economy_employment_levels_county_year
QCEW county-total employment and wages joined with LAUS labor force (C1). Tier A (QCEW) / Tier C (LAUS fields). History 1990-present.
overview
3,221 counties x ~35 years. QCEW is a near-census of employer reports under unemployment insurance - covers ~95% of all wage and salary employment. LAUS labor force is modeled.
current vintage — 2024 annual averages
history — QCEW: 1990 to present (NAICS-based from 2001; SIC prior); LAUS: 1976 to present
source & licensing
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| average_annual_pay | int64 · dollars (nominal) | Average annual wage per covered employee, computed as total annual wages divided by average employment for the year (BLS QCEW). Higher values indicate higher average worker compensation. |
| average_weekly_wage | int64 · dollars (nominal) | Average weekly wage per covered employee, derived from BLS QCEW as total quarterly wages divided by weeks in the period. Higher values indicate higher average weekly earnings. |
| country_id | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables). |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| employed | int64 · count | Number of civilians in the county counted as employed under BLS LAUS methodology for the reference year. Based on place of residence, unlike QCEW-based total_employment which is place of work. |
| labor_force | int64 · count | Total civilian labor force in the county for the reference year, sourced from BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS). Equals the sum of employed and unemployed residents. |
| state_id | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| total_annual_wages_thousands | int64 · thousands of dollars | Total annual wages paid to covered employees in the county, in thousands of dollars. Source is BLS QCEW (reported in dollars, divided by 1,000). Higher values indicate a larger aggregate wage base. |
| total_employment | int64 · count | Total number of covered employees in the county for the reference year, sourced from BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). Covers workers in jobs subject to unemployment insurance taxes; excludes self-employed and some agricultural workers. |
| unemployed | int64 · count | Number of civilians in the county counted as unemployed (actively seeking work) under BLS LAUS methodology. Higher values relative to the labor force indicate weaker local labor market conditions. |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation. |
joins
how to use this table
QCEW counts employees from state UI tax records, summed across employers in county. LAUS uses CPS state-level estimates plus claims data and CES employment to produce monthly modeled county labor force, employment, and unemployment.
Self-employment (QCEW excludes most self-employed); federal civilian and military counts (separate data); single-month change in small counties (LAUS modeling is volatile <50k labor force).
QCEW suppresses small cells. LAUS revisions: each March, BLS revises prior year. Tier mismatch: QCEW is Tier A administrative, LAUS is Tier C model - do not pool fields naively.