DOL Launches Transparency Web Page

• Jan 26, 2010

The U.S. Department of Labor has recently made six high-value datasets publicly available — twice the number designated as the first target in the Obama administration's Open Government Initiative. The released datasets include OSHA’s Data Initiative, which allows the public to track health and safety conditions in the American workplace, and DOL’s inventory of completed and planned research and evaluation projects. Earlier this month — two weeks ahead of schedule — DOL launched a transparency Web page ( http://www.dol.gov/open ). The page tracks the department's efforts to comply with the Open Government Directive.

"This administration's efforts to transform the federal government into a transparent institution are unprecedented and a testament to our president's commitment to promote and facilitate the involvement of Americans in their government," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "I am proud of the important steps that my department already has taken to improve transparency, and I look forward to building on them."

Aside from the six datasets, the Bureau of Labor Statistics previously released dozens of datasets highlighting employment projections, trends, surveys and statistics, and OSHA made available a dataset to report weekly fatalities and catastrophes as reported by its area offices.

In accordance with the Open Government Directive issued in December 2009, the DOL uploaded the information released recently to Data.gov.

The six datasets released by the DOL are listed below:

OSHA Data Initiative — Establishment Specific Injury and Illness Rates
http://www.data.gov/details/1461
Each year, OSHA collects work-related injury and illness data from employers within specific industry and employment size specifications. This data collection is known as the OSHA Data Initiative. The data are used by OSHA to calculate establishment specific injury and illness incidence rates. Data from 1996 to 2007 are searchable online.

Department of Labor Research and Evaluation Inventory
http://www.data.gov/details/1376
This inventory is the first phase in the development of a single repository of all completed and planned research and evaluation projects that have or will be conducted by the Labor Department during the upcoming calendar year.

This dataset includes: a title and description of each project; the date the project began; the date the project was published with a link to completed research and evaluation project outcomes as these become available; and information on contract or grant resources, if applicable. The database will be updated on a monthly basis.

Project GATE (Growing Through Entrepreneurship)
http://www.data.gov/details/1516
Project GATE was a random-assignment demonstration project designed to help public workforce system clients create, sustain or expand their own businesses. A total of 4,198 applicants to Project GATE were randomly assigned to either the program group or the control group. This set represents the final data from the evaluation and includes administrative data from the six- and 18-month follow-ups and survey data from the six-, 18- and 60-month follow-ups of program participants.

Public Workforce System Dataset
http://www.data.gov/details/1497
The PWSD is a dataset that can be used to answer questions about various public workforce system programs and how these programs fit in with the overall public workforce system and the economy. It was designed primarily to be used as a tool to understand what has been occurring in the Wagner-Peyser program and contains data from quarter one of 1995 through quarter four of 2008. Also, it was designed to understand the relationship and flow of participants as they go through the public workforce system.

Workforce Investment Act Net Impact Evaluation Dataset
http://www.data.gov/details/1498
The evaluation employs administrative data from 12 states, covering approximately 160,000 WIA participants and nearly 3 million comparison group members. Focusing on participants who entered WIA programs between July 2003 and June 2005, the evaluation considers the impact for all those in the program, the impact for those receiving only core or intensive services, and the incremental impact of training services.