Vernal Labor Market Information is “OnTheMap”
A company thinking of locating to Vernal,
is interested in the number (and characteristics) of workers within a standard
commuting distance of a particular worksite. Economic development professionals
can specify a particular radius and obtain a report. Other shapes (donut and
plume) are also available. In addition, users can draw their own polygons in
OnTheMap. To determine how many workers may be inconvenienced by a road
construction project, just draw a line along the length of the project and
“buffer” the selection.
The Census Bureau’s online mapping tool provides a wealth of
location-specific labor market information
“If you want to put yourself on the map,
publish your own map.” - Ashleigh Brilliant
This isn’t your same old blog
post about data. Instead of analyzing and sharing data, this post covers how to
access an extremely useful “big data” labor market information tool. What is
this tool? The U.S. Census Bureau’s OnTheMap web-based mapping and reporting
application.
What’s so great about
OnTheMap? Typically, we report labor market information at the state and county
level. Local-level data is harder to come by. Along with the ability to provide
labor market profiles of small and large nonstandard areas, OnTheMap
graphically demonstrates where people work and where workers live. Users can
define their own geographies and obtain data and maps at the census-block level
of detail. This flexibility can quickly provide information for emergency and
transportation planning, site location and economic development.
- Do you want to understand commuting patterns for a particular area? OnTheMap can generate maps of outflow and inflow.
- Do you want to know the basic characteristics of workers in your town? OnTheMap has that information.
- Do you want to identify the employment characteristics along a specific stretch of highway? OnTheMap can deliver that data.
- Do you want to discern how many workers live within a 50-mile radius of a particular site? OnTheMap delivers.
Next, the mayor wants to know
how many workers travel into Vernal for employment. OnTheMap suggests that far
fewer workers commute in than out of Vernal. In-commuters are most likely to
drive from outside the city limits.
Labor Market Characteristics
Now, these local government
officials have decided they would like to know the characteristics of those
folks that work or live in Vernal. OnTheMap can provide age-group, earnings,
industry, race/ethnicity, gender and educational attainment information. For
example, OnTheMap shows the following characteristics for working residents of Vernal:
· 30 percent are 29
years or younger
·
42 percent make
more than $3,333 a month
·
17 percent work
in the oil and gas industry
·
6 percent are
Latino
·
15 percent have
at least a Bachelor’s degree
·
48 percent are
female
Getting Specific
You begin to see what a
valuable informational tool OnTheMap can be for planning and economic
development purposes. OnTheMap is available here: http://onthemap.ces.census.gov/
