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Impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on County Employment and Wages data for Second Quarter 2020

This page provides further information on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for the Second Quarter 2020 County Employment and Wages news release.

Collection mode

QCEW data collection may be affected by the availability of state unemployment insurance (UI) staff, state labor market information (LMI) staff, BLS data collection staff, and business respondents. QCEW data are collected through several channels; most QCEW data come from state LMI departments that receive data from their UI tax department partners. QCEW also collects Multiple Worksite Report (MWR) data electronically through the BLS-operated MWR website and the BLS Electronic Data Interchange center. BLS manages a contract to print and collect MWR paper forms for 38 states. The remaining states print and mail forms directly. BLS offers respondents increased electronic reporting options, working with our MWR contractor to scan as much data as possible electronically, and researching other options to increase web reporting.

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages collection by type and source, second quarter 2020
Establishments collected Number of establishments Percent of establishments Employment Percent of employment

Total establishments

10,500,540 100.0% 135,951,902 100.0%

Single establishments

8,554,346 81.5% 73,952,253 54.4%

Multiple worksite reporter establishments

1,946,194 18.5% 61,999,649 45.6%

Collection methods

Total establishments

10,500,540 100.0% 135,951,902 100.0%

Total of BLS-collected establishments

1,114,429 10.6% 35,327,998 26.0%

BLS Electronic Data Interchange Center

477,233 4.5% 14,104,961 10.4%

BLS web data collection

637,196 6.1% 21,223,037 15.6%

Total of state-collected establishments

9,386,111 89.4% 110,185,164 74.0%

Response rates

QCEW response rates are presented for establishments reporting employment in the third month of the quarter, employment, and total quarterly wages as first published. They are not updated with subsequent revisions to the data.

Overall, there were 36 areas with lower response rates for establishments, 23 areas with lower response rates for employment, and 25 areas with lower response rates for total quarterly wages in second quarter 2020 compared with second quarter 2019.

To access QCEW response rates summary and historical tables for previous quarters, see the QCEW Response Rates Tables page.

QCEW response rates for establishments[1], employment, and total wages (as first published)
State or territory Second quarter establishments June employment Second quarter total wages
2019 2020 Difference 2019 2020 Difference 2019 2020 Difference

United States[2]

92.5% 91.8% -0.7% 97.9% 97.5% -0.4% 98.4% 98.3% -0.1%

Alabama

88.9% 91.7% 2.8% 97.5% 98.2% 0.7% 98.2% 94.9% -3.3%

Alaska

96.2% 96.6% 0.4% 91.5% 94.2% 2.7% 90.0% 93.1% 3.1%

Arizona

91.3% 89.3% -2.0% 96.6% 97.6% 1.0% 98.6% 98.3% -0.3%

Arkansas

90.2% 89.4% -0.8% 98.5% 98.2% -0.3% 98.7% 98.8% 0.1%

California

96.1% 95.2% -0.9% 99.4% 99.2% -0.2% 99.6% 99.5% -0.1%

Colorado

93.9% 92.2% -1.7% 97.1% 95.1% -2.0% 98.0% 95.8% -2.2%

Connecticut

93.3% 91.1% -2.2% 95.7% 93.6% -2.1% 92.9% 91.5% -1.4%

Delaware

88.1% 86.4% -1.7% 95.2% 94.3% -0.9% 94.4% 95.4% 1.0%

District of Columbia

83.3% 83.3% 0.0% 95.1% 95.8% 0.7% 98.2% 97.7% -0.5%

Florida

92.4% 90.1% -2.3% 98.7% 94.5% -4.2% 98.8% 97.6% -1.2%

Georgia

90.6% 86.1% -4.5% 97.5% 97.3% -0.2% 97.4% 97.4% 0.0%

Hawaii

92.1% 89.3% -2.8% 99.0% 98.7% -0.3% 99.6% 99.3% -0.3%

Idaho

94.4% 96.0% 1.6% 97.0% 97.5% 0.5% 95.5% 95.7% 0.2%

Illinois

90.3% 90.0% -0.3% 99.3% 99.3% 0.0% 99.5% 99.4% -0.1%

Indiana

94.0% 93.9% -0.1% 96.5% 97.1% 0.6% 98.6% 99.5% 0.9%

Iowa

97.5% 97.4% -0.1% 97.8% 97.9% 0.1% 98.5% 98.9% 0.4%

Kansas

96.1% 94.4% -1.7% 98.3% 98.3% 0.0% 98.9% 99.2% 0.3%

Kentucky

92.0% 88.4% -3.6% 97.2% 97.4% 0.2% 97.9% 98.5% 0.6%

Louisiana

88.3% 83.6% -4.7% 96.4% 96.8% 0.4% 98.0% 97.9% -0.1%

Maine

93.1% 94.8% 1.7% 98.9% 99.5% 0.6% 99.1% 99.6% 0.5%

Maryland

91.5% 91.0% -0.5% 97.6% 94.5% -3.1% 98.1% 97.7% -0.4%

Massachusetts

94.5% 91.7% -2.8% 98.1% 96.9% -1.2% 98.9% 97.3% -1.6%

Michigan

88.6% 86.9% -1.7% 96.8% 97.7% 0.9% 98.0% 98.7% 0.7%

Minnesota

91.4% 88.5% -2.9% 99.2% 98.6% -0.6% 99.3% 99.0% -0.3%

Mississippi

91.3% 90.6% -0.7% 96.4% 95.7% -0.7% 97.3% 97.9% 0.6%

Missouri

93.4% 91.7% -1.7% 97.6% 97.5% -0.1% 98.3% 97.7% -0.6%

Montana

95.9% 94.2% -1.7% 98.5% 98.0% -0.5% 98.2% 97.8% -0.4%

Nebraska

98.8% 97.8% -1.0% 99.3% 99.1% -0.2% 99.9% 99.5% -0.4%

Nevada

93.3% 93.1% -0.2% 94.3% 94.6% 0.3% 96.4% 96.1% -0.3%

New Hampshire

95.6% 94.6% -1.0% 98.9% 98.3% -0.6% 99.2% 98.8% -0.4%

New Jersey

86.9% 84.5% -2.4% 98.0% 96.1% -1.9% 99.2% 98.8% -0.4%

New Mexico

91.1% 91.2% 0.1% 97.3% 97.6% 0.3% 98.2% 98.3% 0.1%

New York

91.9% 91.3% -0.6% 96.4% 96.9% 0.5% 96.5% 96.7% 0.2%

North Carolina

94.2% 92.7% -1.5% 99.1% 99.2% 0.1% 99.3% 99.5% 0.2%

North Dakota

98.0% 97.5% -0.5% 99.1% 99.5% 0.4% 99.6% 99.7% 0.1%

Ohio

93.1% 93.6% 0.5% 97.3% 97.1% -0.2% 98.6% 99.4% 0.8%

Oklahoma

87.3% 85.5% -1.8% 98.5% 98.1% -0.4% 99.1% 98.2% -0.9%

Oregon

92.0% 93.0% 1.0% 96.5% 98.0% 1.5% 97.2% 97.6% 0.4%

Pennsylvania

97.5% 97.6% 0.1% 96.6% 96.6% 0.0% 96.5% 96.6% 0.1%

Rhode Island

95.5% 94.0% -1.5% 96.9% 97.6% 0.7% 96.5% 96.3% -0.2%

South Carolina

81.3% 91.3% 10.0% 96.8% 97.2% 0.4% 97.6% 99.2% 1.6%

South Dakota

98.4% 98.5% 0.1% 97.4% 98.4% 1.0% 98.3% 98.7% 0.4%

Tennessee

92.1% 91.1% -1.0% 98.5% 98.2% -0.3% 99.6% 99.5% -0.1%

Texas

95.6% 94.4% -1.2% 98.5% 98.6% 0.1% 99.1% 99.2% 0.1%

Utah

96.6% 96.4% -0.2% 98.7% 99.0% 0.3% 99.5% 99.5% 0.0%

Vermont

96.4% 94.8% -1.6% 98.1% 97.7% -0.4% 99.5% 98.3% -1.2%

Virginia

90.6% 92.0% 1.4% 97.7% 97.8% 0.1% 98.9% 98.6% -0.3%

Washington

70.9% 80.6% 9.7% 97.3% 97.4% 0.1% 99.0% 99.1% 0.1%

West Virginia

94.5% 94.6% 0.1% 99.2% 98.3% -0.9% 99.5% 97.8% -1.7%

Wisconsin

94.3% 96.9% 2.6% 97.4% 97.9% 0.5% 99.4% 99.6% 0.2%

Wyoming

95.2% 97.6% 2.4% 97.1% 98.3% 1.2% 98.1% 98.7% 0.6%

Puerto Rico

92.3% 91.4% -0.9% 96.9% 95.7% -1.2% 95.3% 95.6% 0.3%

Virgin Islands

55.2% 56.4% 1.2% 88.2% 89.3% 1.1% 91.0% 91.6% 0.6%

[1] Percentage of establishments reporting employment in the third month of the quarter.

[2] Percentage reported for the United States includes data for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Last Modified Date: November 18, 2020