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Important
Important

This document is not an official Census Bureau publication. It is compiled from publicly accessible information (in particular (QWIPU_Data_Schema.pdf as of 2015-02-25) by Lars Vilhuber (Labor Dynamics Institute, Cornell University). Feedback is welcome. Please write us at lars.vilhuber@cornell.edu.

The public-use Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program are available for download with the following data schema. These data are available as Comma-Separated Value (CSV) files through the LEHD website’s Data page at http://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/ and at an (occassional) mirror site at http://download.vrdc.cornell.edu/qwipu/.

This document describes the data schema for QWI files. For each variable, a set of allowable values is defined. Definitions are provided as CSV files, with header variable definitions. The naming conventions of the data files is documented in lehd_csv_naming.html.

1. Basic Schema

Each file is structured as a CSV file. The first columns contain [identifiers], subsequent columns contain [indicators], followed by status flags.

1.1. Generic structure

Column name

[ Identifier1 ]

[ Identifier2 ]

[ Identifier3 ]

[ … ]

[ Indicator 1 ]

[ Indicator 2 ]

[ Indicator 3 ]

[ … ]

[ Status Flag 1 ]

[ Status Flag 2 ]

[ Status Flag 3 ]

[ … ]

Note: A full list of indicators for each type of file are shown below in the Indicators section. While all indicators are included in the CSV files, only the requested indicators will be included in data outputs from the LED Extraction Tool.

1.2. Identifiers

Records, unless otherwise noted, are parts of time-series data. Unique record identifiers are noted below, by file type. Identifiers without the year and quarter component can be considered a series identifier.

1.2.1. Identifiers for qwi

( lehd_identifiers_qwi.csv )

Variable Type label

periodicity

Char(1)

Periodicity of report

seasonadj

Char(1)

Seasonal Adjustment Indicator

geo_level

Char(1)

Group: Geographic level of aggregation

geography

Char(8)

Group: Geography code

ind_level

Char(1)

Group: Industry level of aggregation

industry

Char(5)

Group: Industry code

ownercode

Char(3)

Group: Ownership group code

sex

Char(1)

Group: Gender code

agegrp

Char(3)

Group: Age group code (WIA)

race

Char(2)

Group: race

ethnicity

Char(2)

Group: ethnicity

education

Char(2)

Group: education

firmage

Char(1)

Group: Firm Age group

firmsize

Char(1)

Group: Firm Size group

year

Num

Time: Year

quarter

Num

Time: Quarter

1.3. Indicators

The following tables and associated mapping files list the indicators available on each file. The 'Indicator Variable' is the short name of the variable on the CSV files, suitable for machine processing in a wide variety of statistical applications. When given, the 'Alternate name' may appear in related documentation and articles. The 'Status Flag' is used to indicate publication or data quality status (see Status Flags). The 'Indicator Name' is a more verbose description of the indicator.

( variables_qwipu.csv )

Indicator Variable Alternate name Status Flag Indicator Name

Emp

B

sEmp

Beginning-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

EmpEnd

E

sEmpEnd

End-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

EmpS

F

sEmpS

Full-Quarter Employment (Stable): Counts

EmpSpv

Fprev

sEmpSpv

Full-Quarter Employment in the Previous Quarter: Counts

EmpTotal

M

sEmpTotal

Employment - Reference Quarter: Counts

HirA

A

sHirA

Hires All: Counts (Accessions)

HirN

H1

sHirN

Hires New: Counts

HirR

R1

sHirR

Hires Recalls: Counts

Sep

S

sSep

Separations: Counts

HirAEnd

A2

sHirAEnd

End-of-Quarter Hires

HirAEndR

A2R

sHirAEndR

End-of-Quarter Hiring Rate

SepBeg

S2

sSepBeg

Beginning-of-Quarter Separations

SepBegR

S2R

sSepBegR

Beginning-of-Quarter Separation Rate

HirAs

A3

sHirAs

Hires All (Stable): Counts (Flows into Full-Quarter Employment)

HirNs

H3

sHirNs

Hires New (Stable): Counts (New Hires to Full-Quarter Status)

SepS

S3

sSepS

Separations (Stable): Counts (Flow out of Full-Quarter Employment)

SepSnx

S3R

sSepSnx

Separations (Stable): Next Quarter: Counts (Flow out of Full-Quarter Employment)

TurnOvrS

FT

sTurnOvrS

Turnover (Stable)

FrmJbGn

JC

sFrmJbGn

Firm Job Gains: Counts (Job Creation)

FrmJobLs

JD

sFrmJobLs

Firm Job Loss: Counts (Job Destruction)

FrmJbC

JF

sFrmJbC

Firm Job Change: Net Change

HirAEndRepl

EI

sHirAEndRepl

Replacement Hires

HirAEndReplr

EIR

sHirAEndReplr

Replacement Hiring Rate

FrmJbGnS

FJC

sFrmJbGnS

Firm Job Gains (Stable): Counts

FrmJbLsS

FJD

sFrmJbLsS

Firm Job Loss (Stable): Counts

FrmJbCS

FJF

sFrmJbCS

Job Change (Stable): Net Change

EarnS

ZW3

sEarnS

Full Quarter Employment (Stable): Average Monthly Earnings

EarnBeg

ZW1

sEarnBeg

Beginning-of-Quarter Employment: Average Monthly Earnings

EarnHirAS

ZWFA

sEarnHirAS

Hires All (Stable): Average Monthly Earnings

EarnHireNS

ZWFH

sEarnHireNS

Hires New (Stable): Average Monthly Earnings

EarnSepS

ZWFS

sEarnSepS

Separations (Stable): Average Monthly Earnings

Payroll

W1

sPayroll

Total Quarterly Payroll: Sum

2. Categorical Variables

Categorical variable descriptions are displayed above each table, with the variable name shown in parentheses. Unless otherwise stated, every possible value/label combination for each categorical variable is listed. Please note that not all values will be available in every table.

2.1. agegrp

( label_agegrp.csv )

agegrp label

A00

All Ages (14-99)

A01

14-18

A02

19-21

A03

22-24

A04

25-34

A05

35-44

A06

45-54

A07

55-64

A08

65-99

2.2. education

( label_education.csv )

education label

E0

All Education Categories

E1

Less than high school

E2

High school or equivalent, no college

E3

Some college or Associate degree

E4

Bachelor’s degree or advanced degree

E5

Educational attainment not available (workers aged 24 or younger)

2.3. ethnicity

( label_ethnicity.csv )

ethnicity label

A0

All Ethnicities

A1

Not Hispanic or Latino

A2

Hispanic or Latino

2.4. firmage

( label_firmage.csv )

firmage label

0

All Firm Ages

1

0-1 Years

2

2-3 Years

3

4-5 Years

4

6-10 Years

5

11+ Years

2.5. firmsize

( label_firmsize.csv )

firmsize label

0

All Firm Sizes

1

0-19 Employees

2

20-49 Employees

3

50-249 Employees

4

250-499 Employees

5

500+ Employees

2.6. ownercode

( label_ownercode.csv )

ownercode label

A00

All (1-5)

A05

All Private (5)

2.7. periodicity

( label_periodicity.csv )

periodicity label

A

Annual data

Q

Quarterly data

2.8. race

( label_race.csv )

race label

A0

All Races

A1

White Alone

A2

Black or African American Alone

A3

American Indian or Alaska Native Alone

A4

Asian Alone

A5

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander Alone

A6

Some Other Race Alone (Not Used)

A7

Two or More Race Groups

2.9. seasonadj

( label_seasonadj.csv )

seasonadj label

S

Seasonally adjusted

U

Not seasonally adjusted

2.10. sex

( label_sex.csv )

sex label

0

All Sexes

1

Male

2

Female

2.11. Industry

2.11.1. Industry levels

( label_ind_level.csv )

ind_level label

3

NAICS Subsectors

4

NAICS Industry Groups

A

All Industries

S

NAICS Sectors

2.11.2. Industry

( label_industry.csv )

Only a small subset of available values shown. The 2007 NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) is used for all years. For a full listing of all valid NAICS codes, see http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/.

industry label

00

All NAICS Sectors

000

All NAICS Subsectors

0000

All NAICS Industry Groups

11

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting

111

Crop Production

1111

Oilseed and Grain Farming

1112

Vegetable and Melon Farming

…

2382

Building Equipment Contractors

2383

Building Finishing Contractors

2389

Other Specialty Trade Contractors

31-33

Manufacturing

311

Food Manufacturing

3111

Animal Food Manufacturing

3112

Grain and Oilseed Milling

3113

Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing

…

2.12. Geography

2.12.1. Geographic levels

( label_geo_level.csv )

geo_level label

C

Counties

M

Metropolitan/Micropolitan

S

States

W

Workforce Investment Areas

Geography labels are provided in separate files by state. Note that cross-state CBSA will have state-specific parts, and thus will appear in multiple files. A separate label_fipsnum.csv contains values and labels for all entities of geo_level n or s, and is a summary of separately available files.

2.12.2. State-level values

( label_fipsnum.csv )

geography label

02

Alaska

01

Alabama

05

Arkansas

04

Arizona

06

California

08

Colorado

09

Connecticut

…

47

Tennessee

48

Texas

49

Utah

51

Virginia

50

Vermont

53

Washington

55

Wisconsin

54

West Virginia

2.12.3. Detailed state and substate level values

For a full listing of all valid geography codes, see http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger.html. Note about geography codes: Four types of geography codes are represented with this field. Each geography has its own code structure.

  • State is the 2-digit FIPS code.

  • County is the 5-digit FIPS code.

  • Metropolitan/Micropolitan codes are constructed from the 2-digit state FIPS code and the 5-digit CBSA code provided by the Census Bureau’s Geography Division.

    • In the QWI, the metropolitan/micropolitan areas are the state parts of the full CBSA areas.

  • The WIA code is constructed from the 2-digit state FIPS code and the 6-digit WIA identifier provided by LED State Partners.

The 2014 vintage of Census TIGER geography is used for all tabulations as of the 2014Q3 release.

State Format file

AK

label_geography_ak.csv

AL

label_geography_al.csv

AR

label_geography_ar.csv

AZ

label_geography_az.csv

CA

label_geography_ca.csv

CO

label_geography_co.csv

CT

label_geography_ct.csv

DC

label_geography_dc.csv

DE

label_geography_de.csv

FL

label_geography_fl.csv

GA

label_geography_ga.csv

HI

label_geography_hi.csv

IA

label_geography_ia.csv

ID

label_geography_id.csv

IL

label_geography_il.csv

IN

label_geography_in.csv

KS

label_geography_ks.csv

KY

label_geography_ky.csv

LA

label_geography_la.csv

MD

label_geography_md.csv

ME

label_geography_me.csv

MI

label_geography_mi.csv

MN

label_geography_mn.csv

MO

label_geography_mo.csv

MS

label_geography_ms.csv

MT

label_geography_mt.csv

NC

label_geography_nc.csv

ND

label_geography_nd.csv

NE

label_geography_ne.csv

NH

label_geography_nh.csv

NJ

label_geography_nj.csv

NM

label_geography_nm.csv

NV

label_geography_nv.csv

NY

label_geography_ny.csv

OH

label_geography_oh.csv

OK

label_geography_ok.csv

OR

label_geography_or.csv

PA

label_geography_pa.csv

RI

label_geography_ri.csv

SC

label_geography_sc.csv

SD

label_geography_sd.csv

TN

label_geography_tn.csv

TX

label_geography_tx.csv

UT

label_geography_ut.csv

VA

label_geography_va.csv

VT

label_geography_vt.csv

WA

label_geography_wa.csv

WI

label_geography_wi.csv

WV

label_geography_wv.csv

WY

label_geography_wy.csv

3. Status flags

( label_flags.csv )

Each status flag in the tables above contains one of the following valid values. The values and their interpretation are listed in the table below.

flag label

-2

no data available in this category for this quarter

-1

data not available to compute this estimate

1

OK

5

Value suppressed because it does not meet US Census Bureau publication standards.

6

Value calculated from other released measures - no significant distortion

7

Value calculated from other released measures - some of which have significantly distorted data

9

Data significantly distorted - fuzzed value released

10

Aggregate of cells - no significant distortion

11

Aggregate of cells not released because component cells do not meet U.S. Census Bureau publication standards

12

Aggregate of cells - some of which have significantly distorted data

4. Changes

From previous releases of this document:

  • 2015-02-25: added date of production (replaces Revision)

  • 2015-02-25: corrected flag values to reflect 2015 version of QWIPU_Data_Schema.pdf

  • 2015-02-25: added reference to source document

From previous versions of the schema:

  • v4.0: replaces v3.5

This version: Wed Feb 25 10:42:44 EST 2015