Important Information
Annual Revisions
Each year, historical labor force estimates are revised to reflect
new Census Bureau population controls, updated input data, and
reestimation. The model-based estimates also incorporate new seasonal
adjustment, and the unadjusted estimates are controlled to new census
division and U.S. totals. Substate area data are revised to incorporate
updated inputs, reestimation, and controlling to new statewide totals.
Modeled Areas
On February 29, 2012, the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program
released 2011 annual average labor force estimates for census regions and divisions;
all States and the District of Columbia; the Los
Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division, the Miami-Miami
Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division, the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL
Metropolitan Division, the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI Metropolitan
Statistical Area, New York city, NY, the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH Metropolitan Statistical
Area, and the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division, as well as the
seven corresponding balance-of-State areas. As described above, the
data incorporate new population controls, updated inputs,
reestimation of models, and adjustment to new census division and national
control totals. Both not-seasonally-adjusted and smoothed-seasonally-adjusted (SSA)
monthly data were revised back to January 2007. (For more information about
SSA, please see the question and
answer page.) The updated population controls reflect U.S. Census Bureau
revisions from April 2010 forward.
Seasonally-adjusted statewide data for Puerto Rico were revised back to the start of the series in January 1976,
to incorporate the smoothing procedure.
All annual average and historical supplemental items on the website containing data for model-based areas, including data files, rank
tables, and maps, were updated to reflect these revisions on or shortly after February 29.
Substate Areas
On April 20, 2012, routine revisions were made to data from 2007 through 2011 for geographic areas below the State level (other than the model-based
areas noted above), and official annual averages for 2011 were issued. For all areas, estimation inputs were revised back to 2010, while the
revisions for 2007–09 consisted of controlling to the new State totals described above. The extent and scope of the data revisions were footnoted
within the time-series database. Furthermore, all supplemental items on the LAUS homepage
containing data for substate areas were updated to reflect these revisions.
Corrections
On March 30, 2012, mostly minor corrections were made to both not-seasonally-adjusted and smoothed-seasonally-adjusted estimates for Montana from January 2007 through December 2011.
On May 2, 2012, corrections were made to January 2012 data for substate areas in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, as well as the La Crosse, WI-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area
and the Sioux City-Vermillion, IA-NE-SD Combined Statistical Area.
On May 30, 2012, minor corrections were made to January and February 2012 data for five cities in Nevada (Henderson, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Reno, and Sparks), with unemployment rates
increasing by 0.1 or 0.2 percentage point. Additionally, more substantial corrections were made to data for Taylorsville city, UT, from August 2011 through February 2012, including the 2011
annual averages.
On August 1, 2012, corrections were made to numerous substate areas due to estimation input errors for Delaware from January through April of 2012 and West Virginia in January and February
of 2012. All substate areas in Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey, as well as selected interstate areas shared with the District of Columbia, New York, and Pennsylvania, were affected from
January through April. All substate areas in Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as the Evansville, IN-KY Metropolitan Statistical Area, were affected for January and February.
Three interstate areas shared with Tennessee were affected for February. Most of the corrections outside of Delaware and West Virginia were small.
On August 29, 2012, corrections were made to all substate areas in Arizona and North Carolina from January through May of 2012. Due to small changes in its North Carolina part, the Virginia
Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area also was affected. Aside from Apache County in Arizona and the Burlington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area (which is equivalent
to Alamance County) and Burlington city in North Carolina, most of the corrections were small.
Last Modified Date: August 29, 2012
