Dataset · Labor
BLS QCEW history
Available bls-qcew-history
Trend measures from QCEW annual averages: private-sector and manufacturing employment growth, nominal average-pay growth, the latest average annual pay and the change in the manufacturing location quotient.
- Publisher
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Category
- Labor
- Period
- Private ownership annual averages, 2015, 2019, 2025
- Refresh cadence
- Annual (release expected in September)
- Measures
- 7
- Licence
- Public domain (U.S. federal government work)
Source
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Publisher | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Product | Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, annual history |
| Source | https://www.bls.gov/cew/ (opens in a new tab) |
| Category | Labor |
| Period | Private ownership annual averages, 2015, 2019, 2025 |
| Refresh cadence | Annual (release expected in September) |
| Geographies | County and metro. A county counts toward its metro only where it discloses at both ends of the window. |
| Availability | Available |
| Cadastre key | bls-qcew-history |
Licence and attribution
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Licence | Public domain (U.S. federal government work) |
| Terms | https://www.bls.gov/opub/copyright-information.htm (opens in a new tab) |
| Register status | Production approved; licence open |
| Allowed uses | evaluation, internal, public_display, derived_analytics, redistribution, bulk_export, public_geometry, api |
This source requires no credit line beyond naming the publisher. Cite it as U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, annual history.
Measures
The key is the measure's identifier in Cadastre. A measure stored for the metro itself is read as stored; Rule from counties is how a metro is assembled from its counties where it is not (see Methodology).
| Key | Label | Unit | Rule from counties |
|---|---|---|---|
qcew_private_employment_growth_10yr | Private-sector employment growth, 2015-2025 (%) | percent change in private-sector jobs, 2015 to 2025 (private ownership; a metro sums its counties disclosing at both years, none below 80% of its establishments at either; Connecticut has no comparable county data before 2024, so no value there) | Not assembled from counties: a metro has a value only where one is stored for the metro itself |
qcew_private_employment_growth_since_2019 | Private-sector employment growth, 2019-2025 (%) | percent change in private-sector jobs, 2019 to 2025 (private ownership; a metro sums its counties disclosing at both years, none below 80% of its establishments at either; Connecticut has no comparable county data before 2024, so no value there) | Not assembled from counties: a metro has a value only where one is stored for the metro itself |
qcew_manufacturing_employment_growth_10yr | Manufacturing employment growth, 2015-2025 (%) | percent change in manufacturing jobs (NAICS 31-33), 2015 to 2025 (private ownership; a metro sums its counties disclosing at both years, none below 80% of its establishments at either; Connecticut has no comparable county data before 2024, so no value there) | Not assembled from counties: a metro has a value only where one is stored for the metro itself |
qcew_manufacturing_employment_growth_since_2019 | Manufacturing employment growth, 2019-2025 (%) | percent change in manufacturing jobs (NAICS 31-33), 2019 to 2025 (private ownership; a metro sums its counties disclosing at both years, none below 80% of its establishments at either; Connecticut has no comparable county data before 2024, so no value there) | Not assembled from counties: a metro has a value only where one is stored for the metro itself |
qcew_avg_private_wage_growth_10yr | Average private-sector pay growth, 2015-2025 (nominal %) | percent change in average annual pay per private-sector job (total wages / jobs), 2015 to 2025, nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation (private ownership; a metro sums its counties disclosing at both years, none below 80% of its establishments at either; Connecticut has no comparable county data before 2024, so no value there) | Not assembled from counties: a metro has a value only where one is stored for the metro itself |
qcew_avg_private_annual_pay | Average private-sector annual pay, 2025 | dollars per private-sector job (total annual wages / annual-average jobs), nominal (private ownership; a metro sums its counties disclosing at both years, none below 80% of its establishments at either; Connecticut has no comparable county data before 2024, so no value there) | Not assembled from counties: a metro has a value only where one is stored for the metro itself |
qcew_manufacturing_lq_change_10yr | Manufacturing location quotient change, 2015-2025 (points) | change in the manufacturing location quotient (share of private jobs in NAICS 31-33 against the U.S. share that year; 1 = U.S. average), 2025 minus 2015 (private ownership; a metro sums its counties disclosing at both years, none below 80% of its establishments at either; Connecticut has no comparable county data before 2024, so no value there) | Not assembled from counties: a metro has a value only where one is stored for the metro itself |
Known gaps and caveats
- A metro has no value where the disclosing counties hold under 80% of its establishments at either end of the window.
- Connecticut replaced its eight counties with nine planning regions, which Census geography now uses; QCEW publishes the planning regions only from 2024, so Connecticut's counties and every metro with one have no growth, pay-growth or quotient-change value (they do have the latest average pay).
- Pay is nominal, not adjusted for inflation.
- 2020 is never a base year.