The State Certifications and Licenses Data Tables measure the prevalence of certifications and licenses in each state. The data allows analysts to examine the relationship between certifications/licenses and various demographic, occupational, industrial, wage, and labor force outcomes. To produce state estimates, the LMI Institute combines CPS microdata associated with certifications, licenses, and other relevant variables for five years (2016 through 2020). Combining five years provides a sample of a sufficient size to estimate the prevalence of certifications and licensures for each state.
To generate estimates on certification and licensure status, we make use of two key CPS questions. The first asks if a respondent currently holds a professional certification or state or industry license (not including business licenses like liquor licenses). This first question allows us to segment the population into people with at least a certification or a license and people with neither a certification nor a license. The second question is asked only to respondents who answered positively to the first and asks if any of their certifications or licenses were issued by a federal, state, or local government. This question serves as a proxy for licensure status and allows us to further split the population into people with no license but a certification, and people with at least one license and possibly one or more certifications. Because there is no question isolating licensure status from certification status, we cannot say for certain how many people hold only a license, but we are able to say how many people hold only a certificate.
The State Certifications and Licenses Data Tables
The LMI Institute produces twelve tables. The first seven tables are state-level versions of the seven tables produced by the BLS, while the additional five tables were created by the LMI Institute:
- Table 1. Certification and licensing status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over by employment status
- Table 2. Employment status of the civilian non-institutional population by certification and licensing status and selected characteristics
- Table 3. Certification and licensing status of employed persons 16 years and over by selected characteristics
- Table 4. Certification and licensing status of the employed by industry and class of worker
- Table 5. Certification and licensing status of the employed by occupation
- Table 6. Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by certification and licensing status and selected characteristics
- Table 7. Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by certification and licensing status and occupation
- Table 8. Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by certification and licensing status and major industry
- Table 9. Unemployment Rates and Median Weekly Earnings by Occupational Groups, Educational Attainment and Certification and Licensing Status
- Table 10. Unemployment Rates and Median Weekly Earnings by Age Group, Educational Attainment and Certification and Licensing Status
- Table 11. Unemployment Rates and Median Weekly Earnings by Race and Hispanic Origin, Educational Attainment and Certification and Licensing Status
- Table 12. Unemployment Rates and Median Weekly Earnings by Sex and Educational Attainment
Preferred Citation
LMI Institute. State Certifications and Licenses Data Tables. 2021. https://www.lmiontheweb.org/what-we-do/state-certifications-and-licenses-data/
DATA REQUESTS and OTHER QUESTIONS
Please use our website or direct requests for data to the LMI Institute at 703-522-4983 or https://www.lmiontheweb.org/state-certifications-and-licenses-data/.
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Each issue of the State Certifications and Licenses Data is copyrighted. Printing, transferring into computer-readable format, or otherwise reproducing an entire Index report or any part thereof for sale is expressly prohibited unless written permission is obtained from the LMI Institute. News media, however, are permitted to use LMI Institute State Certifications and Licenses Data in editorial form in both paper copy and on the Internet, and are permitted to reproduce tables in part to illustrate text, provided appropriate credit is given to the LMI Institute. LMI Institute member states are permitted to reproduce tables for their respective state and the nation.
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