Businesses use the employment data to guide in plant location and sales program decisions.
Researchers use the information as an economic indicator. In this program, a sample of 20,000 employers in New York State voluntarily submit monthly information on employment, payroll and hours worked. Data from individual firms are grouped by industry and used as a sample for estimating industrywide statistics. Employment estimates for a given month are first made public about three weeks after the end of that month. These estimates are preliminary and may be changed when the following month's data is released.