does not have migration or geographic identifiers. The SILC contains geographic identifying variables, (at the NUTS1 level) but still lacks migration variables.

The data set this study uses is the Labor Force Survey (LFS) since there is an adequate availability of both migration and geographic variables. The LFS is representative at the NUTS2 level which corresponds to 26 regions in Turkey. One caveat is that income in the LFS refers to only wage income from employment,<sup>9</sup> and is an insufficient measure of income that should be used for welfare measurement. For example, important sources of income such as social assistance, asset liquidation, or remittances are missing. Therefore, income in the LFS is imputed with a few assumptions using information from the SILC. The NUTS1 spatial effects of the SILC are a good proxy for NUTS2 welfare dynamics in the LFS which increases the accuracy of the imputation model. However, since the original sample frame of the LFS does not account for the recent influx of foreign migrants in Turkey, the labor market characteristics of recent migrants might not be representative of the actual SUTP population. Therefore, results of the imputation could be interpreted as upper bound estimates for recent migrants. More details of survey techniques used to complete this exercise are available in the Annex. As a result, imputed poverty is measured as income poverty. Another advantage of using the LFS is the availability of CPI at the NUTS2 level in Turkey which allows for spatial deflation of different price levels across the country.

Table 1. Survey Comparison and Data Availability

||Years<br>Available|Migration<br>Variables|Income or Consumption|Geographic Identifier|Spatial<br>Deflation|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**HICES**|2003-2012|No|Consumption, income|National, urban/rural|No|
|**SILC**|2009-2012|No|Income|NUTS1|No|
|**LFS**|2009-2013|Yes|Imputed Income|NUTS2|Yes|

However, there are other issues for consideration when using the LFS. Principally, there is a low number of sample points that are migrant households. Moreover, the study cannot identify migrant households and individuals that are specifically Syrian refugees. Foreign migrants are defined as those who were born abroad and have lived abroad for at least more than 12 months. Some Turkish-born households have also lived abroad for over a year, and these individuals are not considered to be migrants. Amongst foreign-born individuals, only the ones who have been in the country for more than 12 months are included in the sample which underrepresents the actual number of foreign migrants in the region. In addition, no specific procedure is adopted by the enumerators if the household does not speak Turkish. Given that a majority of Syrian refugees do not speak Turkish, the language barrier might result in the removal of Syrian households from the sample. Finally, refugee camps are not included in the sample frame, which limits the study to only examining recent migrants who do not live in refugee camps.

> 9 Wage income is only available for regular and casual employees in the LFS which accounts for around 60% of total employment. There is no other monetary income value for the rest of the working population.

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