THIS IS A TITLE

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Odds and Ends Updates and Comments on Various
Census Bureau Programs Steve Barker Program
Manager State Data Center
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• Quarterly Workforce Indicators
• 2007 Economic Census
• Rural Statistical Areas

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• Quarterly Workforce Indicators

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QWI

• Quarterly Workforce Indicators
• http//lehd.did.census.gov/led/index.html
• Comes from Local Employment Dynamics partnership
• Combines Census demographic information with
  Labor Market Information agencies
• Produces information not available before
• Includes 8 indicators
• Available for all states, excluding
• Connecticut
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New York
• Ohio

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QWI

• Click the QWI Online link circled in red
• When page refreshes, choose the Click here
  option
• When page refreshes, choose appropriate state

• http//lehd.did.census.gov/led/index.html

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QWI
A
A Drill down options B State level data,
including requested quarter and prior years
data C County level data, including requested
quarter and prior years data
B
C
http//lehd.did.census.gov/led/datatools/qwiapp.ht
ml
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QWI

• Drill down options
• Year Oklahoma goes back to 2000 (limited 1q2000
  data)
• Quarter Can find employment as of 3q2007 right
  now, rest is blank
• Gender male, female, or both
• Age 14-99 14-18 19-21 22-24 25-34 35-44
  45-54 55-64 65-99
• Geographic grouping
• County (77 Counties)
• Metro (21 Metropolitan and Micropolitan
  Statistical Areas, plus nonmetro/nonmicro area)
• WIA (12 Workforce Investment Areas)
• Industry Can drill to the 4 digit NAICS level

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QWI

• Some cautionary notes about
• Definitions
• Reported employment is as of beginning of the
  quarter
• Full definitions available at http//lehd.did.cens
  us.gov/led/library/techpapers/Brookings_QWI.pdf
• Confidentiality
• Where values are small, Census protects
  confidentiality
• Reported figure may be distorted or fuzzed
• Fuzz factor stays constant over time
• Data may be suppressed if fewer than 3
  individuals meet criteria
• Consistency
• Data is raked at the county level to ensure
  consistency with BLS reported county level
  employment totals

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QWI

• Are you the type who wants all the data?
• Cornell Institute for Social and Economic
  Research (CISER) provides full access to public
  use data files
• Users assumed to know and understand statistics
• VirtualRDC account is required to access that
  site
• Contact VirtualRDC administrators and request
  information on how to access Census Bureaus
  Quarterly Workforce Indicators datset
• virtualrdc_at_cornell.edu

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QWI

• The good, the bad
• QWI gives workforce insight that wasnt
  previously available
• Extremely valuable information for Economic
  Development and Business Recruitment efforts
• Works great if you have a specific industry, age
  group, or geographic area of focus
• Can be cumbersome if you are browsing
• Comparative data or large blocks of data can be
  difficult to gather
• Data is not occupational specific

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QWI

• and the unknown
• Cross compare QWI results against other tools?
• Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational data?
• Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. or other paid
  service?
• Other suggestions?
• Census is sure to welcome comments as users
  become more familiar with this tool

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• 2007 Economic Census

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Economic Census

• 2007 Economic Census
• http//www.census.gov/econ/census/
• Uses 2007 NAICS
• New Biotechnology Research and Development NAICS
  (541711)
• New Executive Search Services (561312)
• Fully implements North American Product
  Classification System
• Based on NAPCS agreement with Canada and Mexico
• Data published in Product Line subjects reports
• More product categories, some loss of
  comparability to prior reports

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Economic Census

• Minority Business Owners totals reinstated after
  omission in 2002
• Includes new data on
• Whether owner was born in US
• Year and how business was acquired
• Languages used for transactions with customers
• Percent of sales outside the US
• Outsourcing to businesses outside the US
• Use of Internet and e-commerce
• Presence and type of employee fringe benefits

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Economic Census

• New criteria for reporting results for small
  incorporated places
• New threshold set at areas with 5,000 or more
  population or 5,000 or more workers
• Threshold had been 2,500 or more population

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Economic Census

• Putting the new thresholds in perspective
• Would definitely prefer to have data at lowest
  possible level, including these communities
• These communities will still have access to
  economic data at county level
• This is an opportunity to encourage greater
  economic cooperation in age of global competition

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Economic Census

• A few notes about the data release
• Data released through American Fact Finder (no
  CDs, no PDFs)
• Some release dates
• Advance Report due 1st quarter 2009
• Industry Reports due over rest of 2009
• First Survey of Business Owners reports due 4th
  qtr 2009

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• Rural Statistical Areas

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Rural Statistical Areas

• New concept being investigated by Census Bureau
• Still in conceptual stages
• Looking for input from State Data Centers (SDCs)
  and other parties
• Similar in concept to Metropolitan or
  Micropolitan Statistical Areas
• Based on minimum population threshold of 65,000
• Corresponds to 1 year reporting data for American
  Community Survey
• 19 states participated in pilot project
• Census Bureau provided preliminary data for
  analysis
• Many SDCs proposed new boundaries
• Many used county groupings to reach population
  threshold
• Some preferred Census Tract level boundaries

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Rural Statistical Areas

• There is a need
• 38 of 77 Oklahoma counties have populations less
  than 20,000
• Individually, these counties must wait until
  publication of 2010 Census results to get
  localized data
• For smallest communities, 2010 data will either
  be from
• 2010 Census short form or
• 2010 American Community Survey data based on 5
  year averages
• RSAs, if used with American Community Survey,
  will provide rural populations with only avenue
  for single year data results
• Recommend aligning as best as possible to
  Workforce Investment Area boundaries
• Workforce and Economic Development communities
  could utilize ACS reports for regular
  benchmarking

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Rural Statistical Areas

• Going forward from here
• September 30, 2008 - Census Bureau accepts
  comments and recommendations for changes to the
  RSA concept
• October 31, 2008 - Census Bureau begins compiling
  2007 ACS data based on
• Proposed RSA boundaries
• 2007 population estimates
• November 21, 2008 - Census Bureau adjusts RSA
  boundaries where minimum 65,000 population
  thresholds are not met and finalizes 2007 RSA
  data profiles
• January 16, 2009 - Census Bureau delivers 2007
  RSA data profiles to State Data Centers for
  review and dissemination to interested partners

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Steve Barker State Data Center Program
Manager steven_barker_at_okcommerce.gov (405)
815-5182