Calculating percent change using panel data set

Posted by Virginia Razo on
URL: http://spssx-discussion.165.s1.nabble.com/Calculating-percent-change-using-panel-data-set-tp5713457.html

I have a panel data set and I need to compute the percent change in a continuous variable for a 4 year period.  How can I compute this in SPSS?  

My data looks like this

Hospital 1          2008        unemployment rate
Hospital 1          2009        unemployment rate
Hospital 1          2010        unemployment rate
hospital 1          2011        unemployment rate
hospital 2          2008        ""
hospital 2          2009         ""
etc.

Can anyone assist me with this type of calculation using a panel data set?

Thanks,
Ginny Razo