Labor Turnover Rate
The rate at which stable jobs in a county begin and end, as published by the Census Bureau.
How much churn there is in a county's lasting jobs. The Census Bureau defines turnover as "the rate at which stable jobs begin and end" (QWI 101).
Turnover is published by the Bureau as a rate, not as a count we convert. The Bureau describes the calculation as "summing the number of stable hires in the reference quarter and stable separations in the next quarter, and dividing by the average full-quarter employment." It therefore combines arrivals and departures into one number: a county sits high when workers are moving in and out of lasting jobs frequently and low when the same people stay in the same jobs.
The jobs it counts are the ones the Bureau calls stable: full-quarter employment, an "estimate of stable jobs, i.e., the number of jobs that are held on both the first and last day of the quarter with the same employer." Jobs that begin and end inside a single quarter are outside the measure, so this is churn among established positions rather than short-term work.
Turnover moves independently of growth. High churn can accompany a labor market where workers change employers readily, or one where jobs do not last; the measure does not distinguish between them, and the other measures in this group are the ones that say whether employment is rising or falling.
Metrics in this family#
Labor turnover rate
levelThe Bureau's published turnover rate for the most recent available quarter.
Considerations#
The series is not seasonally adjusted, and this figure covers a single quarter, so it carries the seasonal pattern of the industries present in a county. Turnover also differs sharply by industry, so a county's rate partly reflects what its employers do rather than how its labor market is behaving.
Turnover requires observing employment across adjacent quarters, so it is published later than the other measures on this site drawn from this source and sits further behind the current date.
This is a county measure. Every tract in a county shows the same figure. See how we combine geographies.
Coverage follows jobs covered by state unemployment insurance. The Bureau notes that "Federal employment has not been integrated into the regular releases of the QWI" and that uncovered work includes "some agricultural jobs, railroad employment, self-employment, and other exceptions that vary from state to state." Jobs are attributed to the county where the work is located.
Each release republishes and revises the full history. Published cells carry statistical noise for disclosure protection, and cells that fail publication standards are withheld rather than reported as zero. Counties whose reporting has fallen well behind the rest of the country show no value.
References#
- 1QWI 101https://lehd.ces.census.gov/doc/QWI_101.pdf