Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana

Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana

Using a randomized survey experiment in urban Ghana, this paper demonstrates that the length of the reference period and the interview modality (in person or over the phone) affect how people respond in labor surveys, with impacts varying markedly...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Heath, Rachel, Mansuri, Ghazala, Rijkers, Bob, Seitz, William, Sharma, Dhiraj
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
LABOR STATISTICS
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
LABOR FORCE SURVEY
INTERVIEW MODE
SELF-EMPLOYMENT
SURVEY DESIGN
PHONE SURVEY
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/335911591019051628/Measuring-Employment-Experimental-Evidence-from-Urban-Ghana
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33847
id okr-10986-33847
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-338472022-09-20T00:12:09Z Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana Heath, Rachel Mansuri, Ghazala Rijkers, Bob Seitz, William Sharma, Dhiraj LABOR STATISTICS LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION LABOR FORCE SURVEY INTERVIEW MODE SELF-EMPLOYMENT SURVEY DESIGN PHONE SURVEY Using a randomized survey experiment in urban Ghana, this paper demonstrates that the length of the reference period and the interview modality (in person or over the phone) affect how people respond in labor surveys, with impacts varying markedly by job type. Survey participants report significantly more self-employment spells when the reference period is shorter than the traditional one week, with the impacts concentrated among those in home-based and mobile self-employment. In contrast, there is no impact of the reference period on the incidence of wage employment. The wage employed report working fewer days and hours when confronted with a shorter reference period. Finally, interviews conducted on the phone yield lower estimates of employment, hours worked, and days worked among the self-employed who are working from home or a mobile location as compared with in-person interviews. 2020-06-04T14:11:51Z 2020-06-04T14:11:51Z 2020-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/335911591019051628/Measuring-Employment-Experimental-Evidence-from-Urban-Ghana http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33847 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9263 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Ghana
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic LABOR STATISTICS
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
LABOR FORCE SURVEY
INTERVIEW MODE
SELF-EMPLOYMENT
SURVEY DESIGN
PHONE SURVEY
spellingShingle LABOR STATISTICS
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
LABOR FORCE SURVEY
INTERVIEW MODE
SELF-EMPLOYMENT
SURVEY DESIGN
PHONE SURVEY
Heath, Rachel
Mansuri, Ghazala
Rijkers, Bob
Seitz, William
Sharma, Dhiraj
Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana
geographic_facet Africa
Ghana
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9263
description Using a randomized survey experiment in urban Ghana, this paper demonstrates that the length of the reference period and the interview modality (in person or over the phone) affect how people respond in labor surveys, with impacts varying markedly by job type. Survey participants report significantly more self-employment spells when the reference period is shorter than the traditional one week, with the impacts concentrated among those in home-based and mobile self-employment. In contrast, there is no impact of the reference period on the incidence of wage employment. The wage employed report working fewer days and hours when confronted with a shorter reference period. Finally, interviews conducted on the phone yield lower estimates of employment, hours worked, and days worked among the self-employed who are working from home or a mobile location as compared with in-person interviews.
format Working Paper
author Heath, Rachel
Mansuri, Ghazala
Rijkers, Bob
Seitz, William
Sharma, Dhiraj
author_facet Heath, Rachel
Mansuri, Ghazala
Rijkers, Bob
Seitz, William
Sharma, Dhiraj
author_sort Heath, Rachel
title Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana
title_short Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana
title_full Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana
title_fullStr Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Measuring Employment : Experimental Evidence from Urban Ghana
title_sort measuring employment : experimental evidence from urban ghana
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/335911591019051628/Measuring-Employment-Experimental-Evidence-from-Urban-Ghana
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33847
_version_ 1764479648425574400

Similar Items