What does seasonally adjusted mean?
Data is seasonally adjusted to remove the impact of regular events that occur at the same time every year such as the effect of cold weather on outdoor activities, the Christmas holiday, or the summer influx of youth into the labor market. Seasonally adjusted data is available on the BLS Web site.
Seasonally adjusted applies to monthly labor force and industry employment data at the statewide level that has been adjusted to minimize the changes in a time series which result from normal annual occurrences such as Christmas, summer vacations, and weather patterns. It enables data users to see fluctuations better in a trend that are caused by unusual occurrences (i.e. a plant closure). Seasonally adjusted data is available at the statewide level. Currently all MSA and parish labor force figures and nonfarm wage and salary figures are not seasonally adjusted. The New Orleans MSA will have seasonally adjusted labor force figures on the BLS Web site in the future.
