This
glossary contains definitions of some of the most frequently
used labor market information (LMI) terms. The definitions given
are as they apply to the use of LMI data. Some terms are repeated
as they have more than one definition when used in the context
of various LMI programs and surveys. The user of LMI data should
familiarize himself or herself with similarities and differences
of LMI terms.
A
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| U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Agricultural
Employment
Includes
the total of farmers, their families and hired workers who receive
wages, salaries, or commissions for work performed on farms for
the pay period including the 12th of the month. [Back
to Top]
A
person legally qualified to work, and who has either a partial or
a full application for services on file with any One Stop Career
Center. [Back to Top]
Calculated
by taking the total wages (payroll) and dividing by the average
annual employment. [Back to Top]
Average
Hourly Earnings (Manufacturing
CES-790)
Average
hourly earnings for an industry is obtained by dividing total sample
payrolls by total staff hours. The earnings reflect not only basic
hourly and incentive wage rates but also such factors as premium
pay for overtime work and shift differentials. [Back
to Top]
Average
Hourly Earnings (BLS Wage Surveys and Industry Wage Surveys)
Average
hourly earnings for an industry is obtained by dividing total sample
payrolls by total staff hours. This number excludes: premium pay
for overtime and for work on weekends, holidays, and late shifts;
performance bonuses and lump-sum payments of the type negotiated
in the auto and aerospace industries; as well as profit-sharing
payments, attendance bonuses, Christmas or year-end bonuses, and
other non-production bonuses. However, pay increases--but not bonuses--under
cost-of-living allowance clauses and incentive payments are included.
[Back to Top]
Average
Industry Wage
See
Average Hourly Earnings (Manufacturing CES-790). [Back
to Top]
Average
Weekly Earnings (Wage)
The
average weekly earnings are calculated based on the product of the
weekly hours and hourly earnings/wages. [Back to
Top]
Average
Weekly Hours (Manufacturing
CES-790)
Calculated
based on the number of hours for which persons on an establishment
payroll receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes
the 12th of the month. [Back to Top]
Average
Annual Wage
Calculated
by taking the total wages (payroll) and dividing by the average
annual employment. [Back to Top]
Form
name for the Current Employment Statistics Program (Hours and Earnings).
[Back to Top]
Benefits
The
cost to employers for paid leave, supplemental pay (including nonproduction
bonuses), insurance, retirement and savings plans and legally required
benefits (such as Social Security, Workers' Compensation, and Unemployment
Insurance). Excluded from employee benefits are such items as payment-in-kind,
free room and board, and tips. [Back to Top]
Bureau
of the Census:
Conducts
censuses of the population and housing every 10 years, and of agriculture,
business, governments, manufacturers, mineral industries, and transportation
every 5 years. The Bureau also conducts the Current Population Survey
for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). [Back to
Top]
Bureau
of Economic Analysis (BEA)
An
agency of the Department of Commerce. The mission of BEA is to produce
and disseminate accurate, timely, relevant, and cost-effective economic
account statistics that provide government, businesses, households,
and individuals with a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of economic
activity. BEA's national, regional, and international economic accounts
present basic information on such key issues as U.S. economic growth,
regional economic development, and the Nation's position in the
world economy. [Back to Top]
Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS)
BLS
is the principal data-gathering agency of the federal government
in the field of labor economics. BLS collects, processes, analyzes
and disseminates data relating to: employment, unemployment, the
labor force, productivity, prices, family expenditures, wages, industrial
relations, and occupational safety and health. [Back
to Top]
Current
Employment Statistics (CES) Survey
In
brief, the Current Employment Statistics Survey is a monthly survey
of business establishments that provide estimates of employment,
hours, and earnings data by industry for the nation, states, and
most major metropolitan areas. [Back to Top]
Consumer
Price Index (CPI)
This
index, developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is also
known as the "cost-of-living" index. The Consumer Price
Index is a statistical measure of change, over time, in the prices
of goods and services in major expenditure groups such as food,
housing, apparel, transportation, health, and recreation typically
purchased by urban consumers. Essentially it measures the purchasing
power of consumer dollars by comparing what a sample "market
basket" of goods and services costs today with what the same
sample market basket cost at an earlier date. [Back
to Top]
Current
Population Survey (CPS)
A
nationwide monthly household survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau
of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The sample
consists of approximately 60,000 households selected to represent
the U.S. population 16 years of age and older. Households are interviewed
on a rotating basis so that three-fourths of the sample is the same
for any two consecutive months. The survey of the civilian non-institutional
population provides monthly statistics on employment, unemployment,
and related measures, which are analyzed and published by the Bureau
of Labor Statistics. National labor force information from this
survey is published monthly by the U.S. Department of Labor in "Employment
and Earnings," "Monthly Report on the Labor Force."
In addition to providing these statistics for the nation, the CPS
sample allows development of monthly data for the 11 largest industrial
states. [Back to Top]
All
persons 16 years of age or over within a specified geographic area,
who are either employed or unemployed, excluding persons serving
in the armed forces. [Back to Top]
Claimant,
Unemployment Insurance
An
individual who has filed a request for determination of insured
status of a new claim. [Back to Top]
Dictionary
of Occupational Title (DOT)
A
source of descriptive information and a classification system concerning
most occupations in the American economy. The DOT has been replaced
by O*NET as the nation's primary source of occupational information.[Back
to Top]
Disposable
Personal Income
Income
that remains after taxes and non-tax payments to the government
are deducted. See also Per Capita Income, Personal Income, and Spendable
Earnings. [Back to Top]
Employment
Cost Index (ECI)
Measures
that change over time in the cost of labor, including the cost of
wages, salaries, and employee benefits. Cost levels data provide
average costs per hour worked for wages and salaries and specific
benefits. This release is issued quarterly. [Back
to Top]
Earnings
Money
earned from labor or service: wages, investment, or profit. [Back
to Top]
Economic
Indicators
Measurements
of various economic and business movements, as well as activities
of a community such as: employment, unemployment, hours worked,
income, savings, volume of building permits, volume of sales, etc.,
the fluctuation of which affects and may be used to determine overall
economic trends. [Back to Top]
Economically
Disadvantaged Individual
An
individual who is a member of a family which: (1) receives cash
welfare payments or (2) has a total annual income that does not
exceed established poverty levels determined in accordance with
criteria established by the Office of Management and Budget. [Back
to Top]
Employment
Status
The indication
of whether or not the individual is employed and the regular period
of time that the individual is employed.
Full-Time
Employment: The 40-hour week, except where fewer hours are normal
to the occupation, industry, or given employer, but on no account
less than 30 hours per week.
Part-Time
Employment: Employment which does not meet the full-time employment
definition. [Back to Top]
Employment and Wages (ES-202):
Data
are derived from reports filed by all employers subject to unemployment
compensation laws, both state and federal. Industry employment and
payroll information is provided quarterly for the state, the labor
market areas, counties, workforce or service delivery areas, and
annually for cities and towns as well. [Back to Top]
Goods Producing Industries
In
order to assist in the evaluation of underlying economic trends,
it is an accepted practice to consider that the economy consists
of two major parts: the goods-producing sector -- manufacturing,
mining, and construction -- and the service-producing sector --
transportation, communication, utilities, trade, finance, insurance,
real estate, the service industries, and government. [Back
to Top]
Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
Gross
Domestic Product is a measure of the total production and consumption
of goods and services in the U.S. There are two complementary measures
of GDP, one based on income and one based on expenditures. GDP is
measured on the product side by adding up the labor, capital, and
tax costs of producing the output. On the consumption side, GDP
is measured by adding up expenditures by households, businesses,
government, and net foreign purchases. Theoretically, these two
measures should be equal. However, due to problems collecting data,
there is often a discrepancy between the two measures. The GDP price
deflator is used to convert output measured at current prices into
constant-dollar GDP. This data is used to define business cycle
peaks and troughs. Total GDP growth of between 2.0% and 2.5% is
generally considered to be optimal when the economy is at full employment
(unemployment between 5.5% and 6.0%). Higher growth than this leads
to accelerating inflation, while lower growth indicates a weak economy.
[Back to Top]
Hours
Hours
as used in the CES-790 refers to hours paid for during the pay period
of reference for production, construction, or non-supervisory workers.
The hours include hours paid for holidays and vacations, as well
as for sick leave. [Back to Top]
Incentive Pay
Total
amount of money earned by an individual from all sources. [Back
to Top]
Industry
Describes
the major type of economic activity engaged in by a firm or group
of firms. In terms of classifying industries, the North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS) is replacing the Standard
Industrial Classification (SIC) system. [Back to
Top]
Initial Claim
Either
a new or an additional claim. A new unemployment claim is a request
for determination of insured status for purposes of establishing
a new benefit year. An additional claim is a notice filed at the
beginning of a second or subsequent series of claims within a benefit
year, when a break in job attachment has occurred since the last
claim was filed concerning which state procedures require that separation
information be obtained. [Back to Top]
Job
Bank
Each
state has a computerized listing of the job openings placed by employers.
This service is provided at no cost to either employers or applicants.
In addition to computer printouts, Career Center offices are equipped
with computers and resource rooms to assist applicants in locating
a job for which they are qualified. [Back
to Top]
A
single job opening for which the One-Stop Career Center has on file
a request to select and refer an applicant or applicants. [Back
to Top]
Labor Force Participation Rate
The
proportion of the total civilian non-institutional population 16
years or older, or of a demographic subgroup of that population
classified as "in the labor force." [Back
to Top]
The
measurement and evaluation of economic forces as they relate to
the employment process. There are many variables affecting labor,
geography, and demand-supply relationships, including such factors
as population growth and characteristics, industrial structure and
development, technological developments, shifts in consumer demands,
volume and extent of unionization and trade disputes, recruitment
practices, wage levels and conditions of employment, and training
opportunities. [Back to Top]
Labor Market Area
Consists
of a central city or cities and the surrounding territory within
commuting distance. It is an economically integrated geographical
unit within which workers may readily change jobs without changing
their place of residence. The area generally takes the name of its
central city. The boundaries depend primarily on economic and geographic
factors, and not on political jurisdiction. [Back
to Top]
Labor
Market Information (LMI):
The
delivery and analysis of labor force, employment, unemployment,
wage, supply and demand, occupational, industrial, economic and
demographic data for the analysis of manpower problems for a specifically
defined area. [Back to Top]
Labor Supply
The
number of persons employed and unemployed plus those that would
seek employment if they believed jobs were available. Generally
this term has been applied to those who are unemployed. [Back
to Top]
Layoff
Suspension
from pay by the company for reasons such as lack of orders, plant
breakdown, shortage of materials, or termination of seasonal or
temporary employment, etc. [Back to Top]
Designates
position: one-half of the workers receive the same as or more and
one-half receive the same as or less than the rate shown. [Back
to Top]
Minimum Wage
Refers
to the lowest wage to be paid employees covered under the Federal
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and its subsequent amendments.
[Back to Top]
Major
Labor Market Area
These
areas usually have at least one central city with a population of
50,000 or more. In most instances boundaries of major labor areas
coincide with those of Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSAs)
as determined by the Office of Management and Budget in cooperation
with a federal interagency committee. [Back to Top]
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
See
Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area. [Back to Top]
Minority
A
term denoting all races except Caucasian. [Back to
Top]
Non-Agricultural (Non-farm) Wage and Salary Employment
All
full-time and part-time employees of all classes (including employees
on paid vacation or paid sick leave) who work in or received compensation
from nonagricultural establishments for any part of the pay period
including the 12th of the month. It does not include pensioners,
members of the armed forces, self-employed, or unpaid family workers,
and persons on leave of absence without pay. [Back
to Top]
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
Replaces
the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification system. NAICS is the
first-ever North American industry classification system. The system
was developed by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide comparable
statistics across the three countries. For the first time, government
and business analysts will be able tocompare directly industrial
production statistics collected and published in the three North
American Free Trade Agreement countries. NAICS also provides for
increased comparability with the International Standard Industrial
Classification System (ISIC, Revision 3) developed and maintained
by the United Nations. [Back to Top]
Occupation
The
name or the title of an occupation or job identifying various job
duties of a worker. [Back to Top]
Other Nonfarm Employment
This
refers to self-employed, unpaid family and private household workers.
[Back to Top]
Output Per Hour of All Persons (Labor Productivity):
The
value of goods and services in constant prices produced per hour
of labor input. [Back to Top]
Overtime Hours
Represent
the portion of gross average weekly hours which were in excess of
regular hours and for which overtime premiums were paid. [Back
to Top]
Occupational Projections
A
statistical procedure developed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
to provide future labor demand information by occupation for states
and major areas. [Back to Top]
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
OMB's
predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the
preparation of the Federal budget and to supervise its administration
in Executive Branch agencies. In helping to formulate the President's
spending plans, OMB evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs,
policies, and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among
agencies, and sets funding priorities. OMB ensures that agency reports,
rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the
President's budget and with Administration policies. [Back
to Top]
O*NET, the Occupational Information Network
A
comprehensive database of worker attributes and job characteristics.
As the replacement for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, O*NET
will be the nation's primary source of occupational information.
[Back to Top]
Per Capita Income
A
measure of income by unit of population (per person). Total personal
income for a given area divided by population of the area. [Back
to Top]
Personal Income
Income
received from all sources less contributions to social insurance,
retirement plans, and social security. [Back to Top]
Producer Price Index (PPI)
A
family of indexes that measures the average change over time in
selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services.
PPIs measure price change from the perspective of the seller. This
contrasts with other measures, such as the Consumer Price Index,
that measure price changes from the purchaser's perspective. Sellers'
and purchasers' prices may differ due to government subsidies, sales
and excise taxes, and distribution costs. [Back to
Top]
Production Workers
Workers
in manufacturing industries, which includes working supervisors
and all non-supervisory workers closely associated with production
operations. [Back to Top]
Employment,
unemployment, and labor force data based on where workers live rather
than where they work. [Back to Top]
Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) and Metropolitan Statistical
Area (MSA)
This
is a title applied to large concentrated labor market areas of the
U.S. and adopted by the U.S. Bureau of the Budget in 1949. The primary
objective was to have all reporting federal agencies utilize the
same boundaries for a given geographic area in publishing statistical
data useful for analyzing metropolitan problems. The criteria for
defining PMSAs and MSAs are currently undergoing revision. A PMSA
is part of a larger consolidated MSA. [Back to Top]
Real Earnings
Earnings
adjusted to reflect the effects of changes in consumer prices. The
deflator for this series is derived from the Consumer Price Index
for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. [Back
to Top]
Report of Work Stoppage
Measures
the number and duration of major strikes or lockouts (involving
1,000 workers or more) occurring during the month (or year), the
number of workers involved, and the amount of time lost because
of stoppage. [Back to Top]
Referral (to a job)
The
act of arranging to bring to the attention of any employer (or another
One-Stop Career Center office) an applicant who is available for
a job opening following a selection interview with the applicant.
[Back to Top]
Salary
A
fixed compensation for services paid on a regular basis generally
on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. [Back to Top]
Seasonal Adjustment
Statistical
modifications made to compensate for predictable fluctuations that
recur more or less regularly every year in a time series such as
unemployment rates. These fluctuations can be so strong as to distort
the underlying trends. For this reason unemployment rates are reported
on a seasonally adjusted basis to compensate for such influences
as the summer closing of schools, temporary hiring for the holiday
season, and seasonal style changes. Such adjustments facilitate
the evaluation of the more important underlying reasons for month-to-month
changes in joblessness. [Back to Top]
Shift Differential
An
additional percentage added to the regular hourly rate for workers
on other than regular shifts, i.e., swing or graveyard shift workers.
[Back to Top]
Standard Hours
The
workweek for which employees receive regular straight-time salaries
(exclusive of paid overtime at regular and/or premium rates of pay).
[Back to Top]
Self-Employed, Unpaid Family and Domestic Workers
Persons
who work in non-farm industries who are not on payrolls, i.e., self-
employed persons, domestic workers in private households, and unpaid
family workers. [Back to Top]
Service Occupations, Service Industries and Service-Producing Industries
Three
terms often used interchangeably and incorrectly. Each has a separate
and distinct meaning:
Service
Occupations refers to the category of jobs performed in and
around private households; serving individuals in institutions
and in commercial and other establishments; and protecting the
public against crime, fire, accidents, and acts of war. All
industries employ workers in service classifications.
Service
Industries refers to establishments in that division of the
industrial structure that renders a wide variety of services
to individuals and business establishments. These industries,
which employ workers in a wide variety of white collar, blue
collar, and service occupations, represent just one segment
of the much larger group of service-producing industries.
Service-Producing
Industries: In order to assist in the evaluation of underlying
economic trends, it is an accepted practice to consider that
the economy consists of two major parts: the goods-producing
sector (manufacturing, mining and construction) and the service-producing
sector. The latter includes transportation, communication, utilities;
trade; finance, insurance, real estate; the service industries;
and government. Accordingly, it is a multi-industry group that
is characterized by highly complex occupational staffing patterns.
In terms of white collar, blue collar, and service occupational
or job classifications, the latter is the smallest group employed.
[Back to Top]
Standard Industrial Classification Manual (SIC): NOTE
The
North American Industry Classification System is replacing the U.S.
Standard Industrial Classification system. The SIC covers the entire
field of economic activity. It is a system of classifying establishments
according to type of activity. [Back to Top]
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System
The
SOC is used by all Federal statistical agencies to classify workers
into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating,
or disseminating data. All workers are classified into one of over
800 occupations according to their occupational definition. To facilitate
classification, occupations are combined to form 23 major groups,
96 minor groups, and 449 broad occupations. Each broad occupation
includes detailed occupation(s) requiring similar job duties, skills,
education, or experience. [Back to Top]
(Refers
to ES-202) The payroll amount that is taxable under the UI law.
[Back to Top]
Total
Compensation
Includes
wages, salaries, and the employer's cost for employee benefits.
[Back to Top]
Total
Wage
The
total payroll of all establishments during the time period specified.
[Back to Top]
Total
Employed
The
sum of agricultural, non-farm wage and salary, self employed, unpaid
family, and domestic workers adjusted to eliminate double counting
of persons holding more than one job and to a place of residence
basis. [Back to Top]
Total
Unemployed
The
sum of persons receiving unemployment insurance benefits, persons
who have exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits and are
still unemployed, persons who have delayed filing for benefits but
who are not working, unemployed persons who applied for benefits
but were not qualified to receive them, workers separated from industries
not covered by unemployment insurance and unemployed persons newly
entering or reentering the labor force. According to the BLS, unemployed
persons consist of those in the civilian labor force 16 years old
and over who did not work during the survey week, but who made specific
efforts to find a job within the last four weeks and who were available
for work during the survey week. Also included are those who were
not working and were waiting to report to a new wage or salary job
within 30 days. [Back to Top]
Total
Unemployment Rate
This
is a familiar economic indicator. It is an expression of all unemployed
persons as a percent of the civilian labor force. Total Unemployment
Rate = Unemployed/Total Labor Force (unemployed + employed). [Back
to Top]
Unadjusted
Data
Data
that has not undergone any seasonal adjustment. [Back
to Top]
Unemployment
Insurance (UI)
Unemployment
insurance is a program for the accumulation of funds paid by employers
to be used for the payment of unemployment insurance to workers
during periods of unemployment which are beyond the workers' control.
Unemployment insurance replaces a part of the worker's wage loss
if he becomes eligible for payments. UI serves as an economic stabilizer
by maintaining an individual's purchasing power when unemployed.
[Back to Top]
Unemployed
Persons
According
to the BLS, unemployed persons consist of those in the civilian
labor force, 16 years old and over, who did not work during the
survey week, but who made specific efforts to find a job within
the last four weeks and who were available for work during the survey
week. Also included are those who were not working and were waiting
to report to a new wage or salary job within 30 days. [Back
to Top]
Unemployment
rates
Unemployment,
its level and composition, is widely regarded as a key index of
economic well-being. Because of this, there is a basic need for
the objective measurement of the number and characteristics of the
unemployed. [Back to Top]
Unfilled
Job Openings
Job
openings received by the local Career Center office that have not
been filled as of a specified date. [Back to Top]
Universe
of Need (UN)
The
universe of need represents the total number of different individuals,
both unemployed and underemployed, who may need employment-related
assistance at some time during the year. It includes estimates of
the disadvantaged, other poor people who do not meet the criteria
as disadvantaged, individuals in near poverty, and non-poor workers
who are unemployed or underutilized during the course of the year.
[Back to Top]
Wage
Money
paid an employee at relatively short intervals, often daily or weekly,
figured on an hourly or piecework basis synonymous with salary.
[Back to Top]
Wages
and Salaries
Consists
of earnings before payroll deductions, including production bonuses,
incentive earnings, commissions, and cost-of-living adjustment.
[Back to Top]