Maryland's Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) - Workforce Information & Performance

Differences in State and Federal Data The preliminary QCEW data presented may differ from data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These potential differences result from the states' continuing receipt of UI data over time and ongoing review and editing. The individual states determine their data release timetables.

Adjustment in QCEW Data QCEW data are not designed as a time series. QCEW data are simply the sums of individual establishment records and reflect the number of establishments that exist in a county or industry at a point in time. Establishments can move in or out of a county or industry for a number of reasons--some reflecting economic events, others reflecting administrative changes. For example, economic change would come from a firm relocating into the county; administrative change would come from a company correcting its county designation.

The over-the-year changes of employment and wages presented have been adjusted to account for most of the administrative corrections made to the underlying establishment reports. This is done by modifying the prior-year levels used to calculate the over-the-year changes. Percent changes are calculated using an adjusted version of the final prior-year quarterly data as the base data. The adjusted prior-year levels used to calculate the over-the-year percent change in employment and wages are not published. These adjusted prior-year levels do not match the unadjusted data maintained on the BLS Web site.

The adjusted data used to calculate the over-the-year change measures presented account for most of the administrative changes--those occurring when employers update the industry, location, and ownership information of their establishments. The most common adjustments for administrative change are the result of updated information about the county location of individual establishments. Included in these adjustments are administrative changes involving the classification of establishments that were previously reported in the unknown or statewide county or unknown industry categories. Adjusted data account for improvements in reporting employment and wages for individual and multi-unit establishments. To accomplish this, adjustments were implemented to account for: administrative changes caused by multi-unit employers who start reporting for each individual establishment rather than as a single entity (first quarter of 2008); selected large administrative changes in employment and wages (second quarter of 2011); and state verified improvements in reporting of employment and wages (third quarter of 2014).

The adjusted data used to calculate the over-the-year change measures presented in any County Employment and Wages news release are valid for comparisons between the starting and ending points (a 12-month period) used in that particular release. Comparisons may not be valid for any time period other than the one featured in a release even if the changes were calculated using adjusted data.

Inquiries regarding methodology, additional information, or general assistance may be directed to:

Maryland Department of Labor
Division of Workforce Development and Adult Learning
Office of Workforce Information and Performance
1100 North Eutaw Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
410-767-2250
DLWDALLMI-LABOR@maryland.gov