Administrative Data: Benefits and Challenges for Social Security Research

At the University of Applied Science several research projects withintegrated administrative data from the social security system have been realised. These linked administrative data sets, understood as process-generated data whose statistical use is only secondary, provide information on time periods with paid labour and social benefits from unemployment and disability insurances and social welfare on an individual level. The very nature of these data, consisting of a new body of information, the time structure of the data and the large sample size, is already a captivating feature,but gives also way for innovative ways of how to produce insights. But nonetheless,issues with data quality must be faced, particularly concerning measurement, consistency of different data sources and the covered sample. Challenges and benefits of administrative data from the Swiss social security system for social sciences will be thoroughly discussedin this paper.