Here at EMSI we’ve been in the midst of a lot of new data updates. Here is yet another. We are about to make a significant and super cool update to the business-level data in our labor market analysis tool.
The data will come from Equifax, one of America’s largest credit reporting agencies. How does this help you?
- 21.5 million records — Users will now have access to a huge, up-to-date set of data on 21.5 million US businesses. All of this data is mapped to key industry statistics for any geography in the nation.
- High-quality data — The data uses a validation indicator, which tells you if a given businesses phone number, address, and physical presence have been validated.
- More data fields — The data also contains many more fields. Look at the graphic below to see what we’re talking about:
^ The Validation Indicator is a measure of the degree to which a given businesses phone number, address, and physical presence have been validated.
* Data can be exported from Analyst. Downloads are limited to 2000 records per export.
** The business web address is available as link in each business record where it is available. These addresses cannot be downloaded.
*** Please note that as with any collected dataset, not all fields will be available for every record.
Industries and Business Level Data
If you are not as familiar with our data or tools, let us tell you. EMSI collects, organizes, and delivers a set of labor market data based on more than 80 public and private data sources. This data is based primarily on industry (NAICS codes) and occupation (SOC codes) information, which comes from places like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Community Survey, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Department of Labor.
Users access this data by building custom regions for any geography in the US. Once they have built a region, the tool automatically assembles the relevant data so the user can research 1,100 industries and 800 occupations, which is tremendously helpful for a wide variety of strategic planning purposes.
Business-level data is a bit different. Think of it this way. Industries are organized according to a two- through six-digit hierarchy. Industries are groups of businesses that are engaged in similar work activities (like grocery stores, tire manufacturers, or software publishers). See the graphic below:
- 51 – 2-digit: The two-digit sector (NAICS 51) is information, and is composed of a handful of sub-industries.
- 511 – 3-digit: In this case we are focused on publishing industries, a three-digit sector, NAICS 511.
- 5112 – 4-digit: Under publishing we see two four-digit sectors, newspapers (NAICS 5111) and software (NAICS 5112).
- 51121 & 511210 – 5- and 6-digit: We then drill into the software sector all the way down to the five- and six-digit levels (NAICS 51121 and 511210) for the most specific detail.
Now that we have isolated the software publishers, the final question is, “What companies are we talking about?” The business data provides the answer. It is essentially the seventh-digit sector.
How can I use it?
When detailed industry data is joined with accurate business-level data, you get much better intelligence on the dynamics of local economies. It can also clue you into things like the behavior and needs of local companies, and give you actionable information so that you can follow up and learn even more.
Let’s say you are researching local engineering companies in the Cincinnati MSA. Using Analyst (see below), you find that there are about 400 establishments that are engaged in this type of work. From 2010-2012 the industry has done quite well, adding 15% to its labor force.
The next step is learning more about the individual businesses, and with the Equifax data you’ll have lots of info (like address, website, phone number, etc.) so you can contact them yourself. If you are looking to learn more about worker needs and in-demand skills at growing companies, this is key data.
How can I see the data?
If you would like to check out the data, contact us and we can set you up with a demonstration in early August.
If you have access to Analyst and have already added business-level data, we will automatically update your account once all the finishing touches are made. We will send out an update when it is live.
If you have access to Analyst but haven’t signed up for business data, contact us about adding it to your account.
Please contact Rob Sentz (rob@economicmodeling.com) if you have further questions. Follow us @desktopecon.
