Case Studies and Examples

News Articles/Reviews

• 03/03/2007.   Census CounterParts, Vol 16, No 3. "Job Data Gives Boost to Economic Development." [PDF; File Size: 158KB]



• 02/20/2007.   Indiana Economic Digest. " OPINION: What is the truth about jobs in Indiana?" Morton J. Marcus.



• 12/2006.  Maine Department of Labor, Labor Market Digest. "Local Employment Dynamics - A New Tool for Tracking Local Labor Market Conditions." [PDF; File Size: 424KB]



• 09/19/2006.  Iowa Workforce Development. "OnTheMap Is Here!!!" [PDF; File Size: 500KB]



• 07/14/2005.  The State Journal " Helping Businesses by the Numbers" describes West Virginia's innovative uses of U.S. Census Bureau data, particularly data from Local Employment Dynamics, to drive economic development, target and attract new businesses, and bring more nurses to the state.

• 06/05/2008.   The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George's Planning Department presented a poster at the recent American Planning Association Conference in Las Vegas, NV. This poster, Who's Working Where" [PDF; File Size: 1.50MB], shows how the Census Bureau's Local Employment Dynamics (LED) can be used to identify characteristics of the workforce (individuals working in an area) and labor force (individuals living in an area) to address issues like job training, commuting, and other topics related to planning.
  
  
• 06/20/2007.   Missouri Department of Economic Development, Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), "Local Employment Dynamics (LED) in Use" [PDF; File Size: 3.59MB]. A 10-slide presentation depicting the many uses of LED data in reports, evalutating economic impacts, assisting with business retention and attraction, and disaster mitigation and assistance planning, by MERIC.
  
  
• 05/31/2007.   Missouri Department of Economic Development, Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), "Community Impact of Manufacturer’s Proposed Relocation" [PDF; File Size: 928KB].

  In response to a large manufacturer’s proposed relocation, MERIC developed a profile of the county and the community, using data captured in the DataFerrett Community Economic Development HotReport, Local Employment Dynamics' OnTheMap, and other sources, to show the impact to the community, should this relocation take place. In its analysis, MERIC determined that the community has a relatively young labor force, a rather low college-educated population, and a large number of young adults just about to enter the labor force. The loss of good jobs for high school graduates has the potential to severely impact that community. Numbers of young home owners in relatively new homes could also lead to possible bank exposure if good jobs become scarce.

  In this way Labor Market Information in the form of LED and HotReports data helped to answer three critical questions for economic development: (1) How much effort do we want to make to retain this business?; (2) If we need to offer tax incentives to achieve retention, what kind of incentives should we offer?; and (3) What kinds of benchmarks do we use to insure that the company is living up to its end of a retention agreement?
  
  

• 04/06/2007.   Missouri Department of Development, Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), "Community Impact of Plant Layoffs" [PDF; File Size: 132KB].
  
  In response to a St Louis Dispatch article, projecting the layoff of an estimated 1,300 people at the Chrysler Fenton Plant in Missouri, and in order to help plan for the allocation of community response resources, MERIC did an analysis of communities in Missouri and Illinois that might be impacted by job losses, using Local Employment Dynamics data, to show where the people were living who would be affected by this layoff.
  
  How they did it: First, the exact census block in which the Chrysler plant is located was identified using the plant's street address. The LED O/D file (this Origin/Destination file identifies the number of workers going from one specific census block to another) was limited to only those observations with that census block as the geocode for the work block. Next, the all-jobs and all-jobs-private values were aggregated to the block group level. The all-jobs data were then transferred to Excel for use in ArcGIS in creating the community impact map. Finally, the LED Area Profile Report from OnTheMap for the census block group where the plant was located was generated for comparison with the block detail.
  


• 01/2007.  Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board with Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Economic Development.
  "Managing the Changing Workforce in Southwestern Pennsylvania: A Closer Look at Issues Related to Our Region's Aging Workforce", used to define the "aging issue" and examine how changing demographics may shape the region's workforce composition and growth potential. Study results were based on a number of primary and secondary sources, notably including the Local Employment Dynamics (LED), a new data source developed by the US Census Bureau.



• 03/03/2007.   Census CounterParts, Vol 16, No 3. "Job Data Gives Boost to Economic Development." [PDF; File Size: 158KB]

• Drop-In Article for Your Publications and Newsletters:  A ready-to-print (drop-in) introductory article on LED tools is available for use in your newsletters and listservs. The Census Bureau-approved article can be modified to change the contact person to someone on your local staff or to provide specific data for your area.



• QWI Online Bookmark [PDF; File Size: 104KB] shows the selection options, eight measures, and the results for a WIA on one side and important information about new hires and new hire wages for the LED partner states on the other side.



• 4 Easy Steps: QWI Online: [PDF; File Size: 252KB] details four easy steps, complete with screen shots, to access detailed industry information for your local area in QWI Online.



• Sample information using LED tools for
      Local employers [PDF; File Size: 122KB]
      Local workers [PDF; File Size: 114KB]



• Skinning. LED analytical tools can be hosted by state partners so that it looks as if the analytic tools run from the state website.
      QWI Online hosted by New Mexico