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What works for employment records: international practices & implications for the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Eduardo Levy Yeyati

  • Juan Camisassa
  • Ian Seyal

Abstract

The modernization of employment records (ERs) has become central to 21st-century labor market policy, economic mobility, and social inclusion. ERs are structured administrative data documenting an individual’s employment history, including who did what, for whom, where, for how long, and with what outcomes. Around the world, peer countries have built integrated, real-time, and worker-centric ER systems that reduce administrative burden and unlock transformative insights for policy and practice. This report benchmarks a wide range of international practices to inform U.S. stakeholders pursuing modernization efforts. While these initiatives necessarily build on the unemployment insurance wage record system, true modernization requires evolving toward a public-domain, worker-centered employment records infrastructure that serves broader economic and inclusion goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Eduardo Levy Yeyati & Juan Camisassa & Ian Seyal, 2025. "What works for employment records: international practices & implications for the United States," School of Government Working Papers wp_gob_2025_3, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.
    • Handle: RePEc:udt:wpgobi:wp_gob_2025_3
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    File URL: https://repositorio.utdt.edu/handle/20.500.13098/14252
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Heinisch, Dominik & König, Johannes & Otto, Anne, 2019. "The IAB-INCHER project of earned doctorates (IIPED): A supervised machine learning approach to identify doctorate recipients in the German integrated employment biography data," IAB-Discussion Paper 201913, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Christopher Ball & Nicolas Groshenny & Ozer Karagedikli & Murat Özbilgin & Finn Robinson, 2024. "How Wages Respond to the Job-Finding and Job-to-Job Transition Rates: Evidence from New Zealand Administrative Data," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 20(1), pages 159-180, February.
    3. François Gerard & Gustavo Gonzaga, 2021. "Informal Labor and the Efficiency Cost of Social Programs: Evidence from Unemployment Insurance in Brazil," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 167-206, August.
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