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20 CFR § 654.4 - Definitions. 

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t20/s654.4"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "20 CFR § 654.4 - Definitions."
title_number: 20
title_name: "Employees' Benefits"
section_number: "654.4"
section_name: "Definitions."
chapter_name: "EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
part_number: "654"
part_name: "SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EMPLOYMENT SERVICE SYSTEM"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "29 U.S.C. 49k; 8 U.S.C. 1188(c)(4); 41 Op.A.G. 406 (1959)."
regulatory_source: "44 FR 1689, Jan. 5, 1979, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "654"
---

# 654.4 Definitions.

(a) *Assistant Secretary* shall mean Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, U.S. Department of Labor.

(b) *Civil jurisdiction* shall mean:

(1) Cities of 25,000 or more population on the basis of the most recently available Bureau of the Census estimates; or

(2) Towns and townships in the States of New Jersey, New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania of 25,000 or more population and which possess powers and functions similar to cities; or

(3) All counties, except those counties which contain any of the types of political jurisdictions defined in paragraphs (b) (1) and (2) of this section; or

(4) All other counties are defined as “balance of county” (*i.e.*, total county less component cities and townships identified in paragraphs (b) (1) and (2) of this section); or

(5) County equivalents which are towns in the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

(c) *Labor surplus area* shall mean a civil jurisdiction that, in accordance with the criteria specified in § 654.5, has been classified as a labor surplus area.

(d) *Reference period* shall mean the two year period ending December 31 of the year prior to the October 1 annual date of eligibility determination.

[44 FR 1689, Jan. 5, 1979, as amended at 44 FR 26071, May 5, 1979; 48 FR 15616, Apr. 12, 1983; 53 FR 23347, June 21, 1988]