Labor Market Information Services
Job Vacancies in Kansas
| Methodology Report |
2007 Edition |
- Sample Selection
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Information published in the Job Vacancies in Kansas, 2007 Edition, was compiled from the 2007 Kansas Job Vacancy Survey. These survey results came from a selected sample of 3,536 firms from the Kansas Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Program. This program maintains a quarterly database of non-agricultural employment from employers subject to the Kansas Unemployment Insurance Law. The sample was selected from employer information taken from the records for the second quarter of 2006. It was stratified by industry super sector and establishment size class to represent the universe of employers in the five Local Areas throughout the State of Kansas.
The sample was drawn using software produced by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The sample was selected randomly without replacement within strata and was selected with a targeted relative standard error of 15 percent and a desired response rate of 65 percent. To achieve a result as close as possible to the targeted relative standard error, the software used the standard deviation of employment and assumed a value of three percent of employment for job vacancies. This method provides foundation (basis) for estimating job vacancies in Kansas.
The resulting sample size was then allocated using the Neyman method. The Neyman method takes a larger sample in a given stratum if: (1) the stratum is larger and (2) the stratum has more employment variation internally. The resulting sample size provided a 50.778 percent relative standard error (RSE). RSE is defined as the standard error divided by the estimate. It specifies the percentage of error that can be tolerated, for example: plus or minus ten percent on the number of job vacancies.
The universe for the survey sample included all employers in Kansas who employed at least one employee and included private employers, federal government, state government and local government employers.
Firms excluded from the sampling process included those in the private households, temporary help services, professional employer organizations and those firms with no employees.
The sample was stratified by geographical area, representing each of the five Local Areas, considered as planning regions under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). A map showing each Local Area and what counties they contain can be found in Appendix A. Units were selected using the county information maintained in the Kansas QCEW Program. Under this program, employers report information by location, therefore allowing employers with multiple worksites to be identified in each of the counties they are doing business in. Some units selected were not identified to one specific location or county, therefore are not selected in the sampling process.
Four firm sizes were used to stratify the sample, based upon the number of employees reported through the Kansas QCEW program. Size classes were classified as follows: Very Small (1-4 employees), Small (5-49), Medium (50-249) and Large (250 or more). When selecting the sample, certainty was given to the employers in the Large size class, meaning all establishments that employed 250 or more employees were selected in the sample.
The sample was stratified by eleven super sectors. Each super sector represents one or more of the twenty major industry sectors, defined by the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). A detailed description of each super sector and industry sector is available in Appendix B.
- Survey Period
The survey was conducted over a three-month period from April 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007, representing the second quarter of 2007. The survey was mailed to all firms on April 2, 2007. Two additional survey mailings were sent to non-respondents during the survey period and follow-up telephone contacts were made during the month of June. Respondents were provided a postage paid return envelope, in addition to the option of responding via e-mail, fax or telephone.
- Survey Questions
Employers surveyed were asked to provide information on current job vacancies at the time of the survey. Therefore, these estimates are considered as point-in-time estimates and may include seasonal variations in the labor market.
Survey respondents were asked to report job titles and the number of job vacancies for which they were recruiting. For each job title, they also were asked to provide education requirements, wages and benefits offered and the length of time job vacancies had been open. This additional information provides helpful analysis of education requirements for open positions, in addition to starting wages and benefits offered.
- Survey Responses
The original sample selected included 3,536 firms. During the survey period, a total of 41 sampled units across the state were found to be out of business or out of scope. These units were removed from the sample and are not included in the calculation of the response rates.
The preferred method of response was by the postage paid envelope enclosed with the survey. A fax number and toll-free telephone number was provided to survey recipients who wished to utilize either of these two methods. Survey responses were also accepted via e-mail in an electronic format, such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Some responses were secured by obtaining information directly from the job postings found on the Web site of the firms in the sample. Additional information regarding the various survey response methods is provided in Table A.
The desired response rate was 65 percent for each Local Area. Efforts also were made to reach the desired response rate of 65 percent in each industry super sector and in each size class. Follow-up telephone calls were made during the third survey round to secure critical non-responses identified within each Local Area for certain industry super sectors and size classes.
Usable responses were received from 2,504 employers, an overall participation rate of 71.6 percent. Response rates for each Local Area ranged from 68.2 percent to 77.5 percent, resulting in statistically reliable data. Information regarding the survey sample and response rates for each Local Area is provided in Table B, with additional details by industry super sector and size class provided in Table C & D for statewide sample information with sample information for each of the five Local Areas provided in separate tables.
- Job Titles (Occupational Titles)
Employers were asked to provide the names of the job titles that were currently open-for-hire. Analysts reviewed these job titles and matched them to a corresponding occupation using the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. The SOC is a four-tiered structure with 821 detailed occupations within 22 major occupational groups. For the purposes of this study, occupational information is presented at both the major occupational group and detailed occupational levels. Major occupational groups and examples of typical occupations are listed in Appendix C.
Analysts were careful to match vague titles, such as "seasonal worker" to appropriate codes by contacting employers or examining detailed industry, wage and education information. Questionable titles that could not be linked to a specific SOC code, mainly due to lack of detailed information, were placed in a more general occupational category.
- Estimation
Each employer was assigned a weight relative to others in the same Local Area, in the same industry super sector and in the same size class. The weight was assigned after the data collection was complete, and was based upon response status. This weight was used to determine the estimate of the number of job vacancies for each occupation. Outliers were identified and the number of job vacancies was adjusted where necessary.
In some cases, the additional information, such as education requirement or length of recruiting period, was not available; therefore, the percents for some data may not add up to 100 percent.
Estimates were prepared and published for each of the five Local Areas, in addition to statewide data. The counties that are in each Local Area are listed in Appendix A.
- Starting Wage Offer
The respondents were asked to provide the expected compensation for each job opening. In many cases, the starting wage offer may vary depending on the experience of the candidate; therefore, employers had the option to provide a wage range. This provided the availability of two sets of average wages, minimum and maximum. In most cases, the results published represented the minimum average wage offer.
The majority of the results presented in the published tables, include average wage offers as an hourly wage. Annual compensation for full-time positions reported in the survey was converted to an hourly rate for the purposes of this study by dividing the annual compensation by 2,080 hours. There is a small group of occupations, primarily in teaching professions, that are identified by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Survey (OES), where the standard work-year assumption is not valid. Results presented in tables that present information by occupational title, include average wage offers for occupations identified in this group as an annual wage. Hourly wages for these occupations are calculated to be included in the published results that detail average hourly wage offers. Wages for full-time teachers were based on a nine and one-half month year, therefore, dividing the annual compensation by 1,647 hours.
The average hourly wage offer is based upon the responses employers provided to the wage offer question on the survey and does not reflect information from other sources or wages paid for currently filled positions. Some respondents did not report the expected wage compensation for the reported job openings; therefore, the average wage offer represents an average of the wage information available. The average wage offer does not include wage information for any occupations paid by special pay arrangements. For example, some truck drivers are paid a certain amount per load and some part-time post-secondary teachers are paid per credit hour.
The average wage offer may not include all monies received from tips since the amount of tips received is unknown. All wages reported below the federal minimum wage were adjusted to $5.15 an hour when the occupation listed stated that tips were included. This was what the federal minimum wage was at the time of the survey. This is the case for particular occupations, such as a waitress, where the compensation reported by a respondent was $2.13 an hour, plus tips. In cases such as this, $5.15 was used to calculate the average and median wage offer.
- Job Vacancy Rate
The job vacancy rate is a computation of the number of job vacancies as a percent of all filled positions. The most current employment data from the Estimates Delivery System (EDS) was used to assist with the calculation of the job vacancy rate by occupation. EDS is a system for producing occupational wage and employment statistics from the results of the annual Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Survey. EDS is particularly useful because it allows for the calculation of employment within occupational groups and detailed occupations for the state and for user-defined areas, in this case Local Areas.
The published estimates from the annual OES survey combine the current survey panel with the five previous survey panels when producing employment and wage information. This allows for more detailed industry and occupational data by area. The occupational employment data used for this study was secured from the published second quarter 2007 wage survey data. These data were a result of estimates produced from the combination of the following survey panels: May 2006, May 2005, November 2005, May 2004, November 2004, and November 2003.
Job vacancy rates also are calculated by industry and by size class. Employment estimates from the QCEW program, described in the Sample Selection section of this Methodology Report, were used to calculate job vacancy rates by industry super sector and size class. The 2006 average annual employment by super sector was used to calculate the job vacancy rate by industry super sector. The December 2006 employment data was used to calculate the job vacancy rate by size of establishment.
The employment numbers used in calculating the job vacancy rates are from different sources and different time periods, therefore, the job vacancy rate by occupation, industry and size may differ slightly.
Additional information about what the job vacancy rate means is available in the About the Survey section.
- Comparing Results from Previous Annual Studies
Previous job vacancy studies (2004 - 2006) were stratified by industry sector. In an effort to continually improve the methodology and lower the survey cost, the 2007 study was stratified by industry super sector. Due to this change in methodology, comparison of estimated job vacancies with previous surveys should be made with caution.
- Methodology Tables
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