CES Scope

  1. What is the establishment payroll survey?

  2. What types of data can one get from the CES survey?

  3. What is the CES definition of employment?

  4. What kinds of hours and earnings data are available?

  5. Can I get occupational data from the CES survey?

  6. Are part time employees counted in your survey?

  7. Who is included in data for production and nonsupervisory employees?

  8. How do reservists impact CES?

  9. Are employees in Puerto Rico included in national CES estimates?


  1. What is the establishment payroll survey?

    The establishment payroll survey, known as the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, is based on a survey of approximately 140,000 businesses and government agencies representing approximately 410,000 worksites throughout the United States. The primary statistics derived from the survey are monthly estimates of employment, hours, and earnings for the Nation, States, and major metropolitan areas. Preliminary national estimates for a given reference month are typically released on the third Friday after the conclusion of the reference week; i.e., the week which includes the 12th of the month, in conjunction with data derived from a separate survey of households, the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is the source of statistics on the activities of the labor force, including unemployment and the Nation's unemployment rate.

  2. What types of data can one get from the CES survey?

    The establishment survey produces nonfarm payroll estimates for: all employees, production and nonsupervisory employees, women employees, average weekly hours, average hourly earnings (constant dollar and current dollar), average weekly earnings, average overtime, index of aggregate hours and payrolls, and diffusion indexes. All data are available not seasonally adjusted, and some data are available seasonally adjusted.

  3. What is the CES definition of employment?

    Employment is the total number of persons on establishment payrolls employed full or part time who received pay for any part of the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month. Temporary and intermittent employees are included, as are any employees who are on paid sick leave, on paid holiday, or who work during only part of the specified pay period. A striking employee who only works a small portion of the survey period, and is paid, would be included as employed under the CES definitions. Persons on the payroll of more than one establishment are counted in each establishment. Data exclude proprietors, self-employed, unpaid family or volunteer workers, farm workers, and domestic workers. Persons on layoff the entire pay period, on leave without pay, on strike for the entire period, or who have not yet reported for work are not counted as employed. Government employment covers only civilian employees.

  4. What kinds of hours and earnings data are available?

    National estimates of average weekly hours and average hourly earnings are made for the private sector for all employees and for production and nonsupervisory employees. Detail is available for about 750 industries. Average weekly overtime hours in manufacturing are also available.

    Hours and earnings are derived from reports of gross payrolls and corresponding paid hours. The payroll for employees covered by the CES survey is reported before deductions of any kind, e.g. for old-age and unemployment insurance, withholding tax, union dues or retirement plans. Included in the payroll reports is pay for overtime, vacations, holidays and sick leave paid directly by the firm. Bonuses, commissions, and other types of non-wage cash payments are excluded unless they are earned and paid regularly (at least once a month). Employee benefits paid by the employer, as well as payments in kind, are excluded.

    Total hours during the pay period include all hours worked (including overtime hours), and hours paid for holidays, vacations, and sick leave. Total hours differ from the concept of scheduled hours worked. The average weekly hours reflects effects of numerous factors such as unpaid absenteeism, labor turnover, part-time work, strikes, and fluctuations in work schedules for economic reasons. Overtime hours in manufacturing are collected where overtime premiums were paid if hours were in excess of the number of straight time hours in a workday or workweek.

  5. Can I get occupational data from the CES survey?

    No. The CES survey does not collect occupational information. Occupational employment information is collected as part of the Occupational Employment Statistics program and the Current Population Survey.

  6. Are part-time employees counted in your survey?

    Yes, however, the establishment survey does not have a specific category for part-time employees. Since the survey captures counts of all employees on the payroll, part-time employees are part of the total. They are not counted separately. The Current Population Survey does have a separate tally for part-time employees.

  7. Who is included in data for production and nonsupervisory employees?

    The employee groups for which hours and earnings data are collected varies slightly by industry. In service-providing industries, these data are collected for nonsupervisory employees who are not owners or who are not primarily employed to direct, supervise, or plan the work of others.

    In goods-producing industries, the data are collected for production employees in mining and logging and in manufacturing, and construction employees in construction. In addition to the exclusion of owners and supervisory employees applied in service-providing industries, the production employee/construction employee categories exclude employees not directly involved in production.

  8. How do reservists impact CES?

    The BLS is unable to quantify the impact of reservists being called to active duty on CES employment figures. In concept, persons on active military duty for the entire survey reference period are not included on employer payrolls. Some reservists hold jobs not covered by the payroll survey—such as the self employed or those in agriculture—and others may not hold jobs at all. Any reservist who worked at all for their regular employer during the survey reference period would have been counted on the employer's payroll. If reservists are replaced by new employees on an employer's payroll, there would be no net change in the number of jobs counted. If reservists are not replaced, a net decline in the employer's job count would result.

  9. Are employees in Puerto Rico included in national CES estimates?

    National CES employment estimates exclude employees in Puerto Rico. BLS cooperates with both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to collect data and publish employment estimates independent of national estimates. See the State and Area homepage.

 

Last Modified Date: February 5, 2010