Glossary - C
C
CensusA complete enumeration, usually of a population, but also of businesses and commercial establishments, farms, governments, and so forth.
Census County Divisions (CCD)
Statistical subdivisions of counties in States where minor civil divisions were not suitable for presenting census data. In these States, the minor civil divisions are either too small, have lost nearly all meaning locally, or have frequent boundary changes. The Bureau of the Census has established CCD’s as relatively permanent statistical areas in cooperation with State and local groups.
Census (decennial)
The census of population and housing, taken by the Census Bureau in years ending in 0 (zero). Article I of the Constitution requires that a census be taken every ten years for the purpose of reapportioning the U.S. House of Representatives.
Census (economic)
Collective name for the censuses of construction, manufactures, minerals, minority- and women-owned businesses, retail trade, service industries, transportation, and wholesale trade, conducted by the Census Bureau every five years, in years ending in 2 and 7.
Census Tracts
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county. Census tracts are delineated for all metropolitan areas (MA) and other densely populated counties by local census statistical area committees following Census Bureau guidelines. Census tracts usually have between 2,500 and 8,000 persons and, when first delineated, are designed to be homogenous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. Census tracts do not cross county boundaries. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement.
Central County
The county or counties of a Core Based Statistical Area containing a substantial portion of an urbanized area or urban cluster or both, and to and from which commuting is measured to determine qualification of outlying counties.
CES
Current Employment Statistics; The Current Employment Statistics Program is a monthly survey conducted by State employment security agencies in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey provides employment, hours and earnings estimates based on payroll records of business establishments. The data from the Current Employment Statistics survey include series for total employment, number of women employed, number of production or nonsupervisory workers, average hourly earnings, average weekly hours, average weekly earnings, and average weekly overtime hours in manufacturing industries.
CEW
Covered Employment and Wages; Program administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), sometimes referred to as the ES-202 program. Using quarterly data submitted by state agencies, BLS summarizes employment and wage data for workers covered by State unemployment insurance (UI) laws. Employment counts are available by industry group for the State and all Counties. Some employment data may be deemed confidential to avoid disclosure of operations of individual reporting units.
City
A type of incorporated place in 49 states and the District of Columbia. In 23 states and the District of Columbia, some or all cities are not part of any Minor Civil Division (MCD), and the Census Bureau also treats these as county subdivisions, statistically equivalent to MCDs.
Civilian Labor Force
Generally, civilian labor force includes all persons who are either working or looking for work. Specifically, it is composed of all civilians over 16 years of age who are either employed or unemployed, except:
*persons engaged in housework in their home,
*persons in school,
*persons with a new job not scheduled to begin for more than 30 days,
*persons unable to work because of long-term physical or mental illness,
*persons temporarily unable to work,
*retired persons,
*persons too old to work,
*persons doing less than 15 hours weekly of unpaid family work,
*seasonal workers surveyed in the off-season and not looking for work,
*inmates of institutions,
*persons not looking for work because they believe no jobs are available, and
*voluntarily idle persons.
Since the labor force includes both employed and unemployed, the unemployment rate is the ratio of unemployed in this category to the total number of individuals in this category. For example, if 4 million persons in a civilian labor force of 100 million are unemployed, the unemployment rate is 4 percent.
CIVILIAN NONINSTITUTIONAL POPULATION
Included are persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, who are not inmates of institutions (e.g., penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.
Claimant
A person who makes a claim for unemployment insurance benefits under any State or Federal unemployment compensation programs.
Closure
Closure indicates that a firm has closed or plans to close permanently.
Cohort
A group of individuals or employers who share a common experience, such as, a layoff.
Coincident Indicator
A statistic that has no value in predicting purposes, because the value changes at the same time as the economy in general. For example, many types of sales will peak out and bottom out simultaneously with overall economic conditions. Two related indicator concepts are LAGGING INDICATOR and LEADING INDICATOR.
Combined Statistical Area (CSA)
A geographic entity consisting of two or more adjacent Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA’s) with employment interchange measures of at least 15. Pairs of CBSA’s with employment interchange measures of at least 25 combine automatically. Pairs of CBSA’s with employment interchange measures of at least 15, but less than 25, may combine if local opinion in both areas favors combination. (See also CORE BASED STATISTICAL AREA and EMPLOYMENT INTERCHANGE MEASURE)
Commuting Patterns
A labor market concept that refers to worker flows between municipalities and/or counties. Data representing commuting patterns is collected through the decennial census and is available for larger municipalities and counties; measures include the number of workers that travel to jobs between municipalities, counties, and states. County-level data include detailed flows between industries. Data on commuting patterns can reveal the most economically developed areas, such as those that draws large amounts of labor, or they may reveal the need for economic development, such as those counties which export large amounts of labor.
Confirmed Event
Any type of layoff event that has been confirmed via employer contact.
Consolidated metropolitan statistical area (CMSA)
A geographic entity defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget for use by federal statistical agencies. An area becomes a CMSA if it meets the requirements to qualify as a metropolitan statistical area, has a population of 1,000,000 or more, if component parts are recognized as primary metropolitan statistical areas, and local opinion favors the designation.
Continued Claim
A claim filed after the initial claim, by mail or in person, certifying to a continuous spell of unemployment. A continued claim can be a waiting period credit or payment for one or more weeks of unemployment.
Core
A densely settled concentration of population, comprising either an urbanized area (of 50,000 or more population) or an urban cluster (of 10,000 to 49,999 population) defined by the Census Bureau, around which a Core Based Statistical Area is defined (See CORE BASED STATISTICAL AREA).
Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA)
A statistical geographic entity consisting of the county or counties associated with at least one core (urbanized area or urban cluster) of at least 10,000 population, plus adjacent counties having a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured through commuting ties with the counties containing the core. Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas are the two categories of Core Based Statistical Areas (See also METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA and MICROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA)
Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)
A cost-of-living index measures differences in the price of goods and services, and allows for substitutions to other items as prices change. A consumer price index measures a price change for a constant market basket of goods and services from one period to the next within the same city (or in the Nation). The CPIs are not true cost-of-living indexes and should not be used for place-to-place comparisons.
Covered Employment and Wage Program
Also known as 202. A Federal/State cooperative program that collects and compiles employment and wage data for workers covered by State unemployment insurance (UI) laws, and Federal civilian workers covered by Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE). The report is submitted quarterly.
Consumer Price Index; The Consumer Price Index measures the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative market basket of consumer goods and services. User fees (such as for water) and sales and excise taxes paid by the consumer are included; however, income taxes and investments (like stocks and life insurance) are not included. The CPI-U includes expenditures by urban wage earners and clerical workers, professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, retirees and others not in the labor force. The CPI-W includes only expenditures by those in hourly wage earning or clerical jobs.
Current Establishment Employment
Employment estimates for nonagricultural industries derived from a monthly survey of over 7,800 employing establishments. This includes full-time wage, part-time wage, and salaried workers who worked or received pay for the period, defined as the week that includes the 12th of the month.
Current Population Survey
Current Population Survey; A national household survey conducted each month by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Information is gathered from a sample of 60,000 households (about 900 in Indiana) designed to represent the civilian noninstitutional population of persons 16 years old and older. The time period covered in the monthly survey is a calendar week. Since July 1955, the calendar week, Sunday through Saturday, which includes the 12th day of the month has been defined as the reference week. The actual survey is conducted during the following week, which is the week containing the 19th day of the month.
Current Transfer Receipts of Individuals from Businesses
Current transfer receipts of individuals from businesses consist of personal injury liability payments to individuals other than employees.
Current Transfer Receipts of Nonprofit Institutions
These payments consist of the payments made by the federal government, state governments, local governments, and businesses to nonprofit organizations that serve individuals. These payments exclude federal government payments for work under research and development contracts.