IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jlabrs/v56y2022i1d10.1186_s12651-022-00321-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Establishment survey participation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin Küfner

    (Institute for Employment Research)

  • Joseph W. Sakshaug

    (Institute for Employment Research
    University of Warwick
    Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)

  • Stefan Zins

    (Institute for Employment Research)

Abstract

Establishment surveys around the globe have measured the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on establishments’ conditions and business practices. At the same time, the consequences of the pandemic, such as closures, hygiene standards, or remote work arrangements, may have also altered patterns of survey participation and introduced nonresponse bias, threatening the quality of establishment survey data. To investigate these issues, this article examines fieldwork outcomes, nonresponse bias, and predictors of survey participation in the IAB-Job Vacancy Survey. As comparisons with previous survey years show, it became more difficult to successfully interview establishments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using linked administrative data, we show that nonresponse bias was higher in 2020 compared to previous years, even after applying the standard weighting adjustment. However, general patterns of survey participation in 2020 were similar to previous years and COVID-19 related measures were not strong predictors of survey participation in 2020. Further, we provide evidence that nonresponse bias during the pandemic can be reduced by incorporating additional administrative variables into the weighting procedure relative to the standard weighting variables. We conclude this article with a discussion of the findings and implications for survey practitioners.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Küfner & Joseph W. Sakshaug & Stefan Zins, 2022. "Establishment survey participation during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 56(1), pages 1-18, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jlabrs:v:56:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s12651-022-00321-8
    DOI: 10.1186/s12651-022-00321-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s12651-022-00321-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s12651-022-00321-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hecht, Veronika & Litzel, Nicole & Schäffler, Johannes, 2019. "Unit nonresponse at the firm level: a cross-border analysis using the IAB-ReLOC data," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 53(1), pages 1-2.
    2. Christian Seiler, 2014. "The determinants of unit non-response in the Ifo Business Survey," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 8(3), pages 161-177, September.
    3. repec:mpr:mprres:4937 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:iab:iabjlr:v:53:i:1:p:art.2 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Mario Bossler & Nicole Gürtzgen & Alexander Kubis & Benjamin Küfner & Benjamin Lochner, 2020. "The IAB Job Vacancy Survey: design and research potential," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. repec:iab:iabfme:201104(en is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Janik, Florian, 2011. "Unit non-response in establishments surveyed for the first time in the IAB Establishment Panel," FDZ Methodenreport 201104_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    8. Christian Kagerl & Malte Schierholz & Bernd Fitzenberger, 2022. "Later one knows better: the over-reporting of short-time work in firm surveys," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 56(1), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Mario Bossler & Nicole Gürtzgen & Alexander Kubis & Benjamin Küfner & Benjamin Lochner, 2020. "The IAB Job Vacancy Survey: design and research potential," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-12, December.
    10. Anja Bauer & Enzo Weber, 2021. "COVID-19: how much unemployment was caused by the shutdown in Germany?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(12), pages 1053-1058, July.
    11. Florian Janik & Susanne Kohaut, 2012. "Why don’t they answer? Unit non-response in the IAB establishment panel," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 917-934, April.
    12. Veronika Hecht & Nicole Litzel & Johannes Schäffler, 2019. "Unit nonresponse at the firm level: a cross-border analysis using the IAB-ReLOC data," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 53(1), pages 1-18, December.
    13. repec:mpr:mprres:4780 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Hecht, Veronika & Litzel, Nicole & Schäffler, Johannes, 2019. "Unit nonresponse at the firm level: a cross-border analysis using the IAB-ReLOC data," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 53(1), pages .2(1-18).
    Full references (including those not matched with items 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. Patrick Gleiser & Joseph W. Sakshaug & Marieke Volkert & Peter Ellguth & Susanne Kohaut & Iris Möller, 2022. "Introducing Web in a mixed‐mode establishment survey: Effects on nonresponse," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(3), pages 891-915, July.
    2. Benjamin Küfner & Joseph W. Sakshaug & Stefan Zins, 2022. "Analysing establishment survey non‐response using administrative data and machine learning," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(S2), pages 310-342, December.
    3. Konstantin Koerner & Michael Moritz & Johannes Schäffler, 2022. "Foreign direct investment and onshore employment dynamics: Evidence from German firms with affiliates in the Czech Republic," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 1773-1829, June.
    4. Gürtzgen, Nicole & Küfner, Benjamin, 2021. "Hirings in the IAB Job Vacancy Survey and the administrative data - an aggregate comparison," FDZ Methodenreport 202102_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    5. Christian Merkl & Timo Sauerbier, 2024. "Public Employment Agency Reform, Matching Efficiency, and German Unemployment," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 72(1), pages 393-440, March.
    6. Michael Weinhardt & Alexia Meyermann & Stefan Liebig & Jürgen Schupp, 2016. "The Linked Employer-Employee Study of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP-LEE): Project Report," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 829, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    7. repec:iab:iabfme:202102(en is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Mario Bossler & Martin Popp, 2022. "Labor Demand on a Tight Leash," Papers 2203.05593, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.
    9. Sarah Miller & David Amirault & Laurent Martin, 2017. "What’s Up with Unit Non-Response in the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey? The Effect of Staff Tenure," Discussion Papers 17-11, Bank of Canada.
    10. Corinna König & Joseph W. Sakshaug, 2023. "Nonresponse trends in establishment panel surveys: findings from the 2001–2017 IAB establishment panel," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 57(1), pages 1-17, December.
    11. Christian Seiler, 2014. "Mode Preferences in Business Surveys: Evidence from Germany," ifo Working Paper Series 193, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    12. König Corinna & Sakshaug Joseph W. & Stegmaier Jens & Kohaut Susanne, 2021. "Trends in Establishment Survey Nonresponse Rates and Nonresponse Bias: Evidence from the 2001-2017 IAB Establishment Panel," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 37(4), pages 931-953, December.
    13. repec:iab:iabfda:202109(de is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Bossler, Mario & Popp, Martin, 2024. "Labor Demand on a Tight Leash," IZA Discussion Papers 16837, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. repec:iab:iabfda:202109(en is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Seiler, Christian & Heumann, Christian, 2013. "Microdata imputations and macrodata implications: Evidence from the Ifo Business Survey," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 722-733.
    17. Mario Bossler & Gregor Geis & Jens Stegmaier, 2018. "Comparing survey data with an official administrative population: assessing sample-selectivity in the IAB Establishment Panel," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 899-920, March.
    18. Fang, Tony & Xiao, Na & Zhu, Jane & Hartley, John, 2022. "Employer Attitudes and the Hiring of Immigrants and International Students: Evidence from a Survey of Employers in Canada," IZA Discussion Papers 15226, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Janik Florian, 2014. "Teilnahmeverweigerungen in Betriebsbefragungen / Unit-Nonresponse in Establishments Surveys: Eine Analyse anhand des IAB-Betriebspanels 2009 / An Analysis Using the IAB Establishment Panel 2009," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 234(4), pages 474-489, August.
    20. Christian Seiler, 2013. "Nonresponse in Business Tendency Surveys: Theoretical Discourse and Empirical Evidence," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 52.
    21. Christian Seiler, 2015. "On the robustness of balance statistics with respect to nonresponse," OECD Journal: Journal of Business Cycle Measurement and Analysis, OECD Publishing, Centre for International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys, vol. 2014(2), pages 45-62.
    22. Link Sebastian, 2020. "Harmonization of the ifo Business Survey’s Micro Data," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(4), pages 543-555, August.
    23. Felix Roth & Lars Jonung & Aisada Most, 2024. "COVID-19 and public support for the Euro," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 61-86, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fieldwork effort; Nonresponse bias; Data collection; Weighting adjustment administrative data; IAB Job Vacancy Survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods

    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:spr:jlabrs:v:56:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s12651-022-00321-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.