About the Data Catalog

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The 2024 Veteran Employment Data Catalog is a document-based catalog of existing datasets that could be used to answer research questions related to veterans’ employment outcomes. The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) collaborated with the Veterans’ Employment and Training Services (VETS) to commission Insight Policy Research (now Westat) to identify both public and restricted datasets that align with topic areas derived from VETS’ mission. These topic areas include (1) the post-separation transition into civilian employment, (2) racial equity and supporting underserved veteran communities, and (3) identifying existing programs and policies of interest to VETS.

This catalog provides reference entries for 19 datasets that contain data related to these topic areas. Each dataset entry includes a description, potential research utility, strengths and limitations, sampling metadata, a list of relevant included variables, data structure metadata, and data accessibility metadata. Researchers can use this catalog to (1) find datasets containing variables related to their research questions, (2) gain an overview of a dataset’s general relevance to veteran employment-related content, and (3) anticipate the types of veteran employment-related inquiries a dataset may be able to support.

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Key Takeaways

• There are many existing datasets with a rich set of demographic, economic, military-related, and veteran-related variables researchers can use to analyze topic areas related to VETS’ mission.
• There are many existing datasets with a rich set of demographic, economic, military-related, and veteran-related variables researchers can use to analyze topic areas related to VETS’ mission.
• Researchers can use the data catalog to determine the scope of their research questions, find a dataset with relevant variables, and gain a broad overview of a dataset’s veteran and employment-related metadata.
• Many of the cataloged datasets are restricted or require administrator approval to access.

Research Gaps

• There is a high degree of variation in the quantity and granularity of publicly available documentation across datasets.
• There is a high degree of variation in the quantity and granularity of publicly available documentation across datasets.
• The catalog only includes variables listed in public documentation. Highly restricted datasets might contain unlisted variables.
• There is a moderate degree of variation in data reporting frequency across administering organizations. Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic could affect the frequency that organizations collect, publish, or report on data.

Citation

Ring, M., Montgomery, S., and Cody, S. (2024). Westat. Veteran Employment Data Catalog. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.