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LEHD OnTheMap Data

TRB Using Census Data for Transportation Irvine, CA

Bruce Spear

October 26, 2011

Acknowledgements

Findings from NCHRP 8-36, Task 98 Improving Employment Data for Transportation Planning

– Sponsored by AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning

– Final Report posted at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP08-36(98)_FR.pdf

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What is LEHD?

Longitudinal Employment Household Dynamics

Program to generate new information on workers and employers from existing data sources

Developed by U.S. Census Bureau in coordination with state partners

Based on administrative records

Includes all employment subject to state unemployment insurance (UI) laws

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LEHD Data Products

Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI)

– Quarterly data on employment dynamics (total employment, job creation, wages, and worker turnover)

LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES)

– Annual data on locations and characteristics of workers by residence and workplace, and home-to-work flows

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LEHD - OnTheMap

– Web-based mapping and reporting application http://lehdmap.did.census.gov/

– Supports multiple analyses involving workplace and worker residence locations

– Queries supported at multiple levels of geography (Census Blocks, Tracts, zip codes, places, urbanized areas, counties, states)

– Worker characteristics include: industry type, age, income, gender, race, ethnicity, and education

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LODES Data Files

1. Residence Area Characteristics (RAC)

Number and characteristics of workers summarized by residence geography and reporting year

2. Workplace Area Characteristics (WAC)

Number and characteristics of workers summarized by workplace geography and reporting year

3. Origin-Destination Flows (OD)

Number and summary characteristics of workers who reside in one location and work in another location

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LODES Data Sources

Employer Characteristics

Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (QCEW) • Reported quarterly by employers to State employment

security agencies (SESA) (formerly known as ES-202 data)

• Funded and managed by BLS (data quality and integrity)

• Enhanced employer files contain data on total monthly employment and total wages by quarter

• Multiple Workplace Reports (MWR) provide workplace employment data for employers with multiple worksites.

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Data Sources (continued)

Worker Characteristics

Personal Characteristics File (PCF) • Derived from Social Security Application File (Numident)

• Gender, DOB, Race, Citizenship

Composite Person Record (CPR) • Derived from multiple sources (IRS, Medicare, HUD)

• Based on worker’s SSN

• Worker place of residence

Wage Records • List individual employees by social Security Number (SSN)

• Provide key link between workers and employers

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LEHD Processing Steps

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Disclosure Proofing

LEHD records are subjected to “disclosure proofing” to protect worker/employer identities

Small amount of “noise” introduced into employer characteristics at establishment level

Worker characteristics at residence synthesized based on industry code, age and earnings

Some data suppression for small geographic units

Actual distributions are retained at more aggregate levels of geography and industry groups

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LODES Data Limitations

1. Excludes some employment categories

– Self-employed & Sole Proprietors (6% - 17%)

– Federal/Military/Railroad Workers (1% - 20%)

– Employment exempt from UI laws (0% - 2%)

2. Data not currently produced for all States

– States missing data: DC, MA, NH, PR, VI

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LODES Data Issues

Multiple Worksite Employers

– Some multi-worksite employers refuse to file multiple worksite reports (MWR)

– Employers with multiple worksites may show all employees located at primary employer address

– MWR non-compliance affects about 5% of all employment, nationwide:

• Rates vary significantly from state to state

• Lower in States with mandatory MWR reporting

• Highest non-compliance among local government agencies

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LODES Data Issues

Assigning Workers to Worksites

– Only one state (Minnesota) requires employers to identify worksites on employee wage records

– Workers of multi worksite employers are assigned to worksites based on a distribution model calibrated using

MN data.

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LODES vs. CTPP

LODES is NOT a substitute for CTPP

– No trip characteristics in LODES (mode, travel time, departure time)

Public sources of employment data for transportation planning:

– Residence/Workplace locations

– Origin-destination flows for work trips

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LODES vs. CTPP (3-Year) Summary Characteristics

LODES (2006-2008) CTPP 2006-2008

Sample Size Full enumeration for covered employment categories

~ 7 percent of households in 3-year ACS sample

Geographic Coverage

Excludes non-participating LED States (DC, MA, NH)

Excludes counties with less than 20,000 population

Employer/Industry Categories

Excludes employers not subject to State UI laws

All employers and industry sectors in sample universe

Job Categories Includes all jobs by workers in covered employment categories

Excludes second jobs by workers with multiple jobs

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LODES vs. CTPP (3-Year) County Level Findings

Both LODES and CTPP under report total employment by 15 – 17 %, nationally and by state

– LEHD – excluded employer categories & non-LED states

– CTPP – secondary work trips and suppressed data

CTPP (3-Year) produces significantly higher OD trip rates than LODES, but distributes them over many fewer county pairs.

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LODES vs. CTPP (2000)

Tract Level Findings

CTPP (2000) produced higher OD trip rates than LODES, but distributed them over many fewer Tract-to-Tract pairs.

– Differences in flow rates between common Tracts were much smaller

Differences in employment for individual Tracts could generally be attributed to:

– Missing employment categories in LODES

– New development occurring after 2000

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Work Trip Length Distributions

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General Findings

LODES is a good source of data on the distribution of home-to-work flows

– More comprehensive and current than CTPP

LODES data should be used carefully and supplemented with local knowledge

– Missing employment categories

– Multiple worksite employers

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Research Needs

Better documentation of LEHD processes:

– Synthesis of worker characteristics for small geographies

– Assignment of workers to worksites for multi-site employers

Further analysis of LODES O-D distributions

Alternative sources for missing employer data

Strategies for integrating LODES and CTPP

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