Download - Data Collection in the U.S. BLS’ CES Survey
Data Collection in the U.S. BLS’ CES Survey
New Frontiers for Data Collection
October 31 – November 2, 2012Geneva, Switzerland
Ken Robertson, Assistant CommissionerBureau of Labor Statistics
Outline
Current Employment Statistics (CES) Survey Background
A History of Data Collection in CES
Current CES Data Collection
CES Background
Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) CES survey is also known as the payroll or the establishment survey.
Each month the CES program surveys approximately 141,000 businesses representing 486,000 individual worksites.
Collection days before first release of the data varies each month, ranging from 10-16 days.
About 25% of the non-certainty businesses are rotated out-of-sample each year
Major Uses of CES Data Economic indicator – one of the earliest
available each month These data are used to publish 4 news
releases each month: 2 national, and 2 sub-national Publish employment, hours, and earnings
by industry and geography Input to other economic series
History of CES Data Collection
1915 – 1983 Data were collected almost exclusively by
Mail in a decentralized environment Collection rates were typically between
40%-50% for 1st release of the data, 90% for the final
A mail shuttle form was utilized
Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing
1984: CES CATI – testing started
1987: Large-scale CATI test, involved 11 States, lasted 7 years, and ended with a test size of 5,500 cases
1995: Collecting about 10,000 cases per month via CATI
Touchtone Data Entry
1987: CES began to experiment with TDE as a way to lower collection costs compared to CATI – but to retain a higher response rate than achieved by mail
Voice Recognition
1989 – CES briefly explored voice recognition as a data collection alternative
Electronic Data Interchange
1995 – the BLS began to hear from larger employers, who were participating in multiple BLS surveys, that they wanted some way to reduce their cost of participation
Developed the EDI Center to work with these large multi-site businesses
FAX
1995: BLS developed FAX collection for medium size firms.
Used for collection where CATI is too burdensome, but business is not large enough for EDI
One Point TDE
1996: BLS developed the One-Point TDE system to take over the TDE responsibility for two states. Up to this point each state had independently maintained their own TDE system and helpdesk.
By 2004 all states transferred their TDE operations to the One Point TDE
Web
1996: tested Web-based collection system 1998: decided to support Web collection. 2004 - CES started using the Internet Data
Collection Facility (IDCF), a centralized service utilized for multiple BLS surveys
WEB-LITE 2004: CES decided to try a streamlined
version of Web-based collection.
E-Mail & Web-FTP
2006 – tested email collection; utilized embedded HTML that allowed respondent to access BLS website
Problems encountered because of different HTML rendering standards employed by different email clients
Web-FTP 2007: BLS began utilizing a spreadsheet data
collection form that the State of West Virginia had developed for medium sized firms
Offered to respondents who have at least 5 worksites but less than 100
A New Form
2011: Started a field test of a major redesign to the form, which had not changed significantly from the 1-page grid design since 1939
New form is a 4-page form, printed on 11” X 17”, folded to produce four 8½” X 11” pages
Collection Form: 1915-2012
New Form - OutsideFront-introduction Back-Thank You
New Form - InsideLeft -Instructions Right-Data
History of major innovations in CES data
collection
1915 – 1983: Mail 1984: CATI 1987: Touchtone Data Entry (TDE) 1989: Voice-Recognition 1995: EDI, FAX 1996: One-Point TDE, WEB 2004: Web-Lite, IDCF 2006: Email 2007: WebFTP 2011: New Form
Current CES Data Collection
Current Methods Costs Collection Rates
CES Methods: Data Collection
Current CES sample is collected through a variety of methods: CATI, Fax, TDE, Web, EDI, WebFTP
CATI yields highest response rates but is the most expensive
Providing options helps sustain response rates in a voluntary survey
Collection modes have evolved; away from mail to automated methods
CES Collection CES Collection EnvironmentEnvironment
Challenging, especially for 1st preliminary: CES has 10-16 days for collection
Reference period is the pay period including the 12th
Collection begins as early as the 13th of the reference month, continues until 6:00 pm Monday, for the Employment Situation release, typically the first Friday of the month some firms do not have payroll available until after
1st preliminary cut-off
AE Collection Rates: 1st and 3rd Closings,
January 2003 to Present
CES Collection Over TimeCES Collection Over Time
Collection Mode
1915 1993 2004 2011
Mail 100% 86% 3% 0%
CATI 0 4 20 18
TDE 0 8 27 4
EDI 0 0 30 45
FAX 0 0 14 5
WEB 0 0 1 25
Other 0 2 5 3
Table 1. Distribution of CES sample by collection mode over time
CES Collection Over TimeCES Collection Over Time
Mode Collection rates at first
release
On-going collection
cost, per unit
CATI 90.8% $10.38
TDE 84.6% $2.88
EDI 59.2% $0.50
FAX 85.8% $5.86
WEB 78.5% $2.40
Other Varies Varies
Table 2. Collection rates and costs by mode, 2011 Average
Concluding RemarksConcluding Remarks
CES data collection is a very large monthly operation with critical deadlines leading to multiple news releases each month
Operations are managed centrally, and conducted in 4 Data Collection Centers, and an Electronic Data Interchange Center
Data from about 141,000 businesses representing 486,000 establishments are collected each month using various modes of collection
Transition from decentralized operations in over 50 states has resulted in substantial efficiencies
Concluding RemarksConcluding Remarks
Managing multi-modal operations is very challenging must have highly qualified and motivated
professional staff to pay attention to all the moving parts
must fix problems quickly Must monitor distribution among modes closely
to maximize response with available funding
Must continue to innovate and take advantage of new technologies – where it makes sense To maintain high collection rates To take advantage of new efficiencies
Contact Information
Ken RobertsonAssistant Commissioner
Industry Employment Statistics