IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/jhriss/v30y1995i2p386-396.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Retrospective Bias in the Displaced Worker Surveys

Author

Listed:
  • David S. Evans
  • Linda S. Leighton

Abstract

The Displaced Worker Survey of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics understates the number of workers displaced over the preceding five years covered by the survey by approximately one-third. The bias results from the fact that respondents' memory of displacement erodes over time. Memory loss is not randomly distributed across demographic groups, thereby making analyses based on these survey data suspect. The note reports memory-loss adjusted estimates of the number of displaced workers between 1979 and 1989 based on Displaced Worker Surveys for 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990.

Suggested Citation

  • David S. Evans & Linda S. Leighton, 1995. "Retrospective Bias in the Displaced Worker Surveys," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(2), pages 386-396.
  • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:30:y:1995:i:2:p:386-396
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/146125
    Download Restriction: A subscripton is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela, 2020. "Job loss at home: children’s school performance during the Great Recession," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 243-286, September.
    2. Kritkorn Nawakitphaitoon & Russell Ormiston, 2015. "Occupational human capital and earnings losses of displaced workers: does the degree of similarity between pre- and post-displacement occupations matter? [Berufliches Humankapital und Einkommensver," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(1), pages 57-73, March.
    3. Susan Godlonton & Manuel A Hernandez & Mike Murphy, 2018. "Anchoring Bias in Recall Data: Evidence from Central America," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(2), pages 479-501.
    4. David Gray & Gilles Grenier, 1998. "Jobless Durations of Displaced Workers: A Comparison of Canada and the United States," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 24(s1), pages 152-169, February.
    5. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2000. "The Craft of Labormetrics," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(3), pages 363-380, April.
    6. Oyer, Paul, 2004. "Recall bias among displaced workers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 397-402, March.
    7. Becker, Sebastian & Jahn, Elke, 2015. "Labor Market Signaling and Unemployment Duration: Evidence from Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112981, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Kuhn, Peter & Sweetman, Arthur, 1999. "Vulnerable Seniors: Unions, Tenure, and Wages Following Permanent Job Loss," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(4), pages 671-693, October.
    9. Jaap H. Abbring & Gerard J. van den Berg & Pieter A. Gautier & A. Gijsbert C. van Lomwel & Jan C. van Ours & Christopher J. Ruhm, 1998. "Displaced Workers in the United States and the Netherlands," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 98-084/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Robert F. Schoeni & Michael Dardia, 1997. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers in the 1990s," JCPR Working Papers 8, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    11. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1999. "The Art of Labormetrics," NBER Working Papers 6927, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Christian P Theurer & Andranik Tumasjan & Isabell M Welpe, 2018. "Contextual work design and employee innovative work behavior: When does autonomy matter?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-35, October.
    13. Lori G. Kletzer & Robert W. Fairlie, 1999. "The Long-Term Costs of Job Displacement Among Young Workers," JCPR Working Papers 87, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    14. H. Van Goor & A. Verhage, 1999. "Nonresponse and Recall Errors in a Study of Absence because of Illness: An Analysis of Their Effects on Distributions and Relationships," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 411-428, November.
    15. Alberto Posso & Nicholas Bodanac & Facundo Palermo, 2023. "The impact of economic hardships on the intent to migrate: Micro‐level evidence from Venezuela," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 653-680, March.
    16. Song, Younghwan, 2007. "Recall bias in the displaced workers survey: Are layoffs really lemons?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 335-345, June.
    17. Bohacek, Radim & Myck, Michal, 2017. "Economic Consequences of Political Persecution," IZA Discussion Papers 11136, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Lori G. Kletzer, 1998. "Job Displacement," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 115-136, Winter.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:30:y:1995:i:2:p:386-396. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://jhr.uwpress.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.