# 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.

## 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/](https://www.bls.gov/cew/) |
| 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](https://www.bls.gov/opub/copyright-information.htm) |
| 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](https://getcadastre.com/docs/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.

## See also

- [All datasets](https://getcadastre.com/docs/datasets)
- [Rights and attribution](https://getcadastre.com/docs/rights)
- [Data freshness](https://getcadastre.com/docs/freshness)