The 8-tier employment entropy (or mix) is a measure of the diversity of different types of employment at a location. Employment mix examines the variety and evenness of the distribution of jobs in different sectors. The proximity of varying job types to one another is an important factor in quantifying the employment diversity or uniformity of a location.
DATA DEVELOPMENT
The employment mix uses eight job classification types including: 1) retail, 2) office, 3) industrial, 4) service, 5) entertainment, 6) education, 7) healthcare and 8) public administration. Total job counts and classification types were provided from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database furnished by the Census Bureau. The entropy denominator uses observed existing employment types within each Census block group.
Formula:
- 8-tier employment entropy = -E/ (ln (N))
Where:
E= (Retail Jobs/Total Jobs)*ln(Retail Jobs/Total Jobs) + (Office Jobs/Total Jobs)*ln(Office Jobs/Total Jobs) + (Industrial Jobs/Total Jobs)*ln(Industrial Jobs/Total Jobs) + (Service Jobs/ Total Jobs)*ln(Service Jobs/Total Jobs) + (Entertainment Jobs/Total Jobs)*ln(Entertainment Jobs/Total Jobs) + (Education Jobs/Total Jobs)*ln(Education Jobs/Total Jobs) + (Healthcare Jobs/Total Jobs)*ln(Healthcare Jobs/Total Jobs) + (Public Administration Jobs/Total Jobs)*ln(Public Administration Jobs/Total Jobs)
The MSA level value is the unweighted mean of the values of all block groups in the MSA.
INDICATOR CALCULATION
This indicator was calculated by U.S. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) using data from the sources listed below.
DATA SOURCES
- U.S. EPA Smart Location Database, 2013.
- Census Bureau, LEHD, 2014.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
- Cevero, R. & Kockelman, K. (1997). Travel Demand & the 3 Ds: Density, Diversity & Design. Transportation Research Part D: Transport & Environment 2, 3, 199-219.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
