Using the REIS (Regional Economic Information System) on CD-ROM
C 59.24

Gayle Gunderson
Wichita State University


Introduction:

REIS is a mixed CD-ROM containing information about personal income in different parts of the United States.  The information is available for states, counties, and metropolitan areas.  The information is available in two formats:

        *statistical data called Tables
        *text reports or a narrative summary called Bear Facts.

REIS includes such information as Per Capita Income (PCI), Total Personal Income (TPI), earnings by industry, etc.  The U.S. Commerce Department, Economic and Statistics Administration, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Measurement Division produces the database.

Geographic areas covered: U.S. States, counties, metro areas, BEA economic areas and state metro/non metro portions.

Data time span: 1969 to 1994; updated annually each May.

Internet access?  Yes, at:  http://govinfo.kerr.orst.edu/reis-stateis.html


To use this CD at the Gov Docs Workstation:

1. Use terminal no. 1 and place CD in the CD drive.

2. Choose Commerce Dept., then REIS.

3. Read the welcome notes and then press any key to continue.

4. In-depth instructions on using the database follow; be sure to at least scan through them!  Pay special attention to the description of the main menu; the key point to remember is that you must press the Enter key to select the highlighted item from the pull-down menu displayed under each main menu item.  Some selections cause a pick-list of items to be displayed.  In pick-list, use the arrow keys to highlight a selection, then use the Space Bar to select it.  You may choose one or more items.  When all desired items are selected, confirm by pressing the Enter key.  

5. To access the main data tables on the REIS CD, use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the right to the TABLES menu, then down to the menu item - 

Detail county, MSA, and State Tables.  Press the enter key on that menu item to display a pick-list menu of these five tables:

CA05		Total Personal Income and Earnings by Industry
CA25		Total Full and Part-time Employment by Industry
CA30		Regional Economic Profile
CA35		Transfer payments
CA45		Farm Income and Expenses

Highlight the table you want to select using the up and down arrow keys, 
Then press the space bar.  You can select more than one table in this manner (or de-select).  When all tables selected have a check-mark next to them, press the Enter key to exit the menu.        

Other items in the TABLE menu are CNTYSUM program (County Summary Program and Quarterly State Tables.  The County Summary accesses Tables CA1-3, CA34 and CA91 and they are described briefly in the opening screen of the program.  The BEA produces Quarterly Personal Income estimates for states and choosing the Quarterly State Tables accesses those data files.  

6. Now bring down the AREA menu.  Select States, Metro areas or BEA Economic areas just as you selected your tables.

7. Now bring down the TIME menu.  Your options are all years, last six years, last twelve years, or your own selection of any years from 1969 to 1994.  

8. Once you have selected TABLE, AREA, and TIME, the ACTION menu is activated.  You can then display the tables on the screen, print the tables to your printer or a file or you can copy the estimates in various formats to a file for import into a spreadsheet or other application.

9. To change any of the three parameters of the selected dataset (TABLE, AREA, or TIME), select the Clear menu item for that parameter and then reselect.  

10. In DOCUMENTS, you can read more about the BEA User Group, get a list of BEA phone contacts, read the User Guide, Area Definition Changes, Methology, etc.  



Gayle Gunderson
Wichita State University