LEHD Public Use Data Schema V4.1-rc3

Important

This specification is draft. Feedback is welcome. Please write us at lars.vilhuber@census.gov.

1. Purpose

The public-use data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program, including the Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) and Job-to-Job Flows (J2J), 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 through LED Extraction Tool at http://ledextract.ces.census.gov/.

This document describes the data schema for LEHD files. LEHD-provided SHP files are separately described in lehd_shapefiles.html. For each variable, a set of allowable values is defined. Definitions are provided as CSV files, with header variable definitions. Changes relative to the original v4.0 version are listed at the end.

2. File naming

The naming conventions of the data files is documented in lehd_csv_naming.html.

3. Extends

This version reimplements some features from V4.0. Many files compliant with LEHD or QWI Schema v4.0 will also be compliant with this schema, but compatibility is not guaranteed.

4. Supersedes

This version supersedes V4.0.5, for files released as of RXXXX.

5. Basic Schema

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

5.1. 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.

5.2. 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.

5.2.1. Mapping for Identifiers

( lehd_mapping_identifiers.csv )

Each of the released files has a set of variables uniquely identifying records (Identifiers). The table below relates the set of identifier specifications to the released files. The actual CSV files containing the identifiers for each set are listed after this table. Each identifier can take on a specified list of values, documented in the section on Categorical Variables.

identifiers	QWI	NQWI	J2J	J2JR	J2JOD
lehd_identifiers_qwi	1	1
lehd_identifiers_j2j			1	1
lehd_identifiers_j2jod					1

5.2.2. Identifiers for j2j

( lehd_identifiers_j2j.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
agg_level	Num	Aggregation Level Indicator

5.2.3. Identifiers for j2jod

( lehd_identifiers_j2jod.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 of destination job
geography	Char(8)	Group: Geography code of destination job
ind_level	Char(1)	Group: Industry level of aggregation of destination job
industry	Char(5)	Group: Industry code of destination job
ownercode	Char(3)	Group: Ownership group code of destination job
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
agg_level	Num	Aggregation Level Indicator
geo_level_orig	Char(1)	Group: Geographic level of aggregation of origin job
geography_orig	Char(8)	Group: Geography code of origin job
ind_level_orig	Char(1)	Group: Industry level of aggregation of origin job
industry_orig	Char(5)	Group: Industry code of origin job
ownercode_orig	Char(3)	Group: Ownership group code of origin job
firmage_orig	Char(1)	Group: Firm Age group of origin job
firmsize_orig	Char(1)	Group: Firm Size group of origin job

5.2.4. 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

5.3. 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.

5.3.1. National QWI and state-level QWI (QWIPU)

( variables_qwi.csv )

Indicator Variable	Alternate name	Status Flag	Indicator Name	Units
Emp	B	sEmp	Beginning-of-Quarter Employment	Count
EmpEnd	E	sEmpEnd	End-of-Quarter Employment	Count
EmpS	F	sEmpS	Full-Quarter Employment (Stable)	Count
EmpSpv	Fpv	sEmpSpv	Full-Quarter Employment in the Previous Quarter	Count
EmpTotal	M	sEmpTotal	Employment - Reference Quarter	Count
HirA	A	sHirA	Hires (All Accessions)	Count
HirN	H	sHirN	New Hires	Count
HirR	R	sHirR	Recall Hires	Count
Sep	S	sSep	Separations (All)	Count
HirAEnd	CA	sHirAEnd	End-of-Quarter Hires	Count
HirAEndR	CAR	sHirAEndR	End-of-Quarter Hiring Rate	Rate
SepBeg	CS	sSepBeg	Beginning-of-Quarter Separations	Count
SepBegR	CSR	sSepBegR	Beginning-of-Quarter Separation Rate	Rate
HirAS	FA	sHirAS	Hires (All Hires into Full-Quarter Employment)	Count
HirNS	FH	sHirNS	New Hires (New Hires into Full-Quarter Employment)	Count
SepS	FS	sSepS	Separations (Flows out of Full-Quarter Employment)	Count
SepSnx	FSnx	sSepSnx	Separations in the Next Quarter (Flows out of Full-Quarter Employment)	Count
TurnOvrS	FT	sTurnOvrS	Turnover (Stable)	Rate
FrmJbGn	JC	sFrmJbGn	Firm Job Gains (Job Creation)	Count
FrmJbLs	JD	sFrmJbLs	Firm Job Loss (Job Destruction)	Count
FrmJbC	JF	sFrmJbC	Firm Job Change (Net Change)	Count
HirAEndRepl	EI	sHirAEndRepl	Replacement Hires	Count
HirAEndReplr	EIR	sHirAEndReplr	Replacement Hiring Rate	Rate
FrmJbGnS	FJC	sFrmJbGnS	Firm Job Gains (Stable)	Count
FrmJbLsS	FJD	sFrmJbLsS	Firm Job Loss (Stable)	Count
FrmJbCS	FJF	sFrmJbCS	Firm Job Change (Stable; Net Change)	Count
EarnS	ZW3	sEarnS	Average Monthly Earnings (Full-Quarter Employment)	Dollars
EarnBeg	ZW1	sEarnBeg	Average Monthly Earnings (Beginning-of-Quarter Employment)	Dollars
EarnHirAS	ZWFA	sEarnHirAS	Average Monthly Earnings (All Hires into Full-Quarter Employment)	Dollars
EarnHirNS	ZWFH	sEarnHirNS	Average Monthly Earnings (New Hires into Full-Quarter Employment)	Dollars
EarnSepS	ZWFS	sEarnSepS	Average Monthly Earnings (Flows out of Full-Quarter Employment)	Dollars
Payroll	W1	sPayroll	Total Quarterly Payroll	Dollars

5.3.2. National QWI and state-level QWI rates (QWIPUR)

Rates are computed from published data, and are provided as a convenience. The column Base indicates the denominator used to compute the rate.

( variables_qwir.csv )

Indicator Variable	Alternate name	Status Flag	Indicator Name	Units	Base
HirAR	AR	sHirAR	Hiring Rate (All Accessions)	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
HirNR	HR	sHirNR	New Hiring Rate	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
HirRR	RR	sHirRR	Recall Rate	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
SepR	SR	sSepR	Separation Rate (All Separations)	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
HirAEndR	CAR	sHirAEndR	End-of-Quarter Hiring Rate	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
SepBegR	CSR	sSepBegR	Beginning-of-Quarter Separation Rate	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
HirAsR	FAR	sHirAsR	Hiring Rate (Flows into Full-Quarter Employment)	Rate	(EmpSpv + EmpS)/2
HirNsR	FHR	sHirNsR	New Hiring Rate (New Hires to Full-Quarter Status)	Rate	(EmpSpv + EmpS)/2
SepSR	FSR	sSepSR	Separation Rate (Flows out of Full-Quarter Employment)	Rate	(EmpSpv + EmpS)/2
SepSnxR	FSnxR	sSepSnxR	Separation Rate in the Next Quarter (Flow out of Full-Quarter Employment)	Rate	(EmpSpv + EmpS)/2
TurnOvrSR	FTR	sTurnOvrSR	Turnover Rate (Stable)	Rate	2*EmpS
FrmJbGnR	JCR	sFrmJbGnR	Firm Job Gain Rate (Job Creation Rate)	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
FrmJbLsR	JDR	sFrmJbLsR	Firm Job Loss Rate (Job Destruction Rate)	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
FrmJbCR	JFR	sFrmJbCR	Firm Job Change Rate (Net Change Rate)	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
HirAEndReplR	EIR	sHirAEndReplR	Replacement Hiring Rate	Rate	(Emp + EmpEnd)/2
FrmJbGnSR	FJCR	sFrmJbGnSR	Firm Job Gain Rate (Stable)	Rate	(EmpSpv + EmpS)/2
FrmJbLsSR	FJDR	sFrmJbLsSR	Firm Job Loss Rate (Stable)	Rate	(EmpSpv + EmpS)/2
FrmJbCSR	FJFR	sFrmJbCSR	Firm Job Change Rate (Stable; Net Change Rate)	Rate	(EmpSpv + EmpS)/2

5.3.3. Job-to-job flow counts (J2J)

( variables_j2j.csv )

Indicator Variable	Alternate Name	Status Flag	Indicator Name	Units
MHire	all_doma2	sMHire	Hires	Count
MSep	all_doms2	sMSep	Separations	Count
MJobStart	all_dest	sMJobStart	Main Job Starts	Count
MJobEnd	all_orig	sMJobEnd	Main Job Ends	Count
EEHire	ee_doma2	sEEHire	Job-to-Job Hires (Continuous Employment)	Count
EESep	ee_doms2	sEESep	Job-to-Job Separations (Continuous Employment)	Count
AQHire	aq_doma2	sAQHire	Job-to-Job Hires (Brief Nonemployment)	Count
AQSep	aq_doms2	sAQSep	Job-to-Job Separations (Brief Nonemployment)	Count
J2JHire	eeall_doma2	sJ2JHire	Job-to-Job Hires	Count
J2JSep	eeall_doms2	sJ2JSep	Job-to-Job Separations	Count
NEHire	ne_doma2	sNEHire	Hires from Nonemployment	Count
ENSep	en_doms2	sENSep	Separations to Nonemployment	Count
NEPersist	ne2_doma2	sNEPersist	Hires from Persistent Nonemployment	Count
ENPersist	en2_doms2	sENPersist	Separations to Persistent Nonemployment	Count
NEFullQ	ne2p_doma2	sNEFullQ	Hires from Full-Quarter Nonemployment	Count
ENFullQ	en2p_doms2	sENFullQ	Separations to Full-Quarter Nonemployment	Count
MainB	domB	sMainB	Employment (Beginning of Quarter)	Count
MainE	domE	sMainE	Employment (End of Quarter)	Count

5.3.4. Job-to-job flow rates (J2JR)

( variables_j2jr.csv )

Rates are computed from published data, and are provided as a convenience. The column Base indicates the denominator used to compute the rate.

Indicator Variable	Alternate Name	Status Flag	Indicator Name	Units	Base
MHireR	all_doma2_rate	sMHireR	Hires	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
MSepR	all_doms2_rate	sMSepR	Separations	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
MJobStartR	all_dest_rate	sMJobStartRate	Main Job Starts	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
MJobEndR	all_orgin_rate	sMJobEndRate	Main Job Ends	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
EEHireR	eea_rate	sEEHireRate	Job-to-Job Hires (Continuous Employment)	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
EESepR	ees_rate	sEESepR	Job-to-Job Separations (Continuous Employment)	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
AQHireR	aq_doma2_rate	sAQHireR	Job-to-Job Hires (Brief Nonemployment)	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
AQSepR	aq_doms2_rate	sAQSepR	Job-to-Job Separations (Brief Nonemployment)	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
J2JHireR	eeall_doma2_rate	sJ2JHireR	Job-to-Job Hires	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
J2JSepR	eeall_doms2_rate	sJ2JSepR	Job-to-Job Separations	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
NEHireR	ne_doma2_rate	sNEHireR	Hires from Nonemployment	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
ENSepR	en_doms2_rate	sENSepR	Separations to Nonemployment	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
NEPersistR	ne2_doma2_rate	sNEPersistR	Hires from Persistent Nonemployment	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
ENPersistR	en2_doms2_rate	sENPersistR	Separations to Persistent Nonemployment	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
NEFullQR	ne2p_doma2_rate	sNEFullQR	Hires from Full-Quarter Nonemployment	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2
ENFullQR	en2p_doms2_rate	sENFullQR	Separations to Full-Quarter Nonemployment	Rate	(MainB+MainE)/2

5.3.5. Job-to-job flow Origin-Destination (J2JOD)

( variables_j2jod.csv )

Indicator Variable	Alternate Name	Status Flag	Indicator Name	Units
EE	ee	sEE	Job-to-Job Flows (Continuous Employment)	Count
AQHire	aq_doma2	sAQHire	Job-to-Job Flows (Brief Nonemployment)	Count
J2J	ee+aq_doma2	sJ2J	Job-to-Job Flows	Count
EEFullQ	fee	sEEFullQ	Stable Job-to-Job Flows (Continuous Employment)	Count
AQFullQHire	faq_doma2	sAQFullQHire	Stable Job-to-Job Flows (Brief Nonemployment)	Count
J2JFullQ	fee+faq_doma2	sJ2JFullQ	Stable Job-to-Job Flows	Count

5.4. Variability measures

The following tables and associated mapping files list the variability measures available on each file. The 'Variability Measure' 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 'Variable Name' is a more verbose description of the variability measure.

Six variability measures are published:

Total variability, prefixed by vt_
Standard error, prefixed by st_, and computed as the square root of Total Variability
Between-implicate variability, prefixed by vb_
Average within-implicate variability, prefixed by vw_
Degrees of freedom, prefixed by df_
Missingness ratio, prefixed by mr_

A missing variability measure indicates a structural zero in the corresponding indicator. This is currently not associated with a flag.

5.4.1. Generic structure

Column name
[ Identifier1 ]
[ Identifier2 ]
[ Identifier3 ]
[ … ]
[ Standard error for Indicator 1 ]
[ Standard error for Indicator 2 ]
[ Standard error for Indicator 3 ]
[ … ]
[ Total variation for Indicator 1 ]
[ Total variation for Indicator 2 ]
[ Total variation for Indicator 3 ]
[ … ]
[ Between-implicate variability for Indicator 1 ]
[ Between-implicate variability for Indicator 2 ]
[ Between-implicate variability for Indicator 3 ]
[ … ]
[ Average within-implicate variability for Indicator 1 ]
[ Average within-implicate variability for Indicator 2 ]
[ Average within-implicate variability for Indicator 3 ]
[ … ]
[ Degrees of freedom for Indicator 1 ]
[ Degrees of freedom for Indicator 2 ]
[ Degrees of freedom for Indicator 3 ]
[ … ]
[ Missingness ratio for Indicator 1 ]
[ Missingness ratio for Indicator 2 ]
[ Missingness ratio for Indicator 3 ]
[ … ]

Note: A full list of indicators for each type of file are shown in the Indicators section. In the tables below, only a sample of variability measures are printed, but the complete list is available in the linked CSV schema files.

5.4.2. National QWI and state-level QWI

( variables_qwiv.csv )

Variability measure	Alternate name	Variable name	Units
st_Emp	st_B	Standard error of Beginning-of-Quarter Employment	Count
st_EmpEnd	st_E	Standard error of End-of-Quarter Employment	Count
st_EmpS	st_F	Standard error of Full-Quarter Employment (Stable)	Count
…
vt_Emp	vt_B	Total variation of Beginning-of-Quarter Employment	Count
vt_EmpEnd	vt_E	Total variation of End-of-Quarter Employment	Count
vt_EmpS	vt_F	Total variation of Full-Quarter Employment (Stable)	Count
…
vb_Emp	vb_B	Between-implicate variability for Beginning-of-Quarter Employment	Count
vb_EmpEnd	vb_E	Between-implicate variability for End-of-Quarter Employment	Count
vb_EmpS	vb_F	Between-implicate variability for Full-Quarter Employment (Stable)	Count
…
…
df_Emp	df_B	Degrees of freedom for VT of Beginning-of-Quarter Employment	Count
df_EmpEnd	df_E	Degrees of freedom for VT of End-of-Quarter Employment	Count
df_EmpS	df_F	Degrees of freedom for VT of Full-Quarter Employment (Stable)	Count
…
mr_Emp	mr_B	Missingness ratio for Beginning-of-Quarter Employment	Count
mr_EmpEnd	mr_E	Missingness ratio for End-of-Quarter Employment	Count
mr_EmpS	mr_F	Missingness ratio for Full-Quarter Employment (Stable)	Count

5.4.3. National QWI and state-level QWI rates

( variables_qwirv.csv )

Variability measure	Alternate name	Variable name	Units
st_HirAR	st_AR	Standard error of Hiring Rate (All Accessions)	Rate
st_HirNR	st_HR	Standard error of New Hiring Rate	Rate
st_HirRR	st_RR	Standard error of Recall Rate	Rate
…
vt_HirAR	vt_AR	Total variation of Hiring Rate (All Accessions)	Rate
vt_HirNR	vt_HR	Total variation of New Hiring Rate	Rate
vt_HirRR	vt_RR	Total variation of Recall Rate	Rate
…
vb_HirAR	vb_AR	Between-implicate variability for Hiring Rate (All Accessions)	Rate
vb_HirNR	vb_HR	Between-implicate variability for New Hiring Rate	Rate
vb_HirRR	vb_RR	Between-implicate variability for Recall Rate	Rate
…
…
df_HirAR	df_AR	Degrees of freedom for VT of Hiring Rate (All Accessions)	Rate
df_HirNR	df_HR	Degrees of freedom for VT of New Hiring Rate	Rate
df_HirRR	df_RR	Degrees of freedom for VT of Recall Rate	Rate
…
mr_HirAR	mr_AR	Missingness ratio for Hiring Rate (All Accessions)	Rate
mr_HirNR	mr_HR	Missingness ratio for New Hiring Rate	Rate
mr_HirRR	mr_RR	Missingness ratio for Recall Rate	Rate

5.4.4. Job-to-job flow counts (J2J)

Soon.

5.4.5. Job-to-job flow rates (J2JR)

Soon.

5.4.6. Job-to-job flow Origin-Destination (J2JOD)

Soon.

6. 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.

6.1. 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

6.2. 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)

6.3. ethnicity

( label_ethnicity.csv )

ethnicity	label
A0	All Ethnicities
A1	Not Hispanic or Latino
A2	Hispanic or Latino

6.4. 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
N	Firm Age Not Available

6.5. 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
N	Firm Size Not Available

6.6. ownercode

( label_ownercode.csv )

ownercode	label
A00	All (1-5)
A01	Federal government
A05	All Private (5)

6.7. periodicity

( label_periodicity.csv )

periodicity	label
A	Annual data
Q	Quarterly data

6.8. quarter

( label_quarter.csv )

quarter	label
1	1st Quarter of the Year (January-March)
2	2nd Quarter of the Year (April-June)
3	3rd Quarter of the Year (July-September)
4	4th Quarter of the Year (October-December)

6.9. 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

6.10. seasonadj

( label_seasonadj.csv )

seasonadj	label
S	Seasonally adjusted
U	Not seasonally adjusted

6.11. sex

( label_sex.csv )

sex	label
0	All Sexes
1	Male
2	Female

6.12. stusps

( label_stusps.csv )

geography	stusps
01	AL
02	AK
04	AZ
05	AR
06	CA
08	CO
09	CT
10	DE
11	DC
12	FL
13	GA
15	HI
16	ID
17	IL
18	IN
19	IA
20	KS
21	KY
22	LA
23	ME
24	MD
25	MA
26	MI
27	MN
28	MS
29	MO
30	MT
31	NE
32	NV
33	NH
34	NJ
35	NM
36	NY
37	NC
38	ND
39	OH
40	OK
41	OR
42	PA
44	RI
45	SC
46	SD
47	TN
48	TX
49	UT
50	VT
51	VA
53	WA
54	WV
55	WI
56	WY
72	PR
78	VI

6.13. Industry

6.13.1. Industry levels

( label_ind_level.csv )

ind_level	label
A	All Industries
S	NAICS Sectors
3	NAICS Subsectors
4	NAICS Industry Groups

6.13.2. Industry

( label_industry.csv )

Only a small subset of available values shown. The 2012 NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) is used for all years. QWI releases prior to R2015Q3 used the 2007 NAICS classification (see Schema v4.0.1). For a full listing of all valid 2012 NAICS codes, see http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/sssd/naics/naicsrch?chart=2012.

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
…

6.14. Geography

6.14.1. Geographic levels

Geography labels for data files are provided in separate files, by scope. Each file label_geograpy_SCOPE.csv may contain one or more types of records as flagged by geo_level. For convenience, a composite file containing all geocodes is available as label_geography.csv. The 2015 vintage of Census TIGER/Line geography is used for all tabulations as of the R2015Q4 release.

Shapefiles are described in a separate document.

( label_geo_level.csv )

geo_level	label	description	sourceurl
B	Metropolitan/Micropolitan (complete)	Identifies 5-digit CBSA code provided by the Census Bureau’s Geography Division	http://www.census.gov/population/metro/
C	Counties	Identifies 5-digit FIPS code	https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/codes/cou.html
M	Metropolitan/Micropolitan (state part)	Identifies 7-digit code constructed from the 2-digit state FIPS code and the 5-digit CBSA code provided by the Census Bureau’s Geography Division
N	National (50 States + DC)	Custom code using 00 to denote national scope
S	States	Identifies 2-digit FIPS code (also called "ANSI" codes)	https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/ansi_statetables.html
W	Workforce Investment Areas	2-digit state FIPS code and the 6-digit WIA identifier provided by LED State Partners

6.14.2. National and state-level values

( label_fipsnum.csv )

The file label_fipsnum.csv contains values and labels for all entities of geo_level N or S, and is a summary of separately available files.

geography	label	geo_level
00	National (50 States + DC)	N
01	Alabama	S
02	Alaska	S
04	Arizona	S
05	Arkansas	S
06	California	S
08	Colorado	S
…
45	South Carolina	S
46	South Dakota	S
47	Tennessee	S
48	Texas	S
49	Utah	S
50	Vermont	S
51	Virginia	S
53	Washington	S

6.14.3. Detailed state and substate level values

Note: cross-state CBSA, in records of type geo_level = M, are present on files of type label_geography_XX.csv. A particular cross-state CBSA will appear on multiple files.

Scope	Format file
US	label_geography_us.csv
CBSA	label_geography_cbsa.csv
States
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
MA	label_geography_ma.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

6.15. Aggregation level

( label_agg_level.csv )

Measures within the J2J and QWI data products are tabulated on many different dimensions, including demographic characteristics, geography, industry, and other firm characteristics. For Origin-Destination (O-D) tables, characteristics of the origin and destination firm can be tabulated separately. Every tabulation level is assigned a unique aggregation index, represented by the agg_level variable. This index starts from 1, representing a national level grand total (all industries, workers, etc.), and progresses through different combinations of characteristics. There are gaps in the progression to leave space for aggregation levels that may be included in future data releases.

agg_level is currently reported only for J2J data products.

The following variables are included in the label_agg_level.csv file:

Variable	Description
agg_level	index representing level of aggregation reported on a given record
worker_char	demographic (worker) characteristics reported on record
firm_char	firm characteristics reported on record. These will be the characteristics of the destination firm in O-D tabulations
firm_orig_char	characteristics of origin firm reported on record (O-D tabulations only)
j2j	Flag: Aggregation level available on J2J counts tables
j2jr	Flag: Aggregation level available on J2J rates tables
j2jod	Flag: Aggregation level available on J2J O-D tables
qwi	Flag: Aggregation level available on QWI

The characteristics available on an aggregation level are repeated using a series of flags following the standard schema:

geo_level - geographic level of table
ind_level - industry level of table
by_ variables - flags indicating other dimensions reported, including ownership, demographics, firm age and size.

These flags will be expanded to include origin characteristics in a later release. A shortened representation of the file is provided below, the complete file is available in the link above.

agg_level	worker_char	firm_char	firm_orig_char	j2j	j2jr	j2jod	qwi	geo_level
1				1	1	1	0	N
2	Sex			1	1	1	0	N
3	Age			1	1	1	0	N
4	Sex * Age			1	1	1	0	N
5	Race			1	1	1	0	N
9	Ethnicity			1	1	1	0	N
13	Race * Ethnicity			1	1	1	0	N
…
129		Firm Size		1	1	1	0	N
257		NAICS Sector		1	1	1	0	N
513		NAICS Subsector		0	0	0	0	N
…
3329		NAICS Sector * CBSA-state part		1	1	1	0	B
12289			Origin [Firm Age]	0	0	1	0	N
12353		Destination [Firm Age]	Origin [Firm Age]	0	0	0	0	N
…

7. 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.

Important

Note: Currently, the J2J tables only contain status flags -1 and 1. Status flags with values 10 or above only appear in online applications, not in CSV files.

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

8. Changes

For a description of how schema files are versioned, see main directory.

8.1. This version (revisions)

2016-08-08: Initial release

8.2. Version 4.1-rc1 from 4.0.5

2016-08-08: Implemented select changes from V4.1d-draft: Key changes are
Changed structure of state-level geography labels (flat directory structure) e5dbe97
Describes National QWI files and J2J files (both of which are still in beta), added J2J, National QWI spec
added additional geo_level for CBSA (complete), additional description, sources in label_geo_level.csv 1eb399f,27a2674
2016-08-31: adjusted AL, AR, GA, IA, KY, LA, MN, MS, NM, PA, TN, TX metropolitan areas for 2016 geo vintage

8.2.1. In more detail

added geohi category of ALL, US, add naming_geohi.csv 89617e3
added naming convention for additional filesb
added agg_level variable 89617e3, 2149623
Changes to name of variable schema files (qwipu → qwi), addition of variability and rate variable schema files. 89617e3
Addition of a column identifying the type of variable on QWI 89617e3
Renamed file from QWIPU_Data_Schema.pdf to lehd_public_use_schema.pdf 89617e3
Addition of variable schema description for J2J 1a57250
Added a extension component [ext] to the file naming convention to reflect availability of Excel files (and PDF files) d9f8387 f7cc524
Updated documentation-generating scripts to the latest. Documents are now identified by date, not revision 8136f0c
Added a concatenation of geography files as label_geography.csv. 8136f0c, 39ecfc9
Added a column geo_level to all label_geography_* files a32bb4c
Changed fipsnum to force readin of FIPS as character, include geo_level, US. a32bb4c
Added additional legal values for firmage and firmsize, as used by J2J a32bb4c
Added Federal government to files (for National QWI) 942dd0a, 1654288
Clarified description of filenaming components 8888529, 8d580f6
Sundry small additional changes, building out the schema 28d7c6f
Changing of naming convention for to-be-released files based on federal government from fg → of. At this time, no such files have been released. 3a0975e

8.3. Version 4.1-rc2 from 4.1-rc1

2016-08-10: Added description,definition of SHP files
2016-08-11: Modified Indicator Names for J2J variable metadata.

8.4. Version 4.1-rc3 from 4.1-rc2

2016-08-31: adjusted AL, AR, GA, IA, KY, LA, MN, MS, NM, PA, TN, TX metropolitan areas for 2016 geo vintage

For additional details, please consult the previous draft versions:

This revision: Mon Sep 26 20:39:56 EDT 2016

geography	stusps
01	AL
02	AK
04	AZ
05	AR
06	CA
08	CO
09	CT
10	DE
11	DC
12	FL
13	GA
15	HI
16	ID
17	IL
18	IN
19	IA
20	KS
21	KY
22	LA
23	ME
24	MD
25	MA
26	MI
27	MN
28	MS
29	MO
30	MT
31	NE
32	NV
33	NH
34	NJ
35	NM
36	NY
37	NC
38	ND
39	OH
40	OK
41	OR
42	PA
44	RI
45	SC
46	SD
47	TN
48	TX
49	UT
50	VT
51	VA
53	WA
54	WV
55	WI
56	WY
72	PR
78	VI

geography	stusps
01	AL
02	AK
04	AZ
05	AR
06	CA
08	CO
09	CT
10	DE
11	DC
12	FL
13	GA
15	HI
16	ID
17	IL
18	IN
19	IA
20	KS
21	KY
22	LA
23	ME
24	MD
25	MA
26	MI
27	MN
28	MS
29	MO
30	MT
31	NE
32	NV
33	NH
34	NJ
35	NM
36	NY
37	NC
38	ND
39	OH
40	OK
41	OR
42	PA
44	RI
45	SC
46	SD
47	TN
48	TX
49	UT
50	VT
51	VA
53	WA
54	WV
55	WI
56	WY
72	PR
78	VI

geography	stusps
01	AL
02	AK
04	AZ
05	AR
06	CA
08	CO
09	CT
10	DE
11	DC
12	FL
13	GA
15	HI
16	ID
17	IL
18	IN
19	IA
20	KS
21	KY
22	LA
23	ME
24	MD
25	MA
26	MI
27	MN
28	MS
29	MO
30	MT
31	NE
32	NV
33	NH
34	NJ
35	NM
36	NY
37	NC
38	ND
39	OH
40	OK
41	OR
42	PA
44	RI
45	SC
46	SD
47	TN
48	TX
49	UT
50	VT
51	VA
53	WA
54	WV
55	WI
56	WY
72	PR
78	VI