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    "title" : "Visualizing BLS Data to Improve Understanding |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Visualizing BLS Data to Improve Understanding",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/2015/06/05/visualizing-bls-data-to-improve-understanding/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Visualizing BLS Data to Improve Understanding","summary" : "If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the value of a striking, cool chart or map of some BLS data? At the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), we’re always thinking of better ways to help our users understand the information we produce. The global economy is complex, and the statistics to explain","date" : "2015-06-05T10:00:28-04:00","date_modified" : "2024-04-02T09:45:13-04:00","authors" : {"erica-groshen" : "Erica L. Groshen"},"topics" : {
        
            "content-strategy" : "Content Strategy",
            "data-visualization" : "Data Visualization",
            "open-data" : "Open Data"
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      "filename" :"2015-06-05-visualizing-bls-data-to-improve-understanding.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2015/06/2015-06-05-visualizing-bls-data-to-improve-understanding.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/cm-topics-button-component/content/news/2015/06/2015-06-05-visualizing-bls-data-to-improve-understanding.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/cm-topics-button-component/content/news/2015/06/2015-06-05-visualizing-bls-data-to-improve-understanding.md","slug" : "visualizing-bls-data-to-improve-understanding","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/2015/06/05/visualizing-bls-data-to-improve-understanding/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eIf a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the value of a striking, cool chart or map of some BLS data? At the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), we’re always thinking of better ways to help our users understand the information we produce. The global economy is complex, and the statistics to explain the economy can be complex too.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eData visualizations are one tool we use to present our data more clearly. What are data visualizations? They are any method of presenting numerical information visually—most commonly through charts and maps. Good data visualizations can improve understanding for all types of audiences, from students of all ages to experts with advanced degrees in economics, statistics, or other fields.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn recent years we’ve done more to include data visualizations in nearly all our publications. We have designed two of our publications to showcase data visualizations. One is \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/\"\u003eThe Economics Daily\u003c/a\u003e—or TED, as we call it. We publish a new edition of TED every business day, and we’ve done that since 1998. Each edition of TED typically includes a chart or map, sometimes two, with a few words to explain the data in the visualization.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother publication geared toward data visualizations is \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/\"\u003eSpotlight on Statistics\u003c/a\u003e. Spotlight tells a longer, more detailed story about a topic through a series of visualizations presented in a slideshow format. As with TED, Spotlight includes brief written analysis to explain more about the data.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven our publications that feature mostly written analysis often include visualizations to tell a more complete story. Our flagship research journal, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/\"\u003eMonthly Labor Review\u003c/a\u003e, has evolved a lot over its 100 years of publication to serve readers better; that evolution includes more and better data visualizations. \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/\"\u003eBeyond the Numbers\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/\"\u003eBLS Reports\u003c/a\u003e often include visualizations as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe take pride in crafting our words carefully, but good data visualizations can complement the words. For example, during and after the Great Recession, the monthly \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/schedule/archives/empsit_nr.htm\"\u003eEmployment Situation\u003c/a\u003e news release has discussed the historically high levels of long-term unemployment. The number of long-term unemployed—those jobless 27 weeks or longer—has remained high years after the recession ended in June 2009. It’s one thing to read about long-term unemployment, but a good chart can tell the story even more clearly. long-term-unemployment\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/06/587-410-BLS-Bureau-Labor-and-Statistics-data-visualization-long-term-unemployment.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A data visualization chart for the number of unemployed people by duration, seasonally adjusted, from January 1990 until January 2015.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor an even broader perspective, we have a Spotlight on Statistics that \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2015/long-term-unemployment/home.htm\"\u003eexamines long-term unemployment\u003c/a\u003e more fully.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot only have we presented more data visualizations in recent years, but our visualizations also have gotten more sophisticated. A basic image can present information effectively. Take this simple map that shows the proportion of each state’s population age 16 or older that had a job in 2014. state-employment-population ratios\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/06/600-x-473-BLS-Bureau-Labor-and-Statistics-data-visualization-state-employment-population-ratios.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A data visualization map of the United Sates, showing an employment-population ratio, by state, of 2014 annual averages.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow check out the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/state-employment-population-ratios-in-2014.htm\"\u003einteractive version of this map\u003c/a\u003e that we published in the March 9, 2015, edition of TED. When you hover over each state, more information pops up to show the state’s employment–population ratio in 2014 and how much it changed from 2013. When you hover over the items in the map legend, the states in each category light up more brightly to help you see the states with similar employment–population ratios. When you click on each state, you go to a webpage that provides even more information about the state’s labor market. Interactive features in our charts and maps give you the power to choose what information you want to see.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you like the interactive features in our charts and maps, I think you’ll love the animation in some of our visualizations. Animation adds a time dimension to our data to let you see how measures change. For a great example of animation, see a TED we published last year that shows \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140522.htm\"\u003estate unemployment rates before, during, and after the Great Recession\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe BLS website will feature even more data visualizations soon. Check the \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.bls.gov/blog/\"\u003eBLS blog\u003c/a\u003e to learn more about them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe share many of our data visualizations on Twitter, so follow us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BLS_gov\"\u003e@BLS_gov\u003c/a\u003e. You also can \u003ca href=\"https://subscriptions.bls.gov/accounts/USDOLBLS/subscriber/topics\"\u003esign up to receive email alerts\u003c/a\u003e for TED, Spotlight on Statistics, and our other publications.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd if you have created a great visualization of BLS data, please share it with us and the readers of this blog!\u003cem\u003eErica L. Groshen is the Commissioner of Labor Statistics.\u003c/em\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThis article was \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.bls.gov/blog/2015/05/21/visualizing-bls-data-to-improve-understanding/\"\u003eoriginally posted on the Bureau of Labor Statistics blog\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
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