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Adversity Index (msnbc.com and Moody's Economy.com) MSNBC's Adversity Index, also known as the Elkhart Project, is "a measure of the economic health of 381 metro areas and the 50 states." The project takes the form of an interactive map which displays monthly snapshots since June of 1994, with values for employment, single-family housing starts, housing costs, and industrial production, each expressed in terms of percentage change from the previous year. Those four numbers are then used to label the economy of each state or metro area as expansion, at risk, recovery, or in recession. Unfortunately the site's claim that it seeks to provide "the hard numbers around these hard times" does not extend to allowing downloads of the actual data. However, the display and the accompanying news analysis are of interest for identifying trends. Analyst Resource Center (ARC) (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration) Formerly the America's Labor Market Information System (ALMIS) Resource Center, the Analyst Resource Center is a "joint effort between the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration and the states to enhance information delivery to workforce customers." The ALMIS database system was created for states to store labor market information in a standard format so data can be more easily accessed and comparable at all geographic levels. The aim is for the Labor Market Information divisions in every state to build and populate their own copy of the ALMIS database, using Oracle or SQL. State labor market analysts then can use the in-house versions; states are encouraged to make public-use web interfaces available as well. The ARC web site carries documentation as well as structure and data files that states can use with their databases. The site also contains state occupational projections via an interactive interface. Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education) The Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) Longitudinal Study provides information concerning education and work experiences after completion of bachelor’s degrees. Students are identified through the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS). The B&B study began with degree-earners in 1993, followed up in 1994, 1997, and 2003. A second cohort was identified in 2000 and followed up in 2001. The data is available online in DAS (matrix) format. Bureau of Labor & Employment Statistics (BLES), Philippines () The Bureau of Labor & Employment Statistics (BLES) is a division of the Philippines’ Department of Labor, charged with collecting and disseminating labor and employment-related statistics for the Philippines. The web site presents “Key Labor Statistics” for the most recent year in HTML format for the country as a whole and seventeen regions. The site also carries an archive of issues of LABSTAT Updates, a publication analyzing various BLES datasets, starting in January 2005. Under "Surveys,” the web site maintains extensive descriptions of seven nationwide surveys and PDF tables of results from the latest year of the survey. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (U.S. Department of Labor) The Bureau of Labor Statistics site provides data in a variety of ways. Try their Data Page to see the choices for custom-built HTML tables or FTP-ing flat files. Categories include employment/unemployment, prices and living conditions, compensation and working conditions, and productivity and technology. The BLS Handbook of Methods describes the methodology and scope of BLS statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics Programs and Surveys (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor) One-line descriptions and links to major BLS series in the following categories: Employment & Unemployment, Prices & Living Conditions, Compensation & Working Conditions, Productivity & Technology, Employment Projections, and International Programs. Business Dynamics Statistics (Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Bureau of the Census) Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) is a new business data series, originally released in December 2008. The annual series, starting with 1976, describes establishment-level business dynamics with dimensions not found in similar databases including firm age and firm size. Measures include establishment openings and closings, firm startups, and job creation and destruction. The source of the series is the Longitudinal Business Database, a confidential database available to researchers only via the Census Research Data Center Network and only in context of a stringently controlled data protection process. The site also covers the project’s background and scope, along with publications and statistical briefs, in addition to the downloadable data itself. California Statistical Abstract (State of California) Due to budget constraints, the state of California has ceased producing a hard-copy Statistical Abstract, substituting an entirely-online version. The 2005 edition was released January 2006 and features PDF and Excel versions of all the tables. Previous annual editions (2000-2004) are on the site as PDF documents only. Besides the Statistical Abstract, the site also includes Excel files of time series on California employment, income, construction and trade; economic forecasts; quarterly economic indicators back to 1998; and an interesting chronology of significant economic events since 1956. Connecticut Economic Information System (Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development) The CEIS is a collection of demographic and economic information about the state of Connecticut. Topics include employment and labor force, census data, exports, profiles of towns and other areas, and other economic indicators. Files are available in Excel and HTML. Crime and Safety Surveys (CSS) (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education) This is an umbrella site within the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for surveys and publications regarding data on crime, violence and safety in U.S. elementary and secondary schools. Current Population Survey Economic-related Supplements (U.S. Bureau of the Census and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) Included here are the Displaced Workers, Job Tenure and Occupational Mobility, the Contingent Worker and Alternative Employment surveys, and a number of others as well. The sites provide an overview, online data dictionary, selected unweighted
tallies, and tables and an extraction service through DataFerrett. Current Population Survey Table Creator (U.S. Bureau of the Census) The U.S. Bureau of the Census offers the Current Population Survey (CPS) Table Creator as a working prototype. The data comes from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) for 2002 and 2003, collected in 2003 and 2004. The ASEC is the survey formerly known as the Annual Demographic Survey aka the March Supplement. The table-creation form comes in seven sections: Years of data, universe, subsets, variable selection, statistics, customized formatting, and appearance issues. A “Detailed Examples” section shows examples of table creation. DataZone (Economic Policy Institute (EPI)) The DataZone provides access to tables of United States historical labor market and income data, mostly on the national level but some at state & regional levels, that can either be viewed in PDF or downloaded in Excel. Though last updated in 2006, the historical statistics go back into the 1970s and earlier. The larger EPI site is kept current with analysis and briefing papers. Dictionary of Occupational Titles (U.S. Department of Labor) Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), Fourth Edition, Revised 1991 has been posted by the Office of Administrative Law Judges. Occupational Definitions of job titles and several useful appendices, e.g. How to Use the DOT for Job Placement, and Explanation of Data, People, and Things are also provided. NOTE: The DOT has been superseded by the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), 4th edition, revised 1991 (U.S. Department of Labor) The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) was last revised in 1991. While the Department of Labor still keeps a copy on their site, the DOT has since been superseded by the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). EBRI Databook on Employee Benefits (Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)) The Employee Benefit Research Institute, a non-partisan not-for-profit organization, conducts and encourages research on employee benefits, and educates the public by providing data and analysis on employee benefits. One of the most heavily-used sections of the EBRI web site is the EBRI Databook on Employee Benefits, a sixty-chapter document in PDF that presents tables and analysis on the retirement income system; employer-sponsored benefit plans; government programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; health insurance; and labor force and demographic trends. Chapters are updated individually, thus no previous editions of the Databook are available. Economic & Business Research Center - Arizona (Eller College of Management, University of Arizona) The Economic & Business Research Center web site features a "current indicators" section that provides HTML tables of economic indicators over time. For the United States as a whole, the site provides the Consumer Price Index, while for Arizona and two metro areas (Phoenix-Mesa and Tucson) the indicators include population, unemployment, job growth, wages/earnings, personal income, housing permits, and retail sales. The Publications section of the site includes ordering information for the Arizona Statistical Abstract, in hard copy only. EEOC Statistics (U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission) The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission presents a very basic site regarding EEOC Statistics on enforcement and legislation. Statistics are in HTML table format and are in categories such as "All Statues," "Americans With Disability Act," "Age Discrimination," and many others. European Data Center for Work and Welfare (EDACwowe) (University of Tilburg and Danish National Centre for Social Research) The European Data Center for Work and Welfare (EDACwowe) is a searchable collection of annotated links to websites containing data for European research and policy-making in the areas of work and welfare. The central topics covered by the site are income and benefits, social care, and work and employment. However, the links also touch on related fields such as demographics, education, taxes, health, migration, politics and elections, and quality of life. EDACwowe organizes its site, via a left-hand menubar, around the categories of Comparative Data, National Data, and International Repositories. The Comparative Data category is the most detailed, with subheadings for opinion surveys, socio-economic surveys, indicators and statistics, and policies and institutions. Each survey in the Comparative Data category gets a multi-part description on the EDACwowe site, from survey type to participating countries to topics to availability and searchability of questionnaires and data. The National Data category, by contrast, gives only links and archive names, and the International Repositories category gives a short descriptive paragraph for each link. Facts & Stats (on unions) (AFL-CIO) The Facts & Stats section of the AFL/CIO web site presents fact sheets, graphics and tables in response to basic questions about unions—how many workers are members, what jobs they do and how much they are paid— to make a case for the advantages of union membership. Fedscope (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) The FedScope database contains data on federal employment, covering hirings ("accessions") and departures ("separations") from 1996 to the current year. The data is organized into "cubes" that allow examination of three data elements simultaneously, from a list of thirteen: agency, location, Metropolitan Statistical Area, occupation, occupational category, gender, age, length of service, and more. Results can be charted or graphed online, or exported in Excel or PDF format. Also available are pre-packaged reports for some of the more popular queries. GenderStats (World Bank) GenderStats is an interactive database of gender statistics, developed by the World Bank's Gender and Development. GenderStats offers country data sheets showing summary gender indicators, basic demographic data, population dynamics, labor force structure, and education and health statistics. Data sources for GenderStats include national statistics, United Nations databases, and World Bank-conducted or funded surveys. Results may be saved in Excel format. General Household Survey, Great Britain (Social Survey Division, Office for National Statistics) According to the GHS web site, “The General Household Survey (GHS) is a multi-purpose continuous survey carried out by the Social Survey Division of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which collects information on a range of topics from people living in private households in Great Britain. The survey started in 1971 and has been carried out continuously since then, except for breaks in 1997/98 (when the survey was reviewed) and 1999/2000 when the survey was re-developed.” General Household Survey documentation and datasets are online at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=5756&More=N. A particularly user-friendly presentation of GHS 2002 results, including time-series tables in Excel, can be found in the Living in Britain 2002 report at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/lib2002/ (the 2000 and 2001 reports are also online). Global Data Monitoring Information System: Millennium Development Goals (World Bank Group) The World Bank Group sponsors the Global Data Monitoring Information System: Millennium Development Goals website. The World Bank has adopted the 8 goals set out by the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals initiative, and has developed a query system for displaying data by target, by region, and by country, as graphs and HTML tables, downloadable in Excel. The site also provides an Online Atlas of the Millennium Development Goals, a graphical world-map display that shrinks or enlarges the display-size of countries based on their progress toward the goals. Historical Labor Statistics Project (HLSP) (Historical Labor Statistics Project) Offers at least 36 downloadable, documented datasets on American labor markets selected from over 150 separate investigations undertaken between 1874 and 1920 by the Bureaus of Labor Statistics established by the governments of 29 states. See the Read Me First and List of Series for more information. Data are located on the server of Economic History Services. Housing and Household Economic Statistics (HHES) (U.S. Bureau of the Census) This page leads to statistics on several broad topics covered by the Census Bureau: housing, disability, health insurance, income, industry, labor force, occupation, poverty, program participation dynamics, small area income and poverty, wealth, and welfare reform. Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities (work-related) (U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics) Occupational safety and health statistics. As with other Bureau of Labor Statistics sites, users can download entire data files or interactively create custom tables. International Data Base (IDB) (U.S. Bureau of the Census, International Programs Center) The IDB contains demographic and socio-economic statistics for all countries of the world, combining data from country sources (especially censuses and surveys) with IPC's estimates and projections to provide information dating back as far
as 1950 and as far ahead as 2050. Data may be broken down by age, sex, and rural/urban areas, and cover such topics as population, fertility, family planning, marital status, households, migration, ethnicity, religion, language, literacy, labor
force, employment and incomes. Tables may be viewed online, downloaded in spreadsheet or customizable (comma or space delimited, etc.) format, or the entire database may be downloaded for use on a PC. International Labour Organization (ILO) (International Labour Organization) Available in English, French and Spanish, this site provides information on international labor standards and human rights, information services, programmes, as well as conferences, governing body and meetings. In addition to some facts-and-figures pages, data highlights include the freely-available LABORSTA database on labor statistics from 200 countries, the fee-based Key Indicators of the Labour Market; and links by country to labor-force survey web pages. IPUMS CPS (Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota) IPUMS-CPS is an integrated set of microdata from 1962 to almost the present of the March annual supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The Current Population Survey is a monthly U.S. household survey conducted jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the March supplement collects demographic and income information widely used by social scientists and policy makers. So that the data may be more easily compared across time, IPUMS-CPS codes the variables identically from year to year. The data is also compatible with the IPUMS-USA decennial census project, at http://usa.ipums.org/usa/. IPUMS-CPS covers all substantive variables from the original CPS samples. A free registration is required to create and download extracts from IPUMS. IRIS (Industrial Research and Development Information System) (National Science Foundation) The IRIS website, sponsored by the the National Science Foundation, provides historical data relating to industrial research and development. The database includes over 2,500 tables related to industrial research and development information systems published by NSF from 1953 to 1998 (the point at which SIC codes changed to NAICS). Users can browse tables by survey year, table topic or can also use the search function for data tables. Files are available in MS Word and Excel. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) The Current Population Survey, with a sample of 60,000 households, gathers basic labor and unemployment data monthly with periodic special supplements on additional topics. The BLS interface to the Current Population Survey allows custom-built HTML tables or delimited files, or FTP-ing of large flat files. LABORSTA (International Labor Organization) This database provides employment and consumer price statistics from the International Labor Organization. An online application allows you to select years and tables, and then either view in HTML or download as an Excel file. Not every variable is available for every country and year (though some go back as far as 1969). The International Labour Migration Database was integrated into LABORSTA in as of January 2008. Local Employment Dynamics (LED) (U.S. Bureau of the Census) The Local Employment Dynamics (LED) program provides county and sub county level employment and earnings information through the Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). Users can obtains statistics on employment for workers in industries by two digit NAICS codes and different age and sex groups. It provides current information on where jobs are being created and destroyed, how much turnover there is in each industry together with long-term trends. An online mapping tool called On the Map provides detailed maps showing where people work and workers live with companion reports on worker ages, earnings, industry distribution, and local workforce indicators. Luxembourg Employment Study (LES) () The Luxembourg Employment Study (LES), started in 1994, is an outgrowth of the Luxembourg Income Study. The LES database includes Labour Force Surveys from countries with a variety of labor market structures. These surveys provide detailed information on areas like job search, employment characteristics, comparable occupations, investment in education, migration, etc. The project harmonizes and standardizes the micro-data from the different surveys in order to facilitate comparative research. LES data is not available directly from the site. Users must be from LES member countries, and send in a signed registration via fax or postal-mail. Registered users then submit statistical programs (in SPSS, SAS, or Stata) and receive results via e-mail. Luxembourg Income Study (Center for Population, Poverty and Public Policy Studies (CEPS) and International Networks for Studies in Technology, Enviroment, Alternative Development (INSTEAD)) The LIS databank has a total of over 60 datasets of social and economic data collected in household surveys from different countries covering the period 1968 to 1994. Additional surveys are being added to more fully represent the period of the middle 1990's for most of the nations.The dataset is accessed globally via electronic mail, after submitting a researcher request form by postal mail or fax. The project also includes the Luxembourg Employment Study (LES), focusing on labor force surveys. Millennium Development Goals Indicators (United Nations Statistics Division) In the year 2000, 189 nations signed on to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, promising commitment to sweeping development goals, to be accomplished by 2015. The goals involve fighting poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. Measurable goals and targets were established. The United Nations Statistics Division compiles and disseminates the data for 48 selected indicators beginning in 1990. Results of country-level data selections are displayed as HTML tables and may be downloaded as in csv, xml, or Excel; the entire database may also be downloaded. A "Gapminder" feature added to the site in 2006 creates various graphical representations of trends. NAID Center (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)) The North American Integration and Development (NAID) Center website carries a database of North American Free Trade Agreement - Transitional Adjustment Assistance (NAFTA-TAA), Unemployment, and Eligibility numbers by county. The site also contains links to other information about NAFTA and border issues. Nang Rong Projects (Thailand) (Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University (Thailand)) (from the web site) “The Nang Rong Projects are designed to monitor and promote understanding of the sweeping demographic, social, and environmental changes taking place in Nang Rong, Thailand, over the last 20 years. Scholars from across the US and Thailand contribute to research on life course choices, fertility and contraceptive behavior, migration processes, and land use/land cover change.” The projects include a household census (1984, 1994, 2000); migrant follow-up data (1994/5, 2000/1); documentation of social networks; community-level data; and GIS sources. Most of the household data and migrant follow-up data are downloadable for public use, while other areas of the data are restricted and require an IRB-approved research plan and a contractual confidentiality agreement. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Online Economic Data (National Bureau of Economic Research) The NBER is a major nonprofit and non-partisan economic research organization. NBER's researchers include over 600 professors of economics and business. The research at NBER concentrates on four types of empirical research: developing new statistical measurements, estimating quantitative models of economic behavior, assessing the effects of public policies on the U.S. economy, and projecting the effects of alternative policy proposals. Data files linked from the NBER data page are organized into the categories of: macro data, industry data, international trade data, individual data, hospital data, patent data and other data. Included may be compressed data files, electronic documentation, and selected SAS, SPSS or STATA data statements. Some of the links are to archives hosted by NBER, while others are to outside archives.
Some interesting ones are
- Occupational Wages Around the World
- NBER Macro History Database (lots of time series)
- Manufacturing Industry Productivity Database
- School District Databook
- Consumer Expenditure Survey Family Level Extracts
National Priorities Project Database (National Priorities Project (NPP)) The National Priorities Project (NPP) is a United-States-based non-partisan education and advocacy group that "focuses on the impacts of federal tax and spending policies at the community level." The NPP takes a particular interest in the trade-offs between military spending and tax breaks versus social spending. The NPP Database provides state and county level data on U.S. federal spending in the following areas: hunger, military, income & poverty, housing, education, and labor, in addition to basic demographics. Users can select up to five "datasets" (i.e., specific federal programs or demographic attributes) to create an HTML table covering multiple states or multiple counties within one state, with information as far back as 1983. Users are requested to complete a free registration to use the database after their first visit. National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education) The National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) samples post-secondary institutions in the United States. The survey collects information regarding the backgrounds, responsibilities, workloads, salaries, benefits, attitudes, and future plans of both full- and part-time faculty, as well as institutional-level data on such issues as faculty composition, turnover, recruitment, retention, and tenure policies. The NSOPF was conducted in 1987-88, 1992-93, 1998-99, and 2003-04. The data is available online in DAS (matrix) format. New York State Statistics (Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, State University of New York) Hosted by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, the New York State Statistical Yearbook since 2002 is available online in PDF and Excel files. The print versions of editions back to 1998 may be ordered from the web site. O*NET Occupational Information Network Resource Center (Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor) Replacing the Dictionary of Occupational Titles in 1998, the O*NET database provides a comprehensive job classification system, searchable through O*NET Online. The interface also provides crosswalks from other major job classification systems. Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program produces employment and wage estimates for over 700 occupations. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan areas; national occupational estimates for specific industries are also available. The BLS web interface provides for custom-built HTML tables or downloadable delimited files; or, FTP-ing of large flat files. OECD Factbook (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD))
The OECD Factbook is the organization's best-selling title, an annual global overview focusing on economic, social and environmental indicators for OECD member countries and several additional partners (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, Indonesia, China, South Africa, Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia.) Each year a special topic is chosen for a supplemental chapter; in 2009 the special topic is inequality.
The Factbook is available through the UW-Madison SourceOECD subscription, but also in various formats for non-subscribers, including PDF with Excel graphs. OECD Factbook also provides Trendalyzer dynamic visualisation software to help users identify long-term trends and comparisons between countries, and the Flash-based OECD Factbook eXplorer which combines maps and graphs with stories to let users examine time developments and interrelations between indicators. Office of Financial Management – State of Washington (State of Washington) The Forecasting Division of the Office of Financial Management for the State of Washington “provides estimates of state and local population, monitors changes in the state economy and labor force, and conducts research on a variety of issues affecting the state budget and public policy.” One highlight of the site is the Washington State Data Book, the state’s statistical abstract. Washington only posts its most recent State Data Book (the 2005 edition was posted in January 2006) and recommends that its users follow up on the specific sources of the data to get the absolute latest figures. The State Data Book tables display in HTML but may be downloaded as PDF or Excel files. Also of interest on the OFM Forecasting Division site are a Criminal Justice Data Book and an Employer Health Insurance Data Book for the state of Washington. In addition, Washington conducts a biennial State Population Survey, with downloadable data posted on the site for 1998 through 2004. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Statistics (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) This site provides a portal to free socio-economic statistics collected by the OECD. UW-Madison also subscribes to SourceOECD, OECD's premier fee-based statistics product. PACO Project: Advancing Panel Comparability (Center for Population, Poverty and Public Policy Studies (CEPS) and International Networks for Studies in Technology, Enviroment, Alternative Development (INSTEAD)) "The PACO (Panel Comparability) Project is a centralized approach to create an international comparative database integrating micro-data from various national household panels over a large number of years." The project includes panel data from 10 countries: UK, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and United States. Variables focus on income, demography, and labor force. The archive of the original micro-data from the panels included in the project is not publicly available, but the PACO database containing harmonized data from 8 countries can be purchased on CD-ROM. Pew Hispanic Center (Pew Charitable Trusts) The Pew Hispanic Center, supported by Pew Charitable Trusts, was founded in 2001 "to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the entire nation." The Center commissions studies on such topics as education, immigration, labor, and economics, including some public opinion surveys. Several datasets are available on the site, along with research reports back to 2002. Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education) The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) is a nationwide sample survey of public and private schools in the United States, conducted periodically since 1987-88. Data tables from 1999-2000 are available online in HTML or Excel. A Questionnaire Item Bank allows access to questions and summary responses for all the years of the survey. Secretaria del Trabajo y Prevision Social (STPS; Mexican Ministry of Labor) (Secretaria del Trabajo y Prevision Social (STPS; Mexican Ministry of Labor)) The Ministry of Labor site for Mexico carries results of labor-related surveys, listed in the front page menu as Informacion del Sector. Tables are presented in HTML format, and in general go back to the mid 1990s. The site is entirely in Spanish; an earlier English-language section of the site appears to have been discontinued. SimplyMap (Geographic Research, Inc.) SimplyMap is a web-based mapping site that allows users to create thematic maps and reports using demographic, business and marketing data. The product is particularly strong for recent estimates and projections, at geographic levels as small as ZIP codes, census tracts, or block groups. SimplyMap draws on Census 2000 data, 2006 & 2007 Census estimates, 2011 & 2012 Census projections. Other groups of variables include consumer expenditures, consumer price index, business counts, market segments, retail sales, and sales potential. Note: UW-Madison subscribes to SimplyMap via IP authentication. Each user must also register at the SimplyMap site to create a personal workspace. Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) The Office of Management and Budget has developed a thorough 1998 revision of the Standard Occupational Classification, replacing the 1980 edition. The classification is intended to cover all jobs in the national economy, including occupations in the public, private, and military sectors. The SOC is used by all federal agencies collecting occupational data, and is recommended for state and local occupational data collection as well. State of the Cities Data System (SOCDS) at HUDuser (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) The SOCDS offers an interactive interface providing data on metropolitan areas, central cities and suburbs on the following subjects:
- demographic and economic data from the 1970 through 2000 U.S. censuses
- current employment statistics from the BLS’ Local Area Unemployment Statistics
- jobs, business establishments, and average pay from County Business Patterns data
- crime data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- building permit data from U.S. Census Bureau
- urban public finance data from the Census of Governments
Links to download the raw data files are also provided.State of the Nation's Cities: A Comprehensive Database on American Cities and Suburbs (Center for Urban Policy Studies, Rutgers University) This database of 77 cities and suburbs was contracted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of the 1996 United Nations' Habitat II conference. The SONC database brings together over 3,000 variables from a wide variety of sources, allowing easy comparability of indicators on employment and economic development, demographic measures, housing and land use, income and poverty, fiscal conditions, and a host of other health, social, and environmental indicators." Users may download in a variety of formats including plain ASCII, SPSS portable file, Excel file, SAS formatted file, and a special file for Macintosh users. Statistical Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labour (SIMPOC) (International Labour Organization) The SIMPOC program, under the auspices of the International Programme on the elimination of child labor, assists countries in gathering and reporting data on child labor. Links under "SIMPOC Countries and Resources" lead to downloadable reports and data, although the user must follow each link to determine what is available. A search for datasets on the site's product database in July 2007 led to datasets for the following countries: Bangladesh, Belize, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, and Guatemala. U.N. Social Indicators (United Nations Statistics Division) Most-recently-collected year's worth of basic figures for many countries, in HTML tables, in these categories: population, child-bearing, youth and elderly populations, education, human settlements, literacy, water supply and sanitation, income and economic activity, housing, and unemployment. UNdata (United Nations) The United Nations is undertaking to bring together many of its various statistical databases under a single interface, at UNdata. As of February 2008, UNdata carries 14 databases containing over 55 million data points, covering a range of topics including population, industry, energy, trade and national accounts. The databases are accessible either by keyword searching from a single search page, or through a menu of databases. UNdata will be replacing the UN Common Database, which is slated to be discontinued in the summer of 2008. Indicators formerly offered through the UN Common Database will be listed under Key Global Indicators, and will be searchable through the main interface as well. However, the trade information in UNdata will not be replacing UN Comtrade, which will continue to cover a deeper and more fully-featured set of merchandise statistics. Unemployment Insurance Program Statistics (U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration) This site carries detailed unemployment insurance program data, by state, for the United States. Data include tax rates, taxable wage bases, revenues, claimants, benefits paid, duration, exhaustions, and balances. Annual, quarterly, monthly, and weekly data available, going back different lengths of time (annual tables go back to 1938). Data formats vary: Excel, CSV, HTML, and/or text. World Development Indicators (UW-Madison Subscription) (World Bank) The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's premier annual compilation of data about development. The latest WDI includes approximately 800 indicators in 87 tables, organized in six sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links. The tables cover 152 economies and 14 country groups-with basic indicators for a further 55 economies. WDI timeseries data begins in 1960. The latest "print version" is online at http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.web/worlddevelopmentindicatorstext. Note: UW-Madison subscribes via IP-authentication.
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