Unemployment Rate Methodology

Unemployment estimates are produced through the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. The estimates cover people age 16 and older who are not on active military duty or living in institutions.

Unemployment rate = unemployed people / civilian labor force x 100

Key definitions

• Employed: People who worked for pay or profit, or who had a job but were temporarily absent, during the reference week.
• Unemployed: People without a job who were available for work and actively sought work during the previous four weeks.
• Civilian labor force: Employed people plus unemployed people.

Seasonal adjustment

Seasonally adjusted estimates remove recurring seasonal patterns to support month-to-month comparisons. Not seasonally adjusted estimates retain those patterns and are used for many local-area comparisons.

Read the official BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics methodology.