Foster writes about the information included in several types of data about job openings. Ranging from local surveys to national data sets, Foster provides a review of each of the data sets as well as an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each.
The four types of data Foster discusses are:
*Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Data (JOLTS),
*Job vacancy-hiring needs survey job openings,
*On-line spidered openings from jobs boards and newspaper advertisements,
*Job openings produced in the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Survey
and projection programs.
The Weeks report analyzes data from the Business Employment Dynamics program of the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. These data star with individual business employment levels and analyze the degree to which the businesses grow or decline in employment, quarter to quarter. In this way, the data series tracks job creation and job destruction over time. In his analysis of these data, Weeks finds “Job creation in the US economy is near the lowest levels in twenty years, despite the end of the great recession. While the historically low level of job destruction is a positive aspect of the recovery, it does not seem as if the economy will truly recover until employers start adding and creating jobs at much higher levels.”
While slow economic recovery and growth is expected, Weeks and Foster utilize local, state, and federal data to provide insight in to the near future, and compare data sources to best understand how to utilize public resources to identify trends and project possible change and growth.
Dr. Greg Weeks, former Labor Market Information Director for the State of Washington holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Washington State University and is currently the Labor Market Director for Brandt Information Services, Inc.
George Foster, former Economist Supervisor for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity holds a Master’s Degree in Anthropology with an Emphasis on Numeric and Statistical Procedures and is currently an Economist for Brandt Information Services, Inc. based in Tallahassee, Florida.
The blogs can be found at http://www.brandtinfo.com
Contact: Tiffani Santagati
850.577.4972
tiffanis@
