Hello:

We have just gone through a lengthy process of getting access to unemployment data. In the past, we had actual employee records, but we were told that the new 911 laws prohibited the release of that data. We requested unemployment records as a second approach.

I am still waiting for release of the data as it is being processed. It took over a year here in Louisiana to work through a series of issues. We were the only traffic modeler making that request.

The issue that we had was that the location of the business is not always listed; but rather a third party that processes unemployment claims for that particular business. Also, we have the issue of the mailing address as the location address and that address as being listed as a PO box.

Because the data is proprietary and confidential, I had to request and pay for the data (about $3500 for a six (country) parish area. I will have to evaluate the issues listed above to determine if the data set is usuable.

We hope this helps your planning efforts.

Tim,

Have you considered using the state UA system's employer file?  That's what SEMCOG uses here in southeast Michigan. They used be be called ES-202 files, but the name may have changed. You'd have to do the geocoding yourself, of course, but that should be do-able. Supposedly those files are establishment based, and I'd think that in MA they would at least be broken down to municipality since county doesn't mean much there. It's definitely worth looking into.

Patty Becker



At 03:15 PM 6/28/2011, you wrote:

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I have managed to assemble some funding to acquire employer data for our 164-municipality transportation modeling region in Eastern MA, and I am wondering if any of you have comments on the accuracy and utility of the various proprietary employer data sources currently available.  I have been in conversations with two major providers (InfoGroup and Dun & Bradstreet) and have received sample files for certain zip codes, but it is hard to assess the accuracy or completeness of either sample. 
 
I’m wondering if anybody can offer insight on working with such data, and whether you have suggestions on choosing a vendor.  We will be using it primarily to determine employment by sector at very fine geographies (250m or 1km grid cells) for land use planning and analysis.  Some concerns we have already identified include: branch vs. headquarters employment, public sector employment, “paper companies” and verification, and the accuracy of the goecoded location that accompanies each record. 
 
Any thoughts are appreciated.  Feel free to reply off-list if concerned about publicly trumpeting or bashing somebody’s product. 
 
Thanks,
Tim Reardon
 
___________________________________________
Timothy G. Reardon -- Senior Regional Planner
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
60 Temple Place | Boston, MA 02111
617-451-2770 x2011
treardon@mapc.org

Say it with a map!  Find data and bring it alive at www.MetroBostonDataCommon.org !
 
 

Please be advised that the Massachusetts Secretary of State considers e-mail to be a public record, and therefore subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66 § 10.


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Patricia C. (Patty) Becker         248/354-6520
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