For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, February 9, 2022 USDL-22-0190

Technical information: (202) 691-6567 • BRS_Inquiry@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/brs

Media contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov

U.S. BUSINESS RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC — 2021

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 14.5 percent of private-sector establishments (1.2 million, with

20.5 percent of all private-sector employment) increased base wages, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 

reported today. Establishments in Accommodation and Food Services, Retail Trade, Health Care and 

Social Assistance, and Manufacturing increased base wages at a higher rate than average.

Data in this release are from the 2021 Business Response Survey (BRS) to the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

BRS data were collected from private-sector establishments from July 27, 2021 through September 30, 

2021. Topics covered include telework, workplace flexibilities, changes in pay, COVID-19 workplace 

requirements, establishment space size, relocation, supplementing workforce, automation, drug and 

alcohol testing, and COVID-19 loans or grants. Detailed tables by industry, state, and employment size 

are available at www.bls.gov/brs.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Other services, except public administration

Accommodation and food services

Arts, entertainment, and recreation

Health care and social assistance

Educational services

Professional and business services

Financial activities

Information

Transportation and warehousing

Retail trade

Wholesale trade

Manufacturing

Construction

Utilities

Natural resources and mining

Total U.S., private sector

Chart 1: Establishments that increased base wages (straight-time wages or salary) by 

industry (percent)
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Changes in Pay

• Hazard pay or an hourly bonus were temporarily offered by 5.5 percent of establishments 

(471,000, with 15.7 percent of all private-sector employment).

• One-time, special monetary bonuses for working during the pandemic were paid by 9.4 percent 

of establishments (809,000, with 23.7 percent of all private-sector employment).

Changes in Telework

• As a result of the pandemic, 34.5 percent of establishments increased telework for some or all of 

their employees.

• Among establishments that increased telework during the pandemic, 60.2 percent expect to keep 

the increases permanent when the pandemic is over.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Other services, except public administration

Accommodation and food services

Arts, entertainment, and recreation

Health care and social assistance

Educational services

Professional and business services

Financial activities

Information

Transportation and warehousing

Retail trade

Wholesale trade

Manufacturing

Construction

Utilities

Natural resources and mining

Total U.S., private sector

Chart 2: Establishments that increased telework for some or all employees by industry 

(percent)
-3-

COVID-19 Vaccinations at Establishments

• COVID-19 vaccinations were required for some or all employees before coming to work on-site 

at 17.5 percent of establishments. 

• A larger share of establishments, 28 percent, offered some or all employees a financial incentive or 

paid time off, or permitted employees to remain on the clock to get a COVID-19 vaccination.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

North Dakota

South Dakota

Montana

Iowa

Nebraska

...

Total U.S., private sector

...

Illinois

Maryland

New Jersey

Rhode Island

Massachusetts

New York

District of Columbia

Hawaii

California

Puerto Rico

Chart 3: Establishments that required some or all employees to get a COVID-19 

vaccination before coming to work on-site by largest and smallest percent

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

North Dakota

South Dakota

Montana

Indiana

Wyoming

...

Total U.S., private sector

...

Massachusetts

New York

Virginia

Hawaii

Nevada

Maryland

Washington

District of Columbia

California

Puerto Rico

Chart 4: Establishments that offered any employees a financial incentive, paid time off, 

or permitted employees to remain on the clock to get a COVID-19 vaccination by largest 

and smallest percent
-4-

Flexible or Staggered Work Hours

• As a result of the pandemic, 24.6 percent of establishments (2.1 million, with 33.9 percent of all 

private-sector employment) started to offer flexible or staggered work hours to employees.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Size Class 9 (1000+)

Size Class 8 (500-999)

Size Class 7 (250-499)

Size Class 6 (100-249)

Size Class 5 (50-99)

Size Class 4 (20-49)

Size Class 3 (10-19)

Size Class 2 (5-9)

Size Class 1 (1-4)

Total U.S., private sector

Chart 5: Establishments that started flexible or staggered work hours, by employment 

size (percent)

Additional Industry, State, and Employment Size Data 

for the 2021 Business Response Survey to the Coronavirus Pandemic

Tables with detailed, industry, state, and establishment size class data along with highlighted 

results, charts, and state maps can be found at www.bls.gov/brs.

• Industry, state, and establishment size class data tables are available at 

www.bls.gov/brs/data/tables/2021.

• Industry and establishment size class charts and state maps are available at 

www.bls.gov/brs/data/charts/2021.
-5-

More Information 

• Data were collected from private-sector establishments only; government establishments were 

not surveyed. As a result, the estimates of establishments and employment refer to private-sector 

establishments and employment. Total U.S. estimates include the 50 states, District of Columbia, 

and Puerto Rico.

• The full 2021 BRS Technical Note is available at www.bls.gov/brs/methods/2021-technicalnotes.htm.

• An earlier survey, the 2020 BRS, asked seven questions about changes businesses made to their 

operations during the pandemic through September 2020. These data are available at 

www.bls.gov/brs/2020-results.htm.

• Definitions for terms used in this news release are available in the BLS Glossary at 

www.bls.gov/bls/glossary.htm.
-6-

Technical Note

Methodology

Data for the 2021 BRS were collected from July 27 through 

September 30, 2021. The BRS relied on the existing data 

collection instrument of the BLS QCEW program’s Annual 

Refiling Survey (ARS). BRS survey responses were solicited via 

email and printed letters. Responses were collected online using 

the platform that is consistently relied on by the ARS. This 

allows for a large, nationally representative sample to be 

surveyed with minimal financial costs to BLS.

Definitions

Establishments. An individual establishment is generally defined 

as a single physical location at which one, or predominantly one, 

type of economic activity is conducted. Most employers covered 

under the state UI laws operate only one place of business.

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 

codes. NAICS codes are the standard used by federal statistical 

agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose 

of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data. The BRS 

is based on 2017 NAICS. 

Large/small. For these data, establishments with 2020 annual 

average employment greater than 499 are considered large.

Sample Design and Selection Procedures

For the 2021 BRS, BLS selected a stratified sample of 322,560 

establishments from a universe of just over 8.6 million 

establishments. The universe source was the set of 

establishments from the 2020 fourth quarter BLS Business 

Register that were identified as in-scope for this survey.

The BLS Business Register is a comprehensive quarterly 

business name and address file of employers subject to state 

Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws. It is sourced from data 

gathered by the QCEW program. Each quarter, QCEW 

employment and wage information is collected and summarized 

at various levels of geography and industry. Geographic 

breakouts include county, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), 

state, and national. Industry breakouts are based on the six-digit 

NAICS. 

The QCEW covers all fifty states, the District of Columbia, 

Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The primary sources of 

data for these 53 entities are the Quarterly Contributions Reports 

(QCRs) submitted to State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) by 

employers subject to state UI laws. The QCEW program also 

gathers separately sourced data for Federal Government 

employees covered by the Unemployment Compensation for 

Federal Employees (UCFE) program.

There were a little over 10.5 million establishments on the 2020 

fourth quarter BLS Business Register that served as the source 

of the BRS’s sampling universe. However, about 1.9 million of 

these establishments were determined to be out-of-scope for the 

survey. Establishments that were excluded from the universe:

• Public Administration & Government (NAICS 92)

• Private Households (NAICS 814110)

• U.S. Postal Service (NAICS 491110)

• Services for the Elderly and Disabled Persons (NAICS 

624120) with Establishment Size = 1

• Unclassified Accounts (NAICS 999999)

• U.S. Virgin Islands (State FIPS 78)

The 2021 BRS leveraged the technical and collection 

infrastructure of the ARS. While the synchronization of the two 

surveys was efficient, it created a need to adapt the BRS sample 

in accordance with some of the constraints imposed on the ARS 

sample. Regarding ARS sampling constraints, establishments 

with one to three employees are never administered the ARS and, 

of the establishments that are eligible for the ARS, roughly onethird are administered the ARS in any given year. The 

determination as to which ARS eligible establishments are active 

for any year’s ARS is based on a random mechanism. During 

BRS sample selection, active ARS eligible establishments and 

ARS ineligible establishments were “selectable,” whereas 

inactive ARS eligible establishments were disallowed from 

selection, in part as a means of managing respondent burden over 

time. 

To integrate the BRS sample into the ARS framework, each 

establishment in the BRS sampling universe was categorized into 

one of the following groups:

• ARS Eligible Establishments – Active for this Year’s ARS 

(BRS Selectable)

• ARS Eligible Establishments – Inactive for this Year’s ARS 

(BRS Not Selectable)

• ARS Ineligible Establishments (BRS Selectable)

Each BRS sampling stratum consisted of establishments from 

one or more of the groups above. Within strata containing only 

active ARS eligible establishments or only ARS ineligible 

establishments, sample selection proceeded with no restrictions 

using simple random sampling. Strata containing only inactive 

ARS eligible establishments ended up being imputed because 

there were no selectable establishments and, therefore, no survey 

results. For any stratum containing a mix of ARS eligible and 

ARS ineligible establishments, stratum sample sizes were 

allocated proportionately to each sub-population. Within the 

stratum’s ARS ineligible sub-population, sample selection then 

proceeded with no restrictions using simple random sampling. 

Within the stratum’s ARS eligible sub-population, sample 

selection proceeded by taking a simple random sample from 

amongst only the active/selectable establishments.

Note that for any stratum containing both active ARS eligible 

and inactive ARS eligible establishments, the sample was 

selected from amongst only the active portion of the stratum. 

This selection was still considered to be representative of all 

ARS eligible establishments in the stratum, regardless of 

active/inactive status, since the determination of ARS 

active/inactive status was random. Because of this, and because 

stratum sample sizes were proportionately allocated to 

eligible/ineligible sup-populations, sample units were equally 

weighted within (but not across) strata and survey question 

combinations.

When designing the survey and determining sample sizes, BLS 

researchers, analysts, and methodologists collaborated to 
-7-

identify the key research goals. As part of this process, a balance 

had to be struck between producing precise estimates for various 

establishment aggregations and the costs associated with fielding 

a sample that could deliver on those goals. Based on the types of 

administrative data available for establishments on the BLS 

Business Register and based on the team’s experience analyzing 

similar establishment-based surveys, research goals centered on 

creating survey estimates for different combinations of 

establishment geography, industry type, and/or establishment 

size. This motivated the decision to choose a design that stratified 

on all three factors. A decision was then made to define granular 

strata to keep the strata homogeneous and to facilitate the 

construction of a wide array of broader composite estimates as 

functions of the more narrowly defined strata estimates. In the 

end, for the 2021 BRS, strata were defined jointly on the 

following factors:

• State {All states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto 

Rico}

• Industry Type, Based Primarily on Two-Digit NAICS

 {11-21, 22, 23, 31-33, 42, 44-45, 48-49Mod, 4811, 484, 51, 52-

53, 54-56, 61, 62Mod, 71, 72, 81}

• Establishment Size, Based on Employment {1-4, 5-9, 10-19, 

20-49, 50-99, 100-249, 250-499, 500-999, 1,000+}

In the industry type list above, industry grouping 48-49Mod 

excludes industries with NAICS classifications of 484 and 4811. 

Industry 62Mod excludes industries with a NAICS classification 

of 624120 that also have an establishment size of one.

In the establishment size list above, all nine “narrow” size 

groupings are given. Some BRS analyses were conducted using 

two other broader establishment size groupings – a “mediumwidth” grouping and a “broad,” or large/small, grouping. The 

medium-width size classes were 1-19, 20-99, 100-499, and 500+. 

The large/small groupings were 0-499 and 500+. 

At the time the survey was designed, it was clear to researchers 

and analysts that different industries and establishment size 

classes would have different pandemic-related programs and 

policies targeted towards them. Because of this, specific state –

industry, state – size class, and industry – size class 

establishment aggregations were identified as the key levels at 

which to produce estimates to a certain degree of precision while 

still being realistic about survey costs and burden. These 

aggregations were used to drive sample size determination. 

Specifically, they were:

• State by Goods-Producing/Services-Producing Industry 

Type Categorization {52*2 = 104 estimation cells}

• State by Medium-Width Establishment Size {52*4 = 208 

estimation cells}

• Modified NAICS Sector by Medium-Width Establishment 

Size {15*4 = 60 estimation cells}

• Narrow Establishment Size {9 estimation cells}

Researcher interest was not, and is not, limited to these 

aggregations. However, because these were the aggregates 

initially identified as the most important ones, the sample was 

designed to achieve a desired precision when estimating 

specifically for these groupings. Alternatively, the sample 

was not designed to achieve a desired precision when estimating 

for other groupings, although in some cases the desired precision 

was achieved anyway. Note that researchers were certainly 

interested in estimating with precision at broader levels such as 

national, state, modified NAICS sector, and narrow size class. 

But it was easy to see that a sample that allowed for the 

generation of precise estimates for the four aggregates listed 

above would certainly allow for the generation of precise 

estimates for these broader level aggregates.

For each estimation cell within each of the four key aggregates 

listed above, sample sufficiency counts were determined based 

on estimating proportions to an agreed upon degree of precision. 

The formula for the sample sufficiency of an estimation cell was 

based on the deconstruction of the formula for the variance of a 

proportion (using simple random sampling within the cell). 

Estimation cell sample sufficiency counts were then allocated 

proportionately to all strata within each cell. The result was a set 

of four “allocated sufficiency counts” per stratum. For each 

stratum, the maximum of the four sufficiency counts was chosen. 

Each stratum’s chosen sufficiency count was then divided by an 

estimated survey response rate to derive a stratum sample size. If 

the chosen value exceeded the number of selectable 

establishments in a stratum, the stratum’s final sample size was 

set equal to its number of selectable establishments. In that case, 

the truncated sample size was reallocated to other strata mapping 

to the same estimation cell. Once sample sizes were finalized, 

samples were selected within each stratum as described earlier 

when discussing the composition of strata in terms of active ARS 

eligible, inactive ARS eligible, and ARS ineligible 

establishments.

Response Rate

The 2021 BRS consisted of 25 questions to which establishments 

could respond. A survey was considered usable if the respondent 

answered at least 5 of the 25 questions. Estimates were generated 

from usable surveys only.

Of the 322,560 sampled establishments, about 5,300 were 

deemed uncollectible prior to fielding the sample. These 

uncollectible establishments were treated as non-responders. 

Typically, these were establishments that changed status 

between the time when the universe was drawn and a point in 

time closer to fielding the sample, such that the establishment’s 

new status indicated it could not be contacted and/or could not 

respond to the survey. Thus, the 2021 BRS was administered to 

about 317,000 establishments.

Of the establishments that were given the opportunity to take the 

survey, 85,254 participated to some degree, and 82,487 were 

usable (answered 5 or more questions). Thus:

• Survey Participation Rate (relative to the full sample) = 

26.4%

• Survey Participation Rate (relative to the collectible sample)

= 26.9%

• Usable Response Rate (relative to the full sample) = 25.6%

• Usable Response Rate (relative to the collectible sample) = 

26.0%

• Usability Rate Amongst Survey Participants = 96.8%

For full technical documentation visit: 

https://www.bls.gov/brs/methods/2021-technical-notes.htm
-8-

Table 1: U.S. Business Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, private sector, 2021 1 2

Result Percent of 

establishments 

Number of 

establishments 

Percent of 

employment in 

establishments 

Employment in 

establishments 

TELEWORK

Establishments that increased telework for some or all employees 3 34.5 2,975,380 50.8 59,877,706

Establishments with increased telework that expect the increase to 

continue when the coronavirus pandemic is over 4

60.2 1,942,880 56.2 38,203,485

Establishments with all of their employees teleworking all of the time 5 10.3 883,713 3.0 3,499,020

Establishments with some of their employees teleworking 5 29.8 2,567,890 47.4 55,914,722

Establishments with all of their employees teleworking rarely or 

never 5

60.1 5,175,578 49.8 58,713,028

WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITIES

Establishments that started flexible or staggered work hours 3 24.6 2,118,194 33.9 39,964,827

Establishments that started compressed or alternative work 

schedules 3

12.2 1,054,815 18.2 21,451,103

Establishments that started voluntary reductions in hours worked 

(change to part-time or reduced hours) 3

11.0 944,423 14.4 16,983,489

Establishments that started job-sharing (two employees split 

hours/tasks of a full-time job) 3

2.3 198,168 2.7 3,209,639

Establishments that started paid leave for dependent care (additional 

paid leave of any kind for employees with dependent care 

responsibilities due to the coronavirus pandemic) 3

6.5 562,609 14.4 16,975,348

Establishments that started at least one of the employee flexibilities 

specified in results 4.1-4.5 3

34.5 2,973,307 47.2 55,704,908

CHANGES IN PAY

Establishments that increased base wages (straight-time wages or 

salary) 6

14.5 1,246,153 20.5 24,175,563

Establishments that temporarily paid a wage premium/extra hourly 

amount for working during the pandemic (hazard pay, hero pay, or 

hourly bonus) 6

5.5 470,543 15.7 18,544,496

Establishments that paid one-time special monetary 

awards/appreciation bonuses for working during the pandemic 6

9.4 808,930 23.7 27,942,615

Establishments that paid one-time bonuses to newly hired workers 

(signing bonuses for new employees) 6

2.4 206,727 9.5 11,149,571

Establishments that paid workers who referred others to apply for jobs 

(recruitment bonuses to current employees) 6

4.5 385,525 16.6 19,633,047

Establishments that made at least one of the changes in pay specified 

in results 5.1-5.5 6

24.2 2,081,990 45.8 54,016,218

COVID-19 WORKPLACE REQUIREMENTS

Establishments that required some or all employees to routinely wear 

a face covering or any protective gear while they were on-site 5

58.3 5,025,102 74.0 87,338,551

Establishments that required employees working on-site to have a 

temperature screening prior to entering their place of work 5

24.1 2,073,839 36.0 42,427,240

Establishments that required some or all employees to get a COVID19 vaccination before coming to work on-site 3

17.5 1,508,911 14.5 17,067,801

Establishments that offered any employees a financial incentive, paid 

time off, or permitted employees to remain on the clock to get a 

COVID-19 vaccination 3

28.0 2,408,582 44.9 52,961,500

Establishments offering a vaccine incentive that required some or all 

employees to get a COVID-19 vaccination before coming to work onsite 328.4 745,090 20.0 11,834,475

Establishments NOT offering a vaccine incentive that required some 

or all employees to get a COVID-19 vaccination before coming to 

work on-site 3

13.6 823,412 10.3 7,239,137
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Table 1: U.S. Business Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, private sector, 2021 1 2 -- Continued

Result Percent of 

establishments 

Number of 

establishments 

Percent of 

employment in 

establishments 

Employment in 

establishments 

COVID-19 WORKPLACE REQUIREMENTS -- Continued

Establishments requiring some or all employees to get a COVID-19 

vaccination that offered employees a financial incentive, paid time off, 

or permitted employees to remain on the clock to get a COVID-19 

vaccination 3

45.9 817,531 58.0 19,256,536

Establishments NOT requiring employees to get a COVID-19 

vaccination that offered employees a financial incentive, paid time off, 

or permitted employees to remain on the clock to get a COVID-19 

vaccination 3

24.3 1,719,312 42.4 43,752,495

ESTABLISHMENT SPACE SIZE

Establishments that decreased their square footage of space 3 5.5 472,845 4.2 4,924,984

Establishments that increased their square footage of space 3 3.6 306,213 5.1 6,013,495

Establishments that have about the same square footage of space 3 91.0 7,836,981 90.7 107,023,286

Establishments that expect to decrease their square footage of space 

in the next 12 months 7

4.0 344,873 3.3 3,917,156

Establishments that expect to increase their square footage of space 

in the next 12 months 7

3.6 307,447 5.6 6,559,086

Establishments that expect to have about the same square footage of 

space in the next 12 months 7

92.4 7,963,719 91.1 107,485,523

RELOCATION

Establishments that relocated within the same city or county 3 3.9 334,350 2.4 2,833,729

Establishments that relocated to a different city or county, but within 

the same state 3

1.3 116,056 0.7 875,463

Establishments that relocated to a different state 3 0.6 52,018 0.2 240,836

Establishments that did not relocate since the start of the pandemic 3 94.2 8,113,614 96.7 114,011,737

Establishments that expect to relocate within the same city or county 

in the next 12 months 7

2.7 229,549 2.3 2,690,578

Establishments that expect to relocate to a different city or county, but 

within the same state in the next 12 months 7

0.7 59,916 0.4 510,724

Establishments that expect to relocate to a different state in the next 

12 months 7

0.6 47,789 0.2 264,085

Establishments that do not expect to relocate within the next 12 

months 7

96.1 8,278,785 97.1 114,496,378

SUPPLEMENTING WORKFORCE WITH WORKERS NOT ON THE 

PAYROLL

Establishments that started or increased their use of independent 

contractors, freelancers, or consultants 8

5.9 508,619 5.8 6,897,111

Establishments that started or increased their use of temporary help 

agency workers 8

3.0 261,306 11.5 13,617,962

Establishments that started or increased their use of companies that 

provide contractors or subcontractors 8

1.4 122,686 4.4 5,176,998

Establishments that started or increased their use of online platform 

companies that arrange assignments for workers through an app and 

collect a commission from establishments for each task/job workers 

do 8

0.8 66,120 0.9 1,048,998

Establishments that did not start or increase their use of any of the 

types of workers specified in results 14.1-14.4 8

91.0 7,844,398 83.7 98,786,206
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Table 1: U.S. Business Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, private sector, 2021 1 2 -- Continued

Result Percent of 

establishments 

Number of 

establishments 

Percent of 

employment in 

establishments 

Employment in 

establishments 

SUPPLEMENTING WORKFORCE WITH WORKERS NOT ON THE 

PAYROLL - Continued

Establishments that started or increased their use of at least one of 

the types of workers specified in results 14.1-14.4 8

9.0 771,641 16.3 19,175,559

Establishments that expect to use independent contractors, 

freelancers, or consultants when the coronavirus pandemic is over 4

11.4 978,072 11.8 13,882,362

Establishments that expect to use temporary help agency workers 

when the coronavirus pandemic is over 4

4.0 342,048 14.3 16,922,799

Establishments that expect to use companies that provide contractors 

or subcontractors when the coronavirus pandemic is over 4

3.1 268,857 7.8 9,216,330

Establishments that expect to use online platform companies that 

arrange assignments for workers through an app and collect a 

commission from establishments for each task/job workers do when 

the coronavirus pandemic is over 4

1.2 105,817 1.2 1,402,227

Establishments that expect to use at least one of the types of workers 

specified in results 15.1-15.4 when the coronavirus pandemic is over 4

14.8 1,274,614 22.9 27,023,505

Establishments that do not expect to use any of the types of workers 

specified in results 15.1-15.4 when the coronavirus pandemic is over 4

85.2 7,341,425 77.1 90,938,260

AUTOMATION

Establishments that use self-service kiosks (including kiosks to order 

and pay for food) 5

2.2 188,105 8.3 9,825,544

Establishments that use voice-recognition-based customer 

service/automated online chats with customers 5

0.7 61,161 1.9 2,208,174

Establishments that use automated document analysis and review 5 1.5 129,020 3.7 4,412,745

Establishments that use industrial robots for building maintenance 

(including daily cleaning or disinfecting) 5

0.1 10,164 1.0 1,178,247

Establishments that use industrial robots for assembling goods 

(including robots that weld, and pick-and-pace robots to assemble, 

select parts, or inspect products) 5

0.3 29,827 2.2 2,586,667

Establishments that use industrial robots or management systems for 

packing goods for shipment 5

0.2 19,583 1.5 1,816,545

Establishments that use automated provisions of physical medical 

care (such as drawing blood) and physical rehabilitation 5

0.1 5,833 0.2 251,764

Establishments that use at least one of the types of automation 

specified in results 16.1-16.7 5

4.2 365,701 13.8 16,284,473

Establishments that do not use any of the types of automation 

specified in results 16.1-16.7 5

95.8 8,250,338 86.2 101,677,291

Establishments that started or increased the use of any types of 

automation specified in results 16.1-16.7 3

1.8 153,844 4.2 4,969,637

Establishments using at least one of the types of automation specified 

in results 16.1-16.7 that started or increased their use since the start 

of the coronavirus pandemic 3

31.2 246,226 32.3 8,664,832

DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTING

Establishments that are drug testing or alcohol testing new applicants 

or current employees 5

16.1 1,391,362 41.1 48,532,373

Establishments that reduced or delayed drug or alcohol testing for 

new applicants or current employees 3

2.0 171,505 5.6 6,596,022

Establishments drug or alcohol testing new applicants or current 

employees that also reduced or delayed drug or alcohol testing 3

7.9 128,246 10.0 5,922,779
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Table 1: U.S. Business Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, private sector, 2021 1 2 -- Continued

Result Percent of 

establishments 

Number of 

establishments 

Percent of 

employment in 

establishments 

Employment in 

establishments 

COVID-19 LOANS OR GRANTS

Establishments that received a federal or state government 

coronavirus-related loan or grant tied to re-hiring or maintaining 

employees on the payroll AFTER January 1, 2021 9

35.8 3,080,927 29.6 34,903,109

Establishments that received any type of coronavirus-related loan 

since the onset of the pandemic and the loan has been converted to a 

grant 3

54.0 3,764,550 47.9 47,605,911

1

Total U.S., private sector includes the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico

2

Data collection took place from July 27, 2021 - September 30, 2021

3

Reference: Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic

4

Reference: When the coronavirus pandemic is over

5

Reference: At the time of data collection (July 27, 2021 - September 30, 2021)

6

Reference: Because of the coronavirus pandemic

7

Reference: In the next 12 months

8

Reference: At any time during the coronavirus pandemic

9

Reference: After January 1, 2021