The Establishment History Panel

Abstract

"The Establishment History Panel (BHP) consists of person-related data from the registration for social security contributions which were aggregated on the establishment level. In contrast to the Establishment Panel and the Linked-Employer-Employee Data (LIAB), the BHP is not a random sample but covers the total population. Each year, the BHP includes between 1.5 and 2.5 million establishments. The data are available for the years 1975 up to 2005. In comparison, Establishment Panel and LIAB data start in 1993 only. The BHP's yearly cross-sections can be merged to form a panel data set because the BHP includes the necessary identifiers. Comprehensive empirical studies concerning workplace dynamics are possible with this data set. A further considerable advantage of the BHP is that questions based on regional characteristics can be analysed and that the founding or closing date of an establishment can be identified. The possibility to combine the annual data sets into a single panel data set opens up a wide range of research questions. This article is intended to provide an outline of the data content, data access and possible research questions. The main topic of the following text is a description of the BHP base file. I will also sketch some of the future steps we will take to extend the data set by means of so-called extension files. Finally, I will describe a new FDZ project which uses BHP data." (author's abstract)