The Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows. The QWI are reported using detailed firm characteristics (geography, industry, age, size) and worker demographics information (sex, age, education, race, ethnicity). For more information see http://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/#qwi

The Quarterly Workforce Indicators are local labor market data produced and released every quarter by the United States Census Bureau. Unlike any other local labor market series produced in the U.S. or the rest of the world, the QWI measure employment flows for workers (accession and separations), jobs (creations and destructions) and earnings for demographic subgroups (age and sex), economic industry (NAICS industry groups), and detailed geography (county, Core-Based Statistical Area, and Workforce Investment Area, as well as experimental, unreleased block-level estimates). John Abowd and Lars Vilhuber have used the existing public-use data (and only those public-use data) to construct the first national estimates. The national estimates are an important enhancement to existing series because they include demographic and industry detail for both worker and job flows compiled from data that have been integrated at the micro-level by the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics P rogram at the Census Bureau. The research paper compares the new estimates to national data published by the BLS from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and the Business Employment Dynamics series.

The Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows. The QWI are reported using detailed firm characteristics (geography, industry, age, size) and worker demographics information (sex, age, education, race, ethnicity). For more information see http://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/#qwi

We report results from the first comprehensive total quality evaluation of five major indicators in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Program Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI): total employment, beginning-of-quarter employment, full-quarter employment, total payroll, and average monthly earnings of full-quarter employees. These are the data that were produced for those five indicators.

Note

Disclaimer

Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Census Bureau. All results have been reviewed to ensure that no confidential information is disclosed (DRB request dated 2013-11-22, submitted 2013-12-02, approved 2013-12-17, ARTS445/ CMS538).

Acknowledgements

Abowd and Vilhuber acknowledge direct support from the U.S. Census Bureau (prior to Abowd’s appointment) and NSF Grants SES-0922005, BCS 0941226, TC-1012593, and SES-1131848. This research uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program, which was partially supported by the following National Science Foundation Grants: SES-9978093, SES-0339191 and ITR-0427889; National Institute on Aging Grant AG018854; and grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This archive contains supplementary materials for the published manuscript.

We report results from the first comprehensive total quality evaluation of five major indicators in the U.S. Census Bureau's Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Program Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI): total flow-employment, beginning-of-quarter employment, full-quarter employment, average monthly earnings of full-quarter employees, and total quarterly payroll. Beginning-of-quarter employment is also the main tabulation variable in the LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) workplace reports as displayed in OnTheMap (OTM), including OnTheMap for Emergency Management. We account for errors due to coverage; record-level non-response; edit and imputation of item missing data; and statistical disclosure limitation. The analysis reveals that the five publication variables under study are estimated very accurately for tabulations involving at least 10 jobs. Tabulations involving three to nine jobs are a transition zone, where cells may be fit for use with caution. Tabulations involving one or two jobs, which are generally suppressed on fitness-for-use criteria in the QWI and synthesized in LODES, have substantial total variability but can still be used to estimate statistics for untabulated aggregates as long as the job count in the aggregate is more than 10.

The Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows. For the purposes of this dataset, LED data for 2018 is aggregated to Census Summary Level 070 (State + County + County Subdivision + Place/Remainder), and joined with the Home Investment Partnership (HOME) Program grantee areas spatial dataset for FY2018. Authorized under Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, the HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME) is designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households. Each year the HOME Program allocates approximately $2 billion to fund the development, purchase, or rehabilitation of affordable housing, and to provide direct rental assistance.

Please note that this version of the data does not include Community Planning and Development (CPD) entitlement grantees. LED data for CPD entitlement areas can be obtained from the LED for CDBG Grantee Areas feature service.

To learn more about the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership visit: https://lehd.ces.census.gov/, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov. Data Dictionary: DD_LED for HOME Grantee Areas

Date of Coverage: HOME-2021/LED-2018

The Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows. For the purposes of this dataset, LED data for 2018 is aggregated to Census Summary Level 070 (State + County + County Subdivision + Place/Remainder), and joined with the Continuum of Care Program grantee areas spatial dataset for FY2017. The Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Programs administered by HUD award funds competitively and require the development of a Continuum of Care system in the community where assistance is being sought. A continuum of care system is designed to address the critical problem of homelessness through a coordinated community-based process of identifying needs and building a system to address those needs. The approach is predicated on the understanding that homelessness is not caused merely by a lack of shelter, but involves a variety of underlying, unmet needs - physical, economic, and social. Funds are granted based on the competition following the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). Please note that this version of the data does not include Community Planning and Development (CPD) entitlement grantees. LED data for CPD entitlement areas can be obtained from the LED for CDBG Grantee Areas feature service. To learn more about the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership visit: https://lehd.ces.census.gov/, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov. Data Dictionary: DD_LED for CoC Grantee Areas

Date of Coverage: CoC-2021/LED-2018

The Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows. For the purposes of this dataset, LED data for 2018 is aggregated to Census Summary Level 070 (State + County + County Subdivision + Place/Remainder), and joined with the Emergency Solutions Grantee (ESG) areas spatial dataset for FY2018. The Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), formally the Emergency Shelter Grants, program is designed to identify sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons, as well as those at risk of homelessness, and provide the services necessary to help those persons quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness. The ESG is a non-competitive formula grant awarded to recipients which are state governments, large cities, urban counties, and U.S. territories. Recipients make these funds available to eligible sub-recipients, which can be either local government agencies or private nonprofit organizations. The recipient agencies and organizations, which actually run the homeless assistance projects, apply for ESG funds to the governmental grantee, and not directly to HUD. Please note that this version of the data does not include Community Planning and Development (CPD) entitlement grantees. LED data for CPD entitlement areas can be obtained from the LED for CDBG Grantee Areas feature service. To learn more about the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership visit: https://lehd.ces.census.gov/, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov. Data Dictionary: DD_LED for ESG Grantee Areas

Date of Coverage: ESG-2021/LED-2018

This dataset denotes Local Employment Dynamics (LED) data relative to Emergency Solutions Grantee (ESG) areas. The LED Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows.

Dataset showing job creation and job destruction. A negative number indicates jobs destroyed (positions eliminated due to businesses closing or contracting). Job creation is employment resulting from new businesses starting up or existing businesses expanding their payrolls with new positions. The source data for the data is the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) linked employer employee microdata. A wide variety of record sources contribute to the construction of the Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI), including the administrative records

on employment collected by the states, Social Security data, Federal tax records, and other census and survey

data.

Splitgraph serves as an HTTP API that lets you run SQL queries directly on this data to power Web applications. For example:

See the Splitgraph documentation for more information.

The Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows. For the purposes of this dataset, LED data for 2018 is aggregated to Census Summary Level 070 (State + County + County Subdivision + Place/Remainder), and joined with the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program grantee areas spatial dataset for FY2019. Established in 1974, the Community Development Block Grant Program provides annual grant funding to local and state governments to address a wide range of unique community development needs.

HUD determines the amount of each grant by using a formula comprised of several measures of community need, including the extent of poverty, population, housing density, age of housing, and population growth relative to other metropolitan areas.

The annual CDBG appropriation is allocated among states and local jurisdictions categorized as "entitlement" and "non-entitlement" communities respectively. Entitlement communities are comprised of the principal cities of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs); metropolitan cities with populations of at least 50,000; and qualified urban counties with a population of 200,000 or more (excluding the populations of entitlement cities). Non-entitlement communities receive CDBG funding from their respective states in accordance with requirements that state.

To learn more about the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership visit: https://lehd.ces.census.gov/, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov. Data Dictionary: DD_LED for CDBG Grantee Areas

Date of Coverage: CDBG-2021/LED-2018

This dataset denotes Local Employment Dynamics (LED) data relative to HOPWA grantee areas. The LED Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows.

The Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows.

For the purposes of this dataset, LED data for 2018 is aggregated to Census Summary Level 070 (State + County + County Subdivision + Place/Remainder), and joined with the Unit of General Local Government (UGLG) spatial dataset for FY2019.

The term "Unit of General Local Government" refers to a city, county, town, parish, village, or other general-purpose political subdivision of a State. Units of General Local Government (UGLG) are comprised of several Census geographies including:

Summary Level 050 - State-County;

Summary Level 060 - County Subdivision;

Summary Level 070 - State-County-County Subdivision-Place/Remainder;

Summary Level 160 - Place;

Summary Level 170 - State-Consolidate City;

Remainders of County Lands

Please note that this version of the data does not include Community Planning and Development (CPD) entitlement grantees. LED data for CPD entitlement areas can be obtained from the LED for CDBG Grantee Areas feature service. To learn more about the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership visit: https://lehd.ces.census.gov/, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov. Data Dictionary: DD_LED for Unit of General Local Government (UGLG)

Date of Coverage: UGLG-2021/LED-2018

This dataset denotes Local Employment Dynamics (LED) data relative to Grantee areas for the Home Investment Partnership (HOME) Program. The LED Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows.

This dataset denotes Local Employment Dynamics (LED) data relative to Grantee areas for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. The LED Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows.

This datset denotes Local Employment Dynamics (LED) data relative to Grantee areas for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program. The LED Partnership is a voluntary federal-state enterprise created for the purpose of merging employee, and employer data to provide a set of enhanced labor market statistics known collectively as Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The QWI are a set of economic indicators including employment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows.

Using the Quarterly Workforce Indicators database, we document that a significant amount of the decline in labor market turnover during the last two decades is accounted for by the decline in employment spells that last less just one or two quarters. This phenomenon is pervasive: short-term employment spells have declined across industries, firm-size categories, demographic groups, and geographic regions. Using a search and matching model in the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides tradition that incorporates noisy signals about the quality of a worker-firm match, we argue that improved screening by workers and firms can account for much of the decline in short-lived employment spells.

United States US: Budgetary Central Government: Revenue: Taxes: Payroll & Workforce data was reported at 0.000 USD mn in Mar 2018. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 USD mn for Dec 2017. United States US: Budgetary Central Government: Revenue: Taxes: Payroll & Workforce data is updated quarterly, averaging 0.000 USD mn from Mar 2001 (Median) to Mar 2018, with 69 observations. United States US: Budgetary Central Government: Revenue: Taxes: Payroll & Workforce data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.IMF.IFS: Government Finance: Operations Statement: Quarterly.

France BS: Industry: sa: FB: Recent Change in Workforce data was reported at 10.618 % Point in Jan 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 8.258 % Point for Oct 2017. France BS: Industry: sa: FB: Recent Change in Workforce data is updated quarterly, averaging -0.374 % Point from Jan 1991 (Median) to Jan 2018, with 109 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 20.005 % Point in Jul 2000 and a record low of -35.445 % Point in Jul 1993. France BS: Industry: sa: FB: Recent Change in Workforce data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies. The data is categorized under Global Database’s France – Table FR.S006: Business Survey: Industry Sector (Quarterly).

France BS: Industry: sa: Other: Expected Change in Workforce data was reported at 6.411 % Point in Jan 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 3.766 % Point for Oct 2017. France BS: Industry: sa: Other: Expected Change in Workforce data is updated quarterly, averaging -9.701 % Point from Jan 1991 (Median) to Jan 2018, with 109 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.215 % Point in Oct 2000 and a record low of -37.789 % Point in Apr 2009. France BS: Industry: sa: Other: Expected Change in Workforce data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies. The data is categorized under Global Database’s France – Table FR.S006: Business Survey: Industry Sector.