Labor Force Statistics
Published on AidPage by
IDILOGIC on Jun 24, 2005
Purpose of this program:
To provide statistical data on labor force activities and to provide data for analyzing the effect of current and long-run economic developments on employment trends.
Possible uses and use restrictions...
Provide data for: (a) employment and unemployment analysis on the current economic status of workers, based on data from households as well as employment, hours and earnings statistics collected from business establishments; (b) labor force studies, yielding information on such characteristics as educational attainment, work experience, earnings and family relationships; (c) occupational employment statistics, including wages available for a wide variety of occupations, by industry; (d) State and local area labor force employment and unemployment data used for labor market analysis, to identify areas of high unemployment and for allocations of funds under various Federal assistance programs; (e) employment and wage data for States and counties for workers covered by State unemployment insurance programs; (f) mass layoff and plant closing data; and (g) projections of the labor force, economic growth, industry employment, and occupational employment 10years into the future. Funds in the form of cooperative agreements are available to State Agencies designated by the Governor, usually State Workforce Agencies (SWA), for employment, hours and earnings; occupational employment statistics; local area labor force and employment; mass layoff statistics; and quarterly census of employment and wages.
Who is eligible to apply...
State Workforce Agencies (SWA) designated under Section 4 of the Wagner-Peyser Act are eligible to apply for cooperative agreement funding to operate CES, LAUS, QCEW, OES, and MLS programs in the State. BLS may select an alternative applicant if a SWA declines to apply for cooperative agreement funding or otherwise substantially fails to meet BLS application and performance requirements. Requests for technical information may be made by the general public.
Credentials/Documentation
None.
Note:This is a brief description of the credentials or documentation required prior to, or along with, an application for assistance.
About this section:
This section indicates who can apply to the Federal government for assistance and the criteria the potential applicant must satisfy.
For example, individuals may be eligible for research grants, and the criteria to be satisfied may be that they have a professional or scientific degree,
3 years of research experience, and be a citizen of the United States. Universities, medical schools, hospitals, or State and local governments may also be eligible.
Where State governments are eligible, the type of State agency will be indicated (State welfare agency or State agency on aging) and the criteria that they
must satisfy.
Certain federal programs (e.g., the Pell Grant program which provides grants to students) involve intermediate levels of application processing, i.e., applications
are transmitted through colleges or universities that are neither the direct applicant nor the ultimate beneficiary. For these programs,
the criteria that the intermediaries must satisfy are also indicated, along with intermediaries who are not eligible.
How to apply...
Application Procedure:
Draft and final applications for cooperative agreement funding are submitted to the appropriate regional office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics according to a schedule of key dates. Requests for information may be made to the nearest regional office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics listed in Additional Contact Information - FMR Help.
Note: Each program will indicate whether applications are to be submitted to the Federal headquarters, regional or local office, or to a State or local government office.
Award Procedure:
Upon submission of an acceptable application and after negotiation of specific program deliverables and costs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics awards cooperative agreement funding to the State Workforce Agency.
Note: Grant payments may be made by a letter of credit, advance by Treasury check, or reimbursement by Treasury check.
Awards may be made by the headquarters office directly to the applicant, an agency field office, a regional office,
or by an authorized county office. The assistance may pass through the initial applicant for further distribution by
intermediate level applicants to groups or individuals in the private sector.
Deadlines and process...
Deadlines
Cooperative agreements which cover a given Federal fiscal year are executed prior to the beginning of the fiscal year (October 1).
Note:
When available, this section indicates the deadlines for applications to the funding agency which will
be stated in terms of the date(s) or between what dates the application should be received.
When not available, applicants should contact the funding agency for deadline information.
Range of Approval/Disapproval Time
Guidelines and application materials are mailed to State Workforce Agencies in mid-May. Initial drafts are required by early July, and final applications by August 31. The cooperative agreements are executed by mid-September, and become effective October 1.
Preapplication Coordination
No preapplication is required. Application packages are mailed to each State Employment Security Agency in late spring of each year. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.
Note:
This section indicates whether any prior coordination or approval is required with governmental or nongovernmental units
prior to the submission of a formal application to the federal funding agency.
Appeals
Not applicable.
Note:
In some cases, there are no provisions for appeal. Where applicable, this section discusses appeal procedures or allowable rework time for resubmission
of applications to be processed by the funding agency. Appeal procedures vary with individual programs and are either listed in this section or
applicants are referred to appeal procedures documented in the relevant Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
Renewals
Each fiscal year the Bureau of Labor Statistics enters into new cooperative agreements with appropriate State Workforce Agencies.
Note:
In some instances, renewal procedures may be the same as for the application procedure, e.g., for projects of a non-continuing nature renewals will be treated as new, competing applications; for projects of an ongoing nature, renewals may be given annually.
Who can benefit...
General public may request information from the State Employment Security Agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Beneficiaries
About this section:
This section lists the ultimate beneficiaries of a program, the criteria they must satisfy and who specifically is not eligible. The applicant and beneficiary will generally be the same for programs that provide assistance directly from a Federal agency. However, financial assistance that passes through State or local governments will have different applicants and beneficiaries since the assistance is transmitted to private sector beneficiaries who are not obligated to request or apply for the assistance.
What types of assistance...
Project Grants
The funding, for fixed or known periods, of specific projects. Project grants can include fellowships, scholarships, research grants, training grants, traineeships, experimental and demonstration grants, evaluation grants, planning grants, technical assistance grants, survey grants, and construction grants.
Dissemination of Technical Information
Programs which provide for the publication and distribution of information or data of a specialized or technical nature frequently through clearinghouses or libraries. This does not include conventional public information services designed for general public consumption.
How much financial aid...
Range and Average of Financial Assistance
The size of each cooperative agreement reflects the staff and non-personal resources required to operate the programs in a State. The range of awards in fiscal year 2004 is from $31,529 (Guam) to $7,875,024 (California). The average is $1,557,740.
Note:
This section lists the representative range (smallest to largest) of the amount of financial assistance available. These figures are based upon funds awarded in the past fiscal year and the current fiscal year to date. Also indicated is an approximate average amount of awards which were made in the past and current fiscal years.
Obligations
(Salaries and Expenses) FY 03 $226,550,920; FY 04 est $235,098,000; and FY 05 est $242,499,000. (Grants) FY 03 $82,829,660; FY 04 est $84,905,211; and FY 05 est $89,719,000.
Note:
The dollar amounts listed in this section represent obligations for the past fiscal year (PY), estimates for the current fiscal year (CY), and estimates for the budget fiscal year (BY) as reported by the Federal agencies. Obligations for non-financial assistance programs indicate the administrative expenses involved in the operation of a program.
Account Identification
16-0200-0-1-505.
Note:
Note: This 11-digit budget account identification code represents the account which funds a particular program.
This code should be consistent with the code given for the program area as specified in Appendix III of the Budget of the United States Government.
Examples of funded projects...
Each State, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and Guam operated LMI Cooperative Agreements.
About this section
This section indicates the different types of projects which have been funded in the past. Only projects funded under Project Grants or Direct Payments for Specified Use should be listed here. The examples give potential applicants an idea of the types of projects that may be accepted for funding. The agency should list at least five examples of the most recently funded projects.
Program accomplishments...
Fiscal year 2003 activities: Labor force survey-approximately 60,000 in monthly sample; employment, hours and earnings, about 400,000 establishments reporting monthly; occupational employment statistics - 400,000 establishments reporting during the year; State and local area unemployment statistics-monthly publications for approximately 7,000 areas; data on monthly employment and quarterly wages of workers covered by State unemployment insurance program; monthly and quarterly reporting and publication of mass layoffs and plant closings; work on the 2002-2012 projections and on the 2004-05 editions of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, Career Guide to Industries, and Occupational Projections and Training Data.
Criteria for selecting proposals...
Acceptable application and specific program deliverables and cost.
Assistance considerations...
Length and Time Phasing of Assistance
Cooperative agreement funding generally is for a single fiscal year.
Formula and Matching Requirements
Not applicable.
Note:
A formula may be based on population, per capita income, and other statistical factors. Applicants are informed whether there are any matching requirements to be met when participating in the cost of a project. In general, the matching share represents that portion of the project costs not borne by the Federal government. Attachment F of OMB Circular No. A-102 (Office of Management and Budget) sets forth the criteria and procedures for the evaluation of matching share requirements which may be cash or in-kind contributions made by State and local governments or other agencies, institutions, private organizations, or individuals to satisfy matching requirements of Federal grants or loans.
Cash contributions represent the grantees' cash outlay, including the outlay of money contributed to the grantee by other public agencies, institutions, private organizations, or individuals. When authorized by Federal regulation, Federal funds received from other grants may be considered as the grantees' cash contribution.
In-kind contributions represent the value of noncash contributions provided by the grantee, other public agencies and institutions, private organizations or individuals. In-kind contributions may consist of charges for real property and equipment, and value of goods and services directly benefiting and specifically identifiable to the grant program. When authorized by Federal legislation, property purchased with Federal funds may be considered as grantees' in-kind contribution.
Maintenance of effort (MOE) is a requirement contained in certain legislation, regulations, or administrative policies stating that a grantee must maintain a specified level of financial effort in a specific area in order to receive Federal grant funds, and that the Federal grant funds may be used only to supplement, not supplant, the level of grantee funds.
Post assistance requirements...
Reports
LMI Cooperative Agreement reporting requirements are based on the State Employment Security Agencies Cost Accounting System (CAS) reports or their Financial Accounting and Reporting System (FARS) equivalents. CAS report 65, or FARS Report 11, is submitted monthly. CAS reports 61, and 94B, or FARS Report 12A and 17, are submitted quarterly. SESAs choosing not to use the CAS- or FARS- generated reports must submit the LMI Cooperative Statistics Financial Report in lieu of CAS reports 61, 65 and 94B or FARS reports 11, 12A and 17. This report is submitted monthly for data which would appear on CAS report 65 or FARS report 11, and quarterly for CAS reports 61 and 94B, or FARS reports or 12A and 17.
Note:
This section indicates whether program reports, expenditure reports, cash reports or performance monitoring are required by the Federal funding agency, and specifies at what time intervals (monthly, annually, etc.) this must be accomplished.
Audits
In accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 24, 1997, including revisions published in Federal Register June 27, 2003), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations," non-federal entities that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in Federal awards shall have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Non-federal entities that expend less than $500,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in Circular No. A-133.
Note:
This section discusses audits required by the Federal agency.
The procedures and requirements for State and local governments and nonprofit entities are set forth in OMB Circular No. A-133.
These requirements pertain to awards made within the respective State's fiscal year - not the Federal fiscal year,
as some State and local governments may use the calendar year or other variation of time span designated as the fiscal year period,
rather than that commonly known as the Federal fiscal year (from October 1st through September 30th).
Records
Recordkeeping is in accordance with 29 CFR 97, implementing OMB Circular A-102.
Note:
This section indicates the record retention requirements and the type of records the Federal agency may require.
Not included are the normally imposed requirements of the General Accounting Office.
For programs falling under the purview of OMB Circular No. A-102, record retention is set forth in Attachment C.
For other programs, record retention is governed by the funding agency's requirements.
Regulations...
Authorization
Public Laws 58-57, 62-426, 71-537, 82-203, 93-203, 93-567, 94-206, 94-311, and 94-369; 29 U.S.C. 1, 2, 2b,5, 8, 882, 1601.
Note:
This section lists the legal authority upon which a program is based (acts, amendments to acts, Public Law numbers, titles, sections, Statute Codes, citations to the U.S. Code, Executive Orders, Presidential Reorganization Plans, and Memoranda from an agency head).
Regulations, Guidelines, And Literature
"Employment and Earnings"; "Monthly Labor Review"; "Occupational Employment"; "BLS Handbook of Methods"; "Major Programs of the Bureau of Labor Statistics"; "Publications of the Bureau of Labor Statistics"; "Handbook of Labor Statistics"; "Unemployment in States and Local Areas"; "Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment"; and "Employment and Wages"; Charting the Projections, 2002-12; "Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Winter 2003-04"; "Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition (BLS Bulletin 2570)"; "Career Guide to Industries, 2004-05 (BLS Bulletin 2571)"; "Occupational Projections and Training Data, 2004-05 Edition (BLS Bulletin 2572)." Monthly Press Releases: "The Employment Situation"; "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment"; "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment"; "Real Earnings"; and "Mass Layoffs." Cooperative agreement application instructions, including all applicable regulations, are available from Bureau of Labor Statistics regional offices free of charge.