Current Employment Statistics & Local Area Unemployment Statistics Basics

1. Current Employment Statistics &Local Area Unemployment Statistics Basics Joseph Winter, CES/LAUS Supervisor

2. Two Labor Market Information Programsthat Estimate Employment in Colorado Monthly Current Employment Statistics (CES) andLocal Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)

3. Value as an Economic Indicator • Data on employment and unemployment are used to: • Evaluate the economic health of the States and the US. • Guide monetary policy decisions • Assess the growth of various industries • Contribute to other statistics, such as GDP • Detect and plan for swings in the business cycle • Guide decisions on plant location, sales, and purchases

4. CES AND LAUS: • Current monthly estimates of employment • Federally-funded programs • Mandated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

5. Why are there 2 different programs that estimate employment? • 1. Two Different Surveys • CES: Survey of Business Establishments • LAUS: Survey of Households 2. CES and LAUS Cover Different Aspects of the Labor Market

6. Why are there 2 different programs that estimate employment? • Benefit of CES: Employment by Industry • Benefit of LAUS: Employment by County Let’s discuss each program in more detail

7. CES: Survey of Business Establishments • Colorado’s CES program obtains employment data on over 5,000 business establishments every month • In order to obtain information on the number of jobs in Colorado, the CES program mails out this survey to businesses located in Colorado

8. Current Employment StatisticsHow is Employment Defined? • CES employment is defined as the number of employees at a business establishment who receive pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month. • People who work on multiple payrolls are counted at each establishment.

9. Current Employment StatisticsWho is Included as Employed in CES? • full time and part time workers • temporary workers • employees on paid holiday or sick leave • those who worked for only part of the pay period

10. Current Employment StatisticsWho is not Included? • self employed • agricultural workers • volunteers • unpaid family workers • domestic workers • employees on leave without pay • employees who are on strike for the entire pay period

11. CES data is available by INDUSTRY **Employment is in thousands

12. Current Employment Statistics • Colorado Statewide • Denver Metro • Boulder • Colorado Springs CES Employment Data is Available for: CES data is not available at the COUNTY level

13. Applying CES Data • When did Colorado’s employment peak? • How many jobs have been lost since employment peaked?

14. Applying CES Data

15. Applying CES Data • What has been happening to Construction employment in Colorado? • How does that compare with the number of building permits issued in Colorado?

16. Applying CES Data How does Colorado’s construction employment compare to the US?

17. Applying CES Data What do the seasonal hiring patterns look like in Leisure & Hospitality?

18. Applying CES Data How does that compare with hiring patterns in Professional & Business Services?

19. Measuring Colorado’s Employment Recall that: CES estimates employment from a survey of business establishments LAUS measures employment from a survey of households

20. LAUS: Survey of Households • Colorado’s LAUS program obtains employment information on approximately 1,500 households every month • This information is obtained from the Current Population Survey conducted in cooperation with the Bureau of the Census

22. Local Area Unemployment StatisticsWho is in the Labor Force? All civilian, noninstitutionalized persons 16 years of age or older classified as employed or unemployedmake up the labor force

23. Local Area Unemployment StatisticsWho is Considered Employed in LAUS? • Worked for at least 1 hour as a paid employee • Worked in their own business or on their own farm • Worked a minimum of 15 hours as an unpaid worker in an enterprise operated by a family member • Was not working but has a job from which they were temporarily absent An employed person is one who, during the calendar week of the 12th of the month, did one of the following:

24. Local Area Unemployment StatisticsWho does this Include? • Self-employed • Full time and part time employees • Temporary employees • Farm workers • Unpaid family workers • Employees on leave without pay • Employees on paid holiday or sick leave • Domestic workers • Employees on strike • Individuals who work multiple jobs are only counted once

25. Local Area Unemployment StatisticsWho is Considered Unemployed? • They were not employed during the calendar week of the 12th of the month • They were available for work during the calendar week of the 12th of the month (3) And they made specific attempts to find employment some time during the 4-week periodthat ends with the week of the 12th of the month An unemployed person is one who meets ALL of the following criteria:

26. Local Area Unemployment StatisticsWho does this Include? • An individual whose employment ends involuntarily • An individual who ends their employment voluntarily • An individual who has worked before but is not working prior to beginning their job search (often called a reentrant) • An individual who has never worked before and is entering the labor force for the first time (often called a new entrant) REMEMBER: They must be actively seeking employment!

27. Local Area Unemployment StatisticsWho is not in the Labor Force? • This includes “discouraged workers” who want to work, are available for a job, have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months, but are not currently looking for employment • What other individuals would not be counted in the labor force? Those not in the labor force include all persons age 16 or older in the civilian, noninstitutional population who are not classified as employed or unemployed

29. Local Area Unemployment Statistics Let’s look at one of the most common applications of LAUS data: Unemployment Rate: The percentage of the labor force that is unemployed Number Unemployed Civilian Labor Force Unemployment Rate = X100

30. LAUS data is presented by COUNTY

31. Applying LAUS Data How does Colorado’s Unemployment Rate compare with the US?

32. Applying LAUS Data How has the number of unemployed people in Denver changed over the past 10 years?

33. Applying LAUS Data How does that compare with Mesa County?

34. Applying LAUS Data How does El Paso County compare with Teller County?

35. Applying LAUS Data

36. Important Differences between CES and LAUS • Survey of businesses vs survey of households • Self employed not counted in CES • Agricultural workers not counted in CES • CES counts multiple job holders • Industry data vs County data

37. CES vs LAUS Total Employment in Colorado March 2004: CES = 2,141,200 LAUS = 2,363,900

38. Limitations to CES and LAUS • CES employment data is not available at the county level • LAUS employment data is not available at the industry level Where can I find employment data by INDUSTRY & COUNTY?

39. Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages QCEW (also referred to as ES-202) employment and wage data comes from Unemployment Insurance (UI) Tax records and is published at the county and industry level. For Example: Data can be obtained on the number of people in Douglas County who are employed in Construction

40. Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages Applying the Data How does Construction employment in Douglas County compare with Weld County?

41. Limitations to QCEW • Not as current as CES and LAUS • Not a time series — break in January 2001 • Does not include anyone who is not covered by unemployment insurance • Does not include self-employed

42. Finding the data that serves your needs • Things to consider: • Do I need employment data by industry, county, or both? • How important is the timeliness of the data? • Do I need data that includes self-employed or agricultural workers? • Do I need information on wages?

43. Questions?