Summer Data Challenge

The Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) conducts Summer Data Challenges based on emerging priorities of the Department of Labor. The competition awards emerging and established scholars approximately $30,000 each to use existing data to analyze federal labor policies, protections and programs.

In 2021 and 2022, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) competed Summer Data Challenges on Equity and Underserved Communities, where scholars used existing data to analyze how federal labor policies, protections and programs reach traditionally underserved communities due to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, income, geography, immigrant status, veteran status and disability status, among others. Award winners completed their analyses between June and October.

Information about Summer Data Equity Challenge awardees, their projects, and links to their reports can be found below. Links to reports will be made available as they are released. Please note that the reports were produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process. To learn about future Summer Data Equity Challenge and other funding opportunities from CEO, subscribe to CEO’s newsletter.

Awardee	Project Title	Keywords
Dr. Linchi Hsu and Dr. Alexander Henke Howard University‘s Department of Economics	Do Increased Unemployment Insurance Payments Increase Violence Against Women?	Unemployment Insurance
Dr. Marta Lachowska and Dr. Stephen A. Woodbury W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research	Gender, Race, and Denied Claims for Unemployment Insurance: The Role of the Employer	Unemployment Insurance
Ah-Reum Lee RAND Corporation	Role of Job Characteristics and Employer Accommodation in Labor Supply and Disability Benefit Claiming Decisions in Later Life	Disability & Employment

Research Time Frame: June 2022 - October 2022

Awardee	Project Title	Keywords
Dr. Alex Bell, Dr. Till Von Wachter, Roozbeh Moghadam, TJ Hedin, and Geoffrey Schnorr California Policy Lab at the University of California	Disparities in Access to Unemployment Insurance During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons from U.S. and California Claims Data	Unemployment Insurance
Dr. Eliza Forsythe and Mr. Hesong Yang School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois	Understanding Disparities in Unemployment Insurance Recipiency	Unemployment Insurance
Dr. Kelly Jones and Farah Tasneem American University	FMLA Eligibility of Underserved Communities	Worker Leave
Sarah Garcia The University of Minnesota	The Role of Labor Market Polarization in Disability among Working-Age Americans	Disability and Employment
Dr. Rebecca Johnson and Yuchuan Ma Dartmouth College Elizabeth Shackney and Cassie Davis Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA)	Can we Use Local Outreach to Improve Equity in Federal Oversight? A Case Study with the H-2A Visa Program	Worker Protection, Labor Standards, Workplace-Related Benefits, Employer Compliance

Download the summary

Research Time Frame: June 2021 - November 2021

For More Information: ChiefEvaluationOffice@dol.gov

Studies produced as part of CEO’s Summer Data Challenge on Equity and Underserved Communities were produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process. Please see these reports for more information on how they were developed.