EEO versus SF4 Data

The 2000 EEO data imposed new limits on the data: data is only presented for those occupations that include at least 10,000 people nationally. Also, there must be at least 100,000 people in a given geography for its data to be released. In some cases this means that data is not available for the smaller areas at all; in others, smaller areas’ data is presented in combination. Less than a quarter of North Carolina counties meet this population threshold. Consequently, although the SF4 data is not the same universe of data as the EEO, it may help researchers gain a better understanding of employment within an individual county.

Points to Remember:

EEO data will provide more occupational detail (number of nurses and dentists as opposed to number of health care professionals) whereas SF4 data will provide greater geographic detail (Transylvania County instead of the combined data of Jackson, Macon and Transylvania).