Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  

Release: Employment Situation  

Units:  Thousands of Persons, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Monthly

People are classified as unemployed if they meet all of the following criteria: they had no employment during the reference week; they were available for work at that time; and they made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week. Persons laid off from a job and expecting recall need not be looking for work to be counted as unemployed. The unemployment data derived from the household survey in no way depend upon the eligibility for or receipt of unemployment insurance benefits.

To obtain estimates of women worker employment, the ratio of weighted women employees to the weighted all employees in the sample is assumed to equal the same ratio in the universe. The current month's women worker ratio, thus, is estimated and then multiplied by the all-employee estimate. The weighted-difference-link-and-taper formula (described in the source) is used to estimate the current month's women worker ratio. This formula adds the change in the matched sample's women worker ratio (the weighted-difference link) to the prior month's estimate, which has been slightly modified to reflect changes in the sample composition (the taper).