The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Program is a Federal-State cooperative program between the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the California EDD’s Labor Market Information Division (LMID). The QCEW program produces a comprehensive tabulation of employment and wage information for workers covered by California Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. The QCEW program serves as a near census of monthly employment and quarterly wage information by 6-digit industry codes from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at the national, state, and county levels. At the national level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data for nearly every NAICS industry. At the state and local area level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data down to the 6-digit NAICS industry level, if disclosure restrictions are met. In accordance with the BLS policy, data provided to the Bureau in confidence are used only for specified statistical purposes and are not published. The BLS withholds publication of Unemployment Insurance law-covered employment and wage data for any industry level when necessary to protect the identity of cooperating employers. Data from the QCEW program serve as an important input to many BLS programs. The Current Employment Statistics and the Occupational Employment Statistics programs use the QCEW data as the benchmark source for employment. The UI administrative records collected under the QCEW program serve as a sampling frame for the BLS establishment surveys. In addition, the data serve as an input to other federal and state programs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Department of Commerce uses the QCEW data as the base for developing the wage and salary component of personal income. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and California's EDD use the QCEW data to administer the Unemployment Insurance program. The QCEW data accurately reflect the extent of coverage of California’s UI laws and are used to measure UI revenues; national, state and local area employment; and total and UI taxable wage trends. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes new QCEW data in its County Employment and Wages news release on a quarterly basis. The BLS also publishes a subset of its quarterly data through the Create Customized Tables system, and full quarterly industry detail data at all geographic levels.

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program is a cooperative program involving the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the United States Department of Labor and the State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs). The QCEW program produces a comprehensive tabulation of employment and wage information for workers covered by State unemployment insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. Publicly available data files include information on the number of establishments, monthly employment, and quarterly wages, by NAICS industry, by county, by ownership sector, for the entire United States. These data are aggregated to annual levels, to higher industry levels (NAICS industry groups, sectors, and supersectors), and to higher geographic levels (national, State, and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)). To download and analyze QCEW data, users can begin on the QCEW Databases page. Downloadable data are available in formats such as text and CSV. Data for the QCEW program that are classified using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) are available from 1990 forward, and on a more limited basis from 1975 to 1989. These data provide employment and wage information for arts-related NAICS industries, such as: Arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS Code 71) Performing arts and spectator sports Museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks Amusements, gambling, and recreation Professional, scientific, and technical services (NAICS Code 54) Architectural services Graphic design services Photographic services Retail trade (NAICS Code 44-45) Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores Book, periodical, and music stores Art dealers For years 1975-2000, data for the QCEW program provide employment and wage information for arts-related industries are based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. These arts-related SIC industries include the following: Book stores (SIC 5942) Commercial photography (SIC Code 7335) Commercial art and graphic design (SIC Code 7336) Museums, Botanical, Zoological Gardens (SIC Code 84) Dance studios, schools, and halls (SIC Code 7911) Theatrical producers and services (SIC Code 7922) Sports clubs, managers, & promoters (SIC Code 7941) Motion Picture Services (SIC Code 78) The QCEW program serves as a near census of monthly employment and quarterly wage information by 6-digit NAICS industry at the national, state, and county levels. At the national level, the QCEW program provides employment and wage data for almost every NAICS industry. At the State and area level, the QCEW program provides employment and wage data down to the 6-digit NAICS industry level, if disclosure restrictions are met. Employment data under the QCEW program represent the number of covered workers who worked during, or received pay for, the pay period including the 12th of the month. Excluded are members of the armed forces, the self-employed, proprietors, domestic workers, unpaid family workers, and railroad workers covered by the railroad unemployment insurance system. Wages represent total compensation paid during the calendar quarter, regardless of when services were performed. Included in wages are pay for vacation and other paid leave, bonuses, stock options, tips, the cash value of meals and lodging, and in some States, contributions to deferred compensation plans (such as 401(k) plans). The QCEW program does provide partial information on agricultural industries and employees in private households. Data from the QCEW program serve as an important source for many BLS programs. The QCEW data are used as the benchmark source for employment by the Current Employment Statistics program and the Occupational Employment Statistics program. The UI administrative records collected under the QCEW program serve as a sampling frame for BLS establishment surveys. In addition, data from the QCEW program serve as a source to other Federal and State programs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Department of Commerce uses QCEW data as the base for developing the wage and salary component of personal income. The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor and the SESAs use QCEW data to administer the employment security program. The QCEW data accurately reflect the ex