The Labor Market Information Division (LMID) uses several methods to estimate statistics for civilian
labor force, employment, unemployment, and unemployment rates. These
methods discussed in this article were developed in cooperation with the
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Additional details and background are available from the BLS Web site.
Definition of Terms:
Civilian Labor Force is the sum of civilian employment and
civilian unemployment. Civilians, as defined, are age 16 years or older,
not members of the Armed Services, and are not in institutions such as
prisons, mental hospitals, or nursing homes.
Civilian Employment includes all individuals who worked at least
one hour for a wage or salary, or were self-employed, or were working at
least 15 unpaid hours in a family business or on a family farm, during
the week including the 12th of the month. Those who were on
vacation, on other kinds of leave, or involved in a labor dispute, were
also counted as employed.
Civilian Unemployment includes those individuals who were not
working but were able, available, and actively looking for work during
the week including the 12th of the month. Individuals who were
waiting to be recalled from a layoff, and individuals waiting to report
to a new job within 30 days were also considered to be unemployed.
Unemployment Rate is the number of unemployed as a percentage of
the labor force.
