Glossary

A
Additional Initial Claim: The first initial Unemployment Insurance (UI) claim filed by an individual, in the same benefit year as the New Initial Claim, in a job loss subsequent to his or her first time job loss.

Application Received: Applications for employment received by the Employment Resources Division at Employment Resources Center (ERC) community offices.

B
Business Cycle - A pattern of expansion and contraction of economic activity.

C
Civilian Labor Force (CLF): The CLF is an estimate of all civilian non-institutionalized persons 16 years of age and over who are classified as employed or unemployed and seeking employment.

Consumer Price Index (CPI): The CPI is a national index measuring changes over time in price of a predetermined market basket of goods and services. Most goods and services are covered in the market basket, as well as sales and excise taxes. Used to compare changes in costs not relative costs of living between periods and regions.

Consumption - The use or purchase of durable goods (such as autos and appliances), nondurable goods (such as food and clothing), and services (such as TV repair and medical checkups).

Contraction - A period of declining economic activity sometimes referred to as a recession.

Covered Employment and Earnings (ES-202): Covered employment and earnings refers to the count of employees and wages from all employers subject to state and federal unemployment insurance laws. Covered employment refers to jobs worked; a person may be covered by more than one employer.

Current Employment Statistics (CES)/Nonagricultural Wage and Salary Employment: The CES program produces estimates of jobs worked and hours and earnings in selected industries from a sample survey of establishments operating in Wyoming.

Current Population Survey (CPS): CPS is the monthly survey of households used to estimate the number of persons employed or unemployed (CLF) and to calculate the unemployment rate.

D


E
Economic Development - The society's general increase in welfare, rather than just the economy's ability to produce goods and services.

Economic Growth - The economy's ability to produce goods and services (increasing per capita real output in the economy). It occurs when a society acquires greater productive capacity which can be used for consumption or investment. Requires the sacrifice of current consumption of goods to increase future consumption.

Employment Service (ES): ES refers to the Employment Resources Center community offices.

Entry Level Wage - The bottom 25 percent of wages reported (first quartile).

Expansion - A period of renewed economic activity with previously unemployed resources being brought back into production.

Experienced Level Wage - The top 75 percent of wages reported (last three quartiles).

F
Full Employment - The use of all available economic resources in production of goods and services.

G
Good or Service (Final) - One which is not intended to be used in further production. So, any typical purchase of a good or service by a consumer is an example of this sort of transaction.

Gross Domestic Product - (GDP) The market value of all final goods and services produced (in a particular period) in the United States, regardless of who owns the resources.

Gross National Product - (GNP) The market value of all final goods and services produced (in a particular period) with labor and property supplied by US residents.

Gross State Product - (GSP) The market value of all final goods and services produced (in a particular period) in a particular state, regardless of who owns the resources.

H


I
Individuals Placed: The count of the number of persons Employment Resources Centers placed in job openings.

Inflation - An increase in the average price level of goods and services which reduces the purchasing power of income.

Initial Claim: The first claim filed to request a determination of entitlement to and eligibility for unemployment compensation; includes New Initial Claims and Additional Initial Claims.

In migration - A measure of the number of people who moved into an area over a given time period.

J


K


L
Labor Force: Sum of the number of employed and unemployed.

Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS): The LAUS program produces estimates of the number of employed and unemployed, and unemployment rates.

M
Mean - A set of quantitative data that is equal to the sum of the measurements in a data set.

Mean Wage - A measure of central tendency. The sum of the values of all observations divided by the number of observations. It is also called the arithmetic average. If some values are far removed from the others (outlying), they can substantially influence the mean.

Median - A number of a data set such that half the measurements fall below the median and half of the measurements fall above.

Median Wage - A measure of central tendency which is not sensitive to outlying values. It is the value above which and below which half of the cases fall, the 50th percentile.

Mode - The measurement that occurs most frequently in the data set.

N
National Product - The total market value of final goods and services sold in the economy.

New construction - Business spending for both nonresidential and residential buildings.

New Initial Claims: The first initial Unemployment Insurance (UI) claim filed by an individual during his or her benefit year.

O
Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) - This five-digit code identifies occupations as defined by the Occupational Employment Statistics program.

OES Title - A short title describing each occupation included in the OES occupations.

Openings Received: The count of the number of job openings received by Employment Resources Centers.

Out migration - The number of persons moving out of an area over a given time period.

P
Peak - The highest point in a particular business cycle and is usually at or near full employment. It is also the point in the cycle where growth has stopped and a period of contraction or decline is imminent.

Personal consumption expenditures - The value of all goods and services that households and individuals purchase.

Personal income - The total amount of money received by the households. Includes wages and salaries and other earned income as its major components, the readily available measure of personal income can be used to measure the economic development process of an economy.

Placement Transactions: A count of the number of times all individuals have been placed in all jobs.

Q


R
Recession - When real GDP declines for two consecutive quarters.

S
Standard Industrial Classification Codes (SIC) - A four digit numeric system for classifying establishments by type of economic activity. Its purposes are to facilitate the collection and analysis of data relating to establishments, and to promote uniformity and comparability in the presentation of statistical data describing the economy.

T
Trend - The persistent underlying movement that takes place over a period of time. It is the basic growth or decline that would exist if there did not exist any variations in activity.

Trough - The third phase of the business cycle, or the low point of the business cycle. The economy is poised for a rebound into a period of increased economic activity.

U
Unemployment - Occurs when labor, a factor of production, is not being fully utilized due to the unavailability of suitable jobs. It is strictly defined as a situation where people who are willing and able to work cannot find employment.

Unemployment Insurance (UI): A government-operated temporary financial support program for individuals who lose their jobs and are looking for new employment.

Unemployment Rate: The proportion, expressed as a percentage, derived by dividing the number of unemployed persons by the civilian labor force.

Unemployment Rate - The percentage of the Civilian Labor Force that wish to work but cannot find a job. A key indicator of the health of the national or local economy. It generally moves inversely to economic activity and affects national or local income.

V


W, X, Y, Z
Weeks Claimed/Continued Claims: Number of weeks that Unemployment Insurance benefits were claimed by unemployed workers.

Weeks Compensated: Weeks for which compensation was actually paid.


Occupational Definitions

Managerial and Administrative - Includes all top and middle managers, administrators and executives. Primary duties are policy making, planning, staffing, directing or controlling the activities of industrial, commercial, governmental or other establishments.

Professional, Paraprofessional and Technical - Includes persons concerned with the theoretical or practical aspects of such fields as science, art, education, law and business relations where substantial postsecondary educational preparation or equivalent on-the-job training or experience is required. Occupations in this section are ordered as follows: general management support; engineering and scientific; data processing and mathematical; social sciences, law and related; teaching and related; medicine and health; writing, art and related.

Sales and Related - Includes persons selling goods or services and others directly related to sales.

Clerical and Administrative Support - Includes persons performing office and plant clerical tasks, such as typing, filing, computer operating, records keeping (personnel, stock, production, billing, etc) and mail preparation and distributing.

Service - Includes workers in occupations relating to protective service, food service, health assisting service, cleaning and building service, and personal service.

Agricultural, Forestry, Fishing and Related - Included in this division are workers concerned with agricultural production, forestry, and fishing. Also included in this division are agriculture related workers such as animal caretakers and grounds keepers.

Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance and Material Handling - Includes all skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers performing machine and manual tasks involving production, construction, operating, maintenance, repair and material handling operations.

Industry Definitions

Agriculture, Forestry, & Fishing - Includes establishments primarily engaged in agricultural production, forestry, commercial fishing, hunting and trapping, and related services.

Mining - Includes establishments engaged in the extraction of minerals occurring naturally: solids, such as coal and ores; liquids such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gas. Quarrying, well operation, milling, and related services are also included.

Construction - Includes establishments engaged in "construction" activities such as new work, additions, alterations, and repairs. Major areas are general contractors, special trade contractors, and operative builders.

Manufacturing - Includes establishments engaged in the mechanical or chemical transformation of materials or substances into new products and in assembling component parts of manufactured products into new products.

Transportation, Communications, & Public Utilities (TCPU) - Includes establishments providing to the general public or to other business enterprises, passenger and freight transportation, communication services, electricity, gas, steam, water or sanitary services, and the U.S. Postal Service.

Wholesale Trade - Includes establishments primarily engaged in selling merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, farm, or professional users, or to other wholesalers, sales branches or offices of Mining or Manufacturing enterprises, agents, commodity brokers, petroleum bulk stations and cooperative marketers of farm products, to contractors with the exception of lumber yards and paint, glass, and wallpaper stores.

Retail Trade - Includes establishments engaged in selling merchandise to the general public for personal or household consumption. They are generally places of business engaged in activities to attract the general public to buy, and render services incidental to the sale of the goods.

Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate (FIRE) - Includes establishments operating primarily in the fields of Finance (banks, investment companies, credit agencies, etc.), Insurance (carriers, agents, brokers, etc.), and Real Estate (lessors, sellers, agents, developers, etc).

Services - Includes establishments engaged in providing a wide variety of services for individuals, business and government establishments, and other organizations. Included in the category are lodging places, repair services, professional services, educational institutions, etc.

State and Local Government - Includes the legislative, judicial, administrative and regulatory activities of state and local governments.
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