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4 The Role of Other Data Sources in Measuring Alternative Work Arrangements
Pages 87-102

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From page 87...
... In some cases, these data sources allow researchers to measure dimensions of AWAs that are beyond the scope of the CWS, such as the relationship between work arrangements and health outcomes. In other cases, data sources such as administrative and commercial data may allow more accurate or detailed measurement of some aspects of AWAs, such as the prevalence of some forms of on-demand platforms.
From page 88...
... An example of a finding from this survey is the distinctly higher injury rates found among temporary help agency workers relative to direct-hire employees; after adjusting for occupational differences, the injury rates of temp agency workers have been estimated to be about twice as high. Temp agency workers actually tend to have less frequent exposure to workplace health and safety hazards, but on average they also have less safety training and less experience for the jobs to which they are assigned (Fabiano et al., 2008)
From page 89...
... These individuals, currently ages 54 to 62, were interviewed annually through 1994 and have been interviewed biennially since then.2 The NLS97 has collected labor force information since 1997 for a cohort currently ages 34 to 39; this group, containing individuals who were ages 14 to 22 when they were first surveyed, was interviewed annually through 2011 and has been interviewed biennially since then.3 From the beginning, the NLS interviews have attempted to identify whether workers are self-employed. The precise question sequence has varied ­ somewhat over time, but since 2006 in the NLS97, if workers do not say they are self-employed, they are asked if they are independent contractors, freelancers, or independent consultants.
From page 90...
... 4.2. ESTABLISHMENT AND OTHER BUSINESS SURVEYS Data supplied by businesses can provide important information for policy makers and researchers that is largely complementary to that cap­ tured in household surveys such as the CPS and CWS.
From page 91...
... As discussed in Chapter 3, the CWS currently attempts to measure only a subset of subcontracted work (on-site, for one client) , but the potential universe of subcontracted work arrangements is much broader and more varied.
From page 92...
... Many of the efforts within the federal statistical system to collect data from U.S. businesses are spearheaded by the Census Bureau, which conducts a wide range of business surveys, including the quinquennial economic censuses, annual economic surveys, and quarterly and monthly indicator surveys.
From page 93...
... are examples of Census firm-level surveys that shed light on businesses' use of various work arrangements. The ASE, which was administered in 2014 through 2016, and the ABS, which has been administered annually since 2017, ask firms if they use each of six categories of workers: full-time employees; part-time employees; temporary agency workers; day laborers; workers from professional employer organizations (PEOs)
From page 94...
... 4.3 GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATIVE AND COMMERCIAL DATA While household and business surveys will continue to provide critical information on the changing nature of employment arrangements in the U.S. economy, surveys are limited to questions to which respondents know the answer and that they can answer relatively easily.
From page 95...
... .10 Tax Data Government administrative tax data are a key example of sources of information on AWAs that can complement the CWS. Researchers have recently focused on using tax data for measuring and tracking the scale and scope of independent contracting, including the use of on-demand labor platforms (Collins et al., 2019; Jackson, Looney, and Ramnath, 2017; Lim et al., 2019)
From page 96...
... . Additionally, the 1099-K form will likely be an unstable source for measuring on-demand platform work because of the current high reporting 12  They find that "the share of the workforce with income from alternative, non-employee work arrangements has grown by 1.9 percentage points of the workforce from 2000 to 2016.
From page 97...
... In conclusion, recent research has demonstrated the utility of access to confidential tax data for measuring the prevalence of independent contracting activity, and in particular how that activity is combined with W-2 work. As such, tax data should be considered an important complementary data source to the CWS for AWA measurement purposes; it can also serve as an external source of information to help in the refining of CWS questions in the future.
From page 98...
... Commercial data can provide alternative reference periods and more granular data with which to analyze work activity. Sources such as the JPMCI Online Platform Economy dataset, which passively captures information from daily administrative operations used to manage customer accounts, offer some advantages as compared to existing survey datasets.
From page 99...
... The set of platforms included within the JPMCI Online Platform Economy data has expanded from 30 to 128 over time as new platforms have emerged, allowing for a window into not only labor platforms but also capital platforms. While these design choices can be applied uniformly across all accounts (families, if you will)
From page 100...
... The fact that the two estimates were so close gives us confidence that they are in the right ballpark, even while their similarity is striking in light of the very different approaches taken by JPMCI and BLS to measuring electronically mediated work. These differences in approaches reveal opportunities for improvement in measuring contingent and alternative work arrangements.
From page 101...
... In addition, there would be technical and legal barriers to carrying out such linkages.19 We do, however, endorse the long-term goal of leveraging multiple data sources to better measure and understand the evolving nature of alternative work arrangements in the United States. 17 One model for accomplishing this is provided by the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (FSRDCs)


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