ETA Labor Market Intelligence

US labor market intelligence from 4 DOL Employment & Training Administration datasets: weekly unemployment claims, apprenticeship programs, and trade adjustment assistance.

What does this actor do?

This actor queries the DOL ETA datasets to build a comprehensive labor market intelligence report:

1. Unemployment Insurance Claims (National) — Weekly initial and continued claims, insured unemployment rate, week-over-week changes, 4-week moving averages
2. Unemployment Insurance Claims (State) — State-level breakdown with summaries per state including average rates and latest data
3. Registered Apprenticeship Programs — Apprentice demographics, occupations, sponsors, completion rates by state and fiscal year
4. Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Petitions — Companies petitioning for worker retraining due to trade displacement, with certification decisions and worker counts

Each report includes a market health score (0–100) based on unemployment trends, apprenticeship health, and trade displacement indicators.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
apiKey	string	DOL API key (free at https://dataportal.dol.gov/registration)
dryRun	boolean	Return sample data without API calls (default: true unless apiKey provided)
searchMode	string	all, unemployment, apprenticeship, or tradeAdjustment
state	string	Two-letter state abbreviation filter
dateFrom	string	Filter from date (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo	string	Filter to date (YYYY-MM-DD)
companyName	string	Search TAA petitions by company name
occupation	string	Filter apprenticeship by occupation
includeStateBreakdown	boolean	Include state-level UI data (default: true)
includeApprenticeship	boolean	Include apprenticeship data (default: true)
includeTradeAdjustment	boolean	Include TAA petitions (default: true)
maxResults	integer	Max records per dataset (1–5000, default: 200)

Output format

The actor outputs a single comprehensive report:

{
    "reportType": "comprehensive",
    "generatedAt": "2024-12-07T...",
    "unemployment": {
        "nationalTrend": [
            {
                "weekEnded": "2024-12-07",
                "initialClaims": 224000,
                "continuedClaims": 1871000,
                "insuredUnemploymentRate": 1.2,
                "weekOverWeekChange": -11000,
                "fourWeekMovingAverage": 230000
            }
        ],
        "stateBreakdown": [
            {
                "state": "CA",
                "totalInitialClaims": 42000,
                "averageInsuredRate": 2.1
            }
        ],
        "trendDirection": "Slightly declining",
        "trendDescription": "..."
    },
    "apprenticeship": {
        "records": [...],
        "summary": {
            "totalActiveApprentices": 8000,
            "overallCompletionRate": 71.01,
            "topOccupations": [...]
        }
    },
    "tradeAdjustment": {
        "records": [...],
        "summary": {
            "totalPetitions": 3,
            "totalCertified": 2,
            "totalWorkersAffected": 625,
            "certificationRate": 66.67
        }
    },
    "marketInsight": {
        "score": 62,
        "level": "Moderate",
        "factors": [
            "Low insured unemployment rate: 1.2% (+15)",
            "Initial claims declining: -11,000 week-over-week (+10)"
        ]
    }
}

Market health scoring

The market health score (0–100) assesses labor market conditions:

Factor	Impact
Insured unemployment rate >3%	-20
Insured unemployment rate >2%	-10
Insured unemployment rate <1%	+15
Claims surging (>50K week-over-week)	-15
Claims declining (>10K drop)	+10
High initial claims (>300K)	-15
Low initial claims (<200K)	+10
Many states >3% IUR	-5 to -10
Strong apprenticeship completion rate	+8
High new apprenticeship enrollment	+5
Large trade displacement (>50K workers)	-12
High TAA certification rate	-5

Levels: Strong (75+), Moderate (50–74), Weak (25–49), Stressed (<25)

Use cases

• Labor economists: Track weekly unemployment trends with moving averages
• Workforce development: Monitor apprenticeship program performance and demographics
• Trade analysts: Track industries and companies affected by trade displacement
• Policy researchers: Analyze labor market health across states and time periods
• HR professionals: Understand labor market conditions for hiring planning
• Economic journalists: Track claims trends and trade adjustment patterns

API key

Register for a free DOL API key at https://dataportal.dol.gov/registration

Without an API key, the actor returns realistic sample data in dry run mode.

Data sources

All data from the US Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration:

• ETA/ui_national_weekly_claims — National weekly UI claims (updated weekly)
• ETA/ui_state_weekly_claims — State-level weekly UI claims
• ETA/apprenticeship_data — Registered apprenticeship program data
• ETA/otaa_petition — Trade Adjustment Assistance petitions