Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  

Release: Employment Situation  

Units:  Thousands of Persons, Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Monthly

Notes:

The series comes from the 'Current Population Survey (Household Survey)'
The source code is: LNS13000000

The Unemployment Level is the aggregate measure of people currently unemployed in the US. Someone in the labor force is defined as unemployed if they were not employed during the survey reference week, were available for work, and made at least one active effort to find a job during the 4-week survey period.

The Unemployment Level is collected in the CPS and published by the BLS. It is provided on a monthly basis, so this data is used in part by macroeconomists as an initial economic indicator of current trends. The Unemployment Level helps government agencies, financial markets, and researchers gauge the overall health of the economy.

Note that individuals that are not employed but not actively looking for a job are not counted as unemployed. For instance, declines in the Unemployment Level may either reflect movements of unemployed individuals into the labor force because they found a job, or movements of unemployed individuals out of the labor force because they stopped looking to find a job.


For more information, see:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CES Overview
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS Handbook of Methods: Chapter 2. Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Establishment Survey

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  

Release: Employment Situation  

Units:  Thousands of Persons, Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Monthly

Notes:

Persons 16 years of age and older.

The series comes from the 'Current Population Survey (Household Survey)'

The source code is: LNS11000000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau  

Release: National Population Estimates  

Units:  Thousands, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Monthly

Notes:

The intercensal estimates for 1990-2000 for the United States population are produced by converting the 1990-2000 postcensal estimates prepared previously for the U. S. to account for differences between the postcensal estimates in 2000 and census counts (error of closure). The postcensal estimates for 1990 to 2000 were produced by updating the resident population enumerated in the 1990 census by estimates of the components of population change between April 1, 1990 and April 1, 2000-- births to U.S. resident women, deaths to U.S. residents, net international migration (incl legal & residual foreign born), and net movement of the U.S. armed forces and civilian citizens to the United States. Intercensal population estimates for 1990 to 2000 are derived from the postcensal estimates by distributing the error of closure over the decade by month. The method used for the 1990s for distributing the error of closure is the same that was used for the 1980s. This method produces an intercensal estimate as a function of time and the postcensal estimates,using the following formula: the population at time t is equal to the postcensal estimate at time t multiplied by a function. The function is the April 1, 2000 census count divided by the April 1, 2000 postcensal estimate raised to the power of t divided by 3653.