Glossary

1Indices & reads

• Workforce Exposure Index (WEI). A 0–100 composite read of how constrained a workforce is for a given state, role, or market — a banded, directional indicator, not a precise score and not a forecast. Higher values indicate greater constraint. WEI reads are AlphaHire-derived from a weighted set of indicators applied to cited public-signal data.
• Indicator. One of the weighted components that compose a WEI read (for example workforce availability, compensation pressure, hiring velocity, or labor competition). Indicators are reported directionally — rising, easing, or thinning — alongside a confidence tier.
• Exposure tier. The band a WEI read falls into. The library uses four tiers — Low, Moderate, Elevated, and High — so reads are communicated as ranges, not decimal scores.
• Movement. The directional change in a read over a stated window (rising, easing, or steady). Movement is banded and directional; the library does not publish a daily ticker or a point-precise trajectory.

2Confidence & provenance

• Confidence tier. The Lab's assessment of how well-supported a read is, expressed in exactly three tiers — High, Moderate, and Emerging. A record may carry an overall tier and per-finding tiers where the evidence differs across findings.
• Public-source. A figure drawn from a published external source (for example BLS, IBEW collective-bargaining schedules, EIA, or Census). Public-source figures are charted and cited separately from AlphaHire-derived reads.
• AlphaHire-derived. A read produced by applying the Lab's methodology to underlying signal data. Derived reads are labeled as such on every chart and never presented as a direct external statistic.
• Source family. The disclosed category of data behind a record (for example BLS, Census, EIA, USAspending, FERC, IBEW). Every publication lists its source families in metadata.
• Methodology version. The versioned ruleset under which a read was produced (for example WIL-2026.1). Versioning lets a published read remain citable even as the methodology is revised.
• Directional, banded — not a forecast. The standing qualifier on WIL reads: outputs describe the current direction and band of a condition for operational use, and are not predictions of a future value.

3Publication taxonomy

• Document ID. The permanent citation anchor for a record (for example WIL-SIG-2026.2-ELEC). IDs are stable; records are versioned and archived rather than deleted, so a citation never breaks.
• State Workforce Archive. One living record per state, updated each quarter — the current exposure tier and trend, the most constrained occupations, and the drivers behind them.
• Signal Brief. A short, recurring read on the markets or roles moving most this period, and why. Directional and banded; monthly or quarterly, never daily.
• Quarterly Market Review. Recurring regional and national market intelligence — labor conditions, wage positioning, and exposure tier by market over the quarter.
• Intelligence Paper. Thematic long-form research — sector disruptions, infrastructure-workforce coupling, and leading-indicator analysis.
• Flagship Publication. The annual anchor — institutional research establishing a baseline thesis on a major workforce-and-infrastructure question. Rare by design.