Because administrative data can be a powerful and cost effective tool for addressing important policy questions, open government initiatives both in the European Union and the United States have actively promoted the open use of public-sector information including, in part, data gathered for administrative purposes Such data can increase transparency in program operations and enhance academic research as they typically contain a diverse set of information that can be used to address a broad range of questions without additional data collection. Often, the data are accurate and comprehensive, and cover a much larger sample than is feasible with other data collection efforts. Fortunately, innovations in computing, such as faster processing and reduced costs of data storage, have made “big data” less expensive and more assessable to researchers. However, because administrative data are not collected for research purposes they require analysts to understand the context in which they were collected and to develop statistical methods for matters such as coverage deficiencies, missing data, identifying outliers, changes in administrative processes, and late or missing availability of some records. The value of administrative data to enhance policy research provides incentives for researchers to spend the considerable time resources needed to understand the often complex data collection procedures, requirements, and incentives that underlie the creation of an administrative data base and to verify and clean the data so that it meets research standards. Alone and in combination with other data sets, these data could provide valuable opportunities not only to assess evidence for the evaluation of programs, but also provide insights to behavior that can be used to build more effective policies. All papers in this session present research that is grounded in administrative data that has been recently released by the U.S. Department of Labor. They illustrate their value and highlight the challenges and methods for overcoming challenges their use. The first paper sets the stage for the panel by providing an overview of the Administrative Data Research and Evaluation (ADARE) and Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI) efforts to develop or enhance longitudinal administrative databases that will integrate workforce data and create linkages to education data and the second paper will present research projects based on the data. The second and third papers present findings from studies that use administrative data and implicitly describe the advantages and disadvantages of using administrative data for policy-oriented research. The discussants will unify the papers by highlighting their value and limitations for program evaluation from Jonathan Simonetta and policy research Julia Lane.