The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ gathers data on employment and wages from state workforce agencies and compiles it under the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program. The data are derived from quarterly tax reports submitted by employers to State workforce agencies under State Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws; and from Federal agencies under the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. PolicyMap displays only private sector employment and wage data.
PolicyMap displays QCEW annual location quotient data for both private and public sector employment. BLS uses location quotients, or LQs, to see where occupations or industries are concentrated in the United States. LQs measure how concentrated jobs in a particular industry is in a specific area compared to the national average. If an LQ is equal to 1, then the industry has the same share of its area employment as it does in the nation. An LQ greater than 1 indicates an industry with a greater share of the local area employment than is the case nationwide. For example, in Philadelphia County, the LQ for employment for Educational Services in the private sector is roughly 4. Educational Services makes up 8% of jobs in Philadelphia, compared to about 2% nationally. The concentration of employment in Philadelphia County in Private Educational Services is about 4 times that of the concentration of employment for Educational Services in the U.S. This industry makes up a larger share of the Philadelphia County employment total than it does for the nation as a whole. For more information on QCEW LQ calculations, visit https://www.bls.gov/cew/about-data/location-quotients-explained.htm