This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from US statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from US statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other US-specific metadata information.
| Actual indicator available | Unemployment rate by disability status, sex, and age, 2009-18 annual averages |
|---|---|
| Actual indicator available - description | The unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed persons as a percent of the civilian labor force. Unemployed persons are those who had no employment during the reference week, were available for work at that time, and had made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off need not have been looking for work to be classified as unemployed. The civilian labor force comprises all persons classified as employed or unemployed. The CPS uses a set of six questions to identify persons with disabilities. In the CPS, persons are classified as having a disability if there is a response of ""yes"" to any of these questions: 1. Is anyone deaf or does anyone have serious difficulty hearing? 2. Is anyone blind or does anyone have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses? 3. Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does anyone have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions? 4. Does anyone have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs? 5. Does anyone have difficulty dressing or bathing? 6. Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does anyone have difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor's office or shopping? |
| Date of national source publication | Early 2019 |
| Method of computation | Source: Current Population Survey (CPS) - a monthly national sample household survey. Technical Documentation and Methodology: https://www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm |
| Periodicity | Annual |
| Scheduled update by national source | Annual data for 2019 will be available in early 2020 |
| U.S. method of computation | Source: Current Population Survey (CPS) - a monthly national sample household survey. Technical Documentation and Methodology: https://www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm |
| Comments and limitations | The questions noted above were added to the CPS in June 2008 to identify persons with a disability in the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and older. The collection of these data is sponsored by the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the true population values they represent. The component of this difference that occurs because samples differ by chance is known as sampling error, and its variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the true population value because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence. The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the collection or processing of the data. Additional information about the reliability of data from the CPS and estimating standard errors is available at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability. CPS estimates are controlled to population totals that are available by age, sex, race, and Hispanic ethnicity. These controls are developed by the Census Bureau and are based on complete population counts obtained in the decennial census. In the years between decennial censuses, they incorporate the latest information about population change (births, deaths, and net international migration). As part of its annual update of population estimates, the Census Bureau introduces adjustments to the total population controls. The updated controls typically have a negligible impact on unemployment rates and other ratios. The estimates of the population of persons with a disability are not controlled to independent population totals of persons with a disability because such data are not available. Without independent population totals, sample-based estimates are more apt to vary from one time period to the next. Information about population controls is available at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop. |
| Date metadata updated | June 2019 |
| Disaggregation geography | |
| Unit of measurement | Percent |
| Disaggregation categories | Disability status, sex, and age |
| International and national references | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - www.bls.gov |
| Time period | 2009-18 |
| Scheduled update by SDG team |