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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Current Employment Statistics > About > Notices

2023 Preliminary Benchmark Revision

In accordance with usual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is announcing the preliminary estimate of the upcoming annual benchmark revision to the establishment survey employment series. The final benchmark revision will be issued in February 2024 with the publication of the January 2024 Employment Situation news release.

Each year, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey employment estimates are benchmarked to comprehensive counts of employment for the month of March. These counts are derived from state unemployment insurance (UI) tax records that nearly all employers are required to file. For National CES employment series, the annual benchmark revisions over the last 10 years have averaged plus or minus one-tenth of one percent of total nonfarm employment. The preliminary estimate of the benchmark revision indicates a downward adjustment to March 2023 total nonfarm employment of −306,000 (−0.2 percent).

Preliminary benchmark revisions are calculated only for the month of March 2023 for the major industry sectors in table 1. The existing employment series are not updated with the release of the preliminary benchmark estimate. The data for all CES series will be updated when the final benchmark revision is issued.

Table 1 shows the March 2023 preliminary benchmark revisions by major industry sector. As is typically the case, many of the individual industry series show larger percentage revisions than the total nonfarm series, primarily because statistical sampling error is greater at more detailed levels than at an aggregated level.

Table 1. National Current Employment Statistics March 2023
Preliminary Benchmark Revisions by Major Industry Sector
	Benchmark revision (in thousands)	Percent benchmark revision
Total nonfarm	-306	-0.2
Total private	-358	-0.3
Mining and logging	(2)	(2)
Construction	30	0.4
Manufacturing	-43	-0.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	-43	-0.2
Wholesale trade ⁽¹⁾	47.7	0.8
Retail trade ⁽¹⁾	38.2	0.2
Transportation and warehousing ⁽¹⁾	-146.4	-2.2
Utilities ⁽¹⁾	17.3	3
Information	-39	-1.3
Financial activities	47	0.5
Professional and business services	-116	-0.5
Private education and health services	-85	-0.3
Leisure and hospitality	-46	-0.3
Other services	-63	-1.1
Government	52	0.2
Footnotes: ⁽¹⁾ Series are part of trade, transportation, and utilities. ⁽²⁾ Less than 0.05 percent or 500 jobs.

Last Modified Date: August 23, 2023