Counting Employment in Arlington County - social-and-decision-analytics-lab/2016-summer_students GitHub Wiki

Sponsor: Arlington County (Andrew J. D'huyvetter, AICP, LEED AP, Associate Planner, Center for Urban Design and Research);

Description: The Metropolitan Washington Council of Government (MWCOG) distributes federal funds (primarily for transportation) to localities based on population and employment. The MWCOG requests that each county/city compute employment following a standardized approach. AC believes the MWCOG method, which relies on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) QCEW (quarterly census of employment and wages) underestimates Arlington County (AC) computes their employment forecasts using a bottom up method, block by block. For employment, they calculate employment based on per square feet of leased office space less vacancies, water usage, and commercial building information (COSTAR data). We will invite the BLS economists who oversee the QCEW to do a brownbag lunch.