1. Adjusting Erroneous Wage Record Match Results

2. 2 Agenda Background on the use of wage record data for tracking employment and earningsBackground on the use of wage record data for tracking employment and earnings Possibility of misleading or inaccurate results from matched wage record dataPossibility of misleading or inaccurate results from matched wage record data Handling erroneous wage record data resultsHandling erroneous wage record data results Discussion: How does your state deal with erroneous wage record data results?Discussion: How does your state deal with erroneous wage record data results?

3. 3 Background TEGL XX-XX (common performance measures policy)TEGL XX-XX (common performance measures policy) –UI wage records will be the primary data source for tracking the adult entered employment, retention, and earnings measures and the employment portion of the youth placement in employment or education measure –Other employment and administrative wage record data sources may be used to determine employment and earnings Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS)Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS) U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt.U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt. U.S. Postal ServiceU.S. Postal Service U.S. Department of DefenseU.S. Department of Defense Railroad Retirement SystemRailroad Retirement System State/local employment recordsState/local employment records Judicial employment recordsJudicial employment records Public school employment recordsPublic school employment records State New Hires RegistryState New Hires Registry State Department of Revenue or Tax (for self-employed)State Department of Revenue or Tax (for self-employed)

4. 4 Background Wage record results are derived from matching using social security numbersWage record results are derived from matching using social security numbers Wage record results that cannot be translated into quarterly earnings should be treated as supplemental data and should not be included in earnings computationsWage record results that cannot be translated into quarterly earnings should be treated as supplemental data and should not be included in earnings computations Supplemental sources may be used to document employment (and not earnings) in situations where the participant’s employment is not found in UI or other wage record data sourcesSupplemental sources may be used to document employment (and not earnings) in situations where the participant’s employment is not found in UI or other wage record data sources –All supplemental data and methods must be documented and are subject to audit

5. 5 States may adjust the results from wage record matches to address erroneous or misleading resultsStates may adjust the results from wage record matches to address erroneous or misleading results –States must document each adjusted wage record result, including a description of the method for determining the adjusted result –Results should be excluded from performance calculations in situations where the erroneous results cannot be adjusted Background

6. 6 Possibility of Misleading or Inaccurate Results Determine whether or not the automated wage record match was correctDetermine whether or not the automated wage record match was correct If correct, then check the results from wage record matches for misleading or inaccurate results arising from:If correct, then check the results from wage record matches for misleading or inaccurate results arising from: –Scanning and keying errors (e.g., UI staff keying wages incorrectly from paper forms submitted by employers); –An employer reporting excessively high earnings due to the distribution of a severance pay package; –An employer reporting wages under an incorrect social security number; and –Duplicate records resulting from an individual’s single employment experience showing in multiple wage record sources (e.g., interstate claims).

7. 7 Possibility of Misleading or Inaccurate Results The occurrence of erroneous wage record matching results is likely to be limited and random (i.e., equal chance of having underreported and over-reported earnings results)The occurrence of erroneous wage record matching results is likely to be limited and random (i.e., equal chance of having underreported and over-reported earnings results) The impacts of erroneous wage record matching results are likely to be greater for local areas when compared to the impacts at the state levelThe impacts of erroneous wage record matching results are likely to be greater for local areas when compared to the impacts at the state level

8. 8 Handling Erroneous Wage Record Data Matching Results ETA encourages states to adopt procedures for adjusting inaccurate wage record data matching resultsETA encourages states to adopt procedures for adjusting inaccurate wage record data matching results To be acceptable for data element validation reviews, the procedures must:To be acceptable for data element validation reviews, the procedures must: –Be documented in writing; –Be consistently applied to avoid bias in the selection of possible erroneous results to be adjusted; –Limit adjustments to earnings reported by employers and contained in the source wage records; and –Result in greater accuracy in the earnings to be included in performance computations.

9. 9 Handling Erroneous Wage Record Data Matching Results Examples of methods for identifying possible erroneous wage record matching results include:Examples of methods for identifying possible erroneous wage record matching results include: –Flag extremely high aggregate quarterly earnings for an individual; –Collect post-program employment and earnings data from a participant during follow-up, estimate quarterly earnings for the performance period, compare this estimate to wage record matched earnings, and flag if there is a significant difference; and –For a participant showing multiple employers in a quarter, flag wage records with identical earnings that are included in the participant’s aggregate earnings.

10. 10 Handling Erroneous Wage Record Data Matching Results Adjustments to erroneous earnings should be reasonable and linked to original data sourcesAdjustments to erroneous earnings should be reasonable and linked to original data sources When in doubt, don’t make an adjustmentWhen in doubt, don’t make an adjustment –Don’t make an adjustment if a participant record flagged as having possible erroneous earnings results cannot be definitively determined to be in error Erroneous results should be excluded from performance calculations in situations where the misleading results cannot be adjustedErroneous results should be excluded from performance calculations in situations where the misleading results cannot be adjusted

11. 11 How does your state deal with possible erroneous wage record data results?

12. 12 For More Information ETA’s Performance and Results Web Page on Reporting Matters http://www.doleta.gov/performance/reporting ETA’s Specialist on Data Quality Matters Traci DiMartini dimartini.traci@dol.gov 202.693.3698 http://www.doleta.gov/performance/reporting dimartini.traci@dol.gov http://www.doleta.gov/performance/reporting dimartini.traci@dol.gov