Bureau of Labor Statistics > Current Employment Statistics (State and Metro Area) > Methods > Benchmarking

Benchmark 2018 Supplemental Tables

Differences in seasonality exist between the population data and the sample-based data in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) time series. These differences are significant enough that CES must utilize a two-step seasonal adjustment process to develop its seasonally adjusted data for states and areas.

Given these differences, the benchmark revisions to the not seasonally adjusted September 2018 estimates are most appropriate to assess the reliability of the estimation process since that month is 12 months after the latest population data used with the release of the 2017 benchmark. Over a 12-month period, the seasonal differences between the population and the sample-based data will largely be reconciled in the not seasonally adjusted data.

Tables that include the benchmark revision for September 2018 are now available below. Standard benchmark tables, which focus on the revision for March and December, are available in the annual benchmark article for CES state and area data.

Table 1a. Absolute percentage differences between state employment estimates and benchmarks by industry, not seasonally adjusted, March 2013 – March 2018 and September 2018 (all values in percent)
Industry	Mar. 2013²	Mar. 2014	Mar. 2015	Mar. 2016	Mar. 2017	Mar. 2018³	Sep. 2018³
	Mar. 2013²	Mar. 2014	Mar. 2015	Mar. 2016	Mar. 2017	Mar. 2018³	Sep. 2018³	Total nonfarm	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.6
	Mining and logging	3.7	2.8	4.2	4.5	3.7	3.6	4.0
Construction	3.1	3.0	2.6	2.3	2.5	2.1	3.0
Manufacturing	1.4	1.2	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1.0	0.7	0.6	0.8	0.7	1.0	1.2
Information	2.2	2.0	2.6	3.0	2.7	2.2	2.4
Financial activities	1.6	2.0	1.9	2.3	1.6	1.5	2.1
Professional and business services	1.8	1.6	1.6	1.4	1.5	1.3	1.5
Education and health services	1.6	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8
Leisure and hospitality	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.5	1.6	1.3	1.7
Other services	2.1	2.4	2.1	2.4	2.7	4.4	4.9
Government	0.7	0.9	0.7	0.5	0.8	0.8	1.1

Total nonfarm:
Range	-0.7 to 2.9	-1.5 to 2.0	-1.8 to 1.3	-1.6 to 0.9	-1.0 to 1.2	-4.4 to 1.4	-3.2 to 1.0
Mean	0.3	0.1	(1)	-0.1	-0.1	-0.1	-0.5
Standard deviation	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.8	0.7
Footnotes: (1) Less than +/− 0.05 percent ²The CES estimates in this column were subject to large revisions and historical reconstructions due to substantial reclassifications by the QCEW program in the financial activities and education and health services sectors. For more information, see https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cewqtr_09262013.htm. ³These summary statistics do not include revisions for South Carolina. See the changes to CES published series section of the CES State and Area Benchmark Article for more information.

Table 1b. Absolute level differences between state employment estimates and benchmarks by industry, not seasonally adjusted, March 2013 – March 2018 and September 2018 (all values payroll employment)
Industry	Mar. 2013¹	Mar. 2014	Mar. 2015	Mar. 2016	Mar. 2017	Mar. 2018²	Sep. 2018²
	Mar. 2013¹	Mar. 2014	Mar. 2015	Mar. 2016	Mar. 2017	Mar. 2018²	Sep. 2018²	Total nonfarm	16,900	11,500	9,200	7,700	7,100	9,200	13,400
	Mining and logging	600	400	800	500	500	300	600
Construction	2,700	2,800	2,500	2,700	2,200	2,300	3,400
Manufacturing	1,500	1,700	2,200	2,200	2,200	1,900	2,700
Trade, transportation, and utilities	3,900	2,600	2,700	3,300	2,600	4,900	6,600
Information	800	900	1,100	1,400	1,000	1,200	1,100
Financial activities	2,000	2,100	1,900	2,300	1,600	1,500	2,100
Professional and business services	4,100	3,900	5,100	4,400	3,300	4,000	5,000
Education and health services	12,000	3,400	3,700	3,000	3,200	3,100	2,700
Leisure and hospitality	2,900	3,500	2,600	2,900	3,400	3,000	4,600
Other services	2,000	2,000	1,800	1,800	2,200	2,400	3,100
Government	2,500	3,900	2,600	2,300	3,000	3,400	5,200

Total nonfarm:
Range	-13,700 to 428,200	-40,800 to 103,800	-103,600 to 21,200	-26,500 to 40,400	-44,900 to 16,400	-37,600 to 66,500	-101,600 to 21,000
Mean	13,800	5,500	-2,400	200	-2,300	1,200	-11,300
Standard deviation	60,800	20,200	17,400	11,600	11,000	16,200	20,000
Footnotes: ¹The CES estimates in this column were subject to large revisions and historical reconstructions due to substantial reclassifications by the QCEW program in the financial activities and education and health services sectors. For more information, see https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cewqtr_09262013.htm. ²These summary statistics do not include revisions for South Carolina. See the changes to CES published series section of the CES State and Area Benchmark Article for more information.

Table 2. Percent differences between nonfarm payroll employment benchmarks and estimates by state, not seasonally adjusted, March 2013 – March 2018 and September 2018 (all values in percent)
State	Mar. 2013	Mar. 2014	Mar. 2015	Mar. 2016	Mar. 2017	Mar. 2018	Sep. 2018
Alabama	0.4	-0.1	-0.3	0.4	0.8	0.2	-0.2
Alaska	0.1	-0.2	0.2	-1.1	0.2	-0.4	0.4
Arizona	0.3	0.1	-0.2	-0.3	0.5	0.4	(1)
Arkansas	-0.5	-0.7	-0.6	(1)	-0.2	1.4	0.8
California	2.9	0.7	-0.7	(1)	(1)	0.3	(1)
Colorado	0.5	0.5	0.7	-0.5	0.4	-0.2	-0.4
Connecticut	0.2	-0.1	-1.0	-0.2	-0.2	-0.2	-0.3
Delaware	0.2	0.3	0.4	-1.1	0.1	0.3	-0.2
District of Columbia	1.1	0.3	0.4	0.9	0.3	-0.1	-0.4
Florida	0.3	-0.1	-0.2	0.5	-0.1	(1)	(1)
Georgia	(1)	0.7	-0.3	-0.6	-0.8	0.3	-0.2
Hawaii	1.0	0.6	0.7	-0.7	0.4	-0.7	-1.3
Idaho	0.2	2.0	-0.4	(1)	0.4	-0.1	0.3
Illinois	0.1	0.5	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.4	0.1
Indiana	-0.2	-0.1	-0.1	0.6	-0.3	0.6	0.2
Iowa	-0.1	(1)	-0.5	-0.3	-0.5	-0.2	-0.3
Kansas	-0.2	0.5	-0.2	0.9	-0.4	-0.4	-0.5
Kentucky	-0.3	0.3	-0.6	-0.2	-0.9	0.2	-0.1
Louisiana	-0.1	0.5	0.3	(1)	0.1	0.2	-0.3
Maine	(1)	-0.7	0.3	0.6	0.2	0.4	-0.2
Maryland	-0.4	-0.3	-0.2	-0.1	-1.0	0.4	-0.4
Massachusetts	1.2	0.1	0.5	0.5	-0.2	0.2	-1.1
Michigan	0.9	1.1	-0.6	-0.5	-0.2	-0.1	-0.3
Minnesota	(1)	-0.6	-0.1	0.1	(1)	(1)	-0.6
Mississippi	-0.7	(1)	0.2	0.1	0.5	-1.1	-0.9
Missouri	1.1	-1.5	0.4	0.7	-0.3	-0.4	-0.8
Montana	0.6	0.2	1.3	0.8	-0.8	0.1	-0.3
Nebraska	1.3	0.7	(1)	-0.2	-0.2	-0.3	-0.9
Nevada	0.5	-0.6	0.7	0.2	0.8	0.4	(1)
New Hampshire	(1)	-0.3	-0.1	(1)	-0.3	-0.2	-1.6
New Jersey	-0.1	0.5	(1)	-0.2	(1)	-0.9	-0.9
New Mexico	0.2	0.5	-0.4	0.2	-0.8	0.1	-1.2
New York	(1)	0.6	0.1	0.4	0.1	0.7	0.2
North Carolina	-0.3	-0.1	-0.5	0.1	(1)	(1)	-0.8
North Dakota	-0.2	-1.4	-1.8	-1.6	-1.0	1.2	-0.1
Ohio	0.9	0.4	0.1	-0.2	(1)	-0.5	-1.3
Oklahoma	0.4	-0.3	0.5	-0.5	-0.1	0.1	-0.3
Oregon	0.2	-0.4	(1)	0.1	0.2	(1)	-0.7
Pennsylvania	(1)	0.2	-0.1	-0.2	(1)	(1)	-0.5
Rhode Island	0.4	-0.2	0.1	(1)	-0.7	-0.6	-1.3
South Carolina	0.2	0.5	-0.2	-0.1	0.5	0.8²	0.8²
South Dakota	-0.1	0.8	(1)	-0.1	-0.6	-0.3	-0.7
Tennessee	-0.2	0.4	0.4	(1)	-0.5	-0.1	-0.1
Texas	(1)	0.1	0.1	0.1	-0.4	-0.3	-0.8
Utah	-0.2	-0.1	-0.2	0.3	-0.1	-0.1	0.1
Vermont	0.1	(1)	-0.8	-1.5	-0.7	-0.1	1.0
Virginia	0.3	-0.3	0.6	-0.3	-0.2	0.2	-0.7
Washington	1.9	0.6	-0.6	-0.4	-0.2	-0.2	-0.9
West Virginia	-0.7	-0.9	1.3	-1.2	0.2	-4.4	-3.2
Wisconsin	0.6	-0.3	0.2	-0.2	(1)	0.2	-0.5
Wyoming	0.4	-0.7	-0.4	0.4	1.2	-0.1	-0.9
Footnotes: (1) Less than +/− 0.05 percent ² Revisions for South Carolina are included in this table. Users are cautioned given the unusual movements in the SC QCEW data. See the changes to CES published series section of the CES State and Area Benchmark Article for more information.

Table 3a. Benchmark revisions for nonfarm employment in metropolitan areas for March 2018, not seasonally adjusted²
Measure	All MSAs	MSAs grouped by level of total nonfarm employment
Measure	All MSAs	Less than 100,000	100,000 to 499,999	500,000 to 999,999	1 million or more
Number of MSAs	381	Less than 100,000	100,000 to 499,999	500,000 to 999,999	1 million or more	182	147	18	34

Average absolute percentage revision	1.0	1.2	0.9	0.5	0.4

Range	-6.1 to 5.5	-6.1 to 4.8	-5.2 to 5.5	-1.3 to 1.7	-0.7 to 0.8
Mean	(1)	-0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1
Standard deviation	1.4	1.7	1.2	0.7	0.4
Footnotes: (1) Less than +/− 0.05 percent ² These summary statistics do not include revisions for South Carolina. See the changes to CES published series section of the CES State and Area Benchmark Article for more information.

Table 3b. Benchmark revisions for nonfarm employment in metropolitan areas for September 2018, not seasonally adjusted¹
Measure	All MSAs	MSAs grouped by level of total nonfarm employment
Measure	All MSAs	Less than 100,000	100,000 to 499,999	500,000 to 999,999	1 million or more
Number of MSAs	381	Less than 100,000	100,000 to 499,999	500,000 to 999,999	1 million or more	182	147	18	34

Average absolute percentage revision	1.2	1.5	1.1	0.6	0.6

Range	-7.9 to 6.9	-7.9 to 6.9	-5.1 to 6.1	-1.5 to 1.6	-1.5 to 1.6
Mean	-0.3	-0.4	-0.3	-0.3	-0.3
Standard deviation	1.7	2.0	1.5	0.7	0.7
Footnotes: ¹ These summary statistics do not include revisions for South Carolina. See the changes to CES published series section of the CES State and Area Benchmark Article for more information.

Last Modified Date: July 8, 2019