Social, Economic, Spatial, and Commuting Patterns of Self-Employed Jobholders
April 2007
Working Paper Number:
tp-2007-03
Abstract
A significant number of employees within the United States identify themselves as selfemployed,
and they are distinct from the larger group identified as private jobholders. While
socioeconomic and spatial information on these individuals is readily available in standard
datasets, such as the 2000 Decennial Census Long Form, it is possible to gain further information
on their wage earnings by using data from administrative wage records. This study takes
advantage of firm-based data from Unemployment Insurance administrative wage records linked
with the Census Bureau's household-based data in order to examine self-employed jobholders -
both as a whole and as subgroups defined according to their earned wage status - by their
demographic characteristics as well as their economic, commuting, and spatial location
outcomes. Additionally, this report evaluates whether self-employed jobholders and the defined
subgroups should be included explicitly in future labor-workforce analyses and transportation
modeling. The analyses in this report use the sample of self-employed workers who lived in Los
Angeles County, California.
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:
work census,
payroll,
employee,
employed,
proprietorship,
incorporated,
employment data,
metropolitan,
workforce,
businesses census,
clerical,
residential,
socioeconomic,
citizen,
unemployment rates,
residence,
commute
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identified to contain references to specific institutions, datasets, and other organizations.
:
Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Service Annual Survey,
Current Population Survey,
Decennial Census,
Census Industry Code,
Unemployment Insurance,
Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas,
American Community Survey,
Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics,
LEHD Program,
Census 2000,
Survey of Business Owners,
2010 Census
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