Is Earnings Nonresponse Ignorable?

Christopher Bollinger and Barry Hirsch ()

No 5347, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Earnings nonresponse in the Current Population Survey is roughly 30% in the monthly surveys and 20% in the annual March survey. Even if nonresponse is random, severe bias attaches to wage equation coefficient estimates on attributes not matched in the earnings imputation hot deck. If nonresponse is ignorable, unbiased estimates can be achieved by omitting imputed earners, yet little is known about whether or not CPS nonresponse is ignorable. Using sample frame measures to identify selection, we find clear-cut evidence among men but limited evidence among women for negative selection into response. Wage equation slope coefficients are affected little by selection but because of intercept shifts, wages for men and to a lesser extent women are understated, as are gender wage gaps. Selection is less severe among household heads/co-heads than among other household members.

Keywords: response bias; earnings nonresponse; gender gap; imputation; CPS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2010-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-mic
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published in: Review of Economics and Statistics, 2013, 95 (2), 407-416

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