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Measuring the U.S. Employment Situation Using Online Panels: The Yale Labor Survey

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Abstract

This study presents the design and results of a rapid-fire survey that collects labor market data for individuals in the United States. The purpose is to test online panels for their application to social, economic, and demographic information as well as to apply this approach to the U.S. labor market. The Yale Labor Survey (YLS) used an online panel from YouGov to replicate statistics from the Current Population Survey (CPS), the government's official source of household labor market statistics. The YLS's advantages included its timeliness, low cost, and ability to develop new questions quickly to study unusual labor market patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from the YLS track employment data closely from the CPS during the pandemic. Although YLS estimates of unemployment and participation rates mirrored the broad trends in CPS data, YLS estimates of those two rates were less accurate than for employment. The study demonstrates the power of carefully crafted online surveys to replicate expensive traditional methods quickly and inexpensively.

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  • Christopher Foote & Tyler Hounshell & William D. Nordhaus & Douglas Rivers & Pamela Torola, 2021. "Measuring the U.S. Employment Situation Using Online Panels: The Yale Labor Survey," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2282, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2282
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    File URL: https://cowles.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/pub/d22/d2282.pdf
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    1. Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Weber, Michael, 2020. "Labor Markets During the Covid-19 Crisis: A Preliminary View," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt7rx7t91p, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
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    7. Faria-e-Castro, Miguel, 2021. "Fiscal policy during a pandemic," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
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    9. Christopher Foote & William D. Nordhaus & Douglas Rivers, 2020. "The US Employment Situation Using the Yale Labor Survey," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2243, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
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    1. Robert Bernhardt & David Munro & Erin L. Wolcott, 2024. "How does the dramatic rise of nonresponse in the Current Population Survey impact labor market indicators?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 498-512, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment; Unemployment; Survey; Weighting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods

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