Visualization: Downtown Wichita jobs

A visualization of jobs and employment data for zip code 67202, which is downtown Wichita.

The United States Census Bureau has a program known as Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics. According to the Bureau, “The Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program is part of the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau. The LEHD program produces new, cost effective, public-use information combining federal, state and Census Bureau data on employers and employees under the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership. State and local authorities increasingly need detailed local information about their economies to make informed decisions. The LED Partnership works to fill critical data gaps and provide indicators needed by state and local authorities.”⁽¹⁾U.S. Census Bureau. Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics. Available at https://lehd.ces.census.gov/.

LODES data is conveniently available through a Census Bureau web site known as “On the Map.”⁽²⁾U.S. Census Bureau. Available at https://onthemap.ces.census.gov/. In this visualization, I gathered data from this source and present it in an interactive visualization.

The LODES data needs to be interpreted properly, and the city and its agencies have made a large mistake in using this data.⁽³⁾Weeks, Bob. Downtown Wichita jobs, sort of. Available at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/downtown-wichita-jobs/. ⁽⁴⁾Weeks, Bob. Census data for downtown Wichita workers. Available at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/census-data-downtown-wichita-workers/. The mistake has to do with the fact that LODES recognizes a “place of work” as possible just a mailing or administrative address, not the location where employees work. The city’s mistake has been corrected, although the LODES data for 2018 has not been updated.

In this data, “private jobs” means all private sector jobs. “Private primary jobs” means just one private sector job per worker, with the highest-paying job considered the primary job. This usage of “primary” is different than the city uses in other, non-related, contexts.

The Census Bureau cautions: “Data for 2016 and 2017 does not currently contain information on Federal workers.”

In the visualization, some charts show both the number of jobs for each year, and the proportional change.

The source of this data is: U.S. Census Bureau. LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics Data (2002-2017) [computer file]. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, Longitudinal-Employer Household Dynamics Program, accessed on September 2, 2019 at https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/#lodes. LODES version 7.4.

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