IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/tpaper/2004-05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Adjusting imperfect data: overview and case studies

Author

Listed:
  • Lars Vilhuber

Abstract

Research users of large administrative have to adjust their data for quirks, problems, and issues that are inevitable when working with these kinds of datasets. Not all solutions to these problems are identical, and how they differ may affect how the data is to be interpreted. Some elements of the data, such as the unit of observation, remain fundamentally different, and it is important to keep that in mind when comparing data across countries. In this paper (written for Lazear and Shaw, 2007), we focus on the differences in the underlying data for a selection of country datasets. We describe two data elements that remain fundamentally different across countries -- the sampling or data collection methodology, and the basic unit of analysis (establishment or firm) -- and the extent to which they differ. We then proceed to document some of the problems that affect longitudinally linked administrative data in general, and we describe some of the solutions analysts and statistical agencies have implemented, and explore, through a select set of case studies, how each adjustment or absence thereof might affect the data.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Vilhuber, 2004. "Adjusting imperfect data: overview and case studies," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2004-05, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
  • Handle: RePEc:cen:tpaper:2004-05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.census.gov/ces/tp/tp-2004-05.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2004
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Bender & Christian Dustmann & David Margolis & Costas Meghir, 1998. "Worker Displacement in France and Germany," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00370611, HAL.
    2. David Margolis, 1999. "Worker Displacement in France," Post-Print halshs-00370401, HAL.
    3. Jacobson, Louis S & LaLonde, Robert J & Sullivan, Daniel G, 1993. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 685-709, September.
    4. Anderson, Patricia M. & Meyer, Bruce D., 2000. "The effects of the unemployment insurance payroll tax on wages, employment, claims and denials," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 81-106, October.
    5. Neal, Derek, 1995. "Industry-Specific Human Capital: Evidence from Displaced Workers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(4), pages 653-677, October.
    6. John M. Abowd & Patrick Corbel & Francis Kramarz, 1999. "The Entry And Exit Of Workers And The Growth Of Employment: An Analysis Of French Establishments," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(2), pages 170-187, May.
    7. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    8. Abowd, John M. & Vilhuber, Lars, 2005. "The Sensitivity of Economic Statistics to Coding Errors in Personal Identifiers," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 23, pages 133-152, April.
    9. Gary Benedetto & John Haltiwanger & Julia Lane & Kevin McKinney, 2003. "Using Worker Flows in the Analysis of the Firm," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2003-09, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau, revised May 2004.
    10. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2629-2710 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Abowd, John M & Zellner, Arnold, 1985. "Estimating Gross Labor-Force Flows," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(3), pages 254-283, June.
    12. Abowd, John M. & Kramarz, Francis, 1999. "The analysis of labor markets using matched employer-employee data," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 40, pages 2629-2710, Elsevier.
    13. Roberto Leombruni & Roberto Quaranta, 2002. "The Unemployment Route to Versatility," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 16, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    14. Spletzer, James R, 2000. "The Contribution of Establishment Births and Deaths to Employment Growth," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 18(1), pages 113-126, January.
    15. Bruno Contini & Claudia Villosio, 2003. "Worker Mobility, Job Displacement and Wage Dynamics: Italy 1985-91," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 24, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    16. George Baker & Michael Gibbs & Bengt Holmstrom, 1994. "The Internal Economics of the Firm: Evidence from Personnel Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 881-919.
    17. Parent, Daniel, 2000. "Industry-Specific Capital and the Wage Profile: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 306-323, April.
    18. David W. Stevens, 2002. "Employment that is not covered by state unemployment," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2002-16, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Hijzen, Alexander & Martins, Pedro S. & Schank, Thorsten & Upward, Richard, 2013. "Foreign-owned firms around the world: A comparative analysis of wages and employment at the micro-level," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 170-188.
    2. Chiara Criscuolo & Alexander Hijzen & Cyrille Schwellnus & Erling Barth & Wen-Hao Chen & Richard Fabling & Priscilla Fialho & Balazs Stadler & Richard Upward & Wouter Zwysen & Katarzyna Grabska-Romago, 2020. "Workforce composition, productivity and pay: the role of firms in wage inequality," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1603, OECD Publishing.
    3. Criscuolo, Chiara & Gal, Peter N. & Menon, Carlo, 2014. "The dynamics of employment growth: new evidence from 18 countries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60286, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. John M. Abowd & Kevin L. McKinney & Lars Vilhuber, 2009. "The Link between Human Capital, Mass Layoffs, and Firm Deaths," NBER Chapters, in: Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, pages 447-472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Tanja Hethey-Maier & Johannes F. Schmieder, 2013. "Does the Use of Worker Flows Improve the Analysis of Establishment Turnover? Evidence from German Administrative Data," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 133(4), pages 477-510.
    6. Hethey, Tanja & Schmieder, Johannes F., 2010. "Using worker flows in the analysis of establishment turnover : evidence from German administrative data," FDZ Methodenreport 201006_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    7. repec:iab:iabfme:201006(en is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Till von Wachter & Stefan Bender, 2008. "Do Initial Conditions Persist between Firms? An Analysis of Firm-Entry Cohort Effects and Job Losers Using Matched Employer-Employee Data," NBER Chapters, in: The Analysis of Firms and Employees: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, pages 135-162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Stefan Bender & Till von Wachter, 2006. "In the Right Place at the Wrong Time: The Role of Firms and Luck in Young Workers' Careers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1679-1705, December.
    3. Kevin McKinney & Lars Vilhuber, 2006. "Using linked employer-employee data to investigate the speed of adjustments in downsizing firms," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2006-03, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    4. Bassanini, Andrea & Garnero, Andrea, 2013. "Dismissal protection and worker flows in OECD countries: Evidence from cross-country/cross-industry data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 25-41.
    5. Sebastian Galiani & Federico Sturzenegger, 2008. "The Impact of Privatization on the Earnings of Restructured Workers: Evidence From the Oil Industry," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 162-176, June.
    6. Robert Gibbons & Michael Waldman, 2006. "Enriching a Theory of Wage and Promotion Dynamics inside Firms," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(1), pages 59-108, January.
    7. Abowd, John M. & Vilhuber, Lars, 2011. "National estimates of gross employment and job flows from the Quarterly Workforce Indicators with demographic and industry detail," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 161(1), pages 82-99, March.
    8. Ghosh, Suman, 2007. "Job mobility and careers in firms," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 603-621, June.
    9. Andreas Pollak, 2008. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance with Variable Skill Levels," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 164(4), pages 696-726, December.
    10. Jean-Marc Robin & Costas Meghir & Christian Dustmann & Jerome Adda, 2013. "Career Progression, Economic Downturns, and Skills," 2013 Meeting Papers 993, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Clark, Damon & Fahr, René, 2001. "The Promise of Workplace Training for Non-College-Bound Youth: Theory and Evidence from German Apprenticeship," IZA Discussion Papers 378, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Ossi Korkeamäki & Jukka Appelqvist & Tomi Kyyrä, 2007. "Quantile Regression Estimates of the Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers," EcoMod2007 23900045, EcoMod.
    13. Sebastián Galiani and Federico Sturzenegger, "undated". "The Impact of Privatization on the Earnings of Restructured Workers," Business School Working Papers longterm, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.
    14. Philip Jung & Moritz Kuhn, 2019. "Earnings Losses and Labor Mobility Over the Life Cycle," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 678-724.
    15. Bognanno, Michael & Kambayashi, Ryo, 2013. "Trends in worker displacement penalties in Japan: 1991–2005," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 41-57.
    16. Tomohiro Machikita, 2005. "Career Crisis? The Impacts of Financial Shock on Entry-Level Labour Market: Experimental Evidences from Thailand in 1997," Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series d04-79, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    17. Joseph G. Altonji & Anthony A. Smith Jr. & Ivan Vidangos, 2013. "Modeling Earnings Dynamics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(4), pages 1395-1454, July.
    18. Amynah Vanessa Gangji & Robert Plasman, 2007. "The Matthew effect of unemployment: how does it affect wages in Belgium," DULBEA Working Papers 07-19.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Hethey, Tanja & Schmieder, Johannes F., 2010. "Using worker flows in the analysis of establishment turnover : evidence from German administrative data," FDZ Methodenreport 201006_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    20. Jean-Marc Robin & Costas Meghir & Christian Dustmann & Jerome Adda, 2013. "Career Progression, Economic Downturns, and Skills," 2013 Meeting Papers 993, Society for Economic Dynamics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • C82 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data; Data Access
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

    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:cen:tpaper:2004-05. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Dawn Anderson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesgvus.html .

    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.