What is a benchmark?
The benchmark adjustment, a standard part of the payroll survey estimation process, is a once-a-year re-anchoring of the sample-based employment estimates to full population counts available principally through unemployment insurance (UI) tax records filed by employers with State Employment Security Agencies. By early October of each year, BLS completes preliminary tabulations of these universe counts for the first quarter of the year and routinely shares that information with the public at the time of the issuance of the September Employment Situation news release.
