The quarterly workforce indicators (QWI) provide local labor market statistics by industry, worker demographics, employer age and size. Unlike statistics tabulated from firm or person-level data, the QWI source data are unique job-level data that link workers to their employers. Because of this link, labor market data in the QWI is available by worker age, sex, educational attainment and race/ethnicity. This allows for analysis by demographics of a particular local labor market or industry – for instance, identifying industries with aging workforces. Links between workers and firms also allow the QWI to identify worker flows – hires, separations and turnover – as well as net employment growth.

The data are available and can be selected by state, county, metro/micropolitan area and workforce investment area (WIA). An overview of the QWI tool (PDF) and its workforce indicators, along with the QWI Explorer document (PDF highlighting this new, web-based analysis tool), will help in understanding how to make use of this data.   

In the QWI Explorer tool, choices below “filters/aggregations” allow you to select your sub-state geographic area preference by clicking on the “none” link (default). Under geography type, select the area you want and a dropdown box will appear allowing you to select a particular county, metro/micropolitan area or WIA. Help and documentation links are located at the upper right area of the QWI Explorer page.

OnTheMap

OnTheMap Version 6 (sixth generation) is a web-based mapping and reporting application that shows where workers are employed and where they live. It also provides companion reports on age, earnings, industry distributions, race, ethnicity, educational attainment and sex. A brief description of this application can be found here (PDF).

There are several data sources for the Longitudinal-Employer Household Dynamics Program (LEHD) data used in OnTheMap and other tools.The states agree to share unemployment insurance earnings data and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data with the Census Bureau. The LEHD program combines these administrative data, additional administrative data and data from censuses and surveys. From these data, the program creates statistics on employment, earnings and job flows at detailed levels of geography and industry and for different demographic groups. In addition, the LEHD program uses these data to create partially synthetic data on workers' residential patterns. This data is updated annually.

The U.S. Census Bureau has several other data tools that employ LEHD data. Learn more about U.S. Census Bureau LEHD data tools. 

2020 Census State Profile