The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The Handbook is revised every two years. The OOH offers information on the hundreds of occupations that provide the majority of jobs in the United States. Each occupational profile describes the typical duties performed by the occupation, the work environment of that occupation, the typical education and training needed to enter the occupation, the median pay for workers in the occupation, and the job outlook over the coming decade for that occupation. For information on occupations, please visit: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. CES data represents businesses and government agencies, providing detailed industry data on employment on nonfarm payrolls.

This dataset represents the CHANGE in the number of jobs per industry category and sub-category from the previous month, not the raw counts of actual jobs. The data behind these monthly change values is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. CES data represents businesses and government agencies, providing detailed industry data on employment on nonfarm payrolls.

Total Nonfarm Job Openings are a measure of all jobs that are not filled on the last business day of the month. A job is considered open if a specific position exists and there is work available for it, the job can be started within 30 days, and there is active recruiting for the position.

Total Nonfarm Job Openings are measured by the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These data are a unique economic indicator of unmet demand for labor and labor shortages. Economists, government officials, and researchers use Job Openings as a measure of tightness within job markets.

Note that the set of available job openings may decline because openings become filled, or because previous openings are removed without filling positions.

For more information, see: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey Overview Page (https://www.bls.gov/jlt/jltover.htm#purpose) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Data Definitions (https://www.bls.gov/jlt/jltdef.htm#2)

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Government (USGOVT) from Jan 1939 to May 2025 about establishment survey, government, employment, and USA.

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Survey is a federal-state cooperative program between the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). The BLS provides the procedures and technical support, draws the sample, and produces the survey materials, while the SWAs collect the data. SWAs from all fifty states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands participate in the survey. Occupational employment and wage rate estimates at the national level are produced by BLS using data from the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Employers who respond to states' requests to participate in the OEWS survey make these estimates possible.

The OEWS survey collects data from a sample of establishments and calculates employment and wage estimates by occupation, industry, and geographic area. The semiannual survey covers all non-farm industries. Data are collected by the Employment Development Department in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor. The OEWS Program estimates employment and wages for approximately 830 occupations. It also produces employment and wage estimates for statewide, Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), and Balance of State areas. Estimates are a snapshot in time and should not be used as a time series.

The OEWS estimates are published annually.

SOURCE: https://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_emp.htm

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Jobs by Industry (EC1)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Employment by place of work by industry sector

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Jobs by industry refers to both the change in employment levels by industry and the proportional mix of jobs by economic sector. This measure reflects the changing industry trends that affect our region’s workers.

DATA SOURCE
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) - https://www.bls.gov/cew/downloadable-data-files.htm
1990-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) employment data is reported by the place of work and represent the number of covered workers who worked during, or received pay for, the pay period that included the 12th day of the month. Covered employees in the private-sector and in the state and local government include most corporate officials, all executives, all supervisory personnel, all professionals, all clerical workers, many farmworkers, all wage earners, all piece workers and all part-time workers. Workers on paid sick leave, paid holiday, paid vacation and the like are also covered.

Besides excluding the aforementioned national security agencies, QCEW excludes proprietors, the unincorporated self-employed, unpaid family members, certain farm and domestic workers exempted from having to report employment data and railroad workers covered by the railroad unemployment insurance system. Excluded as well are workers who earned no wages during the entire applicable pay period because of work stoppages, temporary layoffs, illness or unpaid vacations.

The location quotient (LQ) is used to evaluate level of concentration or clustering of an industry within the Bay Area and within each county of the region. A location quotient greater than 1 means there is a strong concentration for of jobs in an industry sector. For the Bay Area, the LQ is calculated as the share of the region’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of California's employment in that same sector. For each county, the LQ is calculated as the share of the county’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of the region’s employment in that same sector.

Data is mainly pulled from aggregation level 73, which is county-level summarized at the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) supersector level (12 sectors). This aggregation level exhibits the least loss due to data suppression, in the magnitude of 1-2 percent for regional employment, and is therefore preferred. However, the supersectors group together NAICS 11 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; NAICS 21 Mining and NAICS 23 Construction. To provide a separate tally of Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, the aggregation level 74 data was used for NAICS codes 11, 21 and 23.

QCEW reports on employment in Public Administration as NAICS 92. However, many government activities are reported with an industry specific code - such as transportation or utilities even if those may be public governmental entities. In 2021 for the Bay Area, the largest industry groupings under public ownership are Education and health services (58%); Public administration (29%) and Trade, transportation, and utilities (29%). With the exception of Education and health services, all other public activities were coded as government/public administration, regardless of industry group.

For the county data there were some industries that reported 0 jobs or did not report jobs at the desired aggregation/NAICS level for the following counties/years:

Farm:
(aggregation level: 74, NAICS code: 11) - Contra Costa: 2008-2010 - Marin: 1990-2006, 2008-2010, 2014-2020 - Napa: 1990-2004, 2013-2021 - San Francisco: 2019-2020 - San Mateo: 2013

Information:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 51) - Solano: 2001

Financial Activities:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS codes: 52, 53) - Solano: 2001

Unclassified:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 99) - All nine Bay Area counties: 1990-2000 - Marin, Napa, San Mateo, and Solano: 2020 - Napa: 2019 - Solano: 2001

The Employment Projections (EP) program develops information about the labor market for the Nation as a whole for 10 years in the future. For more information visit: https://www.bls.gov/emp/

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey program provides national estimates of rates and levels for job openings, hires, and total separations. Total separations are further broken out into quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations.

Graph and download economic data for Job Openings: Government (JTS9000JOR) from Dec 2000 to Apr 2025 about job openings, vacancy, government, and USA.

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) program conducts a semi-annual survey to produce estimates of employment and wages for specific occupations. The OES program collects data on wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in order to produce employment and wage estimates for about 800 occupations. Data from self-employed persons are not collected and are not included in the estimates. The OES program produces these occupational estimates by geographic area and by industry. Estimates based on geographic areas are available at the National, State, Metropolitan, and Nonmetropolitan Area levels. The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces occupational employment and wage estimates for over 450 industry classifications at the national level. The industry classifications correspond to the sector, 3-, 4-, and 5-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industrial groups. More information and details about the data provided can be found at http://www.bls.gov/oes

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Jobs by Industry (EC1)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Employment by place of work by industry sector

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Jobs by industry refers to both the change in employment levels by industry and the proportional mix of jobs by economic sector. This measure reflects the changing industry trends that affect our region’s workers.

DATA SOURCE
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) - https://www.bls.gov/cew/downloadable-data-files.htm
1990-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) employment data is reported by the place of work and represent the number of covered workers who worked during, or received pay for, the pay period that included the 12th day of the month. Covered employees in the private-sector and in the state and local government include most corporate officials, all executives, all supervisory personnel, all professionals, all clerical workers, many farmworkers, all wage earners, all piece workers and all part-time workers. Workers on paid sick leave, paid holiday, paid vacation and the like are also covered.

Besides excluding the aforementioned national security agencies, QCEW excludes proprietors, the unincorporated self-employed, unpaid family members, certain farm and domestic workers exempted from having to report employment data and railroad workers covered by the railroad unemployment insurance system. Excluded as well are workers who earned no wages during the entire applicable pay period because of work stoppages, temporary layoffs, illness or unpaid vacations.

The location quotient (LQ) is used to evaluate level of concentration or clustering of an industry within the Bay Area and within each county of the region. A location quotient greater than 1 means there is a strong concentration for of jobs in an industry sector. For the Bay Area, the LQ is calculated as the share of the region’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of California's employment in that same sector. For each county, the LQ is calculated as the share of the county’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of the region’s employment in that same sector.

Data is mainly pulled from aggregation level 73, which is county-level summarized at the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) supersector level (12 sectors). This aggregation level exhibits the least loss due to data suppression, in the magnitude of 1-2 percent for regional employment, and is therefore preferred. However, the supersectors group together NAICS 11 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; NAICS 21 Mining and NAICS 23 Construction. To provide a separate tally of Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, the aggregation level 74 data was used for NAICS codes 11, 21 and 23.

QCEW reports on employment in Public Administration as NAICS 92. However, many government activities are reported with an industry specific code - such as transportation or utilities even if those may be public governmental entities. In 2021 for the Bay Area, the largest industry groupings under public ownership are Education and health services (58%); Public administration (29%) and Trade, transportation, and utilities (29%). With the exception of Education and health services, all other public activities were coded as government/public administration, regardless of industry group.

For the county data there were some industries that reported 0 jobs or did not report jobs at the desired aggregation/NAICS level for the following counties/years:

Farm:
(aggregation level: 74, NAICS code: 11) - Contra Costa: 2008-2010 - Marin: 1990-2006, 2008-2010, 2014-2020 - Napa: 1990-2004, 2013-2021 - San Francisco: 2019-2020 - San Mateo: 2013

Information:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 51) - Solano: 2001

Financial Activities:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS codes: 52, 53) - Solano: 2001

Unclassified:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 99) - All nine Bay Area counties: 1990-2000 - Marin, Napa, San Mateo, and Solano: 2020 - Napa: 2019 - Solano: 2001

This dataset represents the CHANGE in the number of jobs per industry category and sub-category from the previous month, not the raw counts of actual jobs. The data behind these monthly change values is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. CES data represents businesses and government agencies, providing detailed industry data on employment on nonfarm payrolls.

Graph and download economic data for Job Openings: State and Local (JTU9200JOR) from Dec 2000 to Apr 2025 about job openings, state & local, vacancy, government, and USA.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Jobs by Industry (EC1)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Employment by place of work by industry sector

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Jobs by industry refers to both the change in employment levels by industry and the proportional mix of jobs by economic sector. This measure reflects the changing industry trends that affect our region’s workers.

DATA SOURCE
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) - https://www.bls.gov/cew/downloadable-data-files.htm
1990-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) employment data is reported by the place of work and represent the number of covered workers who worked during, or received pay for, the pay period that included the 12th day of the month. Covered employees in the private-sector and in the state and local government include most corporate officials, all executives, all supervisory personnel, all professionals, all clerical workers, many farmworkers, all wage earners, all piece workers and all part-time workers. Workers on paid sick leave, paid holiday, paid vacation and the like are also covered.

Besides excluding the aforementioned national security agencies, QCEW excludes proprietors, the unincorporated self-employed, unpaid family members, certain farm and domestic workers exempted from having to report employment data and railroad workers covered by the railroad unemployment insurance system. Excluded as well are workers who earned no wages during the entire applicable pay period because of work stoppages, temporary layoffs, illness or unpaid vacations.

The location quotient (LQ) is used to evaluate level of concentration or clustering of an industry within the Bay Area and within each county of the region. A location quotient greater than 1 means there is a strong concentration for of jobs in an industry sector. For the Bay Area, the LQ is calculated as the share of the region’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of California's employment in that same sector. For each county, the LQ is calculated as the share of the county’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of the region’s employment in that same sector.

Data is mainly pulled from aggregation level 73, which is county-level summarized at the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) supersector level (12 sectors). This aggregation level exhibits the least loss due to data suppression, in the magnitude of 1-2 percent for regional employment, and is therefore preferred. However, the supersectors group together NAICS 11 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; NAICS 21 Mining and NAICS 23 Construction. To provide a separate tally of Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, the aggregation level 74 data was used for NAICS codes 11, 21 and 23.

QCEW reports on employment in Public Administration as NAICS 92. However, many government activities are reported with an industry specific code - such as transportation or utilities even if those may be public governmental entities. In 2021 for the Bay Area, the largest industry groupings under public ownership are Education and health services (58%); Public administration (29%) and Trade, transportation, and utilities (29%). With the exception of Education and health services, all other public activities were coded as government/public administration, regardless of industry group.

For the county data there were some industries that reported 0 jobs or did not report jobs at the desired aggregation/NAICS level for the following counties/years:

Farm:
(aggregation level: 74, NAICS code: 11) - Contra Costa: 2008-2010 - Marin: 1990-2006, 2008-2010, 2014-2020 - Napa: 1990-2004, 2013-2021 - San Francisco: 2019-2020 - San Mateo: 2013

Information:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 51) - Solano: 2001

Financial Activities:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS codes: 52, 53) - Solano: 2001

Unclassified:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 99) - All nine Bay Area counties: 1990-2000 - Marin, Napa, San Mateo, and Solano: 2020 - Napa: 2019 - Solano: 2001

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Jobs (LU2)

FULL MEASURE NAME Employment estimates by place of work

LAST UPDATED October 2019

DESCRIPTION Jobs refers to the number of employees in a given area by place of work. These estimates do not include self-employed and private household employees.

DATA SOURCE California Employment Development Department: Current Employment Statistics 1990-2018 http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/

U.S. Census Bureau: LODES Data Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program (2005-2010) http://lehd.ces.census.gov/

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Tables S0804 (2010) and B08604 (2010-2017) https://factfinder.census.gov/

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Current Employment Statistics Table D-3: Employees on nonfarm payrolls (1990-2018) http://www.bls.gov/data/

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) The California Employment Development Department (EDD) provides estimates of employment, by place of employment, for California counties. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides estimates of employment for metropolitan areas outside of the Bay Area. Annual employment data are derived from monthly estimates and thus reflect “annual average employment.” Employment estimates outside of the Bay Area do not include farm employment. For the metropolitan area comparison, farm employment was removed from Bay Area employment totals. Both EDD and BLS data report only wage and salary jobs, not the self-employed.

For measuring jobs below the county level, Vital Signs assigns collections of incorporated cities and towns to sub-county areas. For example, the cities of East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City and Woodside are considered South San Mateo County. Because Bay Area counties differ in footprint, the number of sub-county city groupings varies from one (San Francisco and San Jose counties) to four (Santa Clara County). Estimates for sub-county areas are the sums of city-level estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey (ACS) 2010-2017.

The following incorporated cities and towns are included in each sub-county area: North Alameda County – Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont East Alameda County - Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton South Alameda County - Fremont, Hayward, Newark, San Leandro, Union City Central Contra Costa County - Clayton, Concord, Danville, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, Walnut Creek East Contra Costa County - Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Pittsburg West Contra Costa County - El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond, San Pablo Marin – all incorporated cities and towns Napa – all incorporated cities and towns San Francisco – San Francisco North San Mateo - Brisbane, Colma, Daly City, Millbrae, Pacifica, San Bruno, South San Francisco Central San Mateo - Belmont, Burlingame, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, San Carlos, San Mateo South San Mateo - East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City, Woodside North Santa Clara - Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale San Jose – San Jose Southwest Santa Clara - Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga South Santa Clara - Gilroy, Morgan Hill East Solano - Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville South Solano - Benicia, Vallejo North Sonoma - Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Windsor South Sonoma - Cotati, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma

Historical information on the Employment Dataset shows several current and historical annual statistics regarding population, the labor force, employment and unemployment in the City of Mesa. Monthly labor force, employment and unemployment information is at https://citydata.mesaaz.gov/External-Data/Employment-and-Labor-Force-Monthly/3vbg-xf63.

Sources: Population Data - United States Census Bureau -https://www.census.gov/topics/population/data.html Employment Data - Bureau of Labor Statistics - http://www.bls.gov/data/ Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - https://www.bls.gov/lau/ To see how these terms are defined and what they include, please visit the Terms Glossary from the United State Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which can be found at the following web address: http://www.bls.gov/bls/glossary.htm

The Current Employment Statistics survey, as a joint Federal-State undertaking, generates State and area, as well as national, statistics on employment, hours, and earnings.

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program provides estimates of employment, hours, and earnings information on a national basis and in considerable industry detail. The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects payroll data each month from a sample of business and government establishments in all nonfarm activities.

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program provides several different types of data files. These files are available for download. Data classified using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) are available from 1990 forward [in this archived dataset, through 2024], and on a more limited basis from 1975 to 1989. NAICS-based data files from 1990 to 2000 were re-constructed from data classified under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. NAICS-based data files from 1975 to 1989 contain only totals by-ownership. NAICS data can be downloaded from the NAICS-Based Data Files table below.Data classified using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system is available from 1975 through 2000. SIC data can be downloaded from the second table below titled SIC-Based Data Files.