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Local Area Unemployment Statistics
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Civilian Noninstitutional Population and Associated Rate and Ratio Measures for Model‐Based Areas
The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes four data measures—civilian labor force, employed people, unemployed people, and unemployment rates—on a monthly basis for over 7,500 subnational areas. Data for about one percent of the LAUS areas are model-based. These model-based areas include all census regions and divisions, the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division and New York city, NY, and a small number of other large metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions and associated balance-of-state areas.
For the LAUS model-based areas, BLS obtains estimates of the civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and older (CNP16+), which is the universe for labor force data, from the Census Bureau. These population estimates are used to adjust labor force level (that is, number-of-person) measures to be consistent with the Census Bureau's most up-to-date information on the distribution of population across states. Labor force level measures for all LAUS areas are controlled to the Census Bureau's statewide estimates of CNP16+ through a process of additivity. (See the page on LAUS estimation methodology for more information on additivity.) These Census Bureau population data also allow BLS to calculate labor force participation rates and employment-population ratios for the LAUS model-based areas.
The statewide data files below include monthly estimates of CNP16+, labor force participation rates, and employment-population ratios for the 50 states and the District of Columbia from January 1976 forward. Data are presented on both seasonally-adjusted and not-seasonally-adjusted bases. Series for CNP16+ are not available on a seasonally-adjusted basis. Thus, the statewide population estimates are the same in both sets of monthly data files. Differences between monthly seasonally-adjusted and not-seasonally-adjusted labor force participation rates and employment-population ratios are determined by the seasonal components of the LAUS labor force and employment levels, respectively. Similarly, the standard error measures associated with the labor force participation rates and employment-population ratios for the current month are determined by the standard errors on the corresponding LAUS level measures. Error measures for current unemployment rates, by contrast, reflect standard errors of the underlying employment and unemployment levels.
At the beginning of each year, the four LAUS measures typically are revised for the previous five years as updated inputs to the models become available. Population controls typically are revised back to the base period for post-censal estimation each year. For the latest annual processing cycle, both seasonally-adjusted data and not-seasonally-adjusted data for all model-based areas were revised from 2021 through 2025. The Census Bureau estimates of CNP16+ for 2021 forward reflect replacement of the "blended base" method that had been in use since the start of post-censal estimation for the 2020s with data adapted from the 2020 Modified Age and Race Census, or MARC, file. Therefore, in the latest annual processing cycle, changes to labor force participation rates and employment-population ratios for states reflect model-based re-estimation of the underlying labor force and employment in conjunction with revisions to the estimates of CNP16+ from January 2021 forward.
Statewide Data
- Monthly Series
- Annual Average Series
- Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population, annual averages (ZIP)
Monthly Error Information
- Region, Division, and State Labor Force Participation Rates with Confidence Intervals, Their Relationships to the U.S. Rate, and Over-the-Month Rate Changes with Significance Indicators (XLS)
- Region, Division, and State Employment-Population Ratios with Confidence Intervals, Their Relationships to the U.S. Ratio, and Over-the-Month Ratio Changes with Significance Indicators (XLS)
- Model-Based Error Measures on Labor Force Participation Rates and Employment-Population Ratios (XLS)
Last Modified Date: April 8, 2026