Federal brief
Labor Surplus Area Classification
The Labor Department’s Labor Surplus Area list for fiscal 2027 took effect October 1, 2026. This year a place qualifies at 6% average unemployment, using 2024–2025 data. FR 2026-17828.
Six percent. That is the number that decides which cities and counties land on the federal Labor Surplus Area list for the year that started October 1, 2026.
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) publishes the list every fiscal year under Labor Department rules at 20 CFR part 654, which carry out Executive Orders 12073 and 10582. The fiscal 2027 list runs from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, for every state, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
How the math worked this year: ETA looked at January 2024 through December 2025. The national average unemployment rate for that stretch rounds to 4.16 percent. Twenty percent above that rounds to 5 percent — but the rules set a 6 percent floor, so 6 percent became the qualifying rate. Any area at 10 percent or higher qualifies automatically. ETA uses only official Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates.
Quick reference — National average (2024–25): 4.16%. 120% of national: about 5%. Floor: 6% (this year’s qualifying rate). Ceiling: 10% (automatic qualifier).
Which places can be counted? Cities of at least 25,000 people; towns or townships of 25,000 or more in Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania; counties or “balance of county” areas; and towns in the six New England states and municipios in Puerto Rico.
If a plant closing, contract cancellation or disaster pushes local unemployment up, the State Workforce Agency can petition for an exceptional-circumstance listing. The area must show at least 6 percent unemployment for each of the last three months and a projected 6 percent for each of the next 12. The full list is at www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/lsa.
Federal Register filing: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/01/2026-17828/labor-surplus-area-classification
This is a Notice Nearby publisher-desk Federal brief — a short in-house summary of a public federal filing. It is not official agency minutes, not a newspaper story, and not Legal Publication. It does not satisfy a statutory notice requirement.
Source: the official public federal record 2026-17828 · Federal Register · 2026-17828 · 2026-17828.
This is a Notice Nearby publisher-desk Federal brief — a short in-house summary of a public federal filing. It is not official agency minutes, not a newspaper story, and not Legal Publication. It does not satisfy a statutory notice requirement.