1. (In)Consistency of Economic Data across Federal Statistical Agencies: What Information Professionals Can Do September 29, 2014 Katherine R. Smith, Executive Director Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics

3. Federal Statistical System About 100 federal agencies collect data Thirteen designated (by OMB) as official statistical agencies Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census, and Bureau of Economic Analysis produce economic statistics But so do dozens of others There are also administrative data on economic phenomena

4. Federal Statistical System

5. Search Income on Census Site Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS ASEC) American Community Survey (ACS) Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Census 2000 long form Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates Program (SAIPE)

6. Other Federal Statistics on Income Internal Revenue Service Farm Household Income (USDA, Economic Research Service) Bureau of Economic Analysis Personal Income DATA.GOV 1,853 datasets found for "Income"

7. How Wealthy are Americans? Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Federal Reserve Board Survey of Consumer Finance Federal Reserve Board Flow of Funds Data Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Internal revenue Service (IRS) Economic Research Service farm household wealth

8. Differences in Other Measures Some Notable Examples Health insurance coverage – Census, NCHS, AHQR Crime Statistics – FBI, BJS Immigration – OIS and Census

9. Differences in Business Classification 30% of U.S. establishments are classified as belonging to different industries by BLS and Census Census uses IRS tax filing data to develop its establishment list. BLS has access to neither IRS lists, nor the Census list developed with IRS input.

10. Differences Are Not Surprising The phenomena measured or data collected are for different purposes, in different contexts Coverage, Time Dimension, Collection Methods differ Differences in data treatment or statistical models used. Revisions and Differential Discontinuities

11. Why Do We Care? IT’S CONFUSING! May generate suspicion that only one estimate is right or lower confidence in the statistical system Allocations are based on some measures with multiple measures Comparability suffers

12. What can agencies do ? Pick one “official” estimate Concurrent releases of data Attempt to standardize definitions – Across the statistical system – One agency at a time Do a better job of explaining how measures vary, and why

13. Bureau of Labor Statistics Taxonomy/Lexicon Initiative Mission Develop a BLS-wide, consistent taxonomy (hierarchy of categories or concepts) and lexicon (word list with synonyms) of BLS concepts in plain English geared towards the lay public, to be used in data query tools, document tagging, website search and navigation, and records management.

14. What’s an Information Specialist to do?

15. Thank You! Katherine Smith kitty.smith@copafs.org 703-836-0404 Visit us on Twitter @COPAFS