Data for employers who are late in submitting reports are estimated. The process of collecting and editing the data takes approximately five months. BLS may ask state program staff to justify questionable data. Once this editing is completed, the data are considered publishable. The first release of annual average ES-202 data is typically scheduled for August or September of the subsequent year.
Quarterly data are usually available six months following the end of the reference quarter.
These reports provide information on the number of people employed and the wages paid to the employees each quarter. The program obtains information on the location and industrial activity of each reported establishment, and assigns location and Standard Industrial Classification codes accordingly. This establishment level information is aggregated, by industry code, to the county level, and to higher aggregate levels. A state also may request that data be withheld for any industry level for which the above criteria would not protect the identity of cooperating employers. Totals at the industry level for the states and the nation include the nondisclosable data suppressed within the detailed tables.