Valuable Data for Employment Mitigation: Bureau of Economic Analysis’ industry statistics

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), along with the Census Bureau, are the chief focuses of the Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration. One of the world’s leading statistical agencies, BEA produces statistics used by Congress, the Federal Reserve and Wall Street, as well as researchers, businesses and the public to understand and analyze the US economy.

BEA’s Interactive Data Application allows users to easily access and customize regional, national, international, and industry statistics. Tools to chart, share and navigate between data sets make this application bookmark-worthy for anyone researching GDP and personal income, GDP-by-industry, international transactions or direct investment.

BEA’s industry statistics are utilized by policymakers and businesses to analyze and understand productivity and industry interactions. One facet of the data accessible in the Interactive Data Application, GDP-by-industry, is of particular relevance to lawsuits involvinganalyses of employment mitigation.

In employment cases involving claims of lost earnings, the plaintiff must make a good faith effort to regain suitable alternative employment and mitigate their losses. When an economic expert calculates lost back and front pay, compensation earned (or expected to be earned) by the plaintiff is deducted from the calculated lost earnings due to the termination. If a plaintiff is found to have failed to mitigate damages, his or her economic damages can be drastically reduced.

The burden is on the employer to prove that the plaintiff has not attempted to mitigate his or her damages. Using the BEA’s GDP-by-industry data can be a most important tool for defense and plaintiff attorneys’ experts tasked with analyzing the efforts of the plaintiff to mitigate damages. If the plaintiff has not secured employment, viewing his or her attempts to find employment in the context of gross output and employment specific to the plaintiff’s industry can be invaluable.

As an example of the sort of relevant data that is easily accessible, in the chart below, the BEA Interactive Data Application allows a user in just a few clicks to examine the number of full-time equivalent employees in the health care and social assistance industry.