Important
Important

This specification is draft. Feedback is welcome. Please write us at ces.qwi.feedback@census.gov.

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/ .

This document describes the data schema for LEHD 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. Changes relative to the original v4.0 version are listed at the end.

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. Mapping for Identifiers

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 LODES

lehd_identifiers_qwi

1

1

lehd_identifiers_j2j

1

1

lehd_identifiers_j2jod

1

1.2.2. Identifiers for j2j

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

1.2.3. Identifiers for j2jod

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

1.2.4. Identifiers for qwi

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.

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

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

Fpv

sEmpSpv

Full-Quarter Employment in the Previous Quarter: Counts

EmpTotal

M

sEmpTotal

Employment - Reference Quarter: Counts

HirA

A

sHirA

Hires All: Counts (Accessions)

HirN

H

sHirN

Hires New: Counts

HirR

R

sHirR

Hires Recalls: Counts

Sep

S

sSep

Separations: Counts

HirAEnd

CA

sHirAEnd

End-of-Quarter Hires

HirAEndR

CAR

sHirAEndR

End-of-Quarter Hiring Rate

SepBeg

CS

sSepBeg

Beginning-of-Quarter Separations

SepBegR

CSR

sSepBegR

Beginning-of-Quarter Separation Rate

HirAS

FA

sHirAS

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

HirNS

FH

sHirNS

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

SepS

FS

sSepS

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

SepSnx

FSnx

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)

FrmJbLs

JD

sFrmJbLs

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

EarnHirNS

ZWFH

sEarnHirNS

Hires New (Stable): Average Monthly Earnings

EarnSepS

ZWFS

sEarnSepS

Separations (Stable): Average Monthly Earnings

Payroll

W1

sPayroll

Total Quarterly Payroll: Sum

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

Indicator Variable Alternate name Status Flag Indicator Name Base

HirAR

AR

sHirAR

Hiring Rate (Accessions)

AvgEmp

HirNR

HR

sHirNR

New Hiring Rate

AvgEmp

HirRR

RR

sHirRR

Recall Rate

AvgEmp

SepR

SR

sSepR

Separation Rate

AvgEmp

HirAEndR

CAR

sHirAEndR

End-of-Quarter Hiring Rate

AvgEmp

SepBegR

CSR

sSepBegR

Beginning-of-Quarter Separation Rate

AvgEmp

HirASR

FAR

sHirASR

Stable Hiring Rate (Flows into Full-Quarter Employment)

AvgEmpS

HirNSR

FHR

sHirNSR

Stable New Hiring Rate (New Hires to Full-Quarter Status)

AvgEmpS

SepSR

FSR

sSepSR

Stable Separation Rate (Flow out of Full-Quarter Employment)

AvgEmpS

SepSnxR

FSnxR

sSepSnxR

Stable Separation Rate: Next Quarter (Flow out of Full-Quarter Employment)

AvgEmpS

TurnOvrSR

FTR

sTurnOvrSR

Turnover Rate (Stable)

2*EmpS

FrmJbGnR

JCR

sFrmJbGnR

Firm Job Gain Rate (Job Creation Rate)

AvgEmp

FrmJbLsR

JDR

sFrmJbLsR

Firm Job Loss Rate (Job Destruction Rate)

AvgEmp

FrmJbCR

JFR

sFrmJbCR

Firm Job Change Rate: Net Change Rate

AvgEmp

HirAEndReplR

EIR

sHirAEndReplR

Replacement Hiring Rate

AvgEmp

FrmJbGnSR

FJCR

sFrmJbGnSR

Firm Job Gain Rate (Stable)

AvgEmpS

FrmJbLsSR

FJDR

sFrmJbLsSR

Firm Job Loss Rate (Stable)

AvgEmpS

FrmJbCSR

FJFR

sFrmJbCSR

Job Change Rate (Stable): Net Change Rate

AvgEmpS

where the column Base indicates the denominator used to compute the rate, with AvgEmp = (Emp + EmpEnd)/2 and AvgEmpS = (EmpSpv + EmpS)/2.

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

Indicator Variable Alternate name Status Flag Indicator Name

MHire

all_doma2

sMHire

Main Job Accessions - Counts

MSep

all_doms2

sMSep

Main Job Separations - Counts

MJobStart

all_dest

sMJobStart

Main Job Starts - Counts (hires + main source of earnings changes)

MJobEnd

all_orig

sMJobEnd

Main Job Ends - Counts (separations + main source of earnings changes)

EEHire

ee_doma2

sEEHire

EE Accessions - Counts

EESep

ee_doms2

sEESep

EE Separations - Counts

AQHire

aq_doma2

sAQHire

AQ Accessions - Short Duration Nonemployment Spell - Counts

AQSep

aq_doms2

sAQSep

AQ Separations - Short Duration Nonemployment Spell - Counts

J2JHire

eeall_doma2

sJ2JHire

Job-to-Job Accessions - Counts

J2JSep

eeall_doms2

sJ2JSep

Job-to-Job Separations - Counts

NEHire

ne_doma2

sNEHire

Main Job Accessions - Any Nonemployment Spell - Counts

ENSep

en_doms2

sENSep

Main Job Separations - Any Nonemployment Spell - Counts

NEPersist

ne2_doma2

sNEPersist

Main Job Accessions - Persistent Nonemployment Spell - Counts

ENPersist

en2_doms2

sENPersist

Main Job Separations - Persistent Nonemployment Spell - Counts

NEFullQ

ne2p_doma2

sNEFullQ

Main Job Accessions - Full-qtr Nonemployment Spell - Counts

ENFullQ

en2p_doms2

sENFullQ

Main Job Separations - Full-qtr Nonemployment Spell - Counts

MainB

domB

sMainB

Main Job - Beginning of Quarter - Counts

MainE

domE

sMainE

Main Job - End of Quarter - Counts

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

Indicator Variable Alternate name Status Flag Indicator Name Base

MHireR

all_doma2_rate

sMHireR

Main Job Accessions - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

MSepR

all_doms2_rate

sMSepR

Main Job 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

EE Accessions - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

EESepR

ees_rate

sEESepR

EE Separations - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

AQHireR

aq_doma2_rate

sAQHireR

AQ Accessions - Short Duration Nonemployment Spell - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

AQSepR

aq_doms2_rate

sAQSepR

AQ Separations - Short Duration Nonemployment Spell - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

J2JHireR

eeall_doma2_rate

sJ2JHireR

Job-to-Job Accessions - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

J2JSepR

eeall_doms2_rate

sJ2JSepR

Job-to-Job Separations - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

NEHireR

ne_doma2_rate

sNEHireR

Main Job Accessions - Any Nonemployment Spell - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

ENSepR

en_doms2_rate

sENSepR

Main Job Separations - Any Nonemployment Spell - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

NEPersistR

ne2_doma2_rate

sNEPersistR

Main Job Accessions - Persistent Nonemployment Spell - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

ENPersistR

en2_doms2_rate

sENPersistR

Main Job Separations - Persistent Nonemployment Spell - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

NEFullQR

ne2p_doma2_rate

sNEFullQR

Main Job Accessions - Full-qtr Nonemployment Spell - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

ENFullQR

en2p_doms2_rate

sENFullQR

Main Job Separations - Full-qtr Nonemployment Spell - Rate

(MainB+MainE)/2

where the column Base indicates the denominator used to compute the rate.

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

Indicator Variable Alternate name Status Flag Indicator Name

EE

ee

sEE

Direct Job Flows - Counts

AQHire

aq_doma2

sAQHire

Main Job Accessions - Short Nonemployment Spell - Counts

EEFullQ

fee

sEEFullQ

Stable Job to Stable Job Direct Flows - Counts

AQFullQHire

faq_doma2

sAQFullQHire

Stable Job Accessions From Stable Jobs - Short Nonemployment Spell Between Jobs - Counts

1.4. 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.

1.4.1. 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.

1.4.2. National QWI and state-level QWI

Variability measure Alternate name Variable name

st_Emp

st_B

Standard error of Beginning-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

st_EmpEnd

st_E

Standard error of End-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

st_EmpS

st_F

Standard error of Full-Quarter Employment (Stable): Counts

vt_Emp

vt_B

Total variation of Beginning-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

vt_EmpEnd

vt_E

Total variation of End-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

vt_EmpS

vt_F

Total variation of Full-Quarter Employment (Stable): Counts

vb_Emp

vb_B

Between-implicate variability for Beginning-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

vb_EmpEnd

vb_E

Between-implicate variability for End-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

vb_EmpS

vb_F

Between-implicate variability for Full-Quarter Employment (Stable): Counts

df_Emp

df_B

Degrees of freedom for VT of Beginning-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

df_EmpEnd

df_E

Degrees of freedom for VT of End-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

df_EmpS

df_F

Degrees of freedom for VT of Full-Quarter Employment (Stable): Counts

mr_Emp

mr_B

Missingness ratio for Beginning-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

mr_EmpEnd

mr_E

Missingness ratio for End-of-Quarter Employment: Counts

mr_EmpS

mr_F

Missingness ratio for Full-Quarter Employment (Stable): Counts

1.4.3. National QWI and state-level QWI rates

Variability measure Alternate name Variable name

st_HirAR

st_AR

Standard error of Hiring Rate (Accessions)

st_HirNR

st_HR

Standard error of New Hiring Rate

st_HirRR

st_RR

Standard error of Recall Rate

vt_HirAR

vt_AR

Total variation of Hiring Rate (Accessions)

vt_HirNR

vt_HR

Total variation of New Hiring Rate

vt_HirRR

vt_RR

Total variation of Recall Rate

vb_HirAR

vb_AR

Between-implicate variability for Hiring Rate (Accessions)

vb_HirNR

vb_HR

Between-implicate variability for New Hiring Rate

vb_HirRR

vb_RR

Between-implicate variability for Recall Rate

df_HirAR

df_AR

Degrees of freedom for VT of Hiring Rate (Accessions)

df_HirNR

df_HR

Degrees of freedom for VT of New Hiring Rate

df_HirRR

df_RR

Degrees of freedom for VT of Recall Rate

mr_HirAR

mr_AR

Missingness ratio for Hiring Rate (Accessions)

mr_HirNR

mr_HR

Missingness ratio for New Hiring Rate

mr_HirRR

mr_RR

Missingness ratio for Recall Rate

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

Soon.

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

Soon.

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

Soon.

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

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

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

ethnicity label

A0

All Ethnicities

A1

Not Hispanic or Latino

A2

Hispanic or Latino

2.4. firmage

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

2.5. firmsize

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

2.6. ownercode

ownercode label

A00

All (1-5)

A01

Federal government

A05

All Private (5)

2.7. periodicity

periodicity label

A

Annual data

Q

Quarterly data

2.8. quarter

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)

2.9. race

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

2.10. seasonadj

seasonadj label

S

Seasonally adjusted

U

Not seasonally adjusted

2.11. sex

sex label

0

All Sexes

1

Male

2

Female

2.12. Industry

2.12.1. Industry levels

ind_level label

A

All Industries

S

NAICS Sectors

3

NAICS Subsectors

4

NAICS Industry Groups

2.12.2. Industry

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

2.13. Geography

2.13.1. Geographic levels

geo_level label

C

Counties

M

Metropolitan/Micropolitan

N

National (50 States + DC)

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.

2.13.2. National and state-level values

geography label

00

National (50 States + DC)

01

Alabama

02

Alaska

04

Arizona

05

Arkansas

06

California

08

Colorado

45

South Carolina

46

South Dakota

47

Tennessee

48

Texas

49

Utah

50

Vermont

51

Virginia

53

Washington

2.13.3. Detailed state and substate level values

For a full listing of all valid geography codes (except for WIA 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. us stands for national scope.

  • 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.

    • In J2J, tabulations are based on the complete metropolitan/micropolitan area.

  • 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 R2014Q3 release.

For convenience, a composite file containing all geocodes is available as label_geography_all.csv.

2.14. Aggregation level

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 agg_level.csv file:

  • 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. In origin-destination tabulations, these will be the characteristics of the destination firm.

  • 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 (placeholder for future integration)

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

  • geo_level - geographic level of table, as per 2.13.1.

  • ind_level - industry level of table, as per 2.12.1.

  • 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

1025

State

1

1

1

0

S

12353

Destination [Firm Age]

Origin [Firm Age]

0

0

0

0

N

13313

Destination [State]

Origin [Firm Age]

0

0

1

0

S

13377

Destination [Firm Age * State]

Origin [Firm Age]

0

0

1

0

S

3. Status flags

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
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

4. Changes

4.1. This version from previous releases of this document

  • 2015-02-25: corrected flag values

  • 2015-02-25: documents are now identified by date, not revision

  • 2015-03-10: Correction of the TIGER vintage that is used for geographic references

  • 2015-03-11: Added URL for J2J

  • 2015-03-11: Correction of typo in type naming convention, rename of naming_fipsalpha.csv to naming_geohi.csv to be consistent.

  • 2015-03-17: 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.

  • 2015-04-24: Changes to alternate name of SepSnx and EmpSpv, tentative rate names

  • 2015-04-26: Changes to name of variable schema files (qwipu → qwi), addition of variability variable schema files.

  • 2015-04-28: Fixed small typos in QWI variable short names

  • 2015-05-18: Updated agg_level description, replaced agg_level.csv file

  • 2015-05-22: Fixed minor rendering bug for QWI rate variability names. No change to actual metadata.

  • 2015-06-09: Fixed a minor coding error in label_fipsnum.csv, added a concatenation of geography files as label_geography_all.csv.

  • 2015-08-07: Minor text change for agg_level, modified agg_level file.

  • 2015-08-12: Removed the last 4 rows of variables_j2jod.csv, since they are not on the current beta J2JOD files.

  • 2015-08-25: Added a extension component [ext] to the file naming convention to reflect availability of Excel files (and PDF files)

  • 2016-03-16: Removed extraneous empty lines

  • 2016-04-12: Fixed typo in variables_qwi.csv (FrmJbLsS, EarnHirNS and status variables)

  • 2016-04-13: Fixed typo in variables_qwi.csv (HirAS, HirNS, and status variables)

  • 2016-04-13: Fixed typo in variables_qwi*v.csv (HirAS, HirNS)

4.2. Version 4.1c-draft from 4.0

  • added J2J, National QWI spec

  • added geohi category of ALL, US

  • added definitions of variability measures

  • added definitions of rates on separate file

  • added naming convention for additional files

  • added agg_level variable

This revision: Wed Apr 13 08:35:56 EDT 2016