Glossary

Total quarterly wages divided by average employment and then divided by 13 (weeks per quarter).

Benchmarking is the process of updating and improving accuracy in estimation. Most federal program statistics are estimated using a sample of the total universe. As more complete data become available, the statistics are re-estimated to reflect more accurate information. The benchmark is considered to be more accurate than estimates yet is also generally more dated information.

BLS is part of the U.S. Department of Labor and is the federal government’s principal data-gathering agency in the field of labor economics, particularly with respect to the collection and analysis of data on the labor force, employment and unemployment, hours of work, wages and other compensation, prices, living conditions, labor-management relations, productivity, technological developments, occupational safety and health, etc. Practically all of the data BLS collects are supplied voluntarily by workers, businesses, and government agencies.

Persons aged 16 and older who are not institutionalized (prisons, mental facilities, nursing homes) or on active military duty and are either employed or unemployed.

Persons aged 16 and older residing in the 50 states and the District of Columbia who are not inmates of institutions, e.g. penal and mental facilities and homes for the aged, and who are not on active military duty.

CIP classifies and identifies educational and training fields of study. CIP was originally developed by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.

CIPSEA is the federal law which protects information collected for statistical purposes by federal statistical agencies and their state cooperative partners.

Laws and guidelines established to protect individual employers. We cannot release statistics where three or fewer employers are included in the industry segment or if one employer represents 80% or more of the workers in the industry segment.

Measures the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative market basket of consumer goods and services.

The number of weeks that claimants are requesting payment of unemployment benefits. These claims include “waiting weeks” which do not receive payment and claims that are subsequently denied benefits.

Federal-state cooperative program that produces a monthly count of jobs by industry.

Monthly household survey of the population of the United States administered by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. CPS is the data source for the national estimates of the labor force composition.

Persons not in the labor force who want and are available for a job and who have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months, but who are not currently looking because they believe there are no jobs available or there are none for which they would qualify. Discouraged workers are not counted as unemployed.

The length of time in weeks that an unemployed person has been looking for work.

The highest academic diploma or degree, or level of academic work towards a diploma or degree, an individual has completed.

A temporary, federally-funded extension of unemployment benefits for those who have exhausted their Regular UC benefits.

Persons aged 16 and older who (a) did any work as paid employees, worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of their family, or (b) were not working but who had jobs from which they were temporarily absent. Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she holds more than one job.

Represents a business entity and may consist of one or more establishments.

As part of the U.S. Department of Labor, ETA administers federal government job training and worker dislocation programs, federal grants to states for public employment service programs, and unemployment insurance benefits. Program services are primarily provided through state and local workforce development systems.

The proportion of the civilian non-institutional population aged 16+ years that is employed.

Represents a single economic unit such as a mine, factory, or store engaged in one, or predominantly one, activity.

The count of individuals who have drawn the maximum entitled amount of benefits.

A temporary extension of unemployment benefits available to individuals who have exhausted their Regular UC benefits and any temporary EUC.

Definitions can vary but generally full-time employment includes those who work at least 35 hours per week.

Occupations that are considered economically significant to the commonwealth or regions of the commonwealth. As such, these occupations often provide opportunities for state or local education and training support.

The distinct count of individuals who received unemployment compensation benefits.

Industries of Interest (IOIs) highlight growing or declining industries in the state. IOIs are those industries with exceptional growth or decline over the most recent five calendar quarters as determined through analyzing employer data, New Hires data, and Help Wanted online job postings.

A group of establishments that produce similar products or provide similar services. 

A group of industries that are closely linked by common product markets, labor pools, similar technologies, supplier chains and/or other economic ties.

The count of notices of unemployment requesting a determination of eligibility and entitlement for UC benefits.

Job skills are personal abilities that help workers carry out job-related tasks.

The total number of persons on establishment payrolls employed full or part time. Persons on the payroll of more than one establishment are counted in each establishment.

All persons classified as employed or unemployed.

The labor force divided by the civilian non-institutional population.

An economically integrated geographical unit within which workers may readily change jobs without changing their place of residence.

All quantitative or qualitative data and analysis related to employment and the workforce.

Civil jurisdiction where the average unemployment rate is at least 1.2 times the average unemployment rate for all states or its unemployment rate during the previous two calendar years was 10 percent or more.

Federal-State cooperative program measuring employment and unemployment by place of residence. LAUS does not produce demographic estimates.

LED is a voluntary partnership between state labor market information agencies and the U.S. Bureau of the Census (Census). States supply quarterly unemployment insurance wage records and business establishment records. Census merges the data with other records, incorporates confidentiality protections, and compiles the information for dissemination to states. LED is a subset of the LEHD program.

LQ is a measure of the employment share of an industry in a particular area to the employment share in a reference area. LQs allow for comparison of how concentrated an industry’s employment in an area is to that of the country overall and, by extension, to other areas. If an LQ is equal to 1, then the industry has the same share of its local area employment as it does in the reference area; an LQ greater than 1 indicates an industry with a greater share of the local area employment (more concentrated) than is the case in the reference area; and an LQ less than 1 indicates a local industry with a lesser share (less concentrated) than that of the reference area.

LEHD is a U.S. Bureau of the Census program that combines federal and state administrative data on employers and employees with core Census data and surveys.

Persons who have been unemployed for greater than 26 weeks.

A geographic entity defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget for use by federal statistical agencies based on the concept of a core area with a large population nucleus plus adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core. Current qualification of an MSA requires the presence of a city with 50,000 or more inhabitants or the presence of an Urbanized Area (UA) and a total population of at least 100,000.

A governmental unit that is the primary governmental or administrative division of a county or statistically equivalent entity. In Pennsylvania, an MCD is usually a town, city, borough or township.

National program created in 1996 to facilitate the collection of court-ordered child support payments from non-custodial parents and subsequent payment to custodial parents regardless of the state of residence of either entity.

Statistical report highlighting which industries are hiring. The source of the data is Pennsylvania’s New Hire Reporting Program.

The total number of persons on establishment payrolls employed full or part time excluding proprietors, self-employed, unpaid family or volunteer workers, farm workers, and domestic workers. Government employment covers only civilian employees. Persons on the payroll of more than one establishment are counted in each establishment.

NAICS uses a six-digit, hierarchical coding system to classify all economic activity. The NAICS hierarchical structure allows greater coding flexibility than the four-digit structure of the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code. 

Typically a set of activities or tasks that employees receive wages to perform.

Federal-state cooperative program that produces an estimate of the volume of occupations and wages associated with each.

An abnormal condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to factors associated with employment. It includes acute and chronic illnesses or diseases which may be caused by inhalation, absorption, ingestion, or direct contact.

An injury such as a cut, fracture, sprain, amputation, etc., which results from a work-related event or from a single instantaneous exposure in the work environment.

Defines many of the data elements—such as nature, part, event, and source—that are used in the production of safety and health statistics by BLS.

Persons who would like to work full time but were working part time because of an economic reason such as decreased working hours or they were unable to find full-time jobs.

Definitions can vary but generally part-time employment includes those who work at least one but fewer than 35 hours per week.

The prevailing wage is a legal term that applies only to a limited range of occupations engaged in public works projects. Prevailing wages are established by the Department of Labor & Industry for each trade and occupation employed in public works projects. They are established separately for each county and are reflective of local wage conditions.

Federal-state cooperative program that produces a universal count of employment and wage information for workers covered by Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation law and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. Excluded are members of the armed forces, the self-employed, proprietors, domestic workers, unpaid family workers, and railroad workers. Wages represent total compensation paid during the calendar quarter regardless of when services were performed and may include pay for vacation and other paid leave, bonuses, stock options, tips, the cash value of meals and lodging.

Includes work-related injuries and illnesses that result in one or more of the following: death, loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work activity or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, significant work-related injuries or illnesses that are diagnosed by a physician or other licensed heath care professional. Additional criteria include any needle-stick injury or cut from a sharp object that is contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material, any case requiring an employee to be medically removed under the requirements of an OSHA health standard, and tuberculosis infection as evidenced by a positive skin test or diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional after exposure to a known case of active tuberculosis.

Provides up to 26 weeks of benefits.

Seasonal adjustment removes the change in employment that is due to normal seasonal hiring or layoffs (holidays, weather, etc.) thus leaving an over-the-month change that reflects only employment changes due to trend and irregular movements.

Data that shows the proportional distribution of occupations within an industry.

Four-digit codes created by the U.S. government to standardize and categorize business activities. SIC codes were replaced in 1997 by the six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

Six-digit code to standardize and categorize the knowledge, skills, abilities, work conditions, minimum education and training level, etc. necessary to perform a specific function or series of tasks.

Federal-state cooperative program that is designed to provide an estimate of the number of work related injuries and illnesses and a measure of the frequency at which they occur.

Separation of an employee from an establishment.

Monthly - The number of total separations during the month divided by the number of employees who worked during or received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month. Annual - The number of total separations for the year divided by average monthly employment for the year.

The number of the unemployed plus those people working part time who would like full-time jobs plus those who have dropped out of the labor market entirely and still want a job divided by the labor force plus those who have dropped out of the labor market entirely and still want a job.

All persons aged 16 years and older who had no employment, were available to work, and had made specific efforts to find employment. Includes persons who were waiting to be recalled to jobs from which they had been laid off.

The federal-state unemployment compensation program provides unemployment benefits to eligible workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own and meet other eligibility requirements of state law.

Program providing benefits for eligible unemployed former civilian Federal employees.

May be used interchangeably with unemployment compensation.

The number of unemployed divided by the labor force.

Provides for medical expenses and in the event one is unable to work, wage-loss compensation benefits until a return to work is possible. Benefits for work-related deaths are paid to dependent survivors.

WDQI (now PA DataShare) is an inter-agency longitudinal database among the Department of Labor & Industry and other state agencies which integrates program participant data for the purposes of reporting employment outcomes and identifying shared program participants.

A labor market area that is usually a group of contiguous counties where employment, training, and educational services are provided as established under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to provide services for dislocated workers and other eligible individuals.

Federal act passed in 2014 designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy. WIOA ensures that employment and training services provided by the core programs of employment services, workforce development, adult education, and vocational rehabilitation activities are coordinated and complementary so that job seekers acquire skills and credentials that meet employers' needs.

Federal act passed in 1998 that reformed federal job training programs and created a new, comprehensive workforce investment system intended to help Americans access the tools they need to manage their careers through information and high quality services, and to help U.S. companies find skilled workers. WIA was superseded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

A labor market area that is usually a group of contiguous counties, where employment, training and educational services are provided as established under the Workforce Investment Act to provide services for dislocated workers and other eligible individuals.