In the Department of Labor's special tabulations of Census data on Limited English proficient (LEP) populations, each tabulation is designed to match the service area of a state or local Workforce Investment Area. LWIA service areas were translated into Census geographical divisions such as counties, cities, towns, Native American reservations and other units. Then the results were encoded into a SAS computer program that enabled Census to identify the people and households living in each service area at the time of the 2000 Census.

Process: The original source for the LWIA definitions was a list of WIA service areas compiled by the National Association of Counties (NACO). A draft version of the definitions, based on the NACO data, was circulated to Workforce Development staff in each state for review and comment in July 2003. State staff suggested many changes and updates to the NACO list, and those changes are reflected in these definitions. Census also ran cross-checks to ensure that the entire population was covered in each state.

Time Value: For the most part, the definitions shown here reflect the LWIA boundaries, names and LWIA numbers in effect in mid-2003. A few states supplied additional feedback between September and November 2003.

How to use the Definition Worksheets

File Layout and Contents

This workbook   file contains 52 worksheets, one for each state plus the District of Columbia and the Navajo Nation multi-state service area. You can access the worksheet for a state by clicking on the gray tabs at the bottom of the screen. Use the < > arrows at the bottom left to scroll through the list of states, which are identified by their abbreviations.

Each state worksheet contains all the LWIA definitions for the state. As shown in the example below, the first two columns of the worksheet give the LWIA (WIASARD) number and name of the LWIA. This information appears in the first row of the definition. You can search for a particular LWIA by scrolling vertically with the up and down arrows to the right, or the PageUp / PageDown keys.

Local Workforce Investment Area Geographical Equivalency Table 06 CALIFORNIA NACO Info
LWIA No.	LWIA Name	Oper- ation	County Name	Place name	GEO_ID	Sumlev	Geoname	State	County /Place
6185	Alameda County	=	Alameda		05000US06001	050	Alameda County, California	06	001
		subtract		Oakland(City)	16000US0653000	160	Oakland city, California	06	53000
6265	Anaheim(City)	=		Anaheim(City)	16000US0602000	160	Anaheim city, California	06	02000
6035	Carson/ Lomita/ Torrance	add		Carson	16000US0611530	160	Carson city, California	06	11530
		add		Lomita	16000US0642468	160	Lomita city, California	06	42468
		add		Torrance	16000US0680000	160	Torrance city, California	06	80000

The third column, Operation, shows how the various Census units were combined to form the LIWA service area. Most LWIAs are formed by adding together several counties or cities ('add'), while others have only one unit (' = '). In a few cases, such as 'balance of county' LWIAs, one or more geographical areas will be subtracted from a larger area.

Columns 4 and 5, County name and Place name, describe the geographical units that make up the LWIA. Any unit that is not a county will be listed in the Place column.

The final 5-6 columns with blue headings -- Geo_ID, Sumlev, Geoname, State, County / Place, and in some states Cousub or County subdivision -- contain the Census geographical codes that uniquely identify the various parts of the service area. These codes were used in the SAS computer program that produced the tabulations.

Viewing the tables on-screen

Use the arrow keys, PageUp/ PageDown keys, and scroll bars to move to different parts of the worksheet. The Zoom feature in the top menu bar (very much like Word's) allows you to reduce or enlarge the view.

You can also hold the table headings in view while you move around in the worksheet. Position the cursor at the 'corner' of the top and left-hand labels (for example, cell C6), and click on Window > Freeze panes in the top menu.

Which Tabulation Covers My County or Town?

• You can often use Excel's search capabilities to find the name of a specific county or urban place within a state's worksheet. This can be helpful if you do not know which LWIA service area a place belongs to, but want to find the tabulation that covers its population.
  
  After going to the correct State worksheet, position the cursor in the upper left-hand cell. Then select Edit > Find in the Excel menu, and type in all or part of the name. Click on Find Next on the right-hand side of the Find dialogue box, and Excel will find the first cell that contains the name. After closing the Find dialogue box, scroll to the left and up to find the LWIA that includes your target place.
  
  
  Helpful hint: LWIAs in most states are defined by counties rather than places. If Excel can not find the specific place name you ask for, try the name of the county where it is located.
  
  
• For large states with many LWIAs, you can use the same procedure to find the name of a particular LWIA. Please note that recent name changes will not be reflected in this file, and that an LWIA might be known by different names.