The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Program is a Federal-State cooperative program between the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the California EDD’s Labor Market Information Division (LMID). The QCEW program produces a comprehensive tabulation of employment and wage information for workers covered by California Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program.

The QCEW program serves as a near census of monthly employment and quarterly wage information by 6-digit industry codes from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at the national, state, and county levels. At the national level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data for nearly every NAICS industry. At the state and local area level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data down to the 6-digit NAICS industry level, if disclosure restrictions are met. In accordance with the BLS policy, data provided to the Bureau in confidence are used only for specified statistical purposes and are not published. The BLS withholds publication of Unemployment Insurance law-covered employment and wage data for any industry level when necessary to protect the identity of cooperating employers.

Data from the QCEW program serve as an important input to many BLS programs. The Current Employment Statistics and the Occupational Employment Statistics programs use the QCEW data as the benchmark source for employment. The UI administrative records collected under the QCEW program serve as a sampling frame for the BLS establishment surveys.

In addition, the data serve as an input to other federal and state programs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Department of Commerce uses the QCEW data as the base for developing the wage and salary component of personal income.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and California's EDD use the QCEW data to administer the Unemployment Insurance program. The QCEW data accurately reflect the extent of coverage of California’s UI laws and are used to measure UI revenues; national, state and local area employment; and total and UI taxable wage trends.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes new QCEW data in its County Employment and Wages news release on a quarterly basis. The BLS also publishes a subset of its quarterly data through the Create Customized Tables system, and full quarterly industry detail data at all geographic levels.

Long-term Occupational Projections for a 10-year time horizon are provided for the State and its labor market regions to provide individuals and organizations with an occupational outlook to make informed decisions on individual career and organizational program development. Long-term projections are revised annually. Data are not available for geographies below the labor market regions. Detail may not add to summary lines due to suppression of data because of confidentiality and/or quality.

Long-term Industry Projections for a 10-year time horizon are produced for the State and its labor market regions to provide individuals and organizations with an insight into future industry trends to make informed decisions on individual career and organizational program development. Long-term projections are revised every year. Data are not available for geographies below the labor market regions. Detail may not add to summary lines due to suppression of confidential data.

Percent of the total civilian labor force that is unemployed, California and San Diego County, 2015-2019. Source: State of California, Employment Development Department, Labor Market Information Division data.

The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is either employed or unemployed (that is, either working or actively seeking work). People with jobs are employed. People who are jobless, looking for a job, and available for work are unemployed. The labor force is made up of the employed and the unemployed. People who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force.

San Mateo County and Other Bay Area Counties Annual Unemployment Rate (not seasonally adjusted) for years 2000-2019 Compared to Marin County, San Francisco County, Santa Clara County, and the State of California. Data is non-preliminary.

Monthly historical data for the unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) in San Mateo County from 1990-2013.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Unemployment (EC3)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Unemployment rate by residential location

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force – by place of residence – that is not currently employed full-time or part-time. The unemployment rate reflects the strength of the overall employment market.

DATA SOURCE
California Employment Development Department: Historical Unemployment Rates
1990-2010
Spreadsheet provided by CAEDD

California Employment Development Department: Labor Force and Unemployment Rate for California Sub-County Areas - https://data.edd.ca.gov/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rates/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rate-for-California-S/8z4h-2ak6
2010-2022

California Employment Development Department: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - https://data.edd.ca.gov/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rates/Local-Area-Unemployment-Statistics-LAUS-/e6gw-gvii
1990-2022

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la
1990-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Unemployment rates produced by the CA Employment Development Department (EDD) for the region and county levels are not adjusted for seasonality (as they reflect annual data) and are final data (i.e., not preliminary). Unemployment rates produced by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the metro regions are annual and not adjusted for seasonality; they reflect the primary metropolitan statistical area (MSA) for the named region, except for the San Francisco Bay Area which uses the nine-county region. The unemployment rate is calculated based on the number of unemployed persons divided by the total labor force. Note that the unemployment rate can decline or increase as a result of changes in either variable.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Unemployment (EC3)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Unemployment rate by residential location

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force – by place of residence – that is not currently employed full-time or part-time. The unemployment rate reflects the strength of the overall employment market.

DATA SOURCE
California Employment Development Department: Historical Unemployment Rates
1990-2010
Spreadsheet provided by CAEDD

California Employment Development Department: Labor Force and Unemployment Rate for California Sub-County Areas - https://data.edd.ca.gov/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rates/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rate-for-California-S/8z4h-2ak6
2010-2022

California Employment Development Department: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - https://data.edd.ca.gov/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rates/Local-Area-Unemployment-Statistics-LAUS-/e6gw-gvii
1990-2022

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la
1990-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Unemployment rates produced by the CA Employment Development Department (EDD) for the region and county levels are not adjusted for seasonality (as they reflect annual data) and are final data (i.e., not preliminary). Unemployment rates produced by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the metro regions are annual and not adjusted for seasonality; they reflect the primary metropolitan statistical area (MSA) for the named region, except for the San Francisco Bay Area which uses the nine-county region. The unemployment rate is calculated based on the number of unemployed persons divided by the total labor force. Note that the unemployment rate can decline or increase as a result of changes in either variable.

This dataset contains unemployment rates for the U.S. (1948 - Present) and California (1976 - Present). The unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force. Labor force data are restricted to people 16 years of age and older, who currently reside in 1 of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, who do not reside in institutions (e.g., penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces. This rate is also defined as the U-3 measure of labor underutilization.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Unemployment (EC3)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Unemployment rate by residential location

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force – by place of residence – that is not currently employed full-time or part-time. The unemployment rate reflects the strength of the overall employment market.

DATA SOURCE
California Employment Development Department: Historical Unemployment Rates
1990-2010
Spreadsheet provided by CAEDD

California Employment Development Department: Labor Force and Unemployment Rate for California Sub-County Areas - https://data.edd.ca.gov/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rates/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rate-for-California-S/8z4h-2ak6
2010-2022

California Employment Development Department: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - https://data.edd.ca.gov/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rates/Local-Area-Unemployment-Statistics-LAUS-/e6gw-gvii
1990-2022

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la
1990-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Unemployment rates produced by the CA Employment Development Department (EDD) for the region and county levels are not adjusted for seasonality (as they reflect annual data) and are final data (i.e., not preliminary). Unemployment rates produced by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the metro regions are annual and not adjusted for seasonality; they reflect the primary metropolitan statistical area (MSA) for the named region, except for the San Francisco Bay Area which uses the nine-county region. The unemployment rate is calculated based on the number of unemployed persons divided by the total labor force. Note that the unemployment rate can decline or increase as a result of changes in either variable.

Employment and unemployment data by city for places in San Mateo County. CDP is "Census Designated Place" - a recognized community that was unincorporated at the time of the 2000 Census.

1) Data may not add due to rounding. All unemployment rates shown are calculated on unrounded data. 2) These data are not seasonally adjusted.

Methodology: Monthly city and CDP labor force data are derived by multiplying current estimates of county employment and unemployment by the employment and unemployment shares (ratios) of each city and CDP at the time of the 2000 Census. Ratios for cities of 25,000 or more persons were developed from special tabulations based on household population only from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For smaller cities and CDP, ratios were calculated from published census data.

City and CDP unrounded employment and unemployment are summed to get the labor force. The unemployment rate is calculated by dividing unemployment by the labor force. Then the labor force, employment, and unemployment are rounded.

This method assumes that the rates of change in employment and unemployment, since 2000, are exactly the same in each city and CDP as at the county level (i.e., that the shares are still accurate). If this assumption is not true for a specific city or CDP, then the estimates for that area may not represent the current economic conditions. Since this assumption is untested, caution should be employed when using these data.

Long-term Occupational Projections for a 10-year time horizon are provided for the State and its labor market regions to provide individuals and organizations with an occupational outlook to make informed decisions on individual career and organizational program development. Long-term projections are revised biannually. Data are not available for geographies below the labor market regions. Detail may not add to summary lines due to suppression of data because of confidentiality and/or quality.

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program is a Federal-State cooperative effort in which monthly surveys are conducted to provide estimates of employment, hours, and earnings based on payroll records of business establishments. The CES survey is based on approximately 119,000 businesses and government agencies representing approximately 629,000 individual worksites throughout the United States.

CES data reflect the number of nonfarm, payroll jobs. It includes the total number of persons on establishment payrolls, employed full- or part-time, who received pay (whether they worked or not) for any part of the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month. Temporary and intermittent employees are included, as are any employees who are on paid sick leave or on paid holiday. Persons on the payroll of more than one establishment are counted in each establishment. CES data excludes proprietors, self-employed, unpaid family or volunteer workers, farm workers, and household workers. Government employment covers only civilian employees; it excludes uniformed members of the armed services.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for the concepts, definitions, technical procedures, validation, and publication of the estimates that State workforce agencies prepare under agreement with BLS.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Unemployment (EC3)

FULL MEASURE NAME Unemployment rate by residential location

LAST UPDATED July 2019

DESCRIPTION Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force – by place of residence – that is not currently employed full-time or part-time. The unemployment rate reflects the strength of the overall employment market.

DATA SOURCE California Employment Development Department: Historical Unemployment Rates 1990-2018 https://data.edd.ca.gov/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rates/Local-Area-Unemployment-Statistics-LAUS-Annual-Ave/7jbb-3rb8

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Unemployment rates produced by EDD for the region and county levels are not adjusted for seasonality (as they reflect annual data) and are final data (i.e., not preliminary). Unemployment rates produced by BLS for the metro regions are adjusted for seasonality; they reflect the primary MSA for the named region, except for the San Francisco Bay Area which uses the nine-county region. The unemployment rate is calculated based on the number of unemployed persons divided by the total labor force. Note that the unemployment rate can decline or increase as a result of changes in either variable.

This dataset includes the median home price and compares it with the median household income in Napa County by year.

This dataset contains non-seasonally adjusted California Labor Force Participation Rate by age groups, from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The age group ranges are as follows: 16-19; 20-24; 25-34; 35-44; 45-54; 55-64; 65+. This data is based on a 12-month moving average.

The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program is a Federal-State cooperative effort in which monthly estimates of total employment and unemployment are prepared for approximately 7,600 areas, including counties, cities and metropolitan statistical areas. These estimates are key indicators of local economic conditions.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for the concepts, definitions, technical procedures, validation, and publication of the estimates that State workforce agencies prepare under agreement with BLS.

Estimates for counties are produced through a building-block approach known as the "Handbook method." This procedure also uses data from several sources, including the CPS, the CES program, state UI systems, and the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), to create estimates that are adjusted to the statewide measures of employment and unemployment. Estimates for cities are prepared using disaggregation techniques based on inputs from the ACS, annual population estimates, and current UI data.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Unemployment (EC3)

FULL MEASURE NAME Unemployment rate by residential location

LAST UPDATED July 2019

DESCRIPTION Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force – by place of residence – that is not currently employed full-time or part-time. The unemployment rate reflects the strength of the overall employment market.

DATA SOURCE California Employment Development Department: Historical Unemployment Rates 1990-2018 https://data.edd.ca.gov/Labor-Force-and-Unemployment-Rates/Local-Area-Unemployment-Statistics-LAUS-Annual-Ave/7jbb-3rb8

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Unemployment rates produced by EDD for the region and county levels are not adjusted for seasonality (as they reflect annual data) and are final data (i.e., not preliminary). Unemployment rates produced by BLS for the metro regions are adjusted for seasonality; they reflect the primary MSA for the named region, except for the San Francisco Bay Area which uses the nine-county region. The unemployment rate is calculated based on the number of unemployed persons divided by the total labor force. Note that the unemployment rate can decline or increase as a result of changes in either variable.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Time Spent In Congestion (T7)

FULL MEASURE NAME Congested delay on regional freeways

LAST UPDATED May 2017

DESCRIPTION Time spent in traffic congestion – also known as congested delay – refers to the number of minutes weekday travelers spend in congested conditions in which freeway speeds drop below 35 mph. Total delay, a companion measure, includes both congested delay and all other delay in which speeds are below the posted speed limit.

DATA SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission: Historical Congestion Analysis

California Department of Finance Forms E-5 and E-8 http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/reports/estimates/e-8/ http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/reports/estimates/e-5/2011-20/view.php

California Employment Development Department: Labor Market Information http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@mtc.ca.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Delay statistics only include freeway facilities and rely upon INRIX traffic data. They reflect delay on a typical weekday, which is defined as Tuesday through Thursday during peak traffic months. Delay statistics emphasize recurring delay - i.e. consistent delay greater than 15 minutes on a specific freeway segment. Congested delay is defined as congestion occurring with speeds less than 35 mph and is commonly recognized as inefficient delay (meaning that the freeway corridor is operating at speeds low enough to reduce throughput - as opposed to speeds greater than 35 mph which increase throughput). Data sources listed above were used to calculate per-capita and per-worker statistics; national datasets were used for metro comparisons and California datasets were used for the Bay Area. Top congested corridors are ranked by total vehicle hours of delay, meaning that the highlighted corridors reflect a combination of slow speeds and heavy traffic volumes. Historical Bay Area data was estimated by MTC Operations staff using a combination of internal datasets to develop an approximate trend back to 1998. The metropolitan area comparison was performed for the combined primary urbanized areas (San Francisco-Oakland and San Jose) as well as nine other major metropolitan areas' core urbanized area. Because the Texas Transportation Institute no longer reports congested freeway delay or total freeway delay (focusing solely on total regional delay), 2011 data was used to estimate 2014 total freeway delay for each metro area by relying upon the freeway-to-regional ratio from 2011. Estimated urbanized area workers were used for this analysis using the 2011 ratios, which accounts for slight differentials between Bay Area data points under the regional historical data and the metro comparison analysis. To explore how 2016 congestion trends compare to real-time congestion on the region’s freeways, visit 511.org.