February 2009 No.3
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Articles:
A History of the Illinois Oil Industry
A Different Perspective on Outsourcing and
Offshoring
New LED Applications Allow for Local Workforce Analysis
You may be familiar with the QWI Online application available through the LMI Source option of the Illinois Department of Employment Security’s One Source Web site at http://www.ILWorkInfo.com. Now, IDES has implemented two new applications that allow in-depth local workforce analysis
while still maintaining confi dentiality. These applications are products of Local Employment Dynamics (LED), a partnership between the U.S. Census Bureau and the states. The data used in these three applications is gathered by combining state Labor Market Information (LMI) from unemployment wage records and from businesses each quarter with demographic data gathered by the Census Bureau.
These applications are useful for business owners, workers, career planners, job seekers, urban planners, people relocating for work, and others. This article includes a brief description of each application and the features it offers. Information is also available through the U.S. Census Bureau’s Web site
and by contacting the Manager of the Local Employment Dynamics program, Allan Ross, at Allan.Ross@Illinois.gov.
QWI
http://lmi.ides.state.il.us/LED/qwi.htm
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The Quarterly Workforce Indicator (QWI) program uses eight indicators to provide a dataset that represents the economic conditions of a particular area. These indicators are:
• Total Employment
• Net Job Flows
• Job Creation
• New Hires
• Separations
• Turnover
• Average Monthly Earnings
• Average New Hire Earnings
The information is available for several geographic areas: Workforce Investment Areas, Metropolitan Statistical Areas and counties within Illinois. The
data can be further customized by selecting specific industries or by specifying demographic information such as age and sex. Quarterly data are available back to 1990. The QWI application also has features that allow the user to download data sets and to compare detailed reports. Below you can see a screen shot of the QWI application on the LMI Source.
The QWI application allows the user to compare Workforce Indicators over time and analyze trends according to their geographic, industrial and demographic preferences.
Industry Focus
http://lmi.ides.state.il.us/LED/industry_focus/default.htm
Industry Focus is a newly-implemented application that gives the user an in-depth perspective on industries within the state of Illinois. Top industries are reported using eight workforce indicators, and can be customized to a specific geographic area, age demographic, or gender. Reports can be created using any combination of workforce indicators. The indicators are:
• Growth in Employment
• Growth in Hiring
• Number of New Hires
• Firm Job Change
• Average Monthly Earnings for All Workers
• Growth in Average Monthly Earnings for All Workers
• Average Monthly Earnings for New Hires
This information is invaluable for employers, developers, job seekers and others. A screen shot of the application is on the previous page: The user is able to select the options that best fit their needs and then either view the report on the Web browser, download the report in Excel Comma Separated Values (CSV) format, or create a PDF document containing the report.
OnTheMap
http://lmi.ides.state.il.us/led/on_the_map/default.htm
OnTheMap is an extremely powerful tool that shows the relationship between where workers work and where workers live. User-defined maps show where workers live or where resident workers are employed, to a Census Block Group level and can be customized by age, earnings, industry distributions, and local workforce indicators. Data is available for years 2002-2006, and the maps can be animated to see the change between years. Reports can be produced from query results and are available in several formats: HTML, Excel (XLS), Map and Report PDF, and Report-only PDF. In addition, a text-only version of the application is available.
There are three types of analyses available through OnTheMap:
• A Commute Shed analysis produces a map showing where an area’s employed residents work.
• A Labor Shed analysis produces a map that shows where an area’s workers live.
• An Area Profile report provides demographic information for workers in the selected area.
An example of a map is below. It is a Commute Shed analysis of ZIP code 61528, outlined in red. As you can see from the map, most people commute to the east for work with the darker shaded area indicating a higher concentration of workers from 61528.
The OnTheMap application was developed as a collaboration between the U.S. Census Bureau, its Local Employment Dynamics (LED) partner states, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. Final compilations and confidentiality modeling are performed by the Census Bureau.
