Chapter 6

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Web Resources

  • ALMIS—http://www.doleta.gov/almis/. The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration sponsors America’s Labor Market Information System (ALMIS). This website offers information about ALMIS projects, upcoming events, and state-maintained bulletin boards, products and services, labor market information contacts, and news releases of interest to the LMI community. In addition to web links to various states’ websites, there are also links to national statistics sources.
  • Community Economic Toolbox—http://www.economictoolbox.geog.psu.edu. This useful website provides you with the ability to develop an economic snapshot of communities, calculate loca­tion quotients and shift-share analyses, and develop living wage estimates for your region.
  • Downtown and Business District Market Analysis—http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/dma. This web­site provides a tool for using geographic information systems and market data to identify busi­ness opportunities in small towns.
  • Economic Policy Institute, State of Working Americahttp://www.stateofworkingamerica.org. Published on an annual basis since 1988, the Economic Policy Institute provides up-to-date information on labor market trends and issues. The website is an excellent source for basic labor market information at the national level.
  • Employee Benefits Survey—http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs. This survey provides comprehensive data on the incidence and detailed provisions of selected employee benefit plans in small, medium, and large private establishments, as well as state and local governments.
  • Employment Cost Trends—http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect. The employment cost trends program pro­duces two ongoing surveys: the Employment Cost Index (ECI) and Employers’ Costs for Employee Compensation (cost levels). The ECI measures the change over time in the cost of labor, including the cost of wages and salaries and employee benefits. Cost levels data provide average costs per hour worked for wages and salaries and specific benefits.
  • Employment Projections—http://www.bls.gov/emp. The Office of Employment Projections develops and publishes estimates on the economy and labor market 10 to 15 years into the future. Included are projections of the labor force, potential gross domestic product, industrial output, and employment by industry and occupation.
  • Green Collar Association—http://www.greencollar.org. This website is a primary source of informa­tion on the green economy and green-collar jobs.
  • Living Wage Calculator—http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu. This is a useful site to help you iden­tify the components for calculating a living wage.
  • National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)—http://nces.ed.gov. This website offers access to data sets, reports, guides, and research studies. Several NCES reports are available in their entirety: The Condition of Education, The Digest of Education Statistics, Projections of Education Statistics, and Youth Indicators.
  • National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS)—http://www.bls.gov/nls. The Bureau of Labor Statistics spon­sors the collection and production of data from the NLS. Each survey gathers information on the labor market experiences of five groups of American men and women at multiple points in time. Each of the NLS groups consists of 5,000 or more members.
  • Occupational Compensation Survey—http://www.bls.gov/ocs. These annual or biennial surveys pro­vide information on average weekly or hourly earnings for selected occupations in the nation and certain metropolitan areas, as well as related benefits data for white- and blue-collar workers.
  • Social Explorer—http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/home/home.aspx. This is a very useful website that allows you to present demographic data in data maps. The site is interactive and allows you to customize maps as well.
  • U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)—http://www.bea.gov. BEA is a major producer and compiler of economic, business cycle, and labor market data. BEA has built a large online source for these data compiled from more than 50 federal agencies, called STA-TUSA. This is a fee-based site.
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)—www.bls.gov. The BLS site is a major source for national labor market information, and it has data sets for state and metropolitan areas. This is a large and complex website containing hundreds of data sets, including local area unemployment statistics, industry employment estimates, and projections.
  • U.S. Census Bureau—www.census.gov. The Bureau of the Census website contains data from all of the bureau’s data collection efforts: the Decennial Census, the Current Population Survey, the economic censuses, and the monthly economic surveys. It is a large and complex site of data, including population estimates and projections and data related to migration, journey to work, income and poverty, educational attainment, and much more.