What is the ‘Real’ Unemployment Rate?

From the US Department of Labor:

At the Department of Labor we regularly get questions about what the “real” unemployment rate is. Another way to state these questions might be “What is the measure that truly captures the state of job opportunities?” The answer, it turns out, is there isn’t just one. There is no way to capture the state of something as complex as the U.S. labor market with one number. That is why the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a huge array of measures, which together provide a comprehensive picture of the state of job opportunities.

The “official” unemployment rate is the most well-known. BLS defines a worker as unemployed if they are jobless but actively seeking work. The official unemployment rate is the number of workers who are unemployed divided by the number of workers who are either employed or unemployed. At its peak in the aftermath of the Great Recession, the official unemployment rate reached 10 percent; as of August 2016, it is now down to 4.9.

In BLS publications, the official unemployment rate is referred to as the U-3. Though the U-3 gets the most attention, BLS also publishes five other measures of labor underutilization (U-1, U-2, U-4, U-5, and U-6), each of which measure labor underutilization in a different way. The broadest measure – the U-6 (sometimes referred to in the press as the “underemployment rate”) – includes not just the officially unemployed, but also the “marginally attached” (those who are neither working nor looking for work but who want and are available to work and have looked for work in the past year), and people who are working part-time but want a full-time job. At its peak in the aftermath of the Great Recession, the U-6 was 17.1 percent; it is now down to 9.7 percent.

Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2015

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

In 2015, 78.2 million workers age 16 and older in the United States were paid at hourly rates, representing 58.5 percent of all wage and salary workers. Among those paid by the hour, 870,000 workers earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 1.7 million had wages below the federal minimum. Together, these 2.6 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 3.3 percent of all hourly paid workers.

The percentage of hourly paid workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less declined from 3.9 percent in 2014 to 3.3 percent in 2015. This remains well below the percentage of 13.4 recorded in 1979, when data for hourly-paid were first collected on a regular basis.

This report presents highlights and statistical tables describing workers who earned at or below the federal minimum wage in 2015. The data are obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national monthly survey of approximately 60,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Information on earnings is collected from one-fourth of the CPS sample each month.

The CPS does not include questions on whether workers are covered by the minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or by individual state or local minimum wage laws. The estimates of workers paid at or below the federal minimum wage are based solely on the hourly wage they report, which does not include overtime pay, tips, or commissions.

Employment Projections for New York State

Employment Prospects

Employment prospects are available for all published occupations in New York State and each of ten labor market regions. Each occupation is assigned one of four descriptors that describes the future employment prospects for that occupation.

Long-Term Occupational Employment Projections

Find the expected employment growth and annual openings for all published occupations in New York State and its ten labor market regions. These 10-year forecasts, which are updated every other year, are intended to help individuals make informed education and career decisions and assist educators and training providers in planning for future needs.

Short-Term Occupational Employment Projections

These are used for career counseling, economic development and other state and regional planning. Data are currently available for all published occupations in New York State and each of ten labor market regions.

Long-Term Industry Employment Projections

These represent valuable data sources for those interested in future employment trends. Data are currently available for approximately 90 detailed industries (at the 3-digit NAICS industry level.

Jobs in Demand Today

This is a real-time list of occupations in demand NOW. Please select a region from the down box to view data for that region. The regional lists show occupations in which hiring is occurring now. Occupations on the statewide list represent those job titles which appear on at least one regional list.



Find this from Labor Statistics from the NYS Department of Labor.

NYS Labor Department new lead agency for NYSDC

In the recent slew of budget bills enacted was the authorization to officially transfer the Lead Agency of the New York State Data Center to the NYS Department of Labor. This has been passed by the Senate and by the Assembly. It is believed that as of April 1, Labor will officially be the new Lead Agency, succeeding the NYS Department of Economic Development. This is universally seen as a good outcome by the current state data affiliates.

The Department of Labor has had vast experience and active participation in the NYSDC program from the very beginning, over 30 years ago.

Here's the wording in State Senate bill S02607/State Assembly bill A03007, signed by Governor Cuomo on March 29:

PART N

Section 1. Section 21 of the labor law is amended by adding a new subdivision 14 to read as follows:
14. SHALL DO ALL THINGS NECESSARY FOR THE OPERATION OF THE NEW YORK STATE DATA CENTER ESTABLISHED IN THE DEPARTMENT IN COOPERATION WITH THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF THE CENSUS; TO COOPERATE WITH OTHER STATE AGENCIES, UNIVERSITIES, REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, BOARDS, COMMISSIONS, AND OTHER ENTITIES IN THE DISSEMINATION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC INFORMATION AND DATA THROUGH THE NEW YORK STATE DATA CENTER PROGRAM; IN RELATION TO SUCH INFORMATION AND DATA, TO PROVIDE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO OTHER STATE AGENCIES, UNIVERSITIES, REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND OTHER ENTITIES; AND TO PREPARE ESTIMATES AND THE OFFICIAL PROJECTIONS OF POPULATION, HOUSEHOLDS AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STATE FOR USE BY ALL STATE AGENCIES. ALL EMPLOYEES TRANSFERRED TO THE DEPARTMENT SHALL BE TRANSFERRED WITHOUT FURTHER EXAMINATION OR QUALIFICATION TO THE SAME OR SIMILAR TITLES AND SHALL REMAIN IN THE SAME COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNITS AND SHALL RETAIN THEIR RESPECTIVE CIVIL SERVICE CLASSIFICATIONS, STATUS AND RIGHTS PURSUANT TO THEIR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNITS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.

Section 2. Subdivision 17 of section 100 of the economic development law is REPEALED.

Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.