Unemployment - September 2004
LENGTH UNEMPLOYED - PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL
| NOV 1996 | JAN 2001 | SEPT 2004 | |
| AVG WKS | 15.9 | 12.7 | 19.6 |
| LESS THAN 5 WKS | 40.1% | 44.2% | 34.9% |
| 5-14 WKS | 30.3% | 32.7% | 28.2% |
| 14 WKS OR LESS | 70.4% | 76.9% | 63.1% |
| 15-26 WKS | 13.9% | 11.8% | 15.1% |
| 26 WEEKS OR LESS | 84.3% | 88.7% | 78.2% |
UPDATE: I am reminded to source my numbers. They are from, as always, the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I use the figures from the Household Survey for one reason alone. The unemployment rate is calculated from those numbers. It makes no sense to use the employment numbers from one survey and the unemployment numbers from another. Apples to apples and all that. In addition, FYI, in September 2004 there were 2,339,000 agricultural workers, which were excluded from the Establishment Survey. Per the BLS:
This news release presents statistics from two major surveys, the Current
Population Survey (household survey) and the Current Employment Statistics
survey (establishment survey). The household survey provides the
information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment that appears
in the A tables, marked HOUSEHOLD DATA. It is a sample survey of about
60,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS).
The establishment survey provides the information on the employment,
hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls that appears in the
B tables, marked ESTABLISHMENT DATA. This information is collected from
payroll records by BLS in cooperation with state agencies. The sample
includes about 160,000 businesses and government agencies covering ap-
proximately 400,000 individual worksites. The active sample includes
about one-third of all nonfarm payroll workers. The sample is drawn
from a sampling frame of unemployment insurance tax accounts.
For both surveys, the data for a given month relate to a particular week
or pay period. In the household survey, the reference week is generally
the calendar week that contains the 12th day of the month. In the
establishment survey, the reference period is the pay period including the
12th, which may or may not correspond directly to the calendar week.
Coverage, definitions, and differences between surveys
Household survey. The sample is selected to reflect the entire
civilian noninstitutional population. Based on responses to a series of
questions on work and job search activities, each person 16 years and over
in a sample household is classified as employed, unemployed, or not in the
labor force.
People are classified as employed if they did any work at all as paid
employees during the reference week; worked in their own business,
profession, or on their own farm; or worked without pay at least 15 hours
in a family business or farm. People are also counted as employed if they
were temporarily absent from their jobs because of illness, bad weather,
vacation, labor-management disputes, or personal reasons.
People are classified as unemployed if they meet all of the following
criteria: They had no employment during the reference week; they were
available for work at that time; and they made specific efforts to find
employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference
week. Persons laid off from a job and expecting recall need not be
looking for work to be counted as unemployed. The unemployment data
derived from the household survey in no way depend upon the eligibility
for or receipt of unemployment insurance benefits.
The civilian labor force is the sum of employed and unemployed
persons. Those not classified as employed or unemployed are not in the
labor force. The unemployment rate is the number unemployed as a percent
of the labor force. The labor force participation rate is the labor force
as a percent of the population, and the employment-population ratio is the
employed as a percent of the population.
Establishment survey. The sample establishments are drawn from private
nonfarm businesses such as factories, offices, and stores, as well as
federal, state, and local government entities. Employees on nonfarm
payrolls are those who received pay for any part of the reference pay
period, including persons on paid leave. Persons are counted in each job
they hold. Hours and earnings data are for private businesses and relate
only to production workers in the goods-producing sector and nonsupervisory
workers in the service-providing sector. Industries are classified on the
basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2002 version of the
North American Industry Classification System.
Differences in employment estimates. The numerous conceptual and
methodological differences between the household and establishment surveys
result in important distinctions in the employment estimates derived from
the surveys. Among these are:
–The household survey includes agricultural workers, the self-employed,
unpaid family workers, and private household workers among the employed.
These groups are excluded from the establishment survey.
–The household survey includes people on unpaid leave among the
employed. The establishment survey does not.
–The household survey is limited to workers 16 years of age and older.
The establishment survey is not limited by age.
–The household survey has no duplication of individuals, because in-
dividuals are counted only once, even if they hold more than one job. In
the establishment survey, employees working at more than one job and thus
appearing on more than one payroll would be counted separately for each appearance.
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