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Impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on County Employment and Wages data for Third Quarter 2020
This page provides further information on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for the Third 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.
| Establishments collected | Number of establishments | Percent of establishments | Employment | Percent of employment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total establishments | 10,610,621 | 100.0% | 139,417,427 | 100.0% |
| Single establishments | 8,657,618 | 81.6% | 75,910,038 | 54.4% |
| Multiple worksite reporter establishments | 1,953,003 | 18.4% | 63,507,389 | 45.6% |
| Collection methods | ||||
| Total establishments | 10,610,621 | 100.0% | 139,417,427 | 100.0% |
| Total of BLS-collected establishments | 1,115,263 | 10.5% | 35,733,108 | 25.6% |
| BLS Electronic Data Interchange Center | 482,181 | 4.5% | 14,305,911 | 10.2% |
| BLS web data collection | 633,082 | 6.0% | 21,427,197 | 15.4% |
| Total of state-collected establishments | 9,495,358 | 89.5% | 103,684,319 | 74.4% |
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 26 areas with lower response rates for establishments, 18 areas with lower response rates for employment, and 19 areas with lower response rates for total quarterly wages in third quarter 2020 compared with third quarter 2019.
To access QCEW response rates summary and historical tables for previous quarters, see the QCEW Response Rates Tables page.
| State or territory | Third quarter establishments | September employment | Third quarter total wages | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | Difference | 2019 | 2020 | Difference | 2019 | 2020 | Difference | |
| United States[2] | 91.7% | 92.3% | 0.6% | 97.5% | 97.7% | 0.2% | 98.2% | 98.3% | 0.1% |
| Alabama | 90.9% | 91.1% | 0.2% | 97.8% | 97.2% | -0.6% | 97.9% | 95.9% | -2.0% |
| Alaska | 97.8% | 96.8% | -1.0% | 99.2% | 93.7% | -5.5% | 92.6% | 92.7% | 0.1% |
| Arizona | 91.3% | 92.8% | 1.5% | 97.6% | 98.1% | 0.5% | 99.0% | 98.8% | -0.2% |
| Arkansas | 90.1% | 89.1% | -1.0% | 98.1% | 98.6% | 0.5% | 98.5% | 98.7% | 0.2% |
| California | 96.0% | 95.9% | -0.1% | 98.9% | 99.5% | 0.6% | 99.6% | 99.8% | 0.2% |
| Colorado | 93.8% | 93.7% | -0.1% | 96.2% | 97.3% | 1.1% | 97.0% | 98.3% | 1.3% |
| Connecticut | 92.7% | 92.7% | 0.0% | 94.1% | 94.4% | 0.3% | 93.0% | 93.5% | 0.5% |
| Delaware | 87.2% | 87.9% | 0.7% | 94.6% | 95.5% | 0.9% | 92.9% | 87.4% | -5.5% |
| District of Columbia | 82.4% | 81.9% | -0.5% | 95.8% | 93.9% | -1.9% | 98.8% | 96.5% | -2.3% |
| Florida | 92.2% | 90.9% | -1.3% | 98.6% | 95.9% | -2.7% | 98.7% | 97.5% | -1.2% |
| Georgia | 90.1% | 86.5% | -3.6% | 97.8% | 97.8% | 0.0% | 98.3% | 98.8% | 0.5% |
| Hawaii | 90.0% | 90.7% | 0.7% | 96.9% | 98.3% | 1.4% | 96.2% | 99.3% | 3.1% |
| Idaho | 94.6% | 95.9% | 1.3% | 96.4% | 97.6% | 1.2% | 94.7% | 94.9% | 0.2% |
| Illinois | 91.0% | 91.0% | 0.0% | 99.8% | 99.9% | 0.1% | 99.8% | 99.9% | 0.1% |
| Indiana | 93.8% | 94.0% | 0.2% | 96.9% | 97.4% | 0.5% | 98.3% | 99.6% | 1.3% |
| Iowa | 97.4% | 97.3% | -0.1% | 97.7% | 98.1% | 0.4% | 97.7% | 99.1% | 1.4% |
| Kansas | 95.5% | 95.3% | -0.2% | 97.1% | 98.1% | 1.0% | 99.5% | 99.0% | -0.5% |
| Kentucky | 89.5% | 87.9% | -1.6% | 96.3% | 97.7% | 1.4% | 98.1% | 99.0% | 0.9% |
| Louisiana | 87.6% | 83.9% | -3.7% | 97.8% | 97.5% | -0.3% | 98.9% | 98.6% | -0.3% |
| Maine | 92.9% | 94.4% | 1.5% | 99.0% | 99.0% | 0.0% | 99.3% | 99.2% | -0.1% |
| Maryland | 91.3% | 88.8% | -2.5% | 95.4% | 92.1% | -3.3% | 98.3% | 95.4% | -2.9% |
| Massachusetts | 94.3% | 94.4% | 0.1% | 98.3% | 97.0% | -1.3% | 99.0% | 98.7% | -0.3% |
| Michigan | 85.8% | 88.3% | 2.5% | 96.0% | 97.1% | 1.1% | 97.4% | 97.9% | 0.5% |
| Minnesota | 92.7% | 90.2% | -2.5% | 99.3% | 98.3% | -1.0% | 99.5% | 98.4% | -1.1% |
| Mississippi | 89.1% | 89.8% | 0.7% | 95.4% | 96.4% | 1.0% | 96.6% | 97.0% | 0.4% |
| Missouri | 92.9% | 91.8% | -1.1% | 97.4% | 97.6% | 0.2% | 98.1% | 98.2% | 0.1% |
| Montana | 93.9% | 91.2% | -2.7% | 98.5% | 98.1% | -0.4% | 98.7% | 98.5% | -0.2% |
| Nebraska | 84.0% | 98.9% | 14.9% | 95.1% | 98.7% | 3.6% | 98.1% | 98.5% | 0.4% |
| Nevada | 93.0% | 89.9% | -3.1% | 94.8% | 94.0% | -0.8% | 96.5% | 95.6% | -0.9% |
| New Hampshire | 95.5% | 94.3% | -1.2% | 98.7% | 96.4% | -2.3% | 99.2% | 97.8% | -1.4% |
| New Jersey | 87.1% | 85.8% | -1.3% | 97.9% | 98.1% | 0.2% | 99.2% | 99.2% | 0.0% |
| New Mexico | 90.1% | 91.0% | 0.9% | 97.3% | 94.5% | -2.8% | 97.9% | 96.3% | -1.6% |
| New York | 92.6% | 90.7% | -1.9% | 97.6% | 96.7% | -0.9% | 97.1% | 95.8% | -1.3% |
| North Carolina | 94.0% | 93.0% | -1.0% | 99.0% | 99.2% | 0.2% | 99.1% | 99.6% | 0.5% |
| North Dakota | 98.2% | 98.4% | 0.2% | 99.2% | 99.4% | 0.2% | 99.7% | 99.4% | -0.3% |
| Ohio | 93.1% | 93.3% | 0.2% | 96.5% | 97.4% | 0.9% | 98.5% | 99.0% | 0.5% |
| Oklahoma | 87.1% | 81.9% | -5.2% | 98.8% | 94.5% | -4.3% | 99.3% | 93.5% | -5.8% |
| Oregon | 92.6% | 93.1% | 0.5% | 96.4% | 96.9% | 0.5% | 93.9% | 94.9% | 1.0% |
| Pennsylvania | 97.7% | 97.7% | 0.0% | 96.9% | 96.5% | -0.4% | 96.9% | 96.1% | -0.8% |
| Rhode Island | 95.8% | 94.5% | -1.3% | 97.6% | 98.6% | 1.0% | 97.7% | 98.7% | 1.0% |
| South Carolina | 80.5% | 91.1% | 10.6% | 97.2% | 97.6% | 0.4% | 98.2% | 98.9% | 0.7% |
| South Dakota | 98.3% | 98.5% | 0.2% | 97.0% | 95.8% | -1.2% | 97.9% | 98.7% | 0.8% |
| Tennessee | 92.0% | 91.7% | -0.3% | 96.7% | 98.4% | 1.7% | 97.6% | 99.2% | 1.6% |
| Texas | 95.3% | 95.1% | -0.2% | 98.3% | 98.7% | 0.4% | 98.6% | 99.1% | 0.5% |
| Utah | 96.8% | 96.2% | -0.6% | 98.7% | 98.4% | -0.3% | 99.6% | 99.6% | 0.0% |
| Vermont | 96.6% | 94.8% | -1.8% | 98.4% | 97.8% | -0.6% | 98.2% | 98.5% | 0.3% |
| Virginia | 70.8% | 91.4% | 20.6% | 90.6% | 97.7% | 7.1% | 93.2% | 98.6% | 5.4% |
| Washington | 70.8% | 81.9% | 11.1% | 96.8% | 98.4% | 1.6% | 99.0% | 99.5% | 0.5% |
| West Virginia | 94.3% | 94.3% | 0.0% | 99.2% | 99.3% | 0.1% | 99.6% | 99.6% | 0.0% |
| Wisconsin | 93.7% | 96.8% | 3.1% | 95.8% | 97.5% | 1.7% | 98.6% | 99.3% | 0.7% |
| Wyoming | 95.3% | 97.7% | 2.4% | 96.3% | 98.4% | 2.1% | 99.1% | 99.4% | 0.3% |
| Puerto Rico | 92.6% | 95.5% | 2.9% | 96.7% | 96.8% | 0.1% | 95.8% | 95.9% | 0.1% |
| Virgin Islands | 44.0% | 54.9% | 10.9% | 74.0% | 90.5% | 16.5% | 82.9% | 92.5% | 9.6% |
| [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: February 24, 2021