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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.

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages collection by type and source, third quarter 2020
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.

QCEW response rates for establishments[1], employment, and total wages (as first published)
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