Civilian Labor Force Estimates For North Carolina

CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE ESTIMATES is a monthly report on the labor force, employment, unemployment and unemployment rates from 1990 to the most current month.

Data for the United States, as well as Statewide data for North Carolina, are computed from data collected through the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly sample survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. There are 60,000 households nationwide in the sample. This survey has been conducted every month since 1940. It has been expanded and modified several times with the latest revision in 1994.

The survey provides two data series - Seasonally Adjusted and Unadjusted. In the Seasonally Adjusted series, the normal seasonal fluctuations have been smoothed out and the data any month can be more meaningfully compared with data from any other month or with an annual average. In the Unadjusted series, changes may be due to either economic conditions or seasonal fluctuations.

Estimates for all sub-State areas in North Carolina are calculated by using a building block methodology. In this procedure, employment falls into two categories:

persons employed in industries covered by the State UI laws
persons employed by industries not covered by these laws.

Unemployment estimates consist of the following three groups:

persons previously employed in industries covered by State UI laws
persons previously employed in industries not covered by these laws
persons entering the labor market for the first time or re-entering after a period of time out of the labor force.

Once estimates have been obtained for all 74 Labor Market Areas (LMAs) in the State, a proportional adjustment is applied to all the LMAs to ensure that they sum to the State total. Estimates for counties, cities, and other sub-LMA areas are disaggregated from LMA estimates using UI claims, current total population and decennial census data. These disaggregated estimates may not add back to the area total due to rounding.

NOTE: Sub-State data are not Seasonally Adjusted. Comparisons of sub-State data should be made to the Unadjusted State and National data.

Select one of the following options to view data for the various areas: