EMSI Data 2012.1 Final

EMSI is pleased to announce the official release of our 2012.1 dataset. Please note that there are major changes and improvements in this release! Read the following notes carefully and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.

This release differs from the initial 2012.1 “beta” release in a few respects:

1. Improved estimation for public schools and hospitals with nondisclosed (suppressed) employment;
2. Added estimated work/study student employment at public colleges and universities; and
3. Improved industry projections in Louisiana.

There are also some major methodology improvements in this release compared to previous releases of EMSI data.

Industry Classification Changes

EMSI has made some changes to our industry structure, which is based on standard 2007 NAICS with additional government sectors. The changes involve new government subsectors, removal of nonstandard construction industries, new agriculture categories, and the addition of a “99: Unclassified” industry.

1. Public Education and Hospitals

Previously, EMSI included all publicly owned hospitals and educational institutions in the State and Local Government sectors (old codes 920000 and 930000), along with jobs related to all other government functions, and provided no further detail. With this data release, we have created new subsectors for hospitals and education under State and Local Government. The new structure is as follows (shown for Local Government; State Government structure is identical except it has codes beginning with “902″):

• 903: Local Government
• 9036: Education and Hospitals, Local Government
• 90361: Education, Local Government
• 903611: Elementary and Secondary Schools, Local Government
• 903612: Colleges and Universities, Local Government
• 903619: All Other Education, Local Government
• 903622: Hospitals, Local Government
• 903999: Local Government, Excluding Education and Hospitals

2. Federal Government and Postal Service

Previously, EMSI included US Postal Service under the NAICS code 491, and all other federal civilian employment in 911000. This was inconsistent with our goal of putting private-sector jobs in the main NAICS system and government jobs in separate categories. We’ve now moved US Postal Service under the Federal Government industry sector. There are still a small number of jobs in private sector “491: Postal Service” which represent contractors to the USPS; all other delivery/courier services are in NAICS 492. The new federal structure is:

• 901: Federal Government
• 9011: Federal Civilian
• 901149: US Postal Service
• 901199: Federal Civilian, Except US Postal Service
• 901200: Military

3. Crop and Animal Production

Previously, EMSI published one industry category (11A000) for Crop and Animal Production (farms and ranches). EMSI has now split that category into:

• Crop Production (111000) and 
• Animal Production (112000).

4. Standardized Construction Categories (238)

QCEW uses non-standard 6-digit extensions to NAICS in the construction subsector “238: Specialty Trade Contractors.” EMSI previously used those extensions, but to maintain greater compatibility with other data sources we now use standard NAICS instead.

 5. Unclassified (Miscellaneous) Industry (99)

To gain better QCEW compatibility, EMSI has introduced industry “999999: Unclassified” which is present in QCEW data and required to make job counts sum up properly within counties and states. In EMSI’s Input-Output model, the 99 industry jobs and earnings are distributed proportionally to all other industries.

Changes to Non-Covered (Self-Employed) Methodology

EMSI now relies more heavily on information from the Census’ American Community Survey for self-employment jobs and earnings by industry. These changes affect how we allocate self-employment numbers to detailed industries, and, by implication, to occupations as well. Our totals still largely reflect the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s count of proprietors by industry sector, which is the most complete count done by any statistical agency.

This change is in anticipation of future data features (coming soon!), which will allow us to display separate numbers for the “true” self-employed (grounded in ACS) versus additional, miscellaneous proprietor jobs that are not counted by any statistical agency other than the Bureau of Economic Analysis for economic modeling and GDP purposes.

Covered Earnings Estimation Changes

EMSI’s industry earnings estimation methodology has been changed to more closely match QCEW (EMSI Covered dataset only). This change is in anticipation of our plans to introduce an “EMSI QCEW” dataset to replace the current EMSI Covered set.

County Changes

In order to match QCEW numbers, EMSI has introduced so-called “999″ remainder counties, one for each state. For example, Idaho county codes all start with 16, so Idaho’s “remainder county” is 16999. Jobs are classified in these counties if the administrative rules governing QCEW do not require the employer to report a specific location within the state. These counties account for only a small fraction of all jobs in each state. In EMSI’s Input-Output model (which is part of Analyst), the “999 county” jobs and earnings are distributed proportionally to standard counties.

In addition, EMSI has changed the code for Maui County, Hawaii from 15901 to the official code of 15009. The former code is used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis as a combination of Maui and Kalawao (15005). However, no data source reports any jobs for Kalawao, so neither does EMSI.

Staffing Pattern and Occupation Changes

• EMSI Covered staffing patterns are now based on a slightly more detailed source, providing better information for more detailed industries. Moreover, the new public education and hospital industries have their own staffing patterns, distinct from the corresponding private sector industries.

• EMSI Non-Covered staffing patterns are still based on American Community Survey microdata. However, for certain industries in the proprietor data where there is not enough information, we now use a single-occupation staffing pattern containing “99-9999: Unclassified Occupation.”

• EMSI also now uses more detailed occupations in its final data, reflecting standard SOC 2000:

Note: EMSI plans to start the transition to SOC 2010 in late 2012. For more information, see this blog post.

Updated Data Sources in This Release

• Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Q2 2011 (BLS). These updates influence our 2011 job estimates. See NAICS 2012 note below.
• Quarterly Workforce Indicators (LED), Q4 2011 Release (Census). This source provides demographics by industry jobs.
• Current Employment Statistics, Jan-Nov 2011 (BLS). This dataset helps us form an estimate of final 2011 annual job averages ahead of final, detailed figures from QCEW.

Note: EMSI is aware of the latest 2010-2020 national industry/occupation projections from the BLS, just released in early February. However, we are not using them in our 2012.1 release due to industry/occupation compatibility issues. We are working hard to incorporate these projections as soon as possible.

How Can I Access This Data?

The best way to get at all this new data is through Analyst, EMSI’s user-friendly web-based tool. Here is a video that shows how.

Questions?

Please call (1.866.999.3674) or email ([email protected]) us if you have questions.

Read more at Economic Modeling Specialists (EMSI blog)