How does a strike impact CES data?
Since CES employment counts workers who receive pay for any portion of the reference period (the pay period which includes the 12th of the month), a strike affects the employment count only if the workers are on strike for the entire pay period (do not receive pay for any portion of that pay period). Example: XYZ Inc is a manufacturing company that employs 2,000 workers. It has a monthly pay period where employees are paid at the end of every month for their work during the previous calendar month. On January 15, 1,000 XYZ Inc employees go on strike and do not return to work until March 1. January employment totals in the manufacturing industry will not be impacted since the workers who are on strike still receive some pay for their work in January. However, February employment totals will be lowered by 1,000 since the workers on strike will not receive any pay for February (they are absent for the entire pay period of February). March employment in Manufacturing will not be impacted b
