Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:
Monthly estimates of employment and unemployment are available for all states, metropolitan areas, small labor market areas, counties, cities of 25,000 or more, all cities and towns in New England, and certain other areas.
Link: http://www.bls.gov/lau/
Date Inventory Completed: 6/4/15
Screening
- Is the data collected opinion-based ?
- Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
- Is there data available for 2013?
- For Education: Is the data collected at least the school level?
- Can we access the data by August 15th?
- Can the data be linked to other education/workforce datasets (e.g., K-12, higher education, workforce)? Yes at the county-level
Purpose
What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?
To “produce monthly and annual employment, unemployment, and labor force data for Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities, by place of residence.”
Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?
It is collected to track unemployment in the country, the BLS provides this information to other government organizations.
Who else uses the data?
The general public, other government organizations, states, businesses
Who do they sell the data to?
N/A
Method
What is the data collection method?
16 question survey conducted by trained interviewers.
What is the type of data collected?
Survey
If designed, who created the questions?
Bureau of Labor Statistics
What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)?
60,000 randomly selected households monthly.
Description
- What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?
Workforce
What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?
1990-April 2015
Is data collected and available periodically?
Yes, monthly
How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided?
One month later
Selectivity (conversely, the representativeness)
What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents (consider inclusion/exclusion criteria)?
After estimates are made, it should represent the entire workforce in the United States. 60,000 randomly selected households monthly.
Accessibility
How is the data accessed?
On BLS website
- Is it open data?
Yes
- Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?
No
Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?
N/A
Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? NO
Explanation: The granularity only goes down to the county level, not individuals nor school districts, meaning it would be very difficult to track individuals. Furthermore, there’s no way to link it with other education data. However, their estimation process for extrapolating data out to the entire population of the US is very solid, and is done in conjunction with the Census Bureau.