Improvements in the BLS Business Register Richard Clayton David Talan 12th Meeting of the Group of Experts on Business Registers Paris, France September 14-15, 2011

Outline Concepts and Sources Reducing Respondent Burden Data Sharing New Statistical Products

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Quarterly census of employers covered under UI and federal employers covered under UCFE 98% of U.S. Employment

QCEW – Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Quarterly data (frequent) Released 6 months after reference period - timely 9.1 million records and growing 130 million in employment Units, employment and wages 6 digit NAICS and county, ownership  20 million data series available on the BLS website UI based, mandatory collections to run UI  Wages- 98% reported data  Employment- 97% reported data  Units- 95% reported data 4

Investment in Quality Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)  Administrative data from Unemployment Insurance filings (UI)  Huge investment in improving raw administrative data  Two supplemental collections – ARS- Annual Refiling Survey – MWR- Multiple Worksite Report

Independent Validation Checks Current Employment Statistics Survey  Monthly Survey of Employment and Earners  400,000 establishments  Detailed industry and geographic estimates Individual Wage Records  National  State 6

Highly Accurate Data Thorough editing and review at the state, regional, and national levels each quarter 196 Interactive Edits QCEW staff contact businesses to validate or correct questionable data and/or provide missing data (probably unique in this respect) Development of new processing system with even more powerful editing and review capabilities 7

QCEW Concepts Employer Establishment Reporting unit Multi-establishment employer QCEW

Business Register Sources UI Status Determination Form UI Quarterly Contribution Report BLS Multiple Worksite Report BLS Federal Government Report BLS Annual Refiling Survey Forms

Status Determination Form Data obtained: UI account number business name business address employer identification number ownership status industry status multi-establishment employer status predecessor information

Quarterly UI Contribution Report Data obtained: monthly employment total wages taxable wages employer contributions

Multiple Worksite Report Data obtained: establishment address worksite description monthly employment by establishment total wages by establishment

Federal Government Report Federal employment and wages All Federal worksites report electronically

Annual Refiling Forms Verify and update: industry codes geographic codes ownership status business names and addresses multi-establishment status

BLS Business Register Updated each quarter Over 9 million records Longitudinal database Linked to create a time series for each establishment BLS Business Register

Reducing Response Rates Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Center Touchtone Data Collection Web Collection

EDI Center Established in 1995 Purpose: Collect data electronically from large firms in multiple states The EDI Center collects 24% of the nation’s establishments representing 20% of employment The EDI Center has improved response rates and productivity while reducing costs and respondent burden

Touchtone Data Collection Established in 2002 Purpose: Collect data from respondents to the Annual Refile Survey Touchtone Data Entry (TDE) accounts for about 29% of ARS respondents TDE has improved response rates and productivity while reducing costs and respondent burden

MWR Internet Web Collection Established in 2007 Purpose: Collect data from respondents to the MWR MWR Web accounts for about 13% of total employment and 10% of establishments MWR Web has improved response rates and productivity while reducing costs and respondent burden

Data Sharing Bureau of Economic Analysis Census Bureau National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Future Data Sharing Plans

Bureau of Economic Analysis Receives Employment and Wage Data every quarter Used to prepare the Personal Income component of the National Income and Products Accounts at the national, state and county level QCEW wages represent 94% of the wage and salary component of Personal Income and 42.5% of GDP 21

Census Bureau Receives industry codes every quarter. Used in the Census Business Register to help classify new establishments. In FY2011, BLS supplied Census with 3.3 million matched firm records This data sharing project reduces respondent burden, improves industry codes for Census, and helps to create consistent statistical products 22

NOAA Used to develop ocean economy economic indicators of employment and wages at the national, state and county level This data sharing project is helping NOAA develop new social science tools and methods used to address the nation’s coastal issues napshots/index.html napshots/index.html 23

Future Data Sharing Plans More Data Sharing with Census:  Sharing Multi-units data  Sharing Professional Employer Organization (PEO) data Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service 24

Continuous Progress and Improvements 1991 –1992:Multiple Worksite Reports - county Level 2001:Longitudinal Database completed 1998 – 2001 :NAICS Implemented 2002:Quarterly Publication Initiated 2003:Business Employment Dynamics (BED) :Geocoding started 2004 : NAICS History Released (Sept 2004) 4 Week Acceleration Completed 2005: BED Firm Size Data 2007 : NAICS 2007 Conversion (2007/Q1) 2010 : QCEW Mapping Tool BED Expansion

UI Tax Rate & Actuarial Analysis UI-Covered Employment Local Area Unemployment Personal Income (BEA) Gross Domestic Product (BEA) Economic Forecasting Current Employment Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics Job Creation/Destruction Size Class Dynamics Business Survival Rates Geocoded Establishments Occupational Employment Statistics Occupational Safety and Health Statistics Current Employment Statistics National Compensation Survey Industrial Price Program Occupational Safety and Health Statistics Programmatic Uses Benchmarking (Employment Base) General Economic Uses Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages Data (QCEW/ Analytical Uses Sampling Mass Layoff Statistics State Revenue Projections Jobs Openings & Labor Turnover Survey Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey Quarterly Press Releases, Annual Employment and Wages Local Economic Development Indicators Clusters Analysis Shift Share Industry Diversity Indexes Location Quotients Federal Funds Allocation $175 Billion (HUD, USDA, HCFA/CHIP) Minimum Wage Studies Uses Of Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Data (QCEW) Local Economic Impact Response Planning Local Government Services Planning Interagency Data Uses Improve CPS After 2000 Census LEHD Industry Code Sharing Local Transportation Planning

Employment and Wage Data number of establishments, monthly employment, and quarterly wages Available by: geographical area industry code size WAGE S

QCEW Publications Annual Bulletin via the Web  Employment and Wages  Released in Fall After Year’s End Quarterly Press Releases  County Employment and Wages  Business Employment Dynamics

Timeliness January 1 – March 31 = Reference Quarter March 31 – April 30 = Reporting Period May 1 – July 29 = UI Processing QCEW Extract from UI QCEW Edit & Review July 30 – Sept 28 = State File sent to BLS BLS Review State Updates Received September 29, 2011 = Publication Lag = 6 months

QCEW Mapping Tool 31

QCEW Mapping Tool 32

Uses of Geocoded Data 33

Business Employment Dynamics (BED) Linked longitudinally QCEW data to create a time series – Unit of analysis is the Establishment Scope – Private sector, excludes private households 6.8 million establishments 107 million employment Reveals the dynamics of the labor market. Shows gross flows as well as net employment changes

36 Uses Business Demography data: Provides policy-relevant series at all levels of government Assesses the employment dynamics of the business cycle Provides new indicators on the health of the labor market

BED Data Series Available National Total Private National NAICS Sector National Firm Size State Total Private Size of Employment Change (National) Annual (National/State) Birth Death (National/State) Age/Survival (National) September 2003 May 2004 December 2005 August 2007 September 2008 May 19, 2009 August,

Gross job gains Gross job losses

Expansions Contractions Openings Closings

40

Survival Rates Across Cohorts 42

Accessing the QCEW and BED Macrodata BED: QCEW:

Contact Information Richard Clayton David Talan