Covered Employment & Wages (QCEW)

Employment and wage data by industry for workers covered by unemployment insurance for New Hampshire, counties, labor market areas, and cities and towns. Annual employment and wage data for High Tech industries and Firms by Size are also available. This data is based on Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program files extracted from Quarterly Employer Tax and Wage reports.

Annual Averages: 2021

• Statewide |
• County |
• Labor Market Area |
• Planning Commission |
• All Cities & Towns (2 digit) |
• Annual Archive
• Chart: NH Annual Average Covered Employment

• High Tech Employment
• Firms by Size

Quarterly Data: First Quarter 2022 NEW NAICS Structure (see below)

• Statewide |
• County |
• Labor Market Areas |
• City & Town (2-digit) |
• Quarterly Archive
• Charts
  • Covered Employment by Month
  • Quarterly Percent Change in Covered Employment, New Hampshire and Counties
  • Quarterly Percent Change in Average Weekly Wage, New Hampshire and Counties
  • Quarterly Average Weekly Wage, Total Private Employment Plus Government, City and Town

NAICS 2022 Industry Structure

With the release of the First Quarter 2022 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data, NAICS 2022 coding was incorporated into the industry data tables.

To ensure the accuracy, timeliness, and relevance of the industry classification, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is reviewed every five years to determine what, if any, changes are required. This NAICS 2022 revision was undertaken to achieve one main goal — to modify or create industries to reflect new, emerging, or changing activities and technologies.

There were several types of revisions for NAICS 2022. Some were direct changes of establishments and employment to new codes; some were assigned to new codes with establishments and employment from existing industries. There were also instances of NAICS codes that were consolidated or combined into new codes and NAICS codes being broken down into finer detail. Finally, there were NAICS codes that were removed.

Caution should be made when comparing the data from first quarter 2022 to prior data.

Most of the new codes at the three- and four-digit NAICS level occurred within retail trade and information. At the three-digit level, there were eight new codes for NAICS 2022, six of which were in retail trade (NAICS sector 44-45) and two in information (NAICS sector 51). NAICS code 519 was re-used with new title and content.

Labor Market Area Delineations

The U.S Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has updated statistical area delineations using total population estimates from the 2010 U.S. Decennial Census supplemented with commuting pattern data from the American Community Survey.

As a result of this change in statistical area delineation, the geographic definition of the Claremont Labor Market Area in New Hampshire changed, and there was a data series break. This area has now been divided into the Claremont Micropolitan NECTA and the Newport Labor Market Area. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data compiled for the previous Claremont Labor Market Area (2014 through 2016) are not comparable to data compiled using the new area delineations. Published data were compiled using the new delineation beginning with the first quarter of 2017.

Historical QCEW data for New Hampshire, the counties, cities and towns, and planning regions are unaffected by this change.

Click here for a map of the labor market area delineations