The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program produces monthly employment, unemployment, and labor force data for Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities, by place of residence. The LAUS program is a federal-state cooperative endeavor in which states develop state and sub-state data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A major source of labor force data estimates, the Current Population Survey (CPS) includes a sample of over 1,600 Connecticut households each month regarding the labor force status of their occupants.

Labor force measures are based on the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years old and over. People with jobs are counted as employed. People who are jobless, looking for jobs, and available for work are regarded as unemployed, and people who are neither employed nor unemployed are considered not in the labor force. The unemployment rate represents the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed. Annual average data is published after benchmark revisions are made.