Unemployment on Cape Cod and the Islands – January 2012

Wintertime Unemployment Rates Declined from the Previous Year

In January, Barnstable County, Mass., reported the lowest unemployment rate among the three counties that make up Cape Cod and the Islands, at 10.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1.) Acting Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that Barnstable’s jobless rate was above the national average of 8.8 percent. Dukes (Martha’s Vineyard) and Nantucket Counties also had rates above that for the United States, at 11.8 and 14.5 percent, respectively. (See chart 1. The Technical Note at the end of this release contains county definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket Counties all had unemployment rates that were lower in January 2012 than one year earlier. Barnstable County posted the largest over-the-year decrease at 1.8 percentage point; Dukes and Nantucket counties had decreases of 1.4 and 0.7 percentage points, respectively. The national unemployment rate fell 1.0 percentage point over this same time period.

Table A. Unemployment rates for the United States, and counties comprising Cape Cod and the Islands, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Unemployment rates				Net change from
	January 2009	January 2010	January 2011	January 20121	January 2009 to January 2010	January 2010 to January 2011	January 2011 to January 20121
United States	8.5	10.6	9.8	8.8	2.1	-0.8	-1.0
Barnstable County, Mass.	11.2	12.9	12.4	10.6	1.7	-0.5	-1.8
Dukes County, Mass.	10.3	12.7	13.2	11.8	2.4	0.5	-1.4
Nantucket County, Mass.	11.6	15.7	15.2	14.5	4.1	-0.5	-0.7

¹ County data are preliminary for the most recent month.

All of the counties comprising Cape Cod and the Islands had lower jobless rates in January 2012 than one year earlier; however only Barnstable posted a jobless rate that was lower than that reported three years ago. (See table A and chart 1.) Of note, the jobless rate for Nantucket in January 2012 remained the highest of the three counties and was 2.9 percentage points above its 2009 level. The unemployment rate for Martha’s Vineyard was 1.5 percentage points higher than three years earlier. Nationally, the unemployment rate was 0.3 percentage point higher over this three-year period.

Technical Note

This release presents labor force and unemployment data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. Estimates for the U.S. are obtained directly from the CPS, which is a sample survey of approximately 60,000 households nationwide that is conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the Census Bureau. The LAUS program produces data for the nine geographic divisions in the United States:  New England, Middle Atlantic, South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central, East North Central, West North Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Data for all divisions, as well as the 50 states, are available in the Regional and State Employment and Unemployment release www.bls.gov/lau/home.htm#news issued monthly by BLS, while national statistics are highlighted in the Employment Situation www.bls.gov/cps/home.htm#news.

Definitions.  The labor force and unemployment data are based on the same concepts and definitions as those used for the official national estimates obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a sample survey of households that is conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau.  The LAUS program measures employment and unemployment on a place-of-residence basis.  The universe for each is the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years of age and over.  Employed persons are those who did any work at all for pay or profit in the reference week (the week including the 12th of the month) or worked 15 hours or more without pay in a family business or farm, plus those not working who had a job from which they were temporarily absent, whether or not paid, for such reasons as labor-management dispute, illness, or vacation.  Unemployed persons are those who were not employed during the reference week (based on the definition above), had actively looked for a job sometime in the 4-week period ending with the reference week, and were currently available for work; persons on layoff expecting recall need not be looking for work to be counted as unemployed.  The labor force is the sum of employed and unemployed persons.  The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed as a percent of the labor force.

Method of estimation.  Estimates for the substate areas in this release are prepared through indirect estimation procedures using a building-block approach.  Employment estimates, which are based largely on "place of work" estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, are adjusted to refer to place of residence as used in the CPS.  Unemployment estimates are aggregates of persons previously employed in industries covered by state unemployment insurance (UI) laws and entrants to the labor force data from the CPS.  The substate estimates of employment and unemployment, which geographically exhaust the entire state, are adjusted proportionally to ensure that they add to the independently estimated state or balance-of-state totals.  A detailed description of the estimation procedures is available from BLS upon request.

Annual revisions.  Labor force and unemployment data for prior years reflect adjustments made at the end of each year.  The adjusted estimates reflect updated population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, any revisions in the other data sources, and model reestimation.  In most years, historical data for the most recent five years (both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted) are revised near the beginning of each calendar year, prior to or coincident with the release of January estimates.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request.  Voice phone:  (617) 565-2072; TDD message referral phone:  1-800-877-8339.

For personal assistance or further information on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics data, as well as other Bureau data, contact the Boston Information Office at 617-565-2327.  Information on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and other surveys and programs is available on our Web site at www.bls.gov/ro1/.

Area definitions.  The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, dated December 1, 2009.  A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

Barnstable County consists of the towns of Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Truro, Wellfleet, and Yarmouth. 

Dukes County consists of the towns of Aquinnah, Chilmark, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, and West Tisbury. 

Nantucket County consists of the town of Nantucket.

Last Modified Date: April 10, 2012