Katharine G. Abraham – författare

As the structure of the economy has changed over the past few decades, researchers and policy makers have been increasingly concerned with how these changes affect workers. In this book, leading economists examine a variety of important trends in the new economy, including inequality of earnings and other forms of compensation, job security, employer reliance on temporary and contract workers, hours of work, and workplace safety and health. In order to better understand these vital issues, scholars must be able to accurately measure labor market activity. Thus, Labor in the New Economy also addresses a host of measurement issues: from the treatment of outliers, imputation methods, and weighting in the context of specific surveys to evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of data from different sources. At a time when employment is a central concern for individuals, businesses, and the government, this volume provides important insight into the recent past and will be a useful tool for researchers in the future.

Beyond the Market: Designing Nonmarket Accounts for the United States hopes toencourage social scientists to make further efforts and contributions in the analysis ofnonmarket activities and in corresponding data collection and accounting systems.The book illustrates new data sources and new ideas that have improved theprospects for progress.

The U.S. Census Bureau maintains an important portfolio of economic statistics programs, including quinquennial economic censuses, annual economic surveys, and quarterly and monthly indicator surveys. Government, corporate, and academic users rely on the data to understand the complexity and dynamism of the U.S. economy. Historically, the Bureau''s economic statistics programs developed sector by sector (e.g., separate surveys of manufacturing, retail trade, and wholesale trade), and they continue to operate largely independently. Consequently, inconsistencies in questionnaire content, sample and survey design, and survey operations make the data not only more difficult to use, but also more costly to collect and process and more burdensome to the business community than they could be.

This report reviews the Census Bureau''s annual economic surveys. Specifically, it examines the design, operations, and products of 11 surveys and makes recommendations to enable them to better answer questions about the evolving economy.

Beyond the Market: Designing Nonmarket Accounts for the United States hopes toencourage social scientists to make further efforts and contributions in the analysis ofnonmarket activities and in corresponding data collection and accounting systems.The book illustrates new data sources and new ideas that have improved theprospects for progress.