Improving the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey's Sampling Procedure

• Activity Number: 165
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 3, 2009 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Government Statistics
• Author(s): Sarah E. Goodale*+ and Darrell Greene
• Companies: Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Keywords: panel sample ; post stratification ; re-weight ; birth sample ; birth establishment

Abstract

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a panel sample of 16,000 establishments, in which participants remain in the sample for two consecutive years. Every year a sample of approximately 8,000 establishments is drawn from the 1st quarter data from the Longitudinal Database. Each month one new panel is rolled into the sample while the oldest panel in the sample is rolled out. Previously, each annual sample was weighted to the current sample while previous samples remained unchanged. There also no consideration made for younger units, which are thought to be more dynamic and should be included in the sample as early as possible. With the new sample procedures, all establishments will be updated to reflect the current frame, with quarterly birth samples will be taken to update JOLTS with younger establishments.