Employment BLS

Data Series Description

Employment data published on this page is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) dataset. It is the complete national dataset dating back to 1976 depending on the data history available for areas.

The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program is a federal-state cooperative effort in which monthly estimates of total employment and unemployment are prepared for over 7,600 areas:

• Census regions and divisions
• States
• Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Metropolitan NECTAS (New England City and Town Areas)
• Metropolitan Divisions and NECTA Divisions
• Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Micropolitan NECTAs
• Combined Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Combined NECTAs
• Small Labor Market Areas
• Counties and county equivalents
• Cities of 25,000 population or more
• Cities and towns in New England regardless of population

These estimates are key indicators of local economic conditions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for the concepts, definitions, technical procedures, validation, and publication of the estimates that state workforce agencies prepare under agreement with BLS.

Geographic Definitions

Area Types and Areas are defined by BLS.

Getting More Detail

More detail about the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) dataset can be viewed at https://www.bls.gov/lau/.

Report Release Dates

Data is published within two days of when BLS releases the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) data each month. The BLS schedule of releases can be found at https://www.bls.gov/schedule.