Comparing Measures of Overtime Across BLS Surveys

Overtime pay constitutes an important source of income for many workers, and knowing how much overtime is worked is crucial for understanding labor market regulations. Unfortunately, the two main Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveys containing information on overtime - the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Establishment Survey (ES) - yield conflicting measures of average weekly overtime hours. While a longer time-series of ES estimates is available, the CPS estimate is likely to be more reliable