01-01-2013, 10:54 AM
The New SEC system
1The New SEC.pdf (Size: 1.42 MB / Downloads: 251)
INTRODUCTION
The new SEC system is used to classify households in India. It’s based on two variables:
•Education of chief earner
•Number of “consumer durables” ( from a predefined list)-owned by the family. The list has 11 items, ranging from ‘electricity connection’ and ‘agricultural land’-to cars and air conditioners
We have 12 grades in the new SEC system, ranging from A1 to E3
Advantages
More discrimination as compared with current systems
A single system for urban and andrural India
Less subjectivity-as we no longer use occupation
It’s simple -easy to answer, not very time consuming, easy to classify
How we created the new system
Extensive analysis based on data drawn from the IRS, made available by the MRUC-various rounds, from 2005 to 2008
Have also drawn on data from MarketPulse, IMRB’s Household panel, supplemented by a special survey
The building blocks that were available to us
‘Demographic’ variables: e.g. occupation of chief earner, education of chief earner, education of housewife, claimed monthly household income
Dwelling type and amenities: e.g. construction material, tap, bathroom, number of rooms
Ownership of consumer durables
In Conclusion
We have a system that is simple, easy to administer. It gives us good discrimination; the social grades created are more homogenous
But we do need to revisit the system at least once every two years; and make sure that when a change is needed, this is a smooth process
It’s easy to begin using the new system. For those who need to keep track of the old SEC for reasons of comparability, the new system means just one more question-which can be tagged on right at the end.