Labor force information for States, counties, and cities are available separately from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. Contact LAUS by e-mail or call (202) 691-6392.
These data on computer and Internet use at work come from a special supplemental survey last conducted in October 2003.
News release: Computer and Internet Use at Work
(HTML) (PDF) (Archives)
Article: Computer and Internet use at work in 2001 (February 2003) (PDF)
Contingent and alternative employment arrangements
Contingent workers are people who do not expect their jobs to last or who reported that their jobs are temporary.
They do not have an implicit or explicit contract for continuing employment.
Alternative employment arrangements include people employed as independent contractors, on-call workers, temporary help agency workers, and workers provided by contract firms.
A special supplemental survey on contingent and alternative employment arrangements was conducted in May 2017.
A news release summarizing the data from this survey was published June 7, 2018.
The Census Bureau posted a public use microdata file with data on contingent and alternative employment arrangements from this survey.
Contingent and alternative work arrangements, defined (October 1996) (PDF)
A profile of contingent workers (October 1996) (PDF)
Earnings and benefits of contingent and noncontingent workers (October 1996) (PDF)
Workers in alternative employment arrangements (October 1996) (PDF)
Earnings and benefits of workers in alternative work arrangements (October 1996) (PDF)
Into contingent and alternative employment: by choice? (October 1996) (PDF)
On the definition of 'contingent work' (December 1989) (PDF)
Discouraged workers
Discouraged workers are a subset of persons marginally attached to the labor force. The marginally attached are those persons not in the labor force who want and are available for work, and who have looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months, but were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them or there were none for which they would qualify. See also: Not in the labor force and Alternative measures of labor underutilization.
Annual table: Persons not in the labor force by desire and availability for work, age, and sex (HTML) (PDF) (XLSX)
Monthly table: Persons not in the labor force by desire and availability for work, age, and sex (HTML) (PDF)
Articles:
Ranks of discouraged workers and others marginally attached to the labor force rise during recession (April 2009) (PDF)
Persons outside the labor force who want a job (July 1998) (PDF)
Displaced workers
Data on displaced workers are collected from a special supplementary survey conducted every 2 years. Displaced workers are defined as persons 20 years of age and older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished.
Employed persons consist of: persons who did any work for pay or profit during the survey reference week; persons who did at least 15 hours of unpaid work in a family-operated enterprise; and persons who were temporarily absent from their regular jobs because of illness, vacation, bad weather, industrial dispute, or various personal reasons. The employment-population ratio represents the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population that is employed. Data are also available for Demographics, Earnings, Hours of work, and other employment characteristics. See also Labor force and Unemployment.
Part time for economic reasons (involuntary part time)
This category includes persons who indicated that they would like to work full time but were working part time (1 to 34 hours) because of an economic reason, such as their hours were cut back or they were unable to find full-time jobs.
Multiple jobholding during the 2000s (July 2010) (PDF)
Twenty-first century moonlighters (September 2002) (PDF)
Not in the labor force
Persons who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force. This category includes retired persons, students, those taking care of children or other family members, and others who are neither working nor seeking work. Information is collected on their desire for and availability for work, job search activity in the prior year, and reasons for not currently searching. See also Labor force and Discouraged workers.
Ranks of discouraged workers and others marginally attached to the labor force rise during recession (April 2009) (PDF)
Labor force participation during recent labor market downturns (September 2003) (PDF)
Labor supply in a tight labor market (June 2000) (PDF)
Persons outside the labor force who want a job (July 1998) (PDF)
Occupation and industry
Employed persons are classified by occupation (what kind of work they do) and industry (what kind of work their employer or business does). Unemployed persons are classified according to their last job. See also: Earnings by occupation and industry.
Employed persons are categorized by class of worker based on their relationship to their employer. The class-of-worker categories include private and government wage and salary workers, self-employed workers, and unpaid family workers.
Article: The early 2000s: a period of declining teen summer employment rates (May 2010) (PDF)
Tenure
Data on employee tenure, which measure how long workers had been with their current employer at the time they were surveyed, come from a special supplemental survey conducted every 2 years.
Persons are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work. Persons who were not working and were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been temporarily laid off are also included as unemployed. Receiving benefits from the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program has no bearing on whether a person is classified as unemployed.
The unemployment rate represents the number unemployed as a percent of the labor force. Unemployment data also are available by demographic characteristics. See also Labor force and Employment.
Retrieve state union membership rates
NOTE: BLS does not have state union membership data for the private and public sectors or for industries.
BLS tabulates only total union membership at the state level.
Data measure employment and unemployment experience throughout the calendar year. See Tenure for how long people have worked for their current employer.
News release: Work Experience of the Population (Annual)
(HTML) (PDF) (Archives)
These data, which measure flexible schedules and shift work among full-time wage and salary workers, come from a special supplemental survey last conducted in May 2004.
News release: Workers on Flexible and Shift Schedules
(HTML) (PDF) (Archives)
Articles:
A time to work: recent trends in shift work and flexible schedules (December 2007) (PDF)
Flexible schedules and shift work: replacing the '9-to-5' workday (June 2000) (PDF)
Worklife estimates
BLS has not produced worklife estimates since February 1986. This report contains estimates of the number of years individuals would spend in the labor force based on mortality conditions, labor force entry and exit rates, and demographic characteristics.
Report: Worklife Estimates: Effects of Race and Education (February 1986) (PDF)
