Census Bureau Seeks Extension for Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Data Collection

The Department of Commerce's Census Bureau recently published a Federal Register notice announcing its intention to seek an extension for the critical Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics, or LEHD, data collection. This action triggers a 60-day public comment period, concluding on November 30, 2026, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The LEHD program is a vital federal initiative that provides comprehensive, timely data on employer and employee dynamics across the nation, serving as an essential resource for federal, state, and local policymakers, businesses, and researchers.

The Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program

The LEHD program represents a modern approach to statistical data collection. Instead of relying on traditional surveys, it leverages existing federal administrative and state data assets. This method significantly reduces the reporting burden on the public and associated costs by utilizing information already collected by various government entities. The program is built upon the foundation of linking multiple business and employee datasets with advanced confidentiality protections, creating a longitudinal national framework for jobs. This infrastructure is a direct contributor to the Department of Commerce's broader strategy to enhance American competitiveness and improve measures of innovation.

Core Data Products and Their Applications

Central to the LEHD program's utility are its public-use data products, developed in partnership with Labor Market Information agencies from 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These products include:

• Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI): This flagship product offers 32 statistical indicators covering employment, job creation and destruction, hires, and separations. Data is available by geographic area (county, metropolitan, workforce development), demographic characteristics (age, sex, race, ethnicity), and business attributes (industry, ownership type, firm age, firm size).
• LEHD Origin Destination Employment Statistics (LODES): LODES provides detailed spatial information on workers' employment and residential locations down to the Census Block level. It also includes characteristics such as age, earnings, and industry distributions.
• Job-to-Job Flows (J2J): These statistics shed light on job mobility in the United States, including transition rates, hires and separations, earnings changes due to job changes, and characteristics of origin and destination jobs. Data is accessible at national, state, and metropolitan levels.
• Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO): An experimental dataset, PSEO tracks the earnings and employment outcomes of graduates from select post-secondary institutions. It provides insights into earnings by institution, degree field, level, and graduation cohort over time, as well as employment flows by industry and geography.

These diverse data products offer unique insights into state and local labor market dynamics that are often unavailable from other statistical sources. They are extensively used for regression analysis, trend identification, performance evaluations, and various other economic studies.

Data Collection and Confidentiality Measures

The LEHD program's methodology for data collection is entirely electronic and non-survey based. Data is sourced from several channels:

• State Unemployment Insurance and Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data are submitted directly by state LMI agencies to secure Census servers via encrypted File Transfer Protocol (FTP), governed by Memoranda of Understanding. These state partners represent the primary "respondents" for the data collection, though their burden is limited to data transfer.
• Federal and Census Bureau administrative data are acquired through internal agreements with other directorates and divisions within the Census Bureau.
• Public use datasets are gathered from publicly available websites or FTP servers.

A critical aspect of the LEHD infrastructure is its robust confidentiality protection. All Personally Identifiable Information (PII) undergoes a process to replace it with Protected Identification Keys, or PIK, through a Person Identification Validation System, or PVS. This ensures individual privacy while allowing for comprehensive data linkage and analysis, aligning with the legal authorities provided by 13 U.S.C. 6 for program development and 13 U.S.C. 9 for confidentiality assurance.

Opportunity for Public Comment

This notice serves as a formal invitation for public comment on the proposed extension of this information collection. The Census Bureau is specifically seeking feedback on several areas:

• The necessity of the collection and its practical utility.
• The accuracy of the estimated time and cost burden for data providers.
• Ways to improve the quality, utility, and clarity of the collected information.
• Methods to minimize the reporting burden on those who respond, potentially through automated techniques or other information technology.

The estimated total annual burden for the 54 state partners is 1728 hours, with each partner spending no more than 8 hours per response for quarterly deliveries. Notably, the estimated total annual cost to the public is zero, as data is provided electronically and voluntarily under existing agreements. All comments submitted become part of the public record, and while requests to withhold personal identifying information will be considered, the Bureau cannot guarantee anonymity.