🚀 go-pugleaf

December 15, 1992

Dear Jim:

I am responding to your request of December 7, 1992 regarding the
availability of unemployment rates by state from 1940 to the
present.

According to a description provided to the National Archives by
the agency, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Survey
Processing, Division of Federal-State Monthly Surveys, provides
the Division of Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) with
data processing services for the production of official State and
sub-state LAUS estimates as well as for benchmarked annual LAUS
estimates or intermittant estimates as required.  The office
maintains the LAUS Official Estimates Data Base.  The data base
is used in the production of the various publications in hard
copy or microfiche formats for all States, District of Columbia,
Puerto Rico, and some 5,000 sub-state areas, as well as to
furnish LAUS official time series estimates from 1976 to date to
the LABSTAT data base.

Although the LAUS, as well as a number of other data series, were
authorized by an act of July 7, 1930 (29 USC 2) mandating BLS to
prepare "full and complete statistics of the volume and changes
in employment ...," we do not know from the information submitted
by the Bureau whether or not the data are maintained back through
1930.

The LAUS records are currently in the custody of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics.  If you are interested in these data, please
contact Karen Nunley, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Division of
Administrative Services, Room 2057, 441 G Street, NW, Washington,
DC  20212.  The telephone number is (202) 523-1468.  The 'Federal
Data Base Finder' by Matthew Lesko (1990, Kensington MD:
Information USA) lists Gloria Green (202) 523-1959 as a contact
for questions regarding the subject matter of these data.


Sincerely,



THEODORE J. HULL
Archives Specialist, Archival Services Branch
Center for Electronic Records

(202) 501-5579