Conversion to North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and Other Changes, June 2003

With the release of May 2003 data on June 6, 2003, the CES National Nonfarm Payroll series underwent a number of changes. The basis for industry classification changed from the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification System (SIC) to the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). In addition, the sample redesign was completed for the remaining private sector industries. The CES series also incorporated concurrent seasonal adjustment. Lastly, the federal government series was revised slightly in scope and definition.

NAICS Conversion

NAICS replaced the SIC system. The Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey published National data on a NAICS 2002 basis with the release of May 2003 data on June 6, 2003. SIC-based data will no longer be produced or published; it will be still be available but not updated past April 2003. Historical time series were reconstructed as part of the NAICS conversion process. The NAICS-based reconstruction effort covered all CES published datatypes. All NAICS series have history back to at least 1990. Other series that were highly interchangeable with an SIC series have history going farther back in time.

Visit the BLS NAICS webpage for more information about implementing NAICS at BLS.

Completion of the CES sample redesign

June 6, 2003 marked the completion of the CES sample redesign phase-in. The redesign converted the CES from a quota-based sample to a probability-based sample. The final stage of sample redesign phase-in resulted in level shifts for average weekly hours, average hourly earnings, production worker, and women worker series. New levels for these series were computed from NAICS/probability sample-based averages. For further information, read the section "Completion of probability sample redesign" in the article Recent changes in the national Current Employment Statistics Survey by BLS Economist Teresa Morisi.

Concurrent seasonal adjustment

Beginning in June 2003, the CES program converted from its current practice of updating seasonal factors twice a year to updating them every month. Concurrent seasonal adjustment is technically superior to semiannual updates because it uses all available monthly estimates, including those for the current month, thereby eliminating the need to project the seasonal factors. With the introduction of concurrent seasonal adjustment, BLS no longer publishes seasonal factors for CES national estimates. For more information, please read the following paper on concurrent seasonal adjustment.  (HTML)  (PDF 182K)

Changes to federal government series

The CES series for federal government employment was revised slightly in scope and definition due to a change in source data and estimation methods. The previous national series was an end-of-month federal employee count produced by the Office of Personnel Management that excluded some workers, mostly employees who work in Department of Defense-owned establishments such as military base commissaries. Beginning in June 2003, the CES national series includes these workers. Also, federal government employment is now estimated from a sample of federal establishments, is benchmarked annually to counts from unemployment insurance tax records, and reflects employee counts as of the pay period including the 12th of the month, consistent with other CES industry series. The historical time series for federal government employment was revised to reflect these changes.

 

Last Modified Date: June 27, 2008