Declining Worker Turnover: The Role of Short-Duration Employment Spells

Using the Quarterly Workforce Indicators database, we document that a significant amount of the decline in labor market turnover during the last two decades is accounted for by the decline in employment spells that last just one or two quarters. This phenomenon is pervasive: short-term employment spells have declined across industries, firm size categories, demographic groups, and geographic regions. Using a search-and-matching model in the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides tradition that incorporates noisy signals about the quality of a worker-firm match, we argue that improved screening by workers and firms can account for much of the decline in short-lived employment spells. (JEL E24, J23, J41, J63, M51)

Logging Industry in the United States: Employment and Profitability

This study analyzed logging industry employment and profitability in recent decades in the U.S. based on Occupational Employment Statistics (OES), Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI), Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), and Timber Product Output (TPO) Reports. The logging industry in the U.S. has experienced reduced employment with an aging workforce over the past two decades. The changes might be related to increased productivity from mechanization, combined with reduced demand for logging, but estimates of capital and labor productivity for logging are not available. To overcome the data limitation, a simple and cost-effective economic model, Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) Model, was applied to estimate the profitability of the entire industry at a state level. It was found that the reduced demand and increased operating costs led to poor profitability and a wave of closures of logging firms but also accelerated the adjustment in the logging industry. Serious challenges facing the forestry sector include the lack of an effective monitoring tool for the logging industry, structural shortage of logging labor, and rising operating costs.

Total Error and Variability Measures for the Quarterly Workforce Indicators and Lehd Origin-Destination Employment Statistics in Onthemap

We report results from the first comprehensive total quality evaluation of five major indicators in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Program Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI): total flow-employment, beginning-of-quarter employment, full-quarter employment, average monthly earnings of full-quarter employees, and total quarterly payroll. Beginning-of-quarter employment is also the main tabulation variable in the LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) workplace reports as displayed in OnTheMap (OTM), including OTM for Emergency Management. We account for errors due to coverage; record-level non-response; edit and imputation of item missing data; and statistical disclosure limitation. The analysis reveals that the five publication variables under study are estimated very accurately for tabulations involving at least 10 jobs. Tabulations involving three to nine jobs are a transition zone, where cells may be fit for use with caution. Tabulations involving one or two jobs, which are generally suppressed on fitness-for-use criteria in the QWI and synthesized in LODES, have substantial total variability but can still be used to estimate statistics for untabulated aggregates as long as the job count in the aggregate is more than 10.

Data Planet

This comprehensive and growing subscription database from SAGE Publishing is a repository of over 157 billion data points and 12.6 billion updated datasets from over 500 United States and international source providers and 80 vendors. This repository has aggregated and organized data from disparate, but authoritative, public, private, and commercial sources. The data is then transformed into a homogeneous library and informational product created with features, such as 37 metadata fields, to enhance organization and searchability. Subscribers, especially in the United States and in fields such as academia, business, and government and policy-making, can quickly access archived data using either one of two different powerful interfaces or alternatively, access data using the 287 hyperlinked Libguides or library guides and create Web pages of data called datasheets that serve as focal points for analyzing statistics of interest. Individuals are offered a variety of functions that assist with analyses and research, such as customizations, integrations, visualizations, and citing. For niche business research needs and for additional fees, the core resource can be bundled with any of the seven premium database products from high quality vendors. These databases include China Yearly Statistics, EASI Market Planner, InfoGroup Business USA, International Equities and Metals, Claritas Consumer Profiles, Claritas Financial and Insurance CLOUT™, and Quarterly Workforce Indicators.

Did the Housing Price Bubble Clobber Local Labor Market Job and Worker Flows When It Burst?

We use the Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators and the Federal Housing Finance Agency's House Price Indices to study the effects of the housing price bubble on local labor markets. We show that the 35 MSAs in the top decile of the house price boom were most severely impacted. Their stable job employment fell much more than the national average. Their real wage rates did not fall as fast as the national average. Accessions fell much faster than average while separations were constant. Job creations fell substantially while destructions rose slightly.