Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/229653 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 781
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
Since 2010 and before the pandemic hit, the share of households refusing to participate in the Current Population Survey (CPS) tripled. We show that partially-responding households - households that respond to some but not all of the survey's eight panels - account for most of the rise. Leveraging the labor force status of partially-responding households in the months surrounding their non-response, we find that rising refusals artificially suppressed the labor force participation rate and employment-population ratio but had little discernible effect on the unemployment rate. Factors robustly correlated with state-level refusal rates include a larger urban population, a smaller Democratic vote share (our proxy for sentiment towards government), and the economic and social changes brought about by manufacturing decline.
Subjects: 
Current Population Survey
Non-Response
Unemployment
Labor Force Participation
Employment-Population Ratio
JEL: 
C83
E24
J64
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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