The Use of Microdata to Measure Employment Changes in Small Communities

One major purpose of econometric models investigating community employment change (EC) is to identify factors related to EC. An attempt is made to determine if the factors identified in such models are affected by using different data sets to measure EC, by comparing the results of models implemented with the Duns Market Indicators (DMI) file with those of models using the Pennsylvania County Industry Reports, the former being a micro data set, & the latter a traditional data set constructed by a public agency. Analysis indicates that the statistically significant location factors in these models are essentially unaffected by the use of different data sets to measure the dependent variable. Thus the DMI file can be used in this context for measuring EC for detailed industrial classes for small geographical areas. 1 Table, 7 References. Modified HA