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Unemployment, life satisfaction and retrospective error

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  • Hendrik Jürges

Abstract

Summary. The paper compares current and 1‐year retrospective data on unemployment in the German Socio‐Economic Panel study. 13% of all unemployment spells are not reported 1 year later, and another 7% are misreported. The ratio of retrospective to current unemployment has increased in recent years and is related to salience of unemployment measures such as the loss of life satisfaction that is associated with unemployment. Individuals with weak labour force attachment, e.g. women with children or individuals who are close to retirement, have the greatest propensity to under‐report unemployment retrospectively. The data are consistent with evidence on retrospective bias found by cognitive psychologists and survey methodologists.

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  • Hendrik Jürges, 2007. "Unemployment, life satisfaction and retrospective error," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(1), pages 43-61, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:170:y:2007:i:1:p:43-61
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-985X.2006.00441.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Michaela R. Kreyenfeld & Sonja Bastin, 2013. "Blurred memory, deliberate misreporting, or “true tales”? How different survey methods affect respondents’ reports of partnership status at first birth," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2013-017, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    2. Bachmann, Ronald & Schaffner, Sandra, 2009. "Biases in the measurement of labour market dynamics," Technical Reports 2009,12, Technische Universität Dortmund, Sonderforschungsbereich 475: Komplexitätsreduktion in multivariaten Datenstrukturen.
    3. Andrew E. Clark & Ed Diener & Yannis Georgellis & Richard E. Lucas, 2008. "Lags And Leads in Life Satisfaction: a Test of the Baseline Hypothesis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(529), pages 222-243, June.

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