The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program is a monthly survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is a cooperative effort between the Labor Market Information Division of the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that provides employment, hours, and earnings estimates for states and metropolitan areas based on payroll records of business establishments. Please note that prior estimates may change due to revisions.
CES estimates are among the earliest economic information available to analyze current economic conditions. Because of this, CES estimates are heavily used in both the private and public sector.
Below is a short list of some of the uses for CES estimates:
Private Sector
- Guide decisions on plant location, sales, and purchases.
- Compare your business with the industry or economy.
- Negotiate labor contracts based upon industry or area hourly earnings and weekly hours series.
- Determine the employment base of States and areas for bond ratings.
- Detect and plan for swings in the business cycle using the average weekly hours series.
Public Sector
- Evaluate the economic health of States and areas.
- Guide monetary policy decisions.
- Assess the growth of industries.
- Forecast tax revenue for States and areas.
- Measure employment, hours, and earnings as a means of determining growth in the economy.
LAUS and CES data are both reported monthly, but there are substantial differences between them.
CES and LAUS data are both reported monthly, but there are substantial differences between them.
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CURRENT EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS (CES) |
LOCAL AREA UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS (LAUS) |
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Data is published by Industry |
Data is published by County |
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Counts Jobs |
Counts People |
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Utilizes an Establishment Survey |
The Current Population Survey (CPS), which is a Household Survey, is used to calculate LAUS |
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Reference week is the Pay Period that includes the 12 th of the month |
Reference week is the Calendar Week that includes the 12 th of the month |
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A job held by a person on unpaid leave during the reference week is not counted since they are not receiving pay |
A person on unpaid leave is counted as employed because they will return to their job |
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Does not count self-employed workers |
Does count self-employed workers |
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Does not include agricultural workers |
Includes both agricultural workers and non-agricultural workers |
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Does not count unpaid family workers |
Counts unpaid family workers if they worked at least 15 unpaid hours for a family business or family farm during the reference week |
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Workers on strike during the entire reference period are not counted |
Workers on strike during the reference week are counted as employed in LAUS |
For more information about CES, visit the BLS website at https://www.bls.gov/sae/.