2004 to 2021 Virginia Employment Status of the Civilian Non-Institutional Population by Sex, by Race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and detailed by Age, by Year. Annual averages, numbers in thousands.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Expanded State Employment Status Demographic Data
Data accessed from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (https://www.bls.gov/lau/ex14tables.htm)
Statewide data on the demographic and economic characteristics of the labor force are published on an annual-average basis from the Current Population Survey (CPS), the sample survey of households used to calculate the U.S. unemployment rate (https://www.bls.gov/cps/home.htm). For each state and the District of Columbia, employment status data are tabulated for 67 sex, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, marital status, and detailed age categories and evaluated against a minimum base, calculated to reflect an expected maximum coefficient of variation (CV) of 50 percent, to determine reliability for publication.
The CPS sample was redesigned in 2014–15 to reflect the distribution of the population as of the 2010 Census. At the same time, BLS developed improved techniques for calculating minimum bases. These changes resulted in generally higher minimum bases of unemployment, leading to the publication of fewer state-demographic groups beginning in 2015. The most notable impact was on the detailed age categories, particularly the teenage and age 65 and older groups. In an effort to extend coverage, BLS introduced a version of the expanded state employment status demographic table with intermediate age categories, collapsing the seven categories historically included down to three. Ages 16–19 and 20–24 were combined into a 16–24 year-old category, ages 25–34, 35–44, and 45–54 were combined into a 25–54 year-old category, and ages 55–64 and 65 and older were combined into a 55-years-and-older category. These intermediate age data are tabulated for the total population, as well as the four race and ethnicity groups, and then are evaluated against the unemployment minimum bases. The more detailed age categories continue to be available in the main version of the expanded table, where the minimum base was met.
Additional information on the uses and limitations of statewide data from the CPS can be found in the document Notes on Using Current Population Survey (https://www.bls.gov/lau/notescps.htm) Subnational Data and in Appendix B of the bulletin Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment (https://www.bls.gov/opub/geographic-profile/home.htm).
