NIDIO - Netherlands Integrated Data Infrastructure of Inequality in Organizations

The use of linked employer-employee register microdata is gaining popularity in social science research. However, there are few expert resources to guide academic users how to handle and analyze these data. We introduce NIDIO, an open-source infrastructure of data-processing code and guidelines that help with the construction and use of linked employer-employee datasets. NIDIO’s overall aim is two-fold: (1) enhance the accessibility of linked employer-employee register microdata for social science research and (2) contribute to open and replicable science by improving the transparency of working with linked employer-employee register data. This presentation addresses three common challenges that are encountered while working with linked employer-employee register microdata and illustrates how NIDIO tackles them. First, creating linkages between administrative data sources involves several decision-making steps which often remain undisclosed in published research. NIDIO provides transparent data processing routines that improve reproducibility. Second, translating administrative data and measures into social science concepts and variables is non-trivial. NIDIO provides guidelines and best practices how to bridge the gap between administrative and scientific data. Third, users with limited prior experience of working with linked employer-employee register data face high startup costs during project setup. NIDIO eases time- and labor-intensive data setup by providing installable programs and packages. NIDIO draws on Dutch Bureau of Statistics (CBS) administrative register data on the organizational and employee population. We integrate administrative datasets into a harmonised three-level data structure (individuals; jobs or functionary appointments; organizations). NIDIO reconstructs workers’ demographic profiles and employment outcomes (wages, managerial and directorate positions, occupations) and links them to organizational characteristics, policies, and inter-organizational networks. Thereby, NIDIO allows the integrated study of inequality within and between Dutch organizations.