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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Current Employment Statistics (State and Metro Area) > Home

2024 Preliminary Benchmark Revisions to Current Establishment Survey Data for states and select metropolitan areas

Each year, CES employment estimates are benchmarked to comprehensive counts of employment from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). These counts are derived primarily from state unemployment insurance (UI) tax records that nearly all employers are required to file with state workforce agencies.

While most firms are required to pay UI tax for their employees, there are some types of employees that are exempt from UI tax law but are still within scope for the CES. Because these employees are not included in the QCEW, CES uses several other sources to generate counts of this noncovered employment. More information on noncovered employment is available in the CES Handbook of Methods at https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/ces/calculation.htm#noncovered-employment.

Preliminary benchmark revisions are calculated for March 2024 for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 51 metropolitan areas with a Census 2010 population of 1 million or more. Noncovered employment levels for the upcoming benchmark are not available at the time of the release of the preliminary benchmark revisions. Therefore, the preliminary benchmark revision is calculated by adding the previous year’s March noncovered employment level to the current year’s March QCEW employment and subtracting the current year’s March CES estimate of employment:

Preliminary benchmark revision = (March 2023 noncovered employment + March 2024 QCEW employment) – March 2024 CES employment estimate

Final benchmark revisions will be issued in March 2025 with the publication of the January 2025 State Employment and Unemployment Summary news release. The final benchmark will reflect revisions to all not seasonally adjusted data from April 2023 to December 2024, all seasonally adjusted data from January 2020 to December 2024, and select series subject to historical revisions before April 2023. Also, with the publication of January 2025 data, CES will update its area delineations from those based on the 2010 Census to those based on the 2020 Census. For more information on the CES benchmarking process for states and metropolitan areas, see https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/benchmark.htm.

Preliminary benchmark revisions for March 2024 for all 50 states and the District are available in Table 1. Preliminary benchmark revisions for March 2024 for the 51 metropolitan areas with a Census 2010 population of 1 million or more are available in Table 2.

NOTE: The areas listed in Table 2 are based on the area delineations derived from the 2010 Census, available at https://www.bls.gov/bls/omb-bulletin-18-03-revised-delineations-of-metropolitan-statistical-areas.pdf. With the release of final benchmark revisions in March 2025, CES will update its area delineations to those based the 2020 Census, available at https://www.bls.gov/bls/omb-bulletin-23-01-revised-delineations-of-metropolitan-statistical-areas.pdf.

Historical data (2017-2023) for preliminary and final benchmark revisions are available for download in the historical data link below. Preliminary benchmark revisions to CES national data series are available at https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesprelbmk.htm.

Preliminary benchmark revisions to total nonfarm employment by state, level and percent, not seasonally adjusted, March 2024
State	March 2024 Preliminary Benchmark Revision
State	Level (in thousands)	Percent
Alabama	-4.9	-0.2
Alaska	-4.8	-1.5
Arizona	39.8	1.2
Arkansas	-3.3	-0.2
California	7.7	(1)
Colorado	-72.7	-2.5
Connecticut	-1.7	-0.1
Delaware	2.4	0.5
District of Columbia	2.5	0.3
Florida	6.4	0.1
Georgia	6.8	0.1
Hawaii	-1.0	-0.2
Idaho	-15.2	-1.8
Illinois	15.5	0.3
Indiana	-26.7	-0.8
Iowa	-9.6	-0.6
Kansas	-13.0	-0.9
Kentucky	10.0	0.5
Louisiana	17.1	0.9
Maine	1.3	0.2
Maryland	32.7	1.2
Massachusetts	-6.0	-0.2
Michigan	-1.0	(1)
Minnesota	-35.1	-1.2
Mississippi	-6.0	-0.5
Missouri	-54.2	-1.8
Montana	-4.9	-0.9
Nebraska	-7.3	-0.7
Nevada	-14.0	-0.9
New Hampshire	-2.6	-0.4
New Jersey	-18.5	-0.4
New Mexico	-2.6	-0.3
New York	23.8	0.2
North Carolina	13.5	0.3
North Dakota	2.6	0.6
Ohio	13.0	0.2
Oklahoma	-22.8	-1.3
Oregon	7.3	0.4
Pennsylvania	-1.6	(1)
Rhode Island	-4.3	-0.9
South Carolina	-21.9	-0.9
South Dakota	-4.7	-1.0
Tennessee	39.8	1.2
Texas	-30.1	-0.2
Utah	-5.3	-0.3
Vermont	-0.4	-0.1
Virginia	-9.8	-0.2
Washington	-7.3	-0.2
West Virginia	0.1	(1)
Wisconsin	-1.4	(1)
Wyoming	-0.3	-0.1
Footnotes: (1) +/- 0.05 percent

Preliminary benchmark revisions to total nonfarm employment by area, level and percent, not seasonally adjusted, March 2024
Area	March 2024 Preliminary Benchmark Revision
Area	Level (in thousands)	Percent
Birmingham-Hoover, AL	-9.1	-1.6
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	22.3	0.9
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	30.8	0.5
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	7.0	0.4
Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA	10.1	0.9
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA	0.2	(1)
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	-18.2	-0.7
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	-5.3	-0.5
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO	-10.0	-0.6
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT NECTA	-3.3	-0.6
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	-164.3	-5.1
Jacksonville, FL	-2.2	-0.3
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	-17.9	-0.6
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	-0.2	(1)
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	-25.2	-1.6
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	-19.1	-0.6
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	-19.5	-0.4
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN	-25.5	-2.2
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	2.4	0.3
New Orleans-Metairie, LA	7.7	1.3
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	21.4	1.5
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH NECTA	2.9	0.1
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	-16.0	-0.8
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	-20.2	-1.0
Kansas City, MO-KS	0.0	(1)
St. Louis, MO-IL (2)	-25.9	-1.8
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV	-25.9	-2.3
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY	-7.7	-1.4
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	-18.6	-0.2
Rochester, NY	-6.6	-1.3
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	1.3	0.1
Raleigh, NC	-0.2	(1)
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	-7.2	-0.6
Cleveland-Elyria, OH	-8.6	-0.8
Columbus, OH	-4.5	-0.4
Oklahoma City, OK	-18.8	-2.7
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	6.6	0.5
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	-30.8	-1.0
Pittsburgh, PA	-8.2	-0.7
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA NECTA	-2.4	-0.4
Memphis, TN-MS-AR	4.7	0.7
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	0.0	(1)
Austin-Round Rock, TX	-19.3	-1.4
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	-49.1	-1.2
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	5.3	0.2
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	-9.7	-0.8
Salt Lake City, UT	-0.6	-0.1
Richmond, VA	-9.2	-1.3
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC	-3.0	-0.4
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	-11.4	-0.5
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI	-0.2	(1)
Footnotes: (1) +/- 0.05 percent (2) St. Louis, MO-IL does not reflect the official OMB delineation NOTE: Areas are based on the area delineations derived from the 2010 Census, available at https://www.bls.gov/bls/omb-bulletin-18-03-revised-delineations-of-metropolitan-statistical-areas.pdf. Areas in the six New England states are Metropolitan New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs), while areas in other states are county-based. Some metropolitan areas lie in two or more states.

Historical Data

preliminary-benchmark-histories.xlsx (Excel)

Last Modified Date: August 21, 2024