BLS Release of 2004 First Quarter Preliminary Data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages

BLS has released fully detailed quarterly data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.   The program was previously known as the Covered Employment and Wages program, and also as the ES-202 program.

Period Covered by This Release

This release covers the first quarter of 2004.

Create Customized Tables

The update of the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages database was begun on October 26, 2004.  This release includes:

• National data to the NAICS 6-digit level,
• State data to the NAICS 3-digit detail,
• County totals by ownership, with private sector detail to the NAICS supersector,
• Metropolitan Area totals by ownership, with private sector detail to the NAICS supersector,
• National private ownership data by establishment size from the total to the NAICS sector level,
• State total private ownership data by establishment size.

Flat Files (FTP)

The FTP directories were updated on October 26, 2004.  This includes fully detailed industry data available at county, MSA, State, and national levels, and includes monthly employment and quarterly establishment and wage totals.

New Metropolitan Area Data

Beginning in October 2004, the new Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) definitions, and the related Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) definitions of Micropolitan Statistical Areas (MicroSA) and Combined Statistical Areas (CSA) have become standard area definitions in the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program. These new area definitions were released by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in June 2003, and were updated in February and March of 2004. Previously released QCEW NAICS data based on the old MSA definitions have been moved to an archival FTP folder called "oldmsa" under the years for which they were released.  These FTP directories can be accessed at ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cew/.

Last Modified Date: October 26, 2004

URL: http://www.bls.gov/CEW
Phone: (202) 691-6567
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CEW data questions: cewinfo@bls.gov
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