Data management in Spain

The Spanish labour and social security administration has a key role in collecting and processing labour market and social security data, conducting analysis and producing studies and reports. The unit on Statistics and Analysis (Subdirección General de Estadística y Análisis Sociolaboral, SGEAS) in the Spanish former Ministry of Labour, Migration and Social Security (MITRAMISS) was given the mandate in 2017 to enhance the production, analysis and communication of statistical information generated by the Ministry.

To support this mandate, MITRAMISS (and subsequently the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy (MITES) and the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations (MISSM) requested technical support to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG-Reform) and the OECD. The project was funded through the European Union’s Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) and was carried out between July 2019 and October 2020.

The aim of this project was to improve the availability and dissemination of statistical information produced by MITRAMISS, MITES and MISSM, and improve the access to microdata for analysis and research. The ultimate goal of the project was to promote the use of evidence-based policymaking by the Spanish authorities in the fields of labour, social security and migration policies.   

The work was supported by:

1. In-depth questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and consultations with Ministry staff and external experts on data needs, data management, data processing, outputs of data processing and dissemination of outputs.
2. Two learning events organised to identify useful examples from other countries and disseminate the results of the project to relevant stakeholders:
   • Efficient solutions in producing statistics on high volume register data (December 2019).
   • The use of administrative data for evidence-based policy design and implementation (October 2020)

This support could be relevant for other countries wishing to develop a better data management system and a wider use of data for analysis and research. This project is part of broader effort by the OECD and the EU to help countries improve their use of administrative data to develop evidence-based policies. The OECD is currently working with the European Commission (DG-Reform and DG-Employment) and several EU and OECD countries to conduct counterfactual impact evaluations of labour market and social policies. The goal of these projects is to build countries’ capacities to regularly conduct similar evaluations in the future.

Contact: Activation@oecd.org

Funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the OECD, in cooperation with the European Commission.