Important Information

Annual Revisions

Once each year, historical labor force estimates are revised to reflect new Census Bureau population controls, updated input data, and reestimation. The model-based estimates also incorporate new seasonal adjustment, and the unadjusted estimates are controlled to new census division and U.S. totals. Substate area data are revised to incorporate updated inputs, reestimation, and new statewide controls.

Modeled Areas

On February 27, the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program released 2008 annual average labor force estimates for regions, divisions, States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, New York city, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division, the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division, the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL Metropolitan Division, the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division, along with the corresponding balance-of-state areas. As described above, the data were revised to incorporate updated inputs, including new population controls, reestimation of models, and adjustment to new census division and national control totals. Both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted monthly data were revised back to 2004. The updated population controls reflect the annual updating of population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. Seasonally adjusted statewide data for Puerto Rico were revised back to 2004, but the not seasonally adjusted data did not change.

Adjustments to the model estimates in Florida and South Carolina also were made to data for earlier years. In Florida, both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted model estimates for the State of Florida, the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division, and the Balance of Florida were updated for 1993-96. In South Carolina, the statewide model estimates for both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted data were revised for 2000-03. As a result of these revisions, the sum of the states no longer matches the division totals in the affected years.

Annual average and historical supplemental items, including rank tables and maps, were updated to reflect these revisions. Monthly supplemental items for December 2008 were replaced on March 11.

Substate Areas

Revisions to monthly and annual average data for 2004-08 for geographic areas below the State level (other than the model-based areas noted above) were released on April 17. The annual revision process includes updating inputs, reestimation, and recontrolling the areas to the new statewide totals.

Updates on March 19

Coincident with the release of January data for all substate areas, the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program also issued estimates consistent with previously published data for areas that were affected by changes to federal statistical area definitions and titles. More information about federal statistical areas can be found in Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No.09-01, dated November 20, 2008, and available at OMB (PDF 983K).

Substate data for Florida for 1993-96 and South Carolina for 2000-03 (and for three interstate areas that South Carolina shares with adjacent states) were recontrolled to new state totals as noted above and included in this update. Data in several of the county maps, text tables, and supplemental files on this web site were impacted by these revisions and were updated to reflect the changes.

Corrections

Corrections were made to January estimates for all substate areas in Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri, to six areas in Illinois, and two interstate areas that Missouri shares with Arkansas and Iowa: Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO metropolitan area and Fort Madison-Keokuk, IA-MO micropolitan area.

An error was detected in the preliminary January 2009 estimates for substate areas in Iowa after the data were released on March 19. The error affected all substate areas in Iowa, though the state totals were not affected. Files with the corrected preliminary data were made available on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics web site on Friday, March 27 and can be found at Iowa substate areas. The revised January estimates issued on Wednesday, April 1, included the corrections and superseded the data released on March 19, following the regular news release procedures.

 

Last modified: April 29, 2009