Employment Situation

May 14, 2012
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.1 percent. Employment increased in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care, but declined in transportation and warehousing. More...
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Featured News Releases:

Employment characteristics of veterans—2011

March 20, 2012
The unemployment rate for veterans of Gulf War era II (September 2001 forward) was 12.1 percent in 2011. Twenty-six percent of Gulf War-era II veterans reported having a service-connected disability in August 2011, compared with about 14 percent of all veterans.
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Union members—2011

January 27, 2012
In 2011, the union membership rate was 11.8 percent, essentially unchanged from 11.9 percent in 2010. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.8 million, also showed little movement over the year.
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Current CPS Economic News Releases:

• Employment Situation Summary (HTML) (PDF)
• Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation (HTML) (PDF)
• Subscribe to the BLS News Service-- receive The Employment Situation news releases by e-mail.
• Schedule of Upcoming Releases
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage And Salary Workers (HTML) (PDF)

All CPS News Releases »

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Labor Force Statistics including the National Unemployment Rate (Current Population Survey - CPS)
Weekly & Hourly Earnings (Current Population Survey - CPS)
Union Affiliation Data (Current Population Survey - CPS)

Historical News Release Tables

Table Name	Data Retrieval Wizard
Historical 'A' Tables (Household data): Previous years and months
Employment Situation News Release (monthly) Current Population Survey (CPS)
Historical 'B' Tables (Establishment data): Previous years and months
Employment Situation News Release (monthly) Current Employment Statistics (CES)
Weekly Earnings Tables: Previous quarters
Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers News Release (quarterly) Current Population Survey (CPS)
Union Affiliation Tables: Previous years
Union Members News Release (annual) Current Population Survey (CPS)

More Tools

• Series Report —Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
• Flat files FTP Site —or those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.

Most-Requested CPS Tables

• Employment status of the population, 1940s to date (HTML) (PDF)
• Employment status by sex, 1970s to date (HTML) (PDF)
• Employment status by detailed age, 2011 annual averages (HTML) (PDF)
• Employment status by educational attainment, 2011 annual averages (HTML) (PDF)
• Employment by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic ethnicity, 2011 annual averages (HTML) (PDF)
• Median weekly earnings by detailed occupation and sex, 2011 annual averages (HTML) (PDF)

Annual tables &nbsp Monthly tables &nbsp Quarterly tables

All CPS Data Tables »

Most-Requested CPS Publications

• Disability data from the Current Population Survey
• Research series on labor force status flows
• Recent trends in employment from the BLS household and payroll surveys (updated monthly) (PDF)
• How the Government Measures Unemployment

• Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity, 2010 (PDF)
• Characteristics of minimum wage workers: 2011
• Highlights of Women's Earnings in 2010 (PDF)
• Women in the Labor Force: A Databook
• A Profile of the Working Poor, 2010 (PDF)

• Employment & Earnings Online
• CPS technical documentation

All CPS Publications »

People Are Asking...

1. Where can I find the unemployment rate for previous years?
2. How is the unemployment rate related to unemployment insurance claims?
3. What is seasonal adjustment?

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does the Government collect statistics on the unemployed?
2. Where do the statistics come from?
3. What are the basic concepts of employment and unemployment?
4. Who is counted as employed?
5. Who is counted as unemployed?

All CPS FAQs »

• IMPORTANT Changes to data collected on unemployment duration

Related Links to Other BLS Information

• Information for CPS Participants
  • What to expect if you've been chosen to participate in the Current Population Survey.
• Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the CES survey (National)
  • Monthly national data by detailed industry on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments.
• Local Area Unemployment Statistics
  • Monthly and annual employment, unemployment, and labor force data for Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities, by place of residence.
• National Longitudinal Surveys
  • Several surveys gathering information at multiple points in time about the labor market and life experiences of six groups of American men, women, and youth.
• Occupational Employment Statistics
  • Data on employment and wages for over 800 occupations and for about 400 nonfarm industries for the nation, plus occupational data for States and metropolitan areas.

Other Useful Links

• Census Bureau Population and Household Topics
• Census Bureau's Household and Housing Statistics
  • Income and Poverty Data
• Joint BLS/Census Current Population Survey
• Employment and Training Administration
  • Weekly unemployment insurance claims data

Contact the Current Population Survey (CPS)

• Search CPS topics A to Z
• View CPS frequently asked questions



• Labor force information for Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities are available separately from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. Contact LAUS by e-mail or call (202) 691-6392.

Economists are available to assist you with data from the Current Population Survey Monday through Friday (8:00 A.M. - 4:30 P.M. Eastern Time), excluding Federal holidays.

• Contact us by e-mail
  
• Contact us by phone: (202) 691-6378
  To enable us to better serve all of our customers, please do not submit e-mail questions and then call for the same information.

For assistance with these special topics:

• State, city, county, and other local area data from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program: (202) 691-6392 or e-mail



• Microdata files (Peter Horner): (202) 691-6103 or e-mail
• Seasonal adjustment methodology (Thomas Evans): (202) 691-6354

Written inquiries may be directed to:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Division of Labor Force Statistics
Suite 4675
2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20212-0001

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not provide information about unemployment insurance (UI):

• For information on the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (statistics), please contact the Department of Labor at (202) 693-3032.
• Unemployment Insurance Benefits are determined and administered by each state. Find your state contact information.