Revisions to the LEHD Establishment Imputation Procedure and Applications to Administrative Job Frame
September 2024
Working Paper Number:
CES-24-51
Abstract
The Census Bureau is developing a 'job frame' to provide detailed job-level employment data across the U.S. through linked administrative records such as unemployment insurance and IRS W-2 filings. This working paper summarizes the research conducted by the job frame development team on modifying and extending the LEHD Unit-to-Worker (U2W) imputation procedure for the job frame prototype. It provides a conceptual overview of the U2W imputation method, highlighting key challenges and tradeoffs in its current application. The paper then presents four imputation methodologies and evaluates their performance in areas such as establishment assignment accuracy, establishment size matching, and job separation rates. The results show that all methodologies perform similarly in assigning workers to the correct establishment. Non-spell-based methodologies excel in matching establishment sizes, while spell-based methodologies perform better in accurately tracking separation rates.
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employee,
employed,
job,
incorporated,
employment data,
imputation,
tenure,
workforce,
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relocation,
irs,
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census employment,
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Review of Economics and Statistics,
University of Chicago,
Retail Trade,
North American Industry Classification System,
American Community Survey,
Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics,
Protected Identification Key,
Employer Characteristics File,
Quarterly Workforce Indicators,
CDF,
Herfindahl Hirschman Index,
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages,
Census Bureau Disclosure Review Board
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