Current Employment Statistics Preliminary Benchmark (National) Summary

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until	                        USDL- 25-0787
10:00 a.m. (ET) Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Technical information:	(202) 691-6555  *  cesinfo@bls.gov   *  www.bls.gov/ces
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov

Current Employment Statistics Preliminary Benchmark (National)

In accordance with usual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is announcing the preliminary 
estimate of the upcoming annual benchmark revision to the establishment survey employment series. The 
final benchmark revision will be issued in February 2026 with the publication of the January 2026 
Employment Situation news release. //PREBMK Schedule  test on ZUNI3 9/8/2025//.

Each year, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey employment estimates are benchmarked to 
comprehensive counts of employment for the month of March. These counts are derived from state 
unemployment insurance (UI) tax records that nearly all employers are required to file. For National 
CES employment series, the annual benchmark revisions over the last 10 years have averaged plus or 
minus 0.1 of one percent of total nonfarm employment. The preliminary estimate of the benchmark 
revision indicates an adjustment to March 2025 total nonfarm employment of -818,000 (-0.5 percent).

Preliminary benchmark revisions are calculated only for the month of March 2025 for the major 
industry sectors in table 1. The existing employment series are not updated with the release of the 
preliminary benchmark estimate. The data for all CES series will be updated when the final benchmark 
revision is issued.

___________
The final benchmark revision will be released in February 2026 with the January 2026 Employment Situation news release.