Improve economic vitality of businesses and individuals
Indicator 1: Increase percentage of people employed.
Measure c: Percent state labor force employed
Description:
The percent of state labor force employed is civilian employment divided by civilian labor force. Civilian Employment is comprised of workers 16 years of age or older who (a) did any work at all as paid employees or in their own businesses or profession or farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a family enterprise; or (b) were not working but had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of illness, bad weather, vacation, labor management disputes, etc. The Civilian Labor Force is comprised of individuals who are 16 years of age or older and are either employed or counted as unemployed.
The share of the state labor force that is employed represents the degree to which the economy is able to provide jobs and incomes to those who want to work. The greater the share of the labor force employed is indicative of a healthy economy, growing incomes, and lesser demands by unemployed workers and their families on publicly provided social services.
The following graph illustrates the cyclical decline and recovery of employment after the 2001 national recession. Because of this state's exposure to the Dot-Com bubble, the share of labor force employed was at its low-point in 2002 and 2003. Recovery began in 2004 and most recently the share of workers employed stood at 95.5 percent.
| Percent State Labor Force Employed | ||||||||||||
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| Percent Employed | 94.1% |
95.1% |
95.2% |
95.2% |
95.0% |
93.8% |
92.7% |
92.6% |
93.7% |
94.5% |
95.1% |
95.5% |
Source:
Employment Security Department - Labor Market and Economic Analysis