Estimation of the average wage in Polish small companies using the robust approach

Abstract

There is a growing demand for multivariate economic statistics for crossclassified domains. In business statistics, this demand poses a particular challenge given the specific character of the population of enterprises, which necessitates searching for methods of analysis that would represent the robust approach to estimation, where auxiliary variables could be utilised. The adoption of new solutions in this area is expected to increase the scope of statistical output and improve the precision of estimates. The study presented in the paper furthers this goal, as it is focused on testing the application of a robust version of the Fay-Herriot model, which makes it possible to meet the assumption of normality of random effects under the presence of outliers. These alternative models are supplied to estimate the parameters of small firms operating in 2012. Variables from administrative registers were used as auxiliary variables, which made the estimation process more comprehensive. The paper refers to small area estimation methods. The variables of interest are estimated at a low level of aggregation represented by the crosssection province and NACE sections.