USA Today's Paul Overberg presents "Breaking Local Stories with BLS Data," part of the free business journalism workshop, "Breaking Local Stories with Economic Data," hosted by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and the Investigative Reporters and Editors. This presentation focuses on the Texas region, however the tools and resources provided can be applied anywhere in the United States. For more information about free training for business journalists, please visit businessjournalism.org.

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

2. Overberg
Paul
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 forms; their lack of
income, or poverty; and their jobs, the primary
source of income for most people.
Through IRE/NICAR, he often helps local
reporters learn about this kind of data. He also
has worked as a science and health editor and as
a local reporter and business editor.
poverberg@usatoday.com
@poverberg

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

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

5. • 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
County unemployment

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

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

8. Video: Excel as BLS dashboard
How to collect regular BLS
data updates without
having to reformat, analyze
and graph them each
month
Review the video at:
http://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.”
-- Walt Nett, Sept. 21, 2012,
Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-
Journal
http://lubbockonline.com/business/
2012-09-21/local-unemployment-rate-
falls-58-percent-sizeable-drop-
workforce-jobs#.UUILNFe0J8E

10. http://bls.gov/lau/home.htm
Metro unemployment
• Start here:
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
www.timesfreepress.com/news/
2013/jan/01/rebound-
chattanooga-leads-state-job-
growth

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
http://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 …”
• Choose “T” for “Texas,”
then “San Antonio-New
Braunfels,TX”
bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm

17. Local wages
-- Use column
sorting to see
top-paying
occupations
-- In Firefox,
use add-on called
TableTools2

18. Video: Location quotient
A powerful tool to
analyze your local
economy
Review the video at:
http://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
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?
Thanks for coming!
Paul Overberg
USA TODAY
poverberg@usatoday
Twitter: @poverberg
http:/bit.ly/econdata13
for workshop slides, videos, handouts
Photo by Flickr user Xurble