Affiliations: [a] U.S. Census Bureau, New York Census Research Data
Center, New York, NY, USA | [b] Economics Department, Hobart and William Smith
Colleges, Geneva, NY, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Jonathan D. Fisher,
Economist and Administrator, U.S. Census Bureau, New York Census Research Data
Center, 135 East 22nd Street, Room 801, New York, NY 10010, USA. Tel.: +1 646
660 6788; Fax: +1 646 660 6785; E-mail:
jonathan.fisher@census.gov
Abstract: A common caveat often accompanying results relying on household surveys regards
respondent error. There is research using administrative data to estimate the
extent of error, the correlates of error, and potential corrections for the
error. The authors investigate measurement error in occupation classification in
the Current Population Survey (CPS) using the panel component of the CPS to
identify those who incorrectly report changing occupation. We find evidence that
individuals are inflating their occupation to higher skilled and higher paying
occupations than the ones they actually perform. Occupation inflation biases the
education and race coefficients in standard Mincer equation results within
occupations.
