County Employment and Wages

March 28, 2013

Over the year, Yolo, Calif., had the largest percentage decrease in average weekly wages in the third quarter of 2012, -7.0 percent. Elkhart, Ind., had the biggest over-the-year percentage increase in employment, 6.9 percent in September 2012. More...
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Quarterly Releases

• County Employment and Wages (HTML) (PDF)
• County Employment and Wages by State from BLS Regional Offices
• Quarterly Data on Business Employment Dynamics (HTML) (PDF)
• Subscribe to the BLS News Service— receive the County Employment and Wages news release by e-mail.
• Related Quarterly Data
• Schedule of Releases for County Employment and Wages

Annual Data Tables:

• Average Annual Wages for All Covered Workers by State (TXT) (PDF)
• Average Annual Wages for All Covered Workers by Metropolitan Area (TXT) (PDF)
• Average Annual Wages for All Covered Workers by Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (TXT) (PDF)

Discontinued Annual Releases

Archived News Releases

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
State and County Wages (Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages - QCEW)

Calculators

Calculator Name	Calculator
Location Quotient Provides a way to readily compare the industrial activity levels among different areas of the country.

More Tools

• Series Report —Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
• Flat files available via FTP Downloads.
• Download flat files of the entire database or large subset of the database.
• For assistance accessing *.end and *.enb text files please refer to our tutorial.

All CEW Databases

• Industry Verification Form (ARS)
• The Multiple Worksite Report (MWR)
• Multiple Worksite Report State Forms
• Electronic Data Reporting
• Proper Monthly Employment Reporting for State Unemployment Insurance and Common Reporting Problems

• UPDATED Employment and Wages, Annual Averages 2011
• NEW Gulf oil and gas drilling employment
• Employment and Wages, Annual Averages archive
• Issues in Labor Statistics
• NAICS congruencies
• Charts of QCEW data(From the Editor's Desk)
• BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 5, Employment and Wages Covered by Unemployment Insurance
• Technical notes and references (including SIC, NAICS, and State information)

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is QCEW?
2. Does the QCEW program publish or release the number of employees in a particular company?
3. How does QCEW employment compare to Current Employment Statistics (CES) and other employment measures?
4. How do I get data prior to 2001?
5. How do I use a QCEW .enb or .end file?
6. Can I get QCEW data below the county-industry level?
7. When are the most current QCEW data available?
8. Can I get access to confidential QCEW microdata for research purposes?
9. Why is my hand-calculated total different from the published total?
10. Can I find data on employment and wages for a specific occupation or job?
11. Why are there sometimes sudden shifts in levels of employment or wages?
12. Why are some data unavailable, or marked as ND, NA, or with a dash (-)?
13. Why are QCEW establishment counts different from those of other programs?
14. What is included in employment?
15. What is included in total wages?
16. Does the QCEW program publish employment by company size?
17. Which version of NAICS and SIC does the QCEW program use?
18. Does the QCEW program have data based on the new Metropolitan Statistical Area definition?
19. What is a location quotient?
20. What is the difference between a company, an employer and an establishment in QCEW data?
21. What is the prevailing wage rate for my area according to the Davis-Bacon Act?

All QCEW FAQs »

• NAICS 2012 Comment Period Open
• Errors in Fourth Quarter 2006 News Release
• Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
• BLS Releases Location Quotient Calculator: New BLS Web Tool Allows Local Area Comparisons
• Revision of “County Employment and Wages: Fourth Quarter 2003” news release
• Assessing the Timeliness of Business Births in BLS Establishment Statistics (PDF 71K)
• Notes on Federal Government Wages
• Employment in Areas of Manhattan Affected by the Events of September 11, 2001
• Areas of Manhattan Affected by the Events of September 11, 2001

Other BLS Programs

• Business Employment Dynamics—quarterly data series of job gains and job losses statistics, generated from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wagesprogram.
• Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the CES survey (National)—monthly national data by detailed industry on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments.
• Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the CES survey (State and Area) —monthly data on employment, hours, and earnings by industry and geographic area.

Other Useful Links

• Department of Labor wage and hour enforcement units—state-by-state directory of wage and hour district office locations.
• Comparison of State UI laws—state-by-state information on workers covered, benefit eligibility, methods of financing, and related topics.
• Bureau of Economic Analysis
• County maps and profiles from the Bureau of the Census
• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)—The official NAICS home page from the Bureau of the Census.
• Links to our State Partners—A map and directory of UI-related State webpages from the Office of Workforce Security, Department of Labor.
• Wage and Hour Division of the Employment Standards Administration: Frequently Asked Questions—Answers to questions about wages, overtime, work hours, recordkeeping, and child labor.

Contact Us

For BLS QCEW Survey Respondents

• Mutliple worksite Report (MWR): (877) 222-0955 or e-mail mwr.helpdesk@bls.gov
• Industry Verification Form (ARS): please contact your respective state office
• For more information on data collection forms, please follow QCEW Reporting on the QCEW homepage.

For QCEW Data Users

• Telephone: (202) 691-6567
• E-mail: Contact QCEW
• Written inquiries:

Bureau of Labor Statistics
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
Room 4840
2 Massachusetts Ave., NE
Washington, D.C. 20212

For related data sources

• Occupational Employment Statistics
• Current Employment Statistics
• Local Area Unemployment Statistics
• Census Bureau

For state-published data

The cooperating State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) have labor market information offices that publish and disseminate QCEW data for their states.