The news release for the second quarter of the County Employment and Wages section of the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) will be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) this Wednesday, November 17 at 10 a.m.

Cobb County is included in the data for the largest 344 counties and the news release will include the number of establishments in the county, total employment, and average weekly wage. It will also report on the percentage change, or how much the number went up or down (if there was a change).

For instance, in the first quarter news release, which was distributed on August 18, 2021, Cobb was reported to have 25,000 establishments employing 360,200, with an average weekly wage of $1,335. This represented a 2.9 percent drop in employment, but a 5.2 percent rise in the average weekly wage from the previous year.

This was in keeping with the overall trend in employment and wages for the 344 largest counties for the interval covering March 2020 to March 2021.

The BLS describes the trend as follows:

From March 2020 to March 2021, employment decreased in 324 of the 343 largest U.S. counties, the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In March 2021, national employment—as measured by
the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program—decreased to 140.5 million, a 4.5-
percent decrease over the year. Calcasieu, LA, had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment
with a loss of 14.9 percent. Employment data in this release are presented for March 2021, and average
weekly wage data are presented for first quarter 2021. Employment was impacted by the COVID-19
pandemic and efforts to contain it.

Among the 343 largest counties, 312 had over-the-year increases in average weekly wages. In the first
quarter of 2021, average weekly wages for the nation increased to $1,289, a 5.6-percent increase over
the year. San Francisco, CA, had the largest first quarter over-the-year wage gain at 33.9 percent. (See
table 1.) Nationally, across most industries, increases in average weekly wages reflected substantial
employment declines combined with wage increases. The lowest paying industry, leisure and hospitality,
had the largest employment loss, which resulted in higher average weekly wages for the industry and the
nation.

On Wednesday the Courier will report on the second-quarter figures, and how they compare to both the previous quarter and the second quarter of the previous year.