These states derived whatever they could from the federal sources and then performed more detailed analysis with state, private, and other data sources. Although the researchers found the federal data sources to be reliable and valuable, many wished that the data could be released on a more timely basis. Several directors complained about the lag time for the release of data and the infrequency with which some data are produced. Most of the researchers also use state ES-202 employment data. However, the availability and quality of that data appear to vary from state to state.
Some states find that disclosure limitations hamper the data's use and effectiveness.
Another said that the high level of aggregation masks many dynamic and growing industries since they are lumped with other less productive or relevant industries. Another researcher finds ES-202 data to be unreliable since administrative files are used as statistical files even though the two types of data are not necessarily interchangeable. A couple of researchers said that it is sometimes difficult to find the data they need on the WWW and commented that a Dewey Decimal-type system is needed. Several research directors said that their offices collect a lot of important data through surveys and from industry associations and companies. A list of data sources identified in the survey is included in the following table.