From AEA Committee on Economic Statistics staff:
BLS has asked OMB to approve a revision to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and invites public comments on its approach.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/10/08/2019-21933/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-for-omb-review-comment-request-job-openings-and
JOLTS forms and supporting statement are available for review at
https://reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=201907-1220-001
In particular, feel free to comment on the JOLTS methodology
https://reginfo.gov/public/do/DownloadDocument?objectID=93206200
Comments are due by November 7, 2019
Universe -- The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey measures the job openings, hires, total separations, quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations for each month at the national level from a sample of about 20,700 establishments (worksites). The universe for this survey is the Quarterly Contribution Reports (QCR) filed by employers subject to State Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) receives these QCR for the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The QCEW data, which are compiled for each calendar quarter, provide a comprehensive business name and address file with employment, wage, detailed geography (i.e., county), and industry information at the six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) level. This information is provided for over eight million business establishments of which about 8.1 million are in the scope of this survey. Similar data for Federal Government employees covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees program (UCFE) are also included. The final data is stored in a Longitudinal Data Base (LDB), which is then used as a sample frame for sample selection.
Scope—The JOLTS sample is selected from the populations stated above excluding Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It also excludes from the universe records that are for private household workers (NAICS 814110) and records from Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting (NAICS 11) other than logging (113310). Records with average employment of zero in the last twelve months are also excluded from the universe.
Stratification—The JOLTS sample has about 20,700 establishments allocated based on the stratification of four census regions, 20 two-digit industry codes, and six employment size classes, including certainty establishments which have a certain level of employment, or the number of establishments in the universe for a sampling cell is less than or equal to 24. These certainty establishments are assigned a sampling weight of 1.00 and other establishments are assigned the sampling weight of the strata population count divided by the strata sample count.
In addition to the annual sample, BLS added about 250 establishments in each of the three remaining quarters to represent newly formed businesses. The total sample size, therefore, is about 21,200 establishments. However, with a new sample selection every 1st quarter, the sample size is reduced to about 20,700 after discarding the out of business units not on the current frame.
Allocation method—The JOLTS sample design is a probability-based stratified random sample. The basic sampling unit is an establishment or worksite which generally remains in the survey for 36 months for a noncertainty establishment and stays out of the survey for the next three years after completion of the 36 months. Important features of the sample design are the use of stratified random sampling, a Neyman allocation (Cochran, 1977, pp. 259-261), and ratio estimators.
