Alternative Sources of Quarterly Wage Data
About
Administrative sources of wage data are often used to demonstrate the labor market results of public assistance program services. The Urban Institute issued a report, Investigating Alternative Sources of Quarterly Wage Data, to explore various sources.
Background on Wage Record Data
Earnings are a key outcome in evaluating the impact of job training and other employment- oriented assistance programs. Adequate and sustained earnings provide a reliable measure of success for these interventions and contribute to other positive outcomes as well.
The Unemployment Insurance (UI) quarterly wage records, therefore, have become the most reliable way to assess labor market outcomes of individuals in workforce and welfare programs.
Out-of-state UI wage records have been shared under an inter-state agreement, State Wage Interchange System (SWIS), which replaced the former the Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS) and WRISII (WRIS2). However, there are alternative sources of administrative data for wage records.
Sources of Alternative Wage Data
A January 2012 study by the Urban Institute provides a valuable overview of four national data sets that use state unemployment insurance quarterly wage data, some of which augment it with other administrative data.
The three national data sets are the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), the U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD), and the U.S. Department of Labor’s SWIS.
The report explains the origin and purpose of each data set, its strengths and limitations for research, examples of research using each data set, and practical advice on how to obtain access to the data. The bibliography includes numerous references that are helpful in assisting workforce professionals.
Responsible Use of Administrative Data for Performance Accountability
In April 2004, the University of Baltimore prepared for the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) a report on the use of administrative data in the ADARE project piloted in nine states. The study describes the value of linked administrative and shared welfare databases, and highlights the issues in creating data sharing agreements for new linkages with longitudinal state data systems.
A September 28, 2018 report by Mathematica Policy Research for the US Department of Labor also discussed issues with alternative sources of wage data. The report describes several sources of data on wages or earnings. The sources discussed included administrative records, custom surveys of study participants, and existing general population surveys.
See also: CRIS, SWIS, FEDES, and NDNH.
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- Resource Publication Date: 2012
- Author(s): Christin Durham and Laura Wheaton
- Organizational Author(s): The Urban Institute
- Posted by: Damon Jones
- Posted in: LMI Central