About the Study

In 2017, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractor Mathematica Policy Research to conduct Data on Earnings: A Review of Resources for Research and Comparing Job Training Impact Estimates Using Survey and Administrative Data under the Administrative Data Research and Analysis portfolio of studies. The descriptive analyses aim to review potential opportunities and implications of using different earnings data sources to analyze employment outcomes for research and evaluation studies. In Data on Earnings: A Review of Resources for Research, researchers described the characteristics of and considerations for administrative data, surveys of study participants, and existing general population surveys. For the Comparing Job Training Impact Estimates Using Survey and Administrative Data study, researchers compared earnings levels and impact estimates from three sources to gather insights regarding their strengths, drawbacks, and tradeoffs.

This Department of Labor-funded study is a resource to help build the labor evidence-base to inform data and reporting programs and policies and addresses Departmental strategic goals and priorities.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.