Have you ever wondered why “these numbers” don’t match “those numbers?” You aren’t alone! The most frequently cited sources differ greatly in data collection method, time period captured and data definitions.
Here is a document explaining some of the primary differences in methodology between our data and government sources: Government Data Primer.
Below is a chart we created to help explain the differences. This chart is also available in a handy PDF. Download your copy for reference.
| Your Economy (YE) | County Business Patterns (CBP) | Current Employment Statistics (CES) | Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) | American Community Survey (ACS) | |
| Provided by | University of Wisconsin System | US Census | Bureau of Labor Statistics | Bureau of Labor Statistics | US Census |
| Reported Time Period | Annually | Annually | Monthly | Quarterly | Annually and 5 year |
| Availability | 3 months after subject year | 16 months after subject year | First week after subject month | 5 months after subject quarter | 1 year after subject year |
| Source of Data | Time Series assembled from verified individual establishment records collected by Data Axle. | Payroll records filed the week of March 12. | Survey of businesses. | State unemployment insurance filings, supplemented by survey data. | Survey of households. |
| Excluded industries and/or sizes | None. | Farms, rail, postal service, notaries, and government. Establishments without employees on payroll. | Farms, self-employed persons, some government workers. | Establishments with fewer than 3 employees on payroll. Farms are also excluded. | N/A. Questionnaire asks about household members, not establishments. |
| Geographic Areas Available | US, State, Metro Area, County, Congressional District and Zip Code.* | US, State, Metro Area, County, Congressional District and Zip Code. | US, State, Metro Area. | US, State, Metro Area and County. | US, State, Metro Area, County, Congressional District, Zip Code and Census Tract. |
| Availability of individual establishment records | Available for purchase, including all variables. | None. Prohibited by law. | None. Prohibited by law. | None. Prohibited by law. | N/A. Does not survey establishments. |
| Units Measured/Key Variables** | Firms, establishments, jobs. | Establishments, employees on payroll, annual payroll. | Establishments, employees on payroll, number of paid hours. | Establishments, employees on payroll, wages, unemployment. | Household members, demographics, personal finances, work status. |
| Time Series or Snapshot | Time Series and Snapshot | Snapshot | Snapshot | Snapshot | Snapshot |
| Formats available | Aggregated numbers, Time Series graphs, individual establishment records, custom graphs, charts and maps. | Aggregated numbers. | Aggregated numbers. | Aggregated numbers, interactive maps. | Aggregated numbers, maps, tables, custom tabulations. |
*Census Tract available from 2019. City and Latitude/Longitude available for most recent year.
**There are two variations of “workers” among these sources. The term “jobs” is used here when the data includes all people engaged in the operations of the establishment, whether they are on official payroll filings or are non-payroll workers (owners, partners, self-employed, etc.).
All of the information included in the above table was obtained directly from the public information posted on the relevant product websites . All information was gathered during the month of August, 2022.
County Business Patterns: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
Current Employment Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/ces/
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages: https://www.bls.gov/cew/
American Community Survey: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs