Context

This is a dataset that I built by scraping the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. I was looking for county-level unemployment data and realized that there was a data source for this, but the data set itself hadn't existed yet, so I decided to write a scraper and build it out myself.

Content

This data represents the Local Area Unemployment Statistics from 1990-2016, broken down by state and month. The data itself is pulled from this mapping site:

https://data.bls.gov/map/MapToolServlet?survey=la&map=county&seasonal=u

Further, the ever-evolving and ever-improving codebase that pulled this data is available here:

https://github.com/jayrav13/bls_local_area_unemployment

Acknowledgements

Of course, a huge shoutout to bls.gov and their open and transparent data. I've certainly been inspired to dive into US-related data recently and having this data open further enables my curiosities.

Inspiration

I was excited about building this data set out because I was pretty sure something similar didn't exist - curious to see what folks can do with it once they run with it! A curious question I had was surrounding Unemployment vs 2016 Presidential Election outcome down to the county level. A comparison can probably lead to interesting questions and discoveries such as trends in local elections that led to their most recent election outcome, etc.

Next Steps

Version 1 of this is as a massive JSON blob, normalized by year / month / state. I intend to transform this into a CSV in the future as well.

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Program is a Federal-State cooperative program between the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the California EDD’s Labor Market Information Division (LMID). The QCEW program produces a comprehensive tabulation of employment and wage information for workers covered by California Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. The QCEW program serves as a near census of monthly employment and quarterly wage information by 6-digit industry codes from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at the national, state, and county levels. At the national level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data for nearly every NAICS industry. At the state and local area level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data down to the 6-digit NAICS industry level, if disclosure restrictions are met. In accordance with the BLS policy, data provided to the Bureau in confidence are used only for specified statistical purposes and are not published. The BLS withholds publication of Unemployment Insurance law-covered employment and wage data for any industry level when necessary to protect the identity of cooperating employers. Data from the QCEW program serve as an important input to many BLS programs. The Current Employment Statistics and the Occupational Employment Statistics programs use the QCEW data as the benchmark source for employment. The UI administrative records collected under the QCEW program serve as a sampling frame for the BLS establishment surveys. In addition, the data serve as an input to other federal and state programs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Department of Commerce uses the QCEW data as the base for developing the wage and salary component of personal income. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and California's EDD use the QCEW data to administer the Unemployment Insurance program. The QCEW data accurately reflect the extent of coverage of California’s UI laws and are used to measure UI revenues; national, state and local area employment; and total and UI taxable wage trends. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes new QCEW data in its County Employment and Wages news release on a quarterly basis. The BLS also publishes a subset of its quarterly data through the Create Customized Tables system, and full quarterly industry detail data at all geographic levels.

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program (also known as ES-202) collects employment and wage data from employers covered by New York State's Unemployment Insurance (UI) Law. This program is a cooperative program with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. QCEW data encompass approximately 97 percent of New York's nonfarm employment, providing a virtual census of employees and their wages as well as the most complete universe of employment and wage data, by industry, at the State, regional and county levels. "Covered" employment refers broadly to both private-sector employees as well as state, county, and municipal government employees insured under the New York State Unemployment Insurance (UI) Act. Federal employees are insured under separate laws, but are considered covered for the purposes of the program. Employee categories not covered by UI include some agricultural workers, railroad workers, private household workers, student workers, the self-employed, and unpaid family workers. QCEW data are similar to monthly Current Employment Statistics (CES) data in that they reflect jobs by place of work; therefore, if a person holds two jobs, he or she is counted twice. However, since the QCEW program, by definition, only measures employment covered by unemployment insurance laws, its totals will not be the same as CES employment totals due to the employee categories excluded by UI. Industry level data from 1975 to 2000 is reflective of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.

The German Internet Panel (GIP) is an infrastructure project. The GIP serves to collect data about individual attitudes and preferences which are relevant for political and economic decision-making processes. Experimental variations were used in the instruments. The questionnaire contains numerous randomisations as well as a cross-questionnaire experiment. Topics: Party preference (Sunday question); assessment of the importance of selected policy fields for the federal government (labour market, foreign policy, education and research, citizen participation, energy supply, food and agriculture, European unification, family, health care system, gender equality, internal security, personal rights, pension system, national debt, tax system, environment and climate protection, consumer protection, transport, defence, currency, economy, immigration and integration); currently most important policy areas for the respondent; satisfaction with the performance of the federal government (scalometer); satisfaction with the performance of the parties CDU/CSU, SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Die Linke (scalometer); probability of an external event: Effects of the Ukraine crisis on the availability and price of Russian gas in Germany; Federal government should draw consequences from the Ukraine crisis and find alternatives to the purchase of Russian gas; assessment of political decisions of the Federal government on the introduction of a rent brake and a car toll, on the expansion of the digital infrastructure as well as on the re-regulation of prostitution; respective responsibility for the fact that corresponding laws have not yet been passed; expected change in unemployment due to the introduction of the minimum wage respectively in Eastern Germany, Western Germany and in Germany as a whole; opinion on the introduction of a statutory minimum wage; assessment of an alternative proposal to the minimum wage (state pays the difference between the real hourly wage and a gross wage of 8.50 euros); opinion on lowering the minimum wage in regions with high unemployment instead of the same minimum wage throughout Germany; self-assessment of patience and willingness to take risks (scalometer); preferred date for the debt brake (from 2015, from 2020, from 2025, after 2030 or not at all); assessment of the debt brake; assessment of the probability that one´s own federal state will manage without new debt from 2020; one´s own federal state should comply with the debt brake if not all 16 federal states manage without new debt from 2020; net household income resp. personal income; own willingness to pay an additional tax amount so that the own federal state can get along without new debts from 2020 onwards and the amount of this contribution (answer scale depending on household income and personal income); debts of cities and municipalities: Willingness to pay additional fees so that the municipality of residence can manage without new debts and the amount of this contribution (classified); willingness to agree to the merger of one´s own federal state with a neighbouring federal state; opinion on self-determination of the tax level by the federal states; opinion on the financing of infrastructure costs in poor regions via a common EU budget; opinion on EU loans within the framework of the euro bailout fund for heavily indebted member states; opinion on the fiscal equalisation system between the federal states; whether one´s own federal state belongs to the donor states or the recipient states; opinion on a law on the formation of reserves by the federal states for the pensions of state civil servants; demand for state measures to reduce income disparities; acceptance of tax evasion; inflation in Germany: Assessment of the price development for food and clothing in general and measured against the expectations of the European Central Bank (ECB) (inflation expectations); expected annual inflation rate in five and in ten years (medium-term and long-term inflation); assessment of the European Central Bank with regard to price stability in the Eurozone; preferred combination of the amount of monthly expenditure and the amount of a loan repayment; reception frequency of news in general and of news on the topic of economy. Demography: sex; citizenship; year of birth (categorised); highest school-leaving qualification; highest professional qualification; marital status; household size; employment status; private internet use; federal state. Additionally coded were: Interview date; year of recruitment; questionnaire evaluation; overall interview assessment; unique ID identifier, household identifier and person identifier within household. Das German Internet Panel (GIP) ist ein Infrastrukturprojekt. Das GIP dient der Erhebung von Daten über individuelle Einstellungen und Präferenzen, die für politische und ökonomische Entscheidungsprozesse relevant sind. Es wurden experimentelle Variationen in den Instrumenten eingesetzt. Der Fragebogen enthält zahlreiche Randomisierungen sowie ein fragebogenübergreifendes Experiment. Themen: Parteipräferenz (Sonntagsfrage); Einschätzung der Wichtigkeit ausgewählter Politikfelder für die Bundesregierung (Arbeitsmarkt, Außenpolitik, Bildung und Forschung, Bürgerbeteiligung, Energieversorgung, Ernährung und Landwirtschaft, Europäische Einigung, Familie, Gesundheitssystem, Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern, Innere Sicherheit, Persönlichkeitsrechte, Rentensystem, Staatsverschuldung, Steuersystem, Umwelt und Klimaschutz, Verbraucherschutz, Verkehr, Verteidigung, Währung, Wirtschaft, Zuwanderung und Integration); derzeit wichtigste Politikfelder für den Befragten; Zufriedenheit mit den Leistungen der Bundesregierung (Skalometer); Zufriedenheit mit den Leistungen der Parteien CDU/CSU, SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Die Linke (Skalometer); Wahrscheinlichkeit eines von außen wirkenden Ereignisses: Auswirkungen der Ukraine-Krise auf die Verfügbarkeit und den Preis von russischem Gas in Deutschland; Bundesregierung sollte Konsequenzen aus der Ukraine-Krise ziehen und Alternativen zum Bezug von russischem Gas finden; Beurteilung von politischen Entscheidungen der Bundesregierung zur Einführung einer Mietpreisbremse und einer Pkw-Maut, zum Ausbau der digitalen Infrastruktur sowie zur Neuregulierung von Prostitution; jeweilige Verantwortlichkeit für die bisher nicht erfolgte Verabschiedung entsprechender Gesetze; erwartete Veränderung der Arbeitslosigkeit durch die Einführung des Mindestlohns jeweils in Ostdeutschland, Westdeutschland und in Deutschland insgesamt; Meinung zur Einführung eines gesetzlichen Mindestlohns; Bewertung eines Alternativvorschlags zum Mindestlohn (Staat zahlt Differenz zwischen dem realen Stundenlohn und einem Bruttolohn von 8,50 Euro); Meinung zur Senkung des Mindestlohns in Regionen mit hoher Arbeitslosigkeit statt gleicher Mindestlohn in ganz Deutschland; Selbsteinschätzung der Geduld und der Risikobereitschaft (Skalometer); präferierter Zeitpunkt für die Schuldenbremse (ab 2015, ab 2020, ab 2025, nach 2030 oder überhaupt nicht); Bewertung der Schuldenbremse; Einschätzung der Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass das eigene Bundesland ab 2020 ohne neue Schulden auskommt; eigenes Bundesland sollte Schuldenbremse einhalten, falls nicht alle 16 Bundesländer ab 2020 ohne neue Schulden auskommen; Haushaltsnettoeinkommen bzw. persönliches Einkommen; eigene Bereitschaft zur Zahlung eines zusätzlichen Steuerbetrages, damit das eigene Bundesland ab 2020 ohne neue Schulden auskommt und Höhe dieses Beitrags (Antwortskala abhängig vom Haushaltseinkommen und dem persönlichen Einkommen); Schulden von Städten und Gemeinden: Bereitschaft zur Zahlung zusätzlicher Gebühren, damit die Wohngemeinde ohne neue Schulden auskommt und Höhe diese Betrages (klassiert); Bereitschaft, dem Zusammenschluss des eigenen Bundeslandes mit einem benachbarten Bundesland zuzustimmen; Meinung zur Selbstbestimmung der Steuerhöhe durch die Bundesländer; Meinung zur Finanzierung der Infrastrukturkosten in armen Regionen über einen gemeinsamen EU-Haushalt; Meinung zu EU-Krediten im Rahmen des Euro-Rettungsschirms für stark verschuldete Mitgliedsstaaten; Meinung zum Länderfinanzausgleich; Zugehörigkeit des eigenen Bundeslandes zu den Geberländern oder Nehmerländern; Meinung zu einem Gesetz zur Bildung von Rücklagen durch die Bundesländer für die Pensionen von Landesbeamten; Forderung nach staatlichen Maßnahmen zur Verringerung von Einkommensunterschieden; Akzeptanz von Steuerhinterziehung; Inflation in Deutschland: Einschätzung der Preisentwicklung für Lebensmittel und Kleidung allgemein und gemessen an den Erwartungen der Europäischen Zentralbank (EZB) (Inflationserwartung); erwarte jährliche Inflationsrate in fünf und in zehn Jahren (mittelfristige und langfristige Inflation); Beurteilung der Europäischen Zentralbank im Hinblick auf die Preisstabilität in der Eurozone; präferierte Kombination der Höhe von monatlichen Ausgaben und der Höhe einer Kreditrückzahlung; Rezeptionshäufigkeit von Nachrichten allgemein und von Nachrichten zum Thema Wirtschaft. Demographie: Geschlecht; Staatsbürgerschaft; Geburtsjahr (kategorisiert); höchster Schulabschluss; höchste berufliche Qualifikation; Familienstand; Haushaltsgröße; Erwerbsstatus; private Internetnutzung; Bundesland. Zusätzlich verkodet wurde: Interviewdatum; Jahr der Rekrutierung; Fragebogenevaluation; Beurteilung der Befragung insgesamt; eindeutige ID-Kennung, Haushalts-Kennung und Personen-Kennung innerhalb des Haushalts.

The dataset extracted from the SIL (Labour Information System) on an annual basis is an administrative source for employment centres located in Tuscany.

Jobseekers registered as unemployed c/o the Employment Centres of Tuscany. Article 19 of Decree-Law No 150/2015 provides that unemployed workers are those who declare their immediate availability to carry out work and participate in active labour market policy (ALP) measures agreed with the employment centre for a given reference period.

-Stock_CPI_FasciaEta - Spatial data for Employment Centres, by age group broken down by gender -

• YEAR: Reference period:
• PROVINCE_CENTER_USE: the name of the Tuscan province;
• USE_CENTRE: name of the Employment Centre where the persons are registered;
• ETA_BAND: age class of the registered subjects;
• SIGN UP_F: number of female members;
• SIGN UP_ M: number of male members;
• REGISTERED: number of MF members;

-Stock_CPI_Nationality - Spatial data for Employment Centres and Citizenship -

• YEAR: reference period;
• PROVINCE_CENTER_USE: the name of the Tuscan province;
• USE_CENTRE: name of the Employment Centre where the persons are registered;
• CITIZENSHIP: citizenship of the registered subjects;
• SIGN UP_F: number of female members;
• SIGN UP_ M: number of male members;
• REGISTERED: number of MF members;

-Stock_Municipality_Nationality - Data by Municipality of residence of members and citizenship -

• YEAR: reference period
• PROVINCE_RESIDENCE: the name of the Tuscan province;
• COMMON_RESIDENCE: the name of the Tuscan commune of residence;
• COD_ISTAT_COMUNE_RES: Municipality Istat code;
• CITIZENSHIP: citizenship of the registered subjects;
• SIGN UP_F: number of female members;
• SIGN UP_ M: number of male members;
• REGISTERED: number of MF members;

-Stock_Comune_FasciaEta - Data by Municipality of residence of members and age groups -

• YEAR: reference period;
• PROVINCE_RESIDENCE: the name of the Tuscan province;
• COMMON_RESIDENCE: the name of the Tuscan commune of residence;
• COD_ISTAT_COMUNE_RES: Municipality Istat code;
• ETA_BAND: age class of the registered subjects;
• SIGN UP_F: number of female members;
• SIGN UP_ M: number of male members;
• REGISTERED: number of MF members;

Abstract

the Ministry of Youth and Sports adopted the National Strategy for Youth Development, in cooperation with the Central Bureau of Statistics and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the National Youth and Youth Survey (NYS) project in Iraq and its width and the Kurdistan Region, which focused heavily on key aspects of youth In Iraq for the category (10-30) years in order to access a broad database to facilitate the work of strategic decision-makers to build and rehabilitate young people, to develop plans and programs to improve information, attitudes and practices based on modern scientific basis correct.

The main objective of this survey is: 1- Studying the knowledge, attitudes and practices of young men and women in old age, especially after the political and social changes that Iraq has undergone since 2003 with the aim of drawing up a clear national strategy for youth that meets the requirements and aspirations of this age group of the population. 2- Providing a database on youth to serve researchers, planners, decision-makers and policy makers in the preparation of health, social and developmental plans and programs aimed at improving their economic, social, cultural and scientific conditions. To estimate the size of the manpower and the labor force of young people in the society and their distribution according to the characteristics and knowledge of the size of employment and unemployment in society and to identify the characteristics and trends of the unemployed in order to follow the changes in employment rates and unemployment, 3- To study the relationship between the profession and the scientific specialization and to identify the reasons for the reluctance of young people to work in the private sector and handicrafts, as well as to create a modern database and provide all the information and statistics necessary to make comparisons and monitoring indicators at the local, regional and international levels, which helps to formulate policies to match the outputs of education and labor market Through labor market plans and strategies

The results of this national project are considered to meet the national need to integrate young people in the Iraqi national project right and transit to achieve natural rights and to strengthen the national gains and if we look at the statistics that resulted from the results of the survey, which give rise to optimism here and pessimistic there, we find that the picture will be clear and clear In this segment calls for the minimum requirements of modern institutions of government and international and civil and want to be effective in achieving the achievement of added and direct attention should be on a large scale as it needs multiple legislation in the political, economic and cultural aspects.

Geographic coverage

NYS is nationally representative, covering all governorates of Iraq, including Kurdistan.

Analysis unit

1- Households. 2- Youth aged (10-30)

Universe

The survey covered a national sample of households and selected youth aged 10-30.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample Design and Method of Selecting Sampling Units

The survey sample comprised 6492 households completely interviewed; these households are distributed across all governorates and included 15080 persons in the age of (10-30) years old who were completely interviewed. Data collection took place during the period from 25/3/2009 to 13/4/2009.

The sample of the Iraq national youth and adolescent's survey for the year 2009 was designed to be representative at the governorates level with a confidence interval of 95% and a margin of error of 7%. It was taken into account, while deciding on the sample size, to address the bias resulting from the adoption of the cluster method in selection households and also to address the possible non-response rate due to the fact that some households might not be cooperative with the interviewers while others may not be present in their homes during the fieldwork. To compute indicators, we take into account the relative weight of the population in each stratum, so that indicators showed are weighted using factors computed so that sampled population present the same pattern as the real population , for example the population of Baghdad Governorate constitutes around 22.1% of the whole Iraqi population while the Muthna governorate constitutes around 2.2%, etc.

In light of the above, the sample size was 6730 households with 360 households in each governorate with the exception of Baghdad where the sample amounted to 610 families, distributed on different environments (urban central, Suburbs, and rural areas) whereby 2500 households were sampled from the urban central area against some 2250 in the Suburbs areas and 1980 households in the rural communities, on the level of Iraq as a whole.

The design of the sample relied on the following criteria: • Providing indicators with an adequate representation on the governorates level and on the environmental level in each governorate (urban central - suburbs - and rural), since the surveys, previously implemented over the past three years in Iraq, aimed at reaching that level of details. • Adapting the available sample frames with the aim of selecting an adequate representative sample with the absence of a modern sample frame. • Choosing a sampling design appropriate for Iraq current situation and facilitates completing fieldwork efficiently

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The survey tool is a long and detialed questionnaire for both Househlds and individuals 10-30.

Response rate

6492 households were interviewed with a response rate of 96.5%, while 15080 youth and adolescents were also interviewed with a total response rate of 92.6% (94.5% for females and 91.1% for males) that reached its utmost in the governorate of Najaf (100%) and its lowest was in As-Sulaimanya Governorate (73.2%).