The document discusses how local reporters can find and use Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data to write news stories on topics like county and metro area employment, unemployment rates, wages, and business dynamics. It provides an overview of key BLS data sources and direct links to data on county unemployment rates, metro area unemployment and employment, average local wages, and state-level business job gains and losses. Examples are given of news articles that have used these BLS data sources.

1. Breaking Local Stories
Title SlideData
with Economic
U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics

2. Paul
Overberg
Paul Overberg, a database editor at USA
TODAY, finds news in all kinds of data. He
focuses on who the American people are and
how they live -- their demographics. That
includes income in all of its many forms; the
lack of income, or poverty; and jobs, the
primary source of income for most people.
Through IRE/NICAR, he often helps local
reporters learn about this kind of data. He poverberg@usatoday.com
also has worked as a science and health @poverberg
editor and as a local reporter and business
editor.

3. What we’ll cover
Real news stories using BLS data
on:
• County employment,
unemployment
• Metro labor force, unemployment
• Metro employment
• Metro wage rates Photo by Flick user zesser
• State business dynamics
• How to find each type of data
• How to turn data → stories!

4. County unemployment
“Fairfax County’s
jobless rate
declined slightly
from October to
November … to
3.6% …” -- Vienna
(VA) Sun Gazette,
Jan. 17, 2013

5. County unemployment
• Start here:
bls.gov/lau/home.htm
• Click on highlighted link:
“LAU tables and maps”
• County data:
bls.gov/lau/laucntycur14.txt
bls.gov/lau/home.htm

6. County unemployment
• If you have a
spreadsheet, open
the file and filter on
“Adams County,
CO”

7. County unemployment
• Ideas: Google
image search for
“county
unemployment map”

8. Video: Excel as BLS dashboard
How to collect regular BLS
data updates without
having to reformat, analyze
and graph it each month
Review the video at:
h"p://bit.ly/econdata13

9. Metro unemployment
“The Lubbock-area
unemployment rate fell to 5.8
percent in August from 6.4
percent in July … because of
notable losses in both jobs and
the civilian labor force.” --
Sept. 21, 2012, Lubbock (Texas)
Avalanche-Journal
h"p://lubbockonline.com/business/
2012-­‐09-­‐21/local-­‐unemployment-­‐rate-­‐
falls-­‐58-­‐percent-­‐sizeable-­‐drop-­‐workforce-­‐
jobs#.UUILNFe0J8E

10. Metro unemployment
• Start here:
bls.gov/lau/home.htm
http://bls.gov/lau/home.htm
• Choose first link in
highlighted section:
“Unemployment rates for
metro areas”

11. Metro unemployment
• Direct links:
Monthly:
bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm
Year-over-year:
bls.gov/web/metro/laummtch.htm

12. Metro employment
“ … the six-county
Chattanooga region added
3,900 jobs in the most recent
12-month period …” -- Dave
Flessner, Jan. 1, 2013,
Chattanooga Times Free-Press
h"p://
www.Lmesfreepress.com/
news/2013/jan/01/rebound-­‐
cha"anooga-­‐leads-­‐state-­‐job-­‐
growth/?print

13. Metro employment
Start here: bls.gov/news.release/metro.toc.htm
• Table 1: Labor force, unemployed
• Table 3: Employed
bls.gov/news.release/metro.toc.htm

14. Metro employment
Start here:
bls.gov/news.release/
metro.toc.htm
• Table 1: Labor force,
unemployed
• Table 3: Employed

15. Local wages
“… Miami-Dade
finishes in the
middle of the
pack. ... average
weekly wage grew to
$880 in the third
quarter of 2011, a 3.3
percent gain ... .”
-- Douglas Hanks,
HispanicBusiness.com,
May 11, 2012
h"p://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2012/5/11/wage_gains_not_matching_job_gains.htm

16. Local wages
Start here:
bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm
• Choose second link of
fourth section: “For 375
metropolitan areas …”
bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm
• Choose “D” for “District
of Columbia,” then
“Washington-Arlington-
Alexandria,
DC-VA-MD-WV”

17. Local wages
Use column
sorting to see
top-paying
occupations.

18. Video: Location quotient
A powerful tool to
analyze your local
economy
Review the video at:
h"p://bit.ly/econdata13

19. Employment dynamics
“… Colorado gained 128,595
private-sector jobs in last
year’s fourth quarter from the
previous quarter and lost
122,675 jobs, for a net gain of
5,920 jobs …” -- Mark
Harden, Aug. 2, 2012, Denver
Business Journal
h"p://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/08/02/colorado-­‐gains-­‐business-­‐jobs-­‐a-­‐bit.html

20. Employment dynamics
Start here:
bls.gov/news.release/cewbd.toc.htm
• Click on link for Table 6
http://bls.gov/news.release/cewbd.toc.htm

21. Employment dynamics

22. Employment dynamics
To explore much deeper: onthemap.ces.census.gov

23. Questions? h"p:/bit.ly/econdata13
Thanks for coming! for workshop slides, videos, handouts
Source:
The
Washington
Post