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Handbook of Methods Current Employment Statistics - National Overview

Current Employment Statistics - National: Overview

The Current Employment Statistics-National (CES-N) program produces detailed industry estimates of nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings of workers on payrolls. Each month, BLS collects data through the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, which includes about 122,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 666,000 individual worksites drawn from a sampling frame of unemployment insurance tax accounts covering roughly 11.0 million establishments.

The Handbook of Methods also provides information on the Current Employment Statistics-State and Metro Area (CES-SA) program at https://www.bls.gov/sae/. CES-SA produces estimates of employment, hours, and earnings data for all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and about 450 metropolitan areas and divisions. The CES-SA program uses the same sample and collection methods, thus references to CES apply to both CES-N and CES-SA programs.

Quick Facts: Current Employment Statistics - National
Subject areas Employment, Hours, Pay
Key measures
  • Employment
  • Average hourly earnings
  • Average weekly hours
  • Real earnings
How the data are obtained Government agencies, Survey of businesses
Classification Geography, Industry
Classification system

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
Periodicity of data availability Monthly
Geographic detail National
Scope Nonfarm private sector
Sample sizes

About 122,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 666,000 individual worksites
Reference Period

Pay period that includes the 12th of the month
Revision Information

Preliminary estimates are published and subject to revision for 2 months after initial release. Benchmark revisions occur annually.
Key products
Program webpage
Last Modified Date: September 06, 2023