Job Vacancy Survey Methodology

Second Quarter 2020

Sample Design

Information on job vacancies for the second quarter 2020 Minnesota Job Vacancy Survey comes from a survey of 5,562 Minnesota firms. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this was a smaller sample size than in past surveys, but was still designed to accurately reflect hiring activity in each of 6 planning regions in the state. Surveyed employers were randomly selected from Minnesota's Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). These firms were selected from the universe of firms that were doing business in Minnesota during second quarter 2019. Firms were selected based on a sampling procedure that stratified by Economic Development Region, firm size (1 to 9 employees; 10 to 49 employees; 50 to 249 employees; and 250 employees or more), and 20 industrial sectors.

Twenty major industrial sectors, defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), are represented in the survey sample as shown in the table below:

NAICS INDUSTRY	INDUSTRY DESCRIPTION
Agriculture	Firms engaged in growing crops, raising animals, harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals from a farm, ranch, or their natural habitats.
Mining	Firms that extract naturally occurring mineral solids, such as coal and ores; liquid minerals, such as crude petroleum; and gasses, such as natural gas.
Utilities	Firms engaged in the provision of the following utility services: electric power, natural gas, steam supply, water supply, and sewage removal.
Construction	Firms engaged in the construction of buildings and other structures, heavy construction, additions, alterations, reconstruction, installations, and maintenance and repairs.
Manufacturing	Firms engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products.
Wholesale Trade	Firms engaged in wholesale merchandising, generally without transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise.
Retail Trade	Firms engaged in retailing merchandise, generally without transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise.
Transportation & Warehousing	Firms engaged in the transportation of passengers and cargo, warehousing and storage for goods, scenic and sightseeing transportation, and support activities related to modes of transportation.
Information	Firms engaged in the production, processing and distribution of information and cultural products.
Finance & Insurance	Firms engaged in financial transactions (including the creation, liquidation, or change in ownership of financial assets) and/or facilitating financial transactions.
Real Estate, Rental & Leasing	Firms engaged in renting, leasing, or otherwise allowing for the use of tangible or intangible assets, and establishments providing related service.
Professional & Technical Services	Firms specializing in performing professional, scientific, and technical activities for others.
Management of Companies	Firms who hold the securities of companies and enterprises for the purpose of controlling interest or influencing management decisions or who administer, oversee, and manage the company in a strategic, organizational, or decision-making role.
Admin. Support & Waste Mgmt. Svcs.	Firms providing routine support activities for the day-to-day operations of other organizations.
Educational Services	Firms providing instruction and training on a wide variety of subjects.
Health Care & Social Assistance	Firms providing healthcare and social assistance to individuals.
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation	Firms engaged in providing services to meet the varied cultural, entertainment, and recreational interests of their patrons.
Accommodation & Food Services	Firms providing customers with lodging and/or preparation of meals, snacks and beverages for immediate consumption.
Other Services	Firms engaged in providing services not specifically provided for elsewhere in the classification system.
Public Administration	Federal, state and/or local agencies that administer, oversee, and manage public programs and have executive, legislative, or judicial authority over other institutions in a given area.

Source: North American Industry Classification System, United States. NAICS Web page: www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/.

Firms excluded from the sampling process included those in private households and personnel service industries and those firms with no employees.

Survey Instrument, Procedure and Results

Contact information, firm size, and industry classification for firms were drawn from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data maintained by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Additional contact information was obtained through telephone calls and websites.

About half of employers were sent letters and survey questionnaires during the quarter and asked to supply information on current job vacancies including rates of pay, education and experience requirements, and benefits. Firms without job vacancies were also asked to return the survey reporting “no vacancies”. Additional survey mailings and follow-up telephone calls were used to solicit survey responses. Data was collected by staff directly from firm websites for about 2,800 firms in the sample, which was a higher percentage than in past surveys due to complications with business availability during the coronavirus pandemic.

Following a review of the survey results and coding to an occupational (SOC) category (see section on SOC coding below), the data were scaled to produce estimates representative of Minnesota's labor market by Planning Region. The scaling process takes account of the distribution of job vacancies and overall employment by industry and size in the respondent group and in the universe of regional employers.

Breaks in Series and Re-estimation Processes

In second quarter 2005, we changed the regional stratification from Planning Regions to Economic Development Regions (EDR). Since the estimation method did not change and Planning Region level data are still produced, comparisons to previous rounds remain valid. In the second quarter of 2020, we changed the regional stratification back to Planning Regions.

Starting with the second quarter of 2007 survey round, we made some slight adjustments to the classification of the “very small” and “small” size classes. The “very small” size class was altered to include companies with one to nine employees, where before it included only employers with one to four employees. The “small” size class was adjusted to include only those companies with 10 to 49 employees. This change was made to better group smaller companies that have similar hiring practices. This change does produce a break in the time series for these size classifications.

Due to changes in methodology made for the fourth quarter of the 2001 survey round, comparisons of estimated job vacancies to the fourth quarter of 2000 and second quarter of 2001 rounds should be made with caution. In order to make any comparisons between all rounds of the survey, job vacancy totals from fourth quarter 2000 and second quarter 2001 were re-estimated. Comparisons of job vacancy totals in the Minnesota Job Vacancy Survey report use the re-estimated job vacancy totals and not the estimated job vacancies reported in the fourth quarter of 2000 and second quarter 2001 Minnesota Job Vacancy Survey reports.

Finally, in fourth quarter 2012 we made changes to the estimation process in response to an analysis conducted by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve in 2011 which showed that wage estimates probably understate wage offers in the population of job vacancies. The study found that our method of collecting some job vacancies on-line leads to a systematic underreporting of wages. This is due to the fact that fewer than 20 percent of job postings available on-line report wage offers and the job vacancies collected on-line tend to be the higher skill/wage vacancies (on-line collection tends to be done for the largest firms including headquarters, colleges and universities and hospitals, for example). Their recommendation was to impute wage offers.

In response, we are now imputing wage offers for all reported vacancies where wages are missing. We are also imputing education, experience, and benefits offered where they are missing. At this time, all estimates have been revised for all years available on our website.

For more information, please contact Oriane Casale or Cameron Macht in the Labor Market Information Office.

Matching Job Titles to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System

A total of 15,866 specific open-for-hire job titles were collected through the data collection process. Analysts reviewed these job titles and matched them to appropriate Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) titles. For the first time, the 2018 SOC structure was used in this study. The 2018 SOC Code structure is a set of six-digit occupational codes that is currently being used by a number of different agencies, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of the Census, to classify occupations.

The 2018 SOC is a four-tiered structure with 867 detailed occupations that can be summarized into 459 broad occupations, 98 minor occupational groups, and 23 major occupational groups. For the purpose of this study, occupational information is presented at both the major occupational group and detailed occupational levels. Major occupational groups include the following:

MAJOR OCCUPATIONAL GROUP	SAMPLE OCCUPATIONS
Management	Educational Administrators, Marketing Managers, and Medical and Health Service Managers
Business and Financial Operations	Accountants, Financial Analysts, and Human Resource Specialists
Computer and Mathematical	Actuaries, Computer Programmers, and Computer Support Specialists
Architecture and Engineering	Architects, Chemical Engineers, and Drafters
Life, Physical and Social Science	Anthropologists, Chemists, and Geographers
Community and Social Service	Clergy, Health Educators, and Marriage and Family Therapists
Legal	Court Reporters, Lawyers, and Paralegals
Education, Training and Library	Librarians, Post-secondary Teachers, and Special Education Teachers
Art, Design, Entertainment Sports and Media	Coaches, Producers and Directors, and Radio Operators
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	Dentists, Physicians, and Registered Nurses
Healthcare Support	Dental Assistants, Home Health Aides, and Pharmacy Aides
Protective Service	Animal Control Workers, Detectives, and Police Officers
Food Preparation and Serving Related	Cooks, Food Preparation Workers, and Waiters and Waitresses
Building, Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	Housekeeping Cleaners, Janitors, and Pest Control Workers
Personal Care and Service	Child Care Workers, Hairdressers and Hairstylists, and Personal and Home Care Aides
Sales and Related	Cashiers, Insurance Sales Agents, and Retail Salespersons
Office and Administrative Support	Customer Service Representatives, Tellers, and Secretaries
Farming, Fishing and Forestry	Agricultural Inspectors, Animal Breeders, and Farmers
Construction and Extraction	Construction Laborers, Carpenters, and Electricians
Installation, Maintenance and Repair	Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics, Motorcycle Mechanics, and Millwrights
Production	Butchers and Meat Cutters, Foundry Mold and Coremakers, and Machinists
Transportation and Material Moving	Airline Pilots, Bus Drivers, and Truck Drivers

In matching employer job titles to detailed occupational SOC codes and titles, analysts were careful to match vague titles, such as "Laborer", to appropriate codes by examining industry, wage, education and experience information provided by employers and when necessary looking back at on-line job postings for more detail. As a result of this process, job vacancies for this round are reported in a total of 589 occupational codes. Not all of these are published: Three firms must be represented in a cell to meet publication criteria.

For more information on the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System, see the SOC Web page at: www.bls.gov/soc/.

Occupational Employment Estimates

The Local Employment and Wage Information System (LEWIS) provides occupational employment estimates for the state of Minnesota and its 6 Planning Regions. LEWIS uses the results of the annual Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) in the calculation of employment within occupational groups and detailed occupations for user-defined areas such as the state, Greater Minnesota, and the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area.

Survey Response Rates

The overall survey response rate for this round is 78.0% (4,338 of 5,562). The following tables provide response rates by survey strata.

Survey Response Rates by Firm Size and Industry for Minnesota

Size of Firm	Sample	Received	Response Rate
Very Small (1 to 9 employees)	917	624	68.0%
Small (10 to 49 employees)	1,297	908	70.0%
Medium (50 to 249 employees)	1,896	1,486	78.4%
Large (250 or more employees)	1,452	1,321	91.0%
Industry	Sample	Received	Response Rate
Accommodation & Food Services	621	407	65.5%
Admin. Support & Waste Mgmt. Svcs.	141	105	74.5%
Agriculture	106	75	70.8%
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation	163	117	71.8%
Construction	248	166	66.9%
Educational Services	290	255	87.9%
Finance & Insurance	193	166	86.0%
Health Care & Social Assistance	916	726	79.3%
Information	140	114	81.4%
Management of Companies	198	159	80.3%
Manufacturing	540	438	81.1%
Mining	78	57	73.1%
Other Services	169	120	71.0%
Professional & Technical Services	336	251	74.7%
Public Administration	240	239	99.6%
Real Estate	105	74	70.5%
Retail Trade	572	145	78.0%
Transportation & Warehousing	216	172	79.6%
Utilities	104	94	90.4%
Wholesale Trade	186	145	78.0%
Total	5,562	4,338	78.0%