Employment and Unemployment Data
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
New York State, Labor Market Regions, Metropolitan Areas,
Counties, and Municipalities of at Least 25,000 Population
Data Source: Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program
Select a Geography:
Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force Data - Excel spreadsheet with historical and current month's labor force data for New York State, New York City and balance of state region (NYS-NYC). All data from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program.
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IMPORTANT NOTICE
Labor force statistics for years 2004 through 2008 for all LAUS areas will be revised as part of the annual benchmarking process. The annual benchmarking process is part of the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics nationwide re-estimating procedure. Revised data will be posted on this website on the following dates:
Data for calendar year 2008 was released on March 5, 2009.
Data for New York State, New York City, and the Balance of New York State (NYS less NYC) for years 2004 - 2007 was revised on March 5, 2009.
Revised data for all other sub-state areas for the years 2004 - 2007 will be released on March 26, 2009.
Due to a new estimating methodology implemented in January 2005, sub-state labor force statistics from January 2000 to present are not comparable to data from earlier years.
Questions regarding labor force statistics should be directed to your local labor market analyst.
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Labor force estimates provide the most up-to-date estimates of persons employed and unemployed by place of residence. Labor force data include estimates of the civilian labor force, the number employed, the number unemployed, and the unemployment rate. Labor force figures are available for New York State, labor market regions, metropolitan areas, counties, and municipalities of at least 25,000. Estimates are developed and distributed monthly. Labor force data for the nation and areas outside of New York State are available at http://www.bls.gov/lau/home.htm.
Labor force statistics for all states, including New York, are calculated using a statistical model that takes into account: 1) data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly nationwide survey of households that is conducted for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, that interviews about 3,000 households in the state; 2) data from the monthly nationwide survey of business establishments (including 18,000 in New York State), that BLS uses for its monthly nonfarm employment report; and 3) unemployment insurance claims data. Model estimates are then revised at the end of each year.
Per BLS procedures, monthly labor force statistics are subject to annual benchmark revisions in subsequent years. Revised (benchmarked) data for the prior year will be released with current year January estimates. Data for earlier years will also be benchmarked, but are released at a later date as benchmark processing progresses. Data for the preceding 3-5 years are subject to benchmark revision.
Sub-state labor force statistics (all estimates other than those for New York State, New York City, and the Balance of State region) from before 2000 are not comparable with estimates from January 2000 forward. This break in series is due to the implementation of a new estimation methodology for sub-state areas that took effect in January 2005. The new estimation methodology was applied to all sub-state data going back to January 2000. The break in series occurs between December 1999 and January 2000. More information on breaks in the series can be found in the Technical Notes.
The entire set of currently available historical LAUS data are available by downloading the file, laus.zip. This compressed archive, which consists of five comma-separated-value (CSV) data files (laus_cities.txt, laus_counties.txt, laus_msas.txt, laus_regions.txt, laus_nys.txt) and a layout file (readme.txt), can be uncompressed with either the winzip or pkunzip utility programs. A self-extracting version laus.exe is also available. After extracting the files from the archive, they may be imported into a spreadsheet application. The text and data should parse automatically into columns.
For more information concerning labor force statistics, see Technical Notes. For additional information on the various sources of employment data, see comparing sources of employment data.
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