About Us

The Center for Workforce Research and Information (CWRI) operates statistical programs in cooperation with the US Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics and Employment & Training Administration) and is affiliated with the US Department of Commerce (Bureaus of the Census and Economic Analysis). Services are provided by CWRI staff through daily personal contact, user training, publications, web sites and other delivery vehicles.

Services to:

• Individuals, including young people, parents and adults, to make informed choices about careers, education, training, and jobs.
• Businesses and Economic Developers to make decisions about products, marketing, business location, and employee recruitment, compensation, and training.
• Intermediaries, including career counselors, teachers, mentors, placement specialists, human resource staff, and case workers, to assist others in choosing education and training opportunities, and in finding employment.
• Workforce Investment Boards and Program Planners to determine what workforce and training services to provide and to evaluate program performance.
• Education and Training Providers, including teachers and curriculum specialists, to design, deliver, and evaluate programs that develop students' knowledge and skills.
• Elected Officials and Policy Makers to be informed and to make decisions about law, policy, budgets, and regulations.
• Researchers to study how the labor market works, and conduct policy research.

Information About:

• Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) – annual employment and wage estimates for over 700 occupations for Maine, metropolitan areas and other regions, including data for specific industries.
• Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) - monthly statistics on the civilian labor force, number of persons employed and unemployed, and the unemployment rate for Maine, metropolitan areas, labor market areas, counties, and cities/towns.
• Current Employment Statistics (CES) - monthly statistics on the nonfarm employment by industry and manufacturing hours and earnings for Maine and metropolitan areas.
• Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) - quarterly counts of employment and wages reported by employers for Maine, metropolitan areas, labor market areas, workforce investment areas, counties, and cities/towns by industry.
• Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) – monthly reports of major job cutbacks identifying the industry, location, time period, size, duration and reason for layoff.
• Industry and Occupational Employment Projections – outlook of industry and occupational employment for Maine, metropolitan areas, and non-metro regions including average annual number of job openings due to growth and replacement.
• Current Population Survey (CPS) - monthly survey of households conducted by the US Bureau of Census to provide a comprehensive body of data for Maine on the labor force, employment, and unemployment.
• Commuting Patterns – decennial series of tables by the US Bureau of Census showing all points of origin for workers employed in each locality in Maine and the number of workers who live in each city/town and work in another locality.
• Consumer Price Index - Price indexes are developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the U.S., the four census regions, size of city, and 26 local areas. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) represents the changes in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by all urban consumers (CPI-U) and urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W).
• Personal Income - State and county personal income and per capita personal income estimates are prepared by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. In addition to estimates of total personal income, statewide components of income are available including wage and salary disbursements by industry; proprietors’ income; transfer payments; and dividends, interest, and rent.
• Output, Employment, and Earnings Multipliers - Multipliers for industries in Maine are developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. These multipliers are used to determine the statewide impact of a project or program on output, employment, and earnings.
• Fringe Benefit Surveys - periodic survey of fringe benefits provided by Maine employers and reported statewide, by employer size class, industry sector and Workforce Investment Area.
• Nonagricultural Prevailing Wage Determinations - annual prevailing wages for nonagricultural activities employing temporary, specialty, and permanent labor under various Foreign Labor Certifications programs in Maine.
• Job Vacancy Survey – periodic survey of job vacancies in Maine reported by industry sector, occupational group, workforce investment area and for Maine statewide. Vacancy data is also provided for mean hourly wages, full/part-time employment, temporary/seasonal employment, experience/education required and selected fringe benefits.
• Occupational and Career Information - numerous fliers, posters and brochures designed to assist job seekers, employers and the general public with their occupational/career information needs.
• Unemployment Insurance (UI) Statistics - monthly reports derived from administrative data collected on the characteristics of individuals receiving UI beneifts, and actuarial studies of legislative proposals.
• Local Employment Dynamics Program (LED) – quarterly reports tracking workers by industry, age and gender that provide statistics on job creation, separation, turnover, and wages for Maine and workforce investment area.
• Staff gives workshops on the availability and use of labor market information. This is of special interest to policy makers, those engaged in economic/business development, training and career counseling, and socioeconomic research.