Maintaining and Enhancing Labor Statistics during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 317-320
Author(s):  
William W. Beach
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Us ◽  
Labor Statistics ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics ◽  
The Way

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) continued to produce key employment statistics while reengineering operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person data collection moved to electronic, deadlines were adjusted, and flexibilities were implemented to get the job done, all while maintaining confidentiality and data quality. Opportunities arose, such as collection of new information from households and businesses on changes that resulted from the pandemic. This is a story that continues to unfold and will transform the way BLS moves forward. This paper focuses on changes in BLS operations and in the economy as reflected in BLS data.

Distinguished Lecture on Economics in Government: Data Quality and Public Policy

1990 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet L Norwood
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
Statistical Design ◽  
Local Areas ◽  
Labor Statistics ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
National Estimates ◽  
Government Data ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics ◽  
Statistical Agency

The goal of a government statistical agency must be to produce data that are objective, relevant, accurate, and timely. But none of these criteria is absolute, and sometimes tradeoffs must be made among them. Timeliness and accuracy compete when we decide to issue preliminary results that are subject to revision. Accuracy and relevance compete when we decide whether to introduce data for states or local areas at the expense of reducing the reliability of national estimates. In making these choices, and in developing our statistical programs, we must manage a broad array of tasks. These can be divided into three broad areas of activity: 1) the management of economic design; 2) the management of statistical design; and 3) the management of the process by which we produce our final product. Let me review how we are addressing these issues at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics Productivity Program

2018 ◽  
pp. 120-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy P. Eldridge ◽  
Chris Sparks ◽  
Jay Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Data Sources ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Intermediate Inputs ◽  
Labor Compensation ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
The Us ◽  
Labor Statistics ◽  
Unit Labor Costs ◽  
Capital Services ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics

This chapter describes the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) productivity program. It presents the BLS’s methodology and data sources used to produce estimates of aggregate and industry-level labor and multifactor productivity growth, along with a number of other productivity-related measures including unit labor costs, labor compensation, and labor share. The chapter provides a detailed description of the main elements of BLS’s productivity measures including: output concepts; how BLS calculates hours worked by combining data from three different surveys; how it accounts for changes in the composition of the labor force; its methodology for estimating capital services; and data sources for intermediate inputs. The chapter also discusses some of the measurement challenges faced by the BLS, and concludes with a discussion of projects currently under way to expand and improve its productivity statistics.

The Facts of Life and Literature

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecelia Tichi
Keyword(s):  
Child Labor ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Progressive Movement ◽  
Emotional Appeals ◽  
True Purpose ◽  
The Us ◽  
Labor Statistics ◽  
La Follette ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics ◽  
Factual Data

Horrific experiences as a boy laborer prompted Jack London’s quest for—and public circulation of—factual data that is omnipresent in his fiction, essays, and lectures. His vast database ranged from newsprint accounts to reports of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. London’s zeal for factual authenticity aligns him with contemporary investigative journalists (the muckrakers) and with the Progressive movement in which political figures (notably Wisconsin’s Robert La Follette) and professionals in medicine, economics, law, religion and other fields who sought to reform US society by presenting the dire facts of political corruption, child labor, dangerous workplaces, starvation wages, slum housing, the injustices of the criminal justice system—all topics in London’s oeuvre. London adhered to contemporary Upton Sinclair’s maxim that the true purpose of fiction is “to alter reality.” He strategically compounded factual data with emotional appeals in his career as a foremost American public intellectual.

scholarly journals Comparing MTurk and the US Population’s Occupational Diversity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Michael Castille ◽  
Sarah Avet ◽  
Kathryn Daigle
Keyword(s):  
Null Hypothesis ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Sales Professionals ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Labor Statistics ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics

We compare the occupational diversity of two convenient MTurk samples against the broader US economy from which they have been indirectly sampled. We focus on the occupational diversity given a chief concern that findings from OB/HR investigations relying on MTurk might not generalize to the broader US economy. Additionally, as researchers may hope to target specific populations (e.g., sales professionals) understanding the extent to which these professionals represent the MTurk population would be helpful. Therefore, we compare the occupational diversity of MTurk against that described by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, testing the null hypothesis that these populations are equivalent in terms of occupational diversity. Across both samples, which were obtained from studies conducted in 2015, we found differences suggesting that the MTurk population is generally overrepresented by white collar professionals, though this is an imperfect trend. This trend replicated for data obtained in 2017.

The Unassailable Self: Freud's Image Among Post-war American Intellectuals

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Jenness
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
External Force ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Human Being ◽  
World War ◽  
The Us ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Way

This paper explores the way American intellectuals depicted Sigmund Freud during the peak of popularity and prestige of psychoanalysis in the US, roughly the decade and a half following World War II. These intellectuals insisted upon the unassailability of Freud's mind and personality. He was depicted as unsusceptible to any external force or influence, a trait which was thought to account for Freud's admirable comportment as a scientist, colleague and human being. This post-war image of Freud was shaped in part by the Cold War anxiety that modern individuality was imperilled by totalitarian forces, which could only be resisted by the most rugged of selves. It was also shaped by the unique situation of the intellectuals themselves, who were eager to position themselves, like the Freud they imagined, as steadfastly independent and critical thinkers who would, through the very clarity of their thought, lead America to a more robust democracy.

AN EXPLORATION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN TEENAGERS’ USE, CONSUMPTION AND DIGITAL PRODUCTION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corina-Maricica Seserman ◽  
Daniela Cojocaru
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
The Way

Today’s teenagers have a very close relationship with ICTs and the digital space related to them, as they have impacted the way the youth constructs their sense of self and the tools they use to perform their carefully constructed identity. One key element which influences the way one constructs their views by themselves is within the boundaries set by their biological sex and therefore through the behaviors associated with their asigned gender. Through the symbolic interactionist lense, or more specifically through Goffman's dramaturgical theory on the manner in which one presents him/herself in society, this paper looks at the manner in which teenagers use social media platforms and at the way they consume and create digital content in order to present their gender identity. The way teenagers consume and produce digital content differs and depends on how they interpret their ideals of femininity and masculinity, which are afterwards reproduced in the content they post on their social media pages. Therefore this research is an attempt to understand what are the factors teenagers take in account when consuming and producing content. What gender differences can be observed in regards to new media consumption? What difference can be observed in online activity behaviors between males and females? How do they feel about their gender identity concerning fitting in with their peer group? A mix-methodological approach was engaged in the data collection process. In the first stage of the research highschool students (n=324) from the city of Suceava (Romania) participated in taking an online survey. The initial intent was to meet with the young respondents in person, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic this was deemed impossible. For the second stage of data collection, six of the participants who took the online survey were invited to participate in a focus group designed to grasp a better understanding of the results from the previous stage. The discovered findings uncover engaging gender similarities and differences in social media consumption and the type, subject, matter and style in which they posted their content, but also in regards to the performance of the self between the online and offline space.

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