Employment Trends

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program is the BLS's primary measure of employment by industry. It surveys approximately 119,000 businesses and government agencies covering about 629,000 individual worksites each month. Data is released on the first Friday of each month as part of the Employment Situation report — one of the most watched economic indicators.

CES data is available seasonally adjusted (SA) and not seasonally adjusted (NSA). The seasonally adjusted series removes predictable seasonal fluctuations — like retail hiring in December — to reveal underlying trends.