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What's included in employment numbers

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Tom Binnings

You reference full-time, part-time, and seasonal employment on an annual average basis that is industry specific.  Then IMPLAN goes on to state "Thus, 1 job lasting 12 months = 2 jobs lasting 6 months each = 3 jobs lasting 4 months each. A job can be either full-time or part-time.  Similarly, a job that lasts one quarter of the year would be 0.25 jobs." 

If I have 100 agricultural workers does that mean I have 400 seasonal (assuming .25) or does it mean I have 100 seasonal workers which shows up at .25.  The same confusion exists over part-time vs full-time.  Given the statement by IMPLAN "Jobs in IMPLAN are not the same as a full-time equivalent number" I am confused.  Given the higher number of jobs shown in the modeling I assume it means 100 agricultural works is an average annual mix of full-time, part-time, and seasonal with no way of breaking by duration.  Please adivse.

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    Michael Nealy

    Hello Tom!

    The difference between Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) and IMPLAN Employment is strictly a difference in how they are defined. Per our support article Employment FAQ:

    The BEA calculates the number of FTE employees in each industry as follows:
         FTE employees = (total number of employees) * [(average weekly hours per employee for all 
              employees) / (average weekly hours per employee on full-time schedules)]

    The BEA also adapts the BLS definition of a full time employee as anyone working 35+ hours per week. This equation is slightly different for IMPLAN Employment, resulting in slightly different values for Employment:

    IMPLAN Jobs = Seasonal Jobs * [(months of seasonal job)/12] 

    Coming to your example, if you know there are 400 seasonal workers that work 3 months out of the year:

    IMPLAN Jobs = 400 * [(3)/12] = 400 * 0.25 = 100

    You are correct that because this is a mix of full-time, part-time, and seasonal there is no way to break by IMPLAN Employment out by duration without knowing the information yourself. 

    Hope this helps!   

    Michael Nealy

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