Introducing Demographic Labor Market Data into the U.S. National Accounts

The U.S. gross domestic product and its foundational National Income and Product Accounts contain some of the most widely used and followed economic statistics in the world yet contain limited information on the labor market and almost no information on demographic groups. We build a new dataset that includes labor market data cross-classified by sex, age, education, and industry and integrate this into the National and Industry Economic Accounts. To overcome small sample size issues for poorly measured demographic groups, we apply small area estimation to refine the estimates. We present examples of how this data can be used to better understand relationships between economic growth and labor market outcomes by demographic group.