This is 2008 for all countries with the exception of Israel (2005), Brazil (2006), France, Korea and the United States (2007) as well as Australia, Chile and Japan (2009). The reference year for data on earnings is the preceding year. Although this generally also applies to other variables that capture an individual’s job characteristics, there are exceptions. Most notably, in the case of the SILC survey, the number of hours worked refers to the year the survey was conducted, which leads to time inconsistencies with respect to the earnings data.