Logout / Access Other products Drop Down Arrow
Get live help Monday-Friday from 7:00AM-6:00PM ET (11:00AM-10:00PM GMT)  •  Contact Us
Check out our new FAQ section!
RSS Feed
FAQ: U.S. - Computing the BLS Average Weekly Wage
Thursday, 20 Aug 2009 16:55 ET
By Andrew Vickrey
Summary
How can I compute the average weekly wage (as shown in the BLS tables) using series from DataBuffet.com?
Detail

Due to the exorbitant amount of data provided in the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages report, Moody's Economy.com does not provide computations referenced in various tables as unique time series.  However, you can compute these figures referenced in the QCEW (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages), using the formula feature of DataBuffet.com.

Average Weekly Wages can be found in multiple tables complimenting the release of quarterly data.

The computation involves total wages, average monthly employment, and a scaling factor for weeks per quarter or annum.  The output is expressed in unit dollars per week.

Without performing any frequency conversion, the following formulas work, provided that %GEO% is a valid geography code in which data exists. (National, State, MSA, and County Level)

  • Quarterly = (((XYSQ.%GEO%/ XESM.%GEO%)/ 13)*1000)
  • Annual = (((XYSA.%GEO%/ XESA.%GEO%)/ 52)*1000)

Average Annual Wages is also referenced in Table 1 (albeit, outdated on the BLS site)

This also can be replicated by applying a simple division of Wages by Employees, and multiplying the series by 1000 to denominate your output into dollars.

((XYSA.%GEO%/ XESA.%GEO%)*1000)

Please note that the outer pair of parentheses is necessary.  If omitted, the DataBuffet.com engine will not recognize the formula.  You can enter formulas in either the Grid or Power Editor modes.

 

Other
Related ReleaseCensus of Employment & Wages (QCEW)
SourceU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
FrequencyQuarterly
GeographyUnited States
Catalog
Upcoming
Release DateReference date
22 May 20244Q 2023
05 Jun 20244Q 2023
21 Aug 20241Q 2024
04 Sep 20241Q 2024
20 Nov 20242Q 2024
05 Dec 20242Q 2024