costs. Governments often maintain comprehensive records on the transfers they distribute, making this data readily accessible through various datasets. However, obtaining information on individuals’ health status can be more challenging. Even when health data is available, coverage may be uneven, particularly in countries where the private sector plays an increasing role in healthcare provision, limiting the government's direct access to this information.
Nevertheless, several studies have successfully linked employment and health data. One line of research investigates the impact of employment shocks on health outcomes and, conversely, the effect of health shocks on employment outcomes. Additionally, the role of firms in medical spending variation can be examined. Access to medical records also enables researchers to identify unexpected death events in the data, providing an exogenous source of variation for studies on worker substitutability. Furthermore, administrative mortality records serve as valuable outcome variables for estimating the effects of job displacement on mortality rates.
In some countries, available data also enables the assessment of social benefit uptake based on individual or firm characteristics. Similarly, the effectiveness of active labor market policies, such as training programs, can be evaluated through participation data.
Certain datasets also make it possible to identify incarcerated individuals based on specific transfer records, enabling research on long-term labor market effects of imprisonment. In other cases, researchers have access to direct crime data, allowing the estimation of the effects of job loss on criminal activity.
Family and background
Differences in database creation methods and legal frameworks that govern data linking lead to considerable variation in the availability of family and social background data across countries. Public institutions often collect this information for purposes such as family taxation or social support. For example, in many cases, information related to children is recorded primarily for mothers, and family-related data is often indirectly inferred through social transfers. However, in some countries, the core data can be supplemented with survey-based data, offering more extensive and detailed information on family backgrounds. Despite these challenges, the labor market effects of parenthood remain a prominent area of research.
Nevertheless, gender is consistently recorded across all LEE datasets. This has facilitated a vast body of research aimed at understanding the sources and dimensions of gender-based employment and wage differences.
In several countries, particularly in the Nordic region, detailed family background information extends beyond the presence and number of children, including household or other familial relationships. This level of detail allows researchers to map family networks, enabling studies on various topics such as the firm-level dimensions of intergenerational mobility, family effects of job loss, the effects of joining a family member's firm, and the impact of family contacts on labor market and other outcomes, such as job-finding or residential mobility.
The labor market performance of immigrants and the role of social connections have been extensively analyzed in numerous Western and Scandinavian studies, facilitated by the availability of detailed immigration data, including birthplace, nationality, and immigration status. In some countries, records on parents' immigration status also enable the analysis of second-generation immigrants. This information supports research on labor market differences between immigrants and natives, including aspects of segregation and wage disparities. Moreover, immigrant status data also facilitates the estimation of heterogeneous effects of other phenomena, such as the motherhood penalty or the effects of business cycles, showing the importance of intersectional inequalities.
Education and skills
Administrative data do not always include information on individuals' educational attainment, unlike wage surveys, which typically capture this detail. However, student status data is available in some countries, allowing researchers to infer educational levels. Additionally, tracking individuals' past educational institutions facilitates studies on the correlations between school peers' outcomes and the influence of peer networks on various labor market outcomes.
In some countries, data extends beyond basic educational institution records, including individual-level school performance metrics or standardized assessments, such as military entrance exams. These variables are highly valuable as they provide reliable proxies for workers' true, often unobserved, cognitive skills. The economic returns to such skills can then be assessed concerning future labor market outcomes or used as indicators of worker quality.