Employment Statistics: Differences and Similarities in Job-based and Person-based Employment and Unemployment Estimates (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Oct. 19, 2004 |
| Report Number |
RL32642 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Julie M. Whittaker, Domestic Social Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Employment statistics are key indicators of the performance of the economy, measuring how
many
jobs exist in the economy as well as how individuals fare in the labor market. Payroll employment
estimates track the number of wage and salary jobs created and lost in the economy. In comparison
to this job-based measure, (un)employment statistics measure the quantities and ratios
of those
individuals who are employed or unable to find employment despite actively seeking
jobs.
This paper defines and distinguishes two commonly used groups of employment estimates:
payroll employment (derived from a job-based survey) and employment and unemployment (derived
primarily from a person-based survey) statistics. (A third unemployment statistic derived from the
Unemployment Compensation system, the Insured Unemployment Rate, is less frequently used as
it excludes many groups of workers.) The report then examines two somewhat counter-intuitive
situations: how there may be aggregate job loss with decreased unemployment rates and how
increased payroll employment does not necessarily imply decreased unemployment.
Payroll employment figures are estimated from a survey of employers in non-farm industries.
These figures directly correspond to each individual job held within the economy and not to
individual workers. A particular worker may hold more than one position and each of those jobs will
be counted as a separate position, increasing the total number of jobs reported through the payroll
employment estimates. In comparison, individual employment and unemployment statistics
measures are based on individuals and their labor force status. The individual statistics are derived
from the non-institutionalized civilian population. The self-employed, those temporarily absent from
work but who have a job, and certain farm workers are also counted as workers (although their
positions are not counted by payroll employment). A worker may have one or more jobs, but will
be counted only once as employed while a worker without any job will be considered unemployed.
Although it may seem reasonable to expect that as the number of payroll jobs increases there
would be a similar trend in the number of persons employed, the job-based measure of payroll
employment does not require that the person-based measure of (un)employment statistics move in
the same direction. This paper provides two examples of these somewhat counter-intuitive
situations.
This report will be updated as events warrant.
