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Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
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QCEW Open Data Access: CSV Data Slices


QCEW provides a collection of CSV files representing logical slices of data. Data are sliced by industry, by area, and by establishment size-class. An industry slice contains all the records associated with the industry for a single time period. An area slice contains all the records associated with the area for a single time period. A size slice contains all records published within a specific size class for the first quarter of a specified year. These three types of slices are detailed below. These data slices are stored as CSV files. (Comma Separated Values) This file layout is defined below.

In June 2016, the entire collection of CSV files was migrated to data.bls.gov. The rest of the URL structure remains the same. A server-side redirect points to the new location. This redirect will be turned off at some point in the future. If you downloaded any of the code examples in the past, We recommend you update your codebase with the new versions here.

Example:

	OLD:  http://www.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2017/1/area/US000.csv
	NEW: http://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2017/1/area/US000.csv


Data Slices by Industry

An industry slice contains all the records associated with the industry for a single time period. Industry slices are stored in folders by year and quarter. Consider the following URL:

    http://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2017/1/industry/10.csv

This URL points to the total, all industries (NAICS 10) CSV file for first quarter 2017. Notice the year, quarter, and industry codes (2017,1, and 10) are all visible in the URL. You can change these values to point at different time periods and industries. The URL above also contains the word "industry". This designates the type of data you're requesting. In this case we're requesting industry data. Some NAICS codes are hyphenated. For example, the NAICS code for manufacturing is 31-33. Industry file names do not contain hyphens, only numbers and underscores. So, the file for manufacturing is actually "31_33.csv" and to request first quarter manufacturing data for 2017, you'd use the following URL: http://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2017/1/industry/31_33.csv

For a complete list of industry titles and codes see:
http://data.bls.gov/cew/doc/titles/industry/industry_titles.htm



Data Slices by Area

An area slice contains all the records associated with the area for a single time period. Area slices are stored in folders by year and quarter. Consider the following URL:

    http://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2017/1/area/26000.csv

This URL points to the Michigan, State-level CSV file for first quarter 2017. Notice the year, quarter, and area code (2017,1, and 26000) are all visible in the URL. You can change these values to point at different time periods and areas. The URL above also contains the word "area". This designates the type of data you're requesting. In this case we're requesting area data. For a complete list of area titles and codes see: http://data.bls.gov/cew/doc/titles/area/area_titles.htm



Data Slices by Size Class

A size slice contains all records published within a specific size class for the first quarter of a specified year. Consider the following URL:

    http://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2017/1/size/3.csv

This URL points to the size-class 3 CSV file for first quarter 2017. Notice the year, quarter, and size code (2017,1, and 3) are all visible in the URL. You can change these values to point at different time periods and size classes. Note that size data is only available for the first quarter of each year. The URL above also contains the word "size". This designates the type of data you're requesting. In this case we're requesting size data. For a complete list of size-class titles and codes see:
http://data.bls.gov/cew/doc/titles/size/size_titles.htm



Quarterly Data Slice Layout

Quarterly data slices are stored in CSV files. These quarterly files conform to the layout detailed in the table below.

QCEW CSV Quarterly Data Slice Fields
Field
Number
Field
Name
Data
Type
Maximum
Length
Field
Description
1 area_fips Text 5 5-character FIPS code
2 own_code Text 1 1-character ownership code
3 industry_code Text 6 6-character industry code (NAICS, SuperSector)
4 agglvl_code Text 2 2-character aggregation level code
5 size_code Text 1 1-character size code
6 year Text 4 4-character year
7 qtr Text 1 1-character quarter (always A for annual)
8 disclosure_code Text 1 1-character disclosure code (either ' '(blank) or 'N' not disclosed)
9 qtrly_estabs Numeric 8 Count of establishments for a given quarter
10 month1_emplvl Numeric 9 Employment level for the first month of a given quarter
11 month2_emplvl Numeric 9 Employment level for the second month of a given quarter
12 month3_emplvl Numeric 9 Employment level for the third month of a given quarter
13 total_qtrly_wages Numeric 15 Total wages for a given quarter
14 taxable_qtrly_wages Numeric 15 Taxable wages for a given quarter
15 qtrly_contributions Numeric 13 Quarterly contributions for a given quarter
16 avg_wkly_wage Numeric 8 Average weekly wage for a given quarter
17 lq_disclosure_code Text 1 1-character location-quotient disclosure code (either ' '(blank) or 'N' not disclosed
18 lq_qtrly_estabs Numeric 8 Location quotient of the quarterly establishment count relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
19 lq_month1_emplvl Numeric 8 Location quotient of the emloyment level for the first month of a given quarter relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
20 lq_month2_emplvl Numeric 8 Location quotient of the emloyment level for the second month of a given quarter relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
21 lq_month3_emplvl Numeric 8 Location quotient of the emloyment level for the third month of a given quarter relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
22 lq_total_qtrly_wages Numeric 8 Location quotient of the total wages for a given quarter relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
23 lq_taxable_qtrly_wages Numeric 8 Location quotient of the total taxable wages for a given quarter relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
24 lq_qtrly_contributions Numeric 8 Location quotient of the total contributions for a given quarter relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
25 lq_avg_wkly_wage Numeric 8 Location quotient of the average weekly wage for a given quarter relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
26 oty_disclosure_code Text 1 1-character over-the-year disclosure code (either ' '(blank) or 'N' not disclosed)
27 oty_qtrly_estabs_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year change in the count of establishments for a given quarter
28 oty_qtrly_estabs_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in the count of establishments for a given quarter (Rounded to the tenths place)
29 oty_month1_emplvl_chg Numeric 9 Over-the-year change in the first month's employment level of a given quarter
30 oty_month1_emplvl_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in the first month's employment level of a given quarter (Rounded to the tenths place)
31 oty_month2_emplvl_chg Numeric 9 Over-the-year change in the second month's employment level of a given quarter
32 oty_month2_emplvl_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in the second month's employment level of a given quarter (Rounded to the tenths place)
33 oty_month3_emplvl_chg Numeric 9 Over-the-year change in the third month's employment level of a given quarter
34 oty_month3_emplvl_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in the third month's employment level of a given quarter (Rounded to the tenths place)
35 oty_total_qtrly_wages_chg Numeric 15 Over-the-year change in total quarterly wages for a given quarter
36 oty_total_qtrly_wages_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in total quarterly wages for a given quarter (Rounded to the tenths place)
37 oty_taxable_qtrly_wages_chg Numeric 15 Over-the-year change in taxable quarterly wages for a given quarter
38 oty_taxable_qtrly_wages_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in taxable quarterly wages for a given quarter (Rounded to the tenths place)
39 oty_qtrly_contributions_chg Numeric 13 Over-the-year change in quarterly contributions for a given quarter
40 oty_qtrly_contributions_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in quarterly contributions for a given quarter (Rounded to the tenths place)
41 oty_avg_wkly_wage_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year change in average weekly wage for a given quarter
42 oty_avg_wkly_wage_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in average weekly wage for a given quarter (Rounded to the tenths place)


Annual Average Data Slice Layout

Annual-average data slices are stored in CSV files. These annual-average files conform to the layout detailed in the table below.

QCEW CSV Annual Average Data Slice Fields
Field
Number
Field
Name
Data
Type
Maximum
Length
Field
Description
1 area_fips Text 5 5-character FIPS code
2 own_code Text 1 1-character ownership code
3 industry_code Text 6 6-character industry code (NAICS, SuperSector)
4 agglvl_code Text 2 2-character aggregation level code
5 size_code Text 1 1-character size code
6 year Text 4 4-character year
7 qtr Text 1 1-character quarter (always A for annual)
8 disclosure_code Text 1 1-character disclosure code (either ' '(blank) or 'N' not disclosed)
9 annual_avg_estabs Numeric 8 Annual average of quarterly establishment counts for a given year
10 annual_avg_emplvl Numeric 9 Annual average of monthly employment levels for a given year
11 total_annual_wages Numeric 15 Sum of the four quarterly total wage levels for a given year
12 taxable_annual_wages Numeric 15 Sum of the four quarterly total taxable wage totals for a given year
13 annual_contributions Numeric 13 Sum of the four quarterly contribution totals for a given year
14 annual_avg_wkly_wage Numeric 8 Average weekly wage based on the 12-monthly employment levels and total annual wage levels
15 avg_annual_pay Numeric 8 Average annual pay based on employment and wage levels for a given year
16 lq_disclosure_code Text 1 1-character location-quotient disclosure code (either '' (blank) or 'N' not disclosed)
17 lq_annual_avg_estabs Numeric 8 Location quotient of annual average establishment count relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
18 lq_annual_avg_emplvl Numeric 8 Location quotient of annual average employment relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
19 lq_total_annual_wages Numeric 8 Location quotient of total annual wages relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
20 lq_taxable_annual_wages Numeric 8 Location quotient of taxable annual wages relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
21 lq_annual_contributions Numeric 8 Location quotient of total annual contributions relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
22 lq_annual_avg_wkly_wage Numeric 8 Location quotient of annual average weekly wage relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
23 lq_avg_annual_pay Numeric 8 Location quotient of annual average pay relative to the U.S. (Rounded to the hundredths place)
24 oty_disclosure_code Text 1 1-character over-the-year disclosure code (either ' '(blank) or 'N' not disclosed)
25 oty_annual_avg_estabs_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year change in annual average establishments for a given year
26 oty_annual_avg_estabs_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in annual average establishments for a given year (Rounded to the tenths place)
27 oty_annual_avg_emplvl_chg Numeric 9 Over-the-year change in annual average employment for a given year
28 oty_annual_avg_emplvl_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in annual average employment for a given year (Rounded to the tenths place)
29 oty_total_annual_wages_chg Numeric 15 Over-the-year change in the total annual wages for a given year
30 oty_total_annual_wages_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in total annual wages for a given year (Rounded to the tenths place)
31 oty_taxable_annual_wages_chg Numeric 15 Over-the-year change in taxable annual wages for a given year
32 oty_taxable_annual_wages_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in taxable annual wages for a given year (Rounded to the tenths place)
33 oty_annual_contributions_chg Numeric 13 Over-the-year change in annual contributions for a given year
34 oty_annual_contributions_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in annual contributions for a given year (Rounded to the tenths place)
35 oty_annual_avg_wkly_wage_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year change in annual average weekly wage for a given year
36 oty_annual_avg_wkly_wage_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in annual average weekly wage for a given year (Rounded to the tenths place)
37 oty_avg_annual_pay_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year change in average annual pay for a given year
38 oty_avg_annual_pay_pct_chg Numeric 8 Over-the-year percent change in average annual pay for a given year (Rounded to the tenths place)

 

Last Modified Date: September 7th, 2022