Reinventing Manufacturing

Appendix B: Methodology
APPENDIX B
Methodology
Data Source
Data on employment, establishments, and wages is
from a custom tabulation of the Quarterly Census of
Employment and Wages (QCEW) provided to the
Institute by the California Employment Development
Department, Labor Market Information Division. The
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)
Program is a federal/state cooperative program
between the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) and the California EDD’s Labor Market
Information Division (LMID). The QCEW program
produces a comprehensive tabulation of employment
and wage information for workers covered by California
Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and federal workers
covered by the Unemployment Compensation for
Federal Employees (UCFE) program.
Employment and Wages
Employment data under the QCEW program represents
the number of the state’s UI covered workers
who worked during, or received pay for, the pay period
which includes the 12th of the month. Excluded are
members of the armed forces, the self-employed,
proprietors, domestic workers, and unpaid family workers.
Railroad workers covered by the Railroad Unemployment
Insurance system are also excluded. Wages
represent total compensation paid during the calendar
quarter, regardless of when services were performed.
Included in wages is compensation for vacation and
other paid leave, bonuses, stock options, tips, the cash
value of meals, and lodging.
Establishments
An establishment is an economic unit, such as a farm,
mine, factory, or store that produces goods or provides
services. It is typically at a single physical location
address and is engaged in one or predominantly one
type of economic activity for which a single industry
classification may be applied. Occasionally, a single
physical location address encompasses two or more
distinct and significant activities. Each activity should be
reported as a separate establishment if separate records
are kept and the various activities are classified under
different NAICS codes.
Patent Activity
Patent registration information covering location and
investor sequence number was provided by the US
Patent and Trademark Office. Patent counts refer to
utility patents only.
Workers on the payroll of more than one firm during the
period are counted by each UI subject employer if they
meet the employment definition noted above. Workers
are counted even though, in the latter months of the
year, their wages may not be subject to unemployment
insurance tax. The employment count excludes workers
who earned no wages during the entire applicable pay
period because of work stoppages, temporary layoffs,
illness, or unpaid vacations.
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