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Local Area Unemployment Statistics
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Important Information
Annual Revisions
Each year, historical estimates from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program are revised to reflect new population controls from the Census Bureau, updated input data, and re-estimation. The data for model-based areas also incorporate new seasonal adjustment, and the unadjusted estimates are controlled to new census division and U.S. totals. Substate area data subsequently are revised to incorporate updated inputs, re-estimation, and controlling to new statewide totals.
Model-Based Areas
On March 1, 2023, the LAUS program issued 2022 annual-average civilian labor force and unemployment estimates for census regions and divisions; all states and the District of Columbia; the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division; the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division; the Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, IL Metropolitan Division; the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area; New York city, NY; the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area; and the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division, as well as the seven corresponding balance-of-state areas. As described above, the data incorporated new population controls, updated inputs, re-estimation of models, and adjustment to new census division and national control totals. Both not-seasonally-adjusted and smoothed-seasonally-adjusted (SSA) monthly data for these areas were revised from January 2018 forward. The population controls continue to reflect a "blended base," with elements from three independent data sources for April 1, 2020, as well as use of wedged population controls for the 2010s.
Statewide data for Puerto Rico (which are not model-based, but rather are tabulated from a household survey similar to the Current Population Survey for the United States) also were revised for 2020 forward. The not-seasonally-adjusted data reflect the incorporation of new population controls beginning with April 2020, while the SSA data reflect re-seasonal adjustment and re-smoothing from January 2020 forward. In addition, missing statewide data for September 2022 (when Puerto Rico was unable to conduct its household survey due to Hurricane Fiona) were interpolated and seasonally adjusted data for subsequent months were added. See below for more information.
Annual-average and historical supplemental items on the LAUS program website containing data for model-based areas, including data files, rank tables, and maps, were updated on or shortly after March 1 to reflect these revisions. Notable exceptions are the three unemployment charts in the chart package associated with the monthly state news release for December 2022. These will be updated with the issuance of the January 2023 state news release on March 13.
Substate Areas
On April 21, 2023, routine revisions will be made to data from 2018 through 2022 for geographic areas below the state level (other than the model-based areas noted above) and official annual averages for 2022 will be issued. For all of these areas, estimation inputs will be revised back to 2021, while the revisions for 2018–20 will consist of, at minimum, controlling to the new state totals described above. In addition, some states will revise estimation inputs for some areas as far back as January 2010. For this reason, estimates for all non-modeled areas will be footnoted as having been subject to revision from January 2010 forward within the time-series database on April 21.
Missing Data
Puerto Rico was not able to conduct normal data collection for its household survey in September 2022, due to the impact of Hurricane Fiona. Hence, neither statewide nor local area data were published for that month. Data collection resumed in October, and response rates were within normal ranges. BLS published interpolated September 2022 statewide estimates and seasonally adjusted estimates for September–December 2022 in conjunction with the annual revisions on March 1. Missing substate data for September 2022 will be published in conjunction with the substate data revisions on April 21. Smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area estimates for September 2022 forward will be added at a later time.
Corrections
On June 29, 2022, small-area employment inputs for five areas in Maryland were corrected for January and February 2022. Due to additivity to the state level, these corrections resulted in minor changes to employment and labor force series for all areas in Maryland, as well as shared interstate areas with Delaware, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania. Unemployment rates were affected in a small number of areas, and no area had an unemployment rate change larger than 0.3 percentage point. Affected metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions were re-seasonally adjusted for January and February 2022 accordingly in the tables at www.bls.gov/lau/metrossa.htm.
Last Modified Date: March 1, 2023