Random Samplings

A Look at Workforce Statistics from the EEO Tabulation

Posted on December 6, 2012 by jennifer

Written by: Jennifer Cheeseman Day

Last week, an important milestone marked the maturity of the American Community Survey as an extension of the decennial census program. We released the Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation, which for the first time is based on the American Community Survey. Previously, this tabulation could only be accomplished using the decennial census long form.

This tabulation harnesses the full power of the vast statistics available from the American Community Survey, allowing us to look at the intersection of race, ethnicity and sex across detailed occupations for more than 6,500 unique geographic entities. The data for this tabulation were collected from 2006 to 2010.

These EEO tabulations provide a treasure trove of interesting statistics about who comprises the American workforce. For example, did you know you could use the estimates to determine that 110 financial analysts work in Los Angeles County and live in Orange County, Calif.? Or that 22 percent of flight attendants in Atlanta are between 40 and 44 years old? Or that 7.7 percent of cashiers in Austin, Texas, are non-Hispanic Asian and 5.0 percent of mechanical engineers in the transportation equipment manufacturing industry in Michigan are non-Hispanic black? These are just a few of the workforce characteristics we can learn through the American Community Survey statistics that are part of the EEO Tabulation.

Without the American Community Survey, these detailed tabulations, created for four sponsoring federal agencies, would not be possible. This immense tabulation serves as the primary benchmark for organizations wishing to compare the diversity of their labor force with the diversity of the areas from which they draw their workers, and for the federal government to monitor and enforce compliance with civil rights laws.

So what is the American Community Survey? It is the largest survey in the United States with a sample size of about 3.5 million housing unit addresses annually. Statistics are collected on an ongoing basis and yield aggregate estimates every year. The ACS is designed to address the nation’s need for more current information on the characteristics of its population and housing.

The EEO tabulations are just one of many ways that communities use the American Community Survey to make decisions. The cumulative sample of the ACS taken over a five-year time period allows measurement of detailed characteristics in local geographies and increases precision of its estimates.

Here are some other examples of ACS statistics in action from the National Association of Home Builders, the Greater Houston Partnership and Target.

Today we released 2007 to 2011 American Community Survey estimates, giving you the ability to explore a variety of topics about your hometown and communities throughout the country. You can also explore the already-released EEO tabulations here.

Posted in Economy | Tagged American Community Survey | Leave a comment

Measuring Workforce Diversity

Posted on November 28, 2012 by jennifer

Written by: Jennifer Cheeseman Day

Have you ever wondered about the diversity of your occupation? What is its demographic composition, age distribution, educational attainment, earnings ranges, percent U.S. citizen, or from where people are commuting? These questions and more can be answered using the new Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Tabulation, which will be available tomorrow, Nov. 29.

For the past five decades, the Census Bureau has had the job of measuring the diversity of the American workforce. After the decennial censuses of 1970, ’80, ’90, and 2000, we published the “EEO Special File” tabulation, a comprehensive set of tables of the civilian workforce showing the demographic characteristics of sex, race, and ethnicity, by detailed occupation, for the nation, states, metro areas, counties, and places.

This immense tabulation serves as the primary benchmark for organizations wishing to compare the diversity of their labor force with the diversity of the areas from which they draw their workers, and for the federal government to monitor and enforce compliance with civil rights laws. We are now publishing a new version of the EEO Tabulation based on the five-year American Community Survey (2006-2010) for the first time.

The new EEO Tabulation consists of 107 tables with about 6,500 different geographic entities, for residence, worksite, and commuting flows (that is, the connections between where people work and where they live). The tables include 488 detailed occupation categories based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification, 15 different race and ethnicity group combinations, and – for the first time – citizenship. The tables cover a wealth of additional information, including age, industry, earnings, educational attainment, and unemployment status.

This tabulation is so detailed, it took more than 1 trillion calculations to complete, yielding more than 19 billion statistics.

The Census Bureau created the EEO Tabulation for four sponsoring agencies: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Economists, researchers, and business leaders will find that these statistics are the only source for counts of workers in specific occupations by sex, race and ethnicity, crossed by specific characteristics at such a local geographic level. City planners will find that the tables provide extensive information on the movements of different populations between worksites and the communities in which they live. Researchers can explore the relationship between civil rights laws and equality in work opportunities. Labor specialists can study the geographic patterns in work opportunities or other geographic patterns in labor force characteristics.

These tabulations will be released tomorrow. We hope that by publishing this rich information source, easily accessible through the American FactFinder on-line statistics search tool, it will help people in many fields discover new things about the American workforce.

If you would like to learn more, visit the Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation page.

Posted in Data Tools, Economy | Tagged American Community Survey, labor force | Leave a comment

The Graying of American Households

Posted on November 15, 2012 by jennifer

Written by: Jonathan Vespa and Jamie Lewis Thomas

New statistics released today show that American households are increasingly older, with 39 percent headed by someone 45 to 64 years old. In addition, the percentage headed by someone at least age 75 grew from 6 percent in 1960 to 10 percent in 2012.

But where do these older Americans live? Are there variations by region?

Some areas of the country are aging faster than others (see Figure). The Northeast region has the smallest share of under-30 households at 11 percent. Among households headed by 30- to 44-year-olds, the West had the largest share at 28 percent, followed by the South at 27 percent. The Northeast and Midwest have the smallest shares at 25 percent (and are not statistically different from one another).

In addition to having the smallest share of younger households, we also see more older households in the Northeast. Households headed by those 75 and older are concentrated in the Northeast, which has the largest share at 12 percent. The West has the smallest at 9 percent.

Although the tables released today do not explore these potential explanations, several factors may influence regional variation in the age of householders. These factors include the health of the older population, the strength of the job market in particular geographic areas, and geographic concentrations of immigrant populations, which tend to be younger than the native-born. For more information on immigrant populations, see the U.S. Census Bureau’s report on the foreign-born.

More detail about these trends and information on the living arrangements of America’s households, families, and children are available in a new series of tables released by the U.S. Census Bureau using the 2012 Current Population Survey.

Posted in Families, Population | Tagged Current Population Survey | 1 Comment

Poverty Rates by State: Does the Measure Matter?

Posted on November 14, 2012 by jennifer

Written by: Kathleen Short

In November 2011, the Census Bureau, with support from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released the first set of estimates for the research supplemental poverty measure as suggested by an interagency technical working group. Today, the Census Bureau releases the second report describing research on the new supplemental poverty measure.

New in this report is a comparison of official poverty rates by state to estimates using the supplemental measure. The new measure creates a more complex statistical picture incorporating additional items, such as thresholds that vary geographically by housing costs, tax payments, work expenses and in-kind benefits in its family resource estimates. The supplemental measure is designed to provide a further understanding of economic conditions and trends for families and individuals.

Again, this is the first year state-level supplemental poverty estimates are available. The Census Bureau recommends the use of three-year averages to compare poverty rates across states using the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.(This is also the first year for which three years of supplemental poverty estimates are available to make the comparison with the official rates.) The three-year-average poverty rates for the U.S. for 2009-2011 were 15.0 percent with the official measure and 15.8 percent using the supplemental measure.

The map below shows the United States divided into three categories by state: states with higher and lower rates with the supplemental measure compared with the official measure, and states that are not statistically different between the two measures.

Higher supplemental poverty rates by state may occur because of many sources: geographic adjustments for housing costs, a different mix of housing tenure or metropolitan area status, or higher nondiscretionary expenses, such as taxes or medical expenses.

The supplemental poverty rates for the District of Columbia and 14 states are higher than the official poverty rates, as noted by the lighter shades. These states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

Medium shades represent the 26 states where supplemental poverty rates are lower than the official poverty rates. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Lower supplemental poverty rates occur because of lower thresholds reflecting lower housing costs, a different mix of housing tenure or metropolitan area status, or more generous noncash benefits.

Darker shades are those 10 states that are not statistically different under the two measures and include Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington.

The interagency technical working group stated that the official poverty measure, as defined in Office of Management and Budget Statistical Policy Directive No. 14, will not be replaced by the supplemental poverty measure. It noted that the official measure is sometimes identified in legislation regarding program eligibility and funding distribution, while the supplemental measure will not be used in this way. The supplemental measure is designed to provide information on aggregate levels of economic need at a national level or within large subpopulations or areas and, as such, the supplemental measure will be an additional macroeconomic statistic providing further understanding of economic conditions and trends for families and individuals.

Posted in Poverty | Tagged poverty | 2 Comments

GIS Day at the Census Bureau

Posted on November 14, 2012 by jennifer

Written by: Katy Rossiter

The holiday season is upon us and for the Geography Division at the U.S. Census Bureau, the season starts with GIS Day! Today is GIS Day, a worldwide celebration that highlights how geography and GIS can help answer questions. Geographic information systems (GIS) combine software and data to display and analyze spatial information. GIS allows us to visualize and interpret data through maps and charts, and in a way that is quick to understand.

At the Census Bureau, GIS plays an important role in our everyday work, not only in the Geography Division, but throughout the Census Bureau. Whether it is using the OnTheMap tool to help answer questions about our working population or creating maps for our data visualization gallery to make data not only interesting and fun but also easier to understand, you will find GIS technology throughout census.gov.

In addition, we utilize GIS to be more efficient in our daily activities and we are now better able to share products with data users. For example, GIS has allowed us to create and print millions of maps for taking a census in a relatively short period. We are also able to provide GIS files that data users can use in their own GIS software and a web-mapping application with a web mapping service (WMS) for those who do not have their own GIS or want to stream our data as a base in their own applications. We create maps, charts, reports, and tools so our data can be viewed spatially, all using GIS.

At the Census Bureau, we will be celebrating on November 15 with the Geospatial Summit for employees. The Geospatial Summit will bring awareness of geospatial technologies within the Census Bureau, allowing staff to broaden their knowledge through presentations and lightning talks, hands-on demonstrations and a map gallery showing some of the maps created using GIS. Learning from their colleagues through presentations on technologies, such as web-based mapping, enterprise GIS, geospatial data visualization, and web application development will help staff across the Census Bureau use geospatial technology in their work. Geospatial technology will be used to better assign our field staff to conduct censuses and surveys, assist analysts reviewing data, improve the accuracy of our geospatial products and create products for the public to visualize our data.

Look for more blogs in the coming months that delve deeper into how the Census Bureau uses GIS technology.