The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program publishes a quarterly count of employment and wages reported by employers covering more than 95 percent of U.S. jobs, available at the county, MSA, state and national levels by industry.

Announcements

  • NEW Employment and Wages, Annual Averages 2016

  • NEW Hurricane Irma maps and tables: Employment, wages, and establishment counts in hurricane flood zones

  • NEW Hurricane Harvey maps and tables: Employment, wages, and establishment counts in hurricane flood zones.

  • NEW QCEW BLS NAICS Search Application

  • NEW The QCEW Handbook of Methods has been re-launched. It provides a detailed explanation of how the QCEW program obtains and prepares the economic data it publishes. Comprehensive information on QCEW concepts and definitions, sources of data and methods of collection, calculations, and program history are available.

  • The QCEW Data Viewer includes over-the-year level and percent changes for third-month employment and average weekly wages. It also includes employment and wages location quotients in all tables. Table options have been expanded to include multi-year QCEW data by area and industry, and by establishment size class. Size data are available for the first quarter of each year.

  • NEW Now available: QCEW 2016 Reporter's Guide. A new source of tips on how to use QCEW data.

Announcements Archive »

On This Page

 

QCEW News Releases

McLean, Ill., has largest county 1st quarter 2017 over-the-year wage gain at 27.8%

09/06/2017

From first quarter 2016 to first quarter 2017, McLean, Ill., had the largest county percentage increase in average weekly wages at 27.8 percent. York, S.C., had the largest county over-the-year percentage increase in employment in March 2017 at 6.8 percent.
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Quarterly Releases

Discontinued Annual Releases

Archived News Releases

QCEW Databases

Databases

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

 

Downloadable Data Files

More Tools

  • Open Data Access
    • Overview -Learn more about the collection of CSV files designed to allow third party programmers, developers, and organizations to retrieve published QCEW data in CSV format.
    • Data Slices: Structure and Storage -Learn more about the storage and structure of QCEW's collection of CSV data slices.
    • Programming Language Examples -QCEW data slices can be directly accessed from various programming languages. QCEW has made an effort to provide simple examples in several different languages.
  • QCEW State and County Maps - View QCEW maps, charts and data tables
  • Series Report —Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.

 

All CEW Databases

QCEW Reporting Data

QCEW Publications

Publications Archive »

QCEW Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

UPDATED

QCEW Data Overview

  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. Data File Accessibility

  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. Understanding QCEW Data

  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 did a large portion of Oregon's employment and wages shift from state universities to local universities?
  13. Why are some data unavailable, or marked as ND, NA, or with a dash (-)?
  14. What are the QCEW concepts related to confidentiality and data disclosure?
  15. Why are QCEW establishment counts different from those of other programs?


    16. QCEW Definitions

  16. What is included in employment?
  17. What is included in total wages?
  18. Does the QCEW program publish employment by company size?
  19. Which version of NAICS and SIC does the QCEW program use?
  20. Does the QCEW program have data based on the new Metropolitan Statistical Area definition?
  21. What is a location quotient?
  22. What is the difference between a company, an employer and an establishment in QCEW data?


    23. Other Related Topics

  23. What is the prevailing wage rate for my area according to the Davis-Bacon Act?

All QCEW FAQs »

QCEW Special Notices

UPDATED

Special Notices Archive »

QCEW Related Links

Other BLS Programs

Other Useful Links

Contact QCEW

Contact Us

For BLS QCEW Survey Respondents

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 4860
    2 Massachusetts Ave., NE
    Washington, D.C. 20212

For related data sources

For state-published data

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