Finding accurate, official data on the labor market requires accessing authoritative, government-produced sources. This guide directs you toward reliable statistics for employment figures. Understanding where to look and how to interpret the core concepts is the first step in gaining a clear picture of the nation’s workforce. Official data provides consistent, standardized measurements that allow for meaningful comparisons over time and across different demographic groups.
Defining Key Labor Market Metrics
Effective use of labor data requires understanding the terms used to describe the workforce. The most commonly reported figures are the employment-population ratio, the unemployment rate, and the labor force participation rate. These complementary statistics each provide a distinct perspective on the health and activity of the labor market.
Employment Rate
The official measure is the Employment-Population Ratio, which is the number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population. This ratio includes everyone age 16 and older who is not incarcerated or on active military duty. It tracks the proportion of the entire adult population that holds a job, regardless of whether they are actively seeking one. The ratio is considered a stable indicator of job creation relative to the size of the population.
Unemployment Rate
The official Unemployment Rate is a ratio of the number of unemployed persons to the total labor force. To be counted as unemployed, a person must be jobless, available for work, and must have actively looked for a job within the four weeks prior to the survey week. People who want a job but have stopped searching are classified as not in the labor force and are not included in the calculation. This statistic, often referred to as U-3, reflects the percentage of job-seekers who have yet to find work.
Labor Force Participation Rate
The Labor Force Participation Rate measures the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population that is either employed or actively looking for work. This rate represents the entire active workforce available to the economy. People who are retired, students, or those who choose not to work are considered outside the labor force. Tracking this rate helps analysts understand shifts in the population’s willingness to engage in the labor market.
Primary Sources for National Employment Data
The authoritative source for national labor market statistics in the United States is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), an agency within the Department of Labor. The BLS collects, processes, and analyzes the data that forms the basis of the monthly national employment reports.
The core data used to calculate the official employment and unemployment rates comes from the Current Population Survey (CPS). This is a monthly survey of approximately 60,000 households conducted by the Census Bureau on behalf of the BLS. The survey collects demographic and labor force information from individuals aged 16 and older. Responses from this household-based survey determine who is employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force.
Navigating Specific Data Sets
The BLS website provides several tools allowing users to access and filter the vast amount of labor data. Users can retrieve specific time-series data tailored to their needs rather than relying solely on summarized news releases.
One direct method is using the Data Finder tool, which presents a form-based interface to select specific labor statistics. Users choose a broad subject, such as CPS labor force statistics, and then narrow the results by measure and attribute. This filtering allows for the selection of specific data points, such as the employment-population ratio for a particular age group.
For users who frequently track the same statistics, the Series Report tool offers a more efficient alternative. Each data series is assigned a unique identifier code, and inputting this code retrieves the latest figures and historical data. Advanced users can also access the Public Data API to integrate labor statistics directly into their own analytical programs. These tools facilitate the retrieval of both seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted data over specified time periods.
Utilizing State and Local Employment Data
While national figures provide a broad overview, local-level data is necessary for understanding regional economies. The BLS collaborates with state agencies to produce labor statistics for individual states, metropolitan areas, and smaller geographic regions. This local data is useful for businesses making hiring decisions or for policymakers targeting local economic initiatives.
The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program provides monthly labor force, employment, and unemployment figures for all states and metropolitan areas. LAUS data is derived from the CPS and estimates from other programs, employing complex models to ensure accuracy at the local level. These statistics are often published by state-level Departments of Labor or Workforce Agencies, which act as the primary intermediary for local data users.
State workforce agencies also publish customized reports relevant to their regional industry mix and workforce development needs. Although the methodology is standardized under federal guidelines, reporting schedules for local data may lag slightly behind the release of national figures. State agencies maintain websites providing access to this detailed information, often including supplemental data such as job openings and wage estimates.
Understanding Data Reliability and Limitations
Interpreting official employment data requires understanding the differences between the various measurements. The BLS produces data from both the household survey (CPS) and the separate Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, which gathers data from business payroll records. The CPS is the source for employment rates and includes the self-employed, while the CES provides the count of non-farm payroll jobs.
Seasonal adjustment involves statistically removing predictable changes that occur annually, such as holiday hiring or the end of the school year. This adjustment makes it easier to track underlying economic trends by preventing seasonal fluctuations from distorting month-to-month comparisons. Users must ensure they compare like-for-like data, using seasonally adjusted figures for monthly changes and non-seasonally adjusted figures for comparing the same month across different years.
Because the CPS is a survey based on a sample of households, its results are subject to sampling error. This means the reported figures are estimates with a margin of error, not a complete count of the population. The BLS also publishes six alternative measures of labor underutilization, known as U-1 through U-6. These provide a broader perspective on the labor market by including groups like discouraged workers or those employed part-time for economic reasons.