1 / 32

International Conference on Establishment Surveys Montreal, 2007

Adding New Data Elements to an Ongoing Survey: Operational and Response Issues. International Conference on Establishment Surveys Montreal, 2007 Richard Rosen, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics rosen.richard@bls.gov

fred
Download Presentation

International Conference on Establishment Surveys Montreal, 2007

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Adding New Data Elements to an Ongoing Survey: Operational and Response Issues International Conference on Establishment Surveys Montreal, 2007 Richard Rosen, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics rosen.richard@bls.gov Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not constitute policy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

  2. Current Employment Statistics Survey • One of the oldest and largest US Surveys • Number of workers, payroll and hours • Monthly • Quick turnaround: • Reference period is the pay period of the 12th • 12 collection days • Data published first Friday of following month • Data closely watched by policymakers, financial markets, media, business, labor

  3. Current Data Items • All Employees • Woman Employees • Production/Construction/Nonsupervisory • Employees • Payroll • Hours • Overtime (Manufacturing)

  4. New Data Items • All Employee • Payroll • Hours • Overtime (Manufacturing) • Gross Monthly Earnings (GME)

  5. Reason for New Data Items • Production workers only comprise about 80% of total, therefore the hours/earnings measures are not comprehensive • Research showed that more respondents could provide total payroll and hours • GME: broader measure of earning wanted by BEA for personal income and GDP

  6. Data Item Issues: OLD • Production/Construction/Nonsupervisory • Definition not clearly understood • Hard to obtain from payroll records • Data item response about 40% for payroll/hours

  7. Data Item Issues: NEW • Availability of Hours for Supervisors/managers, etc. • Multiple payrolls (i.e.. Managers paid biweekly, Nonsupervisory paid weekly) • Gross Monthly Earnings: New concept, different time period

  8. Tasks • Forms Design • Systems Updates • Two processing/estimation systems • Six collection systems • Data transport system • Estimator for GME • Train interviewers and other staff

  9. Planning • Began in 2003 for implementation in 2005 • Teams to work on all major aspects • Forms • Systems • Edits • Estimation

  10. Forms • How to get additional data items on form (twice as many items) • How to handle multiple payrolls • Separation of GME from other items • Different concept/definition • Different time period (entire month) • Different “reasons for change”

  11. Forms-Cont. • Interdisciplinary Team • Developed four different layouts • Expert review • Two rounds of cognitive field tests • Downey, Goldenberg, Rosen, Gomes, Manning, “Cognitive Testing of New Forms for the Current Employment Statistics Survey”, ASA, August 2005.

  12. CES Collection Form-New

  13. Edits: No Real History • What would relationship be between All Employee Earnings and Production Worker Earnings? • General expectation that it would be higher, but by how much • GME even more difficult • Inclusion of bonuses, stock options, severance pay could really skew data • Made some initial assumptions; revised as actual data became available

  14. Respondents • How to notify respondents of change? • How will respondents react? • More data items • Increased burden • Will response rates suffer?

  15. Respondent Contact • Varied by mode • Many respondents on self-reporting modes; touchtone, mail. • CATI: Interviewer began to discuss two months before change • FAX: Interviewers made special efforts to contact in advance

  16. Respondent Contact-cont. • Special Transition Letter • Electronic: Began intensive work with firms to reprogram electronic files • Touchtone and mail: Designed “mock form” to highlight new items

  17. Results • Overall transition has been successful • Higher data item response for All Employee Payroll/Hours • Reasonably high item response for GME But: • Overall response rates have declined

  18. Begin AEPP

  19. Data Item Response AE Payroll and GME reporting mostly mirrors what respondents were providing for PW Payroll by mode • TDE: Good reporters= high response • CATI/FAX: More reluctant reporter, hence need CATI= modest response • EDI: Many large firms not currently providing PW payroll; difficult to convince firms to re-program their data files; slow improvement

  20. Data Item Response Rates

  21. Looking at the new data … • Hourly Earning for All Workers averages about 15% higher than current series • Gross Monthly Earnings is somewhat volatile, shows spikes at end of each quarter, especially 4th Quarter; likely due to Bonus Payments

  22. Conclusion • Conversion to new data elements appears to be successful. Conversion has been easier with smaller firms. • Some decline in overall response due to increased respondent burden • Trade-off in terms of improved data item response and usefulness of new data

More Related