The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program delivers monthly estimates of nonfarm payroll employment, average hourly earnings, and average weekly hours by industry. Produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CES captures short-term fluctuations in employment that help businesses and policymakers assess economic momentum and labor-market health. CES data are central to measuring job creation and wage trends across sectors at the national, state, and metropolitan levels.
As a high-frequency indicator, CES provides timely market-intelligence signals for decision-makers. It complements administrative datasets such as QCEW and LAUS by providing near-real-time insights while maintaining alignment through annual benchmarking. On a data platform, CES supports forecasting dashboards, sector analysis, and policy evaluation. Researchers, HR leaders, and planners use CES to track wage pressures and employment cycles, making it a trusted statistical dataset for labor analytics, economic monitoring, and strategic planning.