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U.S. Earnings Mobility: Comparing Survey-Based and Administrative-Based Estimates

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa M. Dragoset

    (U.S. Census Bureau and Cornell University)

  • Gary S. Fields

    (Cornell University)

Abstract

Earnings mobility has been studied both at the macro level (how much of a certain kind of mobility is there in the economy?) and at the micro level (what are the correlates of change in income or position?). Many empirical mobility studies provide estimates of the amount of mobility in a country over time and the correlates of individual mobility within the income distribution. While measurement error is recognized as potentially important at both these levels, very little is known about the degree to which earnings mobility estimates are affected by measurement error. In this paper, we use a new dataset that contains individually reported total annual labor earnings from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) linked to employer-reported total annual labor earnings from the Social Security Administration’s Detailed Earnings Record (DER; these are taken directly from Box 1 on theW-2 form and are not capped by FICA) to compare micro and macro earnings mobility estimates for the U.S. during the 1990s using the two different earnings measures. We ask how much difference it makes to mobility estimates to use administrative-based earnings rather than survey-based earnings, and we obtain two major findings. Qualitatively, we find that the results are similar but not identical when administrative-based earnings are used rather than survey-based earnings. Quantitatively, we find that magnitudes are often very different when administrative-based earnings are used rather than survey-based earnings. The administrative-based results are neither systematically larger nor systematically smaller than the survey-based ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa M. Dragoset & Gary S. Fields, 2006. "U.S. Earnings Mobility: Comparing Survey-Based and Administrative-Based Estimates," Working Papers 55, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
  • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2006-55
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    File URL: http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2006-55.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Stephen P. Jenkins & Philippe Van Kerm, 2016. "Assessing Individual Income Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 83(332), pages 679-703, October.
    2. Wojciech Kopczuk & Emmanuel Saez & Jae Song, 2007. "Uncovering the American Dream: Inequality and Mobility in Social Security Earnings Data since 1937," NBER Working Papers 13345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Flaviana Palmisano & Vito Peragine, 2015. "The Distributional Incidence of Growth: A Social Welfare Approach," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(3), pages 440-464, September.
    4. Markus Jäntti & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2013. "Income Mobility," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 607, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    5. Van Kerm, Philippe & P. Jenkins, Stephen, 2011. "Trends in individual income growth: measurement methods and British evidence," ISER Working Paper Series 2011-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    earnings mobility; measurement error; macro mobility; micro mobility.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J69 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Other
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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