Residents age 65 and over as a share of population. It locates potential care pressure; it does not measure an actual care shortage.
A map for the public option for work
Where people need work.
Where work needs doing.
A Job Guarantee needs more than a vacancy board. It needs a continuously maintained map of labor-market stress, unmet public need and organizations ready to turn both into voluntary, useful employment.
Labor-market pressure + public need
Need is not evenly distributed.
Switch among distinct indicators rather than blending them into an arbitrary index. Select a state to compare it with the national value and see the public-work questions the evidence can support.
Loading official state geography…
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics ↗
People under 18 below the poverty threshold as a share of children whose poverty status is determined.
Cash-renter households spending at least 30% of income on rent among households for which the ratio can be computed.
Civilian noninstitutionalized residents without health-insurance coverage. It supports outreach planning, not clinical staffing estimates.
The matching model
Map the opportunity—not the person.
The model should recommend places, project categories and capacity investments. People choose among suitable offers through an accessible intake process.
01Labor slackRate, count, persistence and participation
+
02Public needCare, schools, climate, housing and health
+
03Project readinessSponsor, supervisor, tools and safe work plan
+
04Worker fitOpt-in preferences, skills, schedule and access
−
05Displacement riskExisting employees and funded vacancies protected
SUPPLY LAYER
Where employment is needed
- Monthly BLS unemployment rate and count
- Long-duration and recurring unemployment
- Participation and employment-population gaps
- Metro, county and commuting-area boundaries
NEED LAYER
Where useful work is waiting
- Childcare, eldercare and disability-service gaps
- Tutoring, attendance and after-school demand
- Heat, fire, flood and weatherization backlogs
- Parks, food access and public-health capacity
DELIVERY LAYER
Where a job can start safely
- Approved public or nonprofit sponsor
- Named supervisor and worker-support ratio
- Training, equipment and accessibility plan
- Published output and non-displacement review
What the atlas should return
A ranked investigation list—not a fake jobs number.
The atlas should only estimate positions after local sponsors document a need and their delivery capacity. Until then, it identifies where planning grants and project development are most urgent.
EXAMPLE OUTPUT FORMATIllustrative · not an estimate
County or workforce area
Labor-market pressureHigh / medium / low
Candidate project familiesCare · resilience · schools
Sponsor readinessMeasured from submitted projects
Training pathwayO*NET skills + local providers
ConfidencePublished with every result
Build sequence
Start with evidence we already have.
- NOWState unemployment layer
Monthly BLS rates reveal broad geographic differences.
- NEXTCounty labor-market layer
Add unemployment counts, persistence and participation without confusing seasonally adjusted and unadjusted data.
- THENCommunity-need indicators
Combine federal datasets with locally validated service gaps.
- REQUIREDSponsor project registry
No job estimate becomes actionable until a qualified institution can supervise it.
- FINALVoluntary worker matching
American Job Center intake connects preferences and accommodations to real approved offers.
Data architecture