Disclosure flags on screen

The short answer

No mark: BLS published the value and DTG reports it as published. A dotted underline: BLS withheld the value and DTG estimated it. A muted value: a quarter after the latest QCEW release, carried forward from monthly survey data. A dashed mark: a projected period. The key strip beneath the table names each one. Click a row for its provenance and its reliability score.

The detail

Suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG: BLS withholds any value that could identify an employer, and DTG estimates it rather than leaving a gap. An estimated value in a published quarter carries a reliability score between 0 and 1 saying how tightly the published record around it constrains it; a published value scores 1. The score is computed from the employment range and applies to the whole row, so the score beside establishments or wages is the employment value’s. It is not a confidence interval and it is not a ranking of areas; it is a statement about one value.

Where the score appears

The score is in the row details (“Reliability 0.83” with a plain-language phrase beside it), in an optional Reliability column you can add from the column menu, and in the Trend chart’s hover. Carried-forward and projected values carry no score; they read “N/A · Reliability score not applicable to carried forward or projected numbers.” A summed area, such as a cluster or a state built from counties, is marked estimated if any part was, and its score is employment-weighted, so a large sum can show 1.00 while containing an estimated county; read that county’s own score if it matters. Values changed by restatement onto current classifications carry an “R” in the key.

Occupation values carry no disclosure mark and no score, because they are built from survey sources and a national matrix rather than from a census; see occupation values. The marks travel with industry data into the CSV export, the API and the workbook, which always carries them beside the industry values it holds.

Related

The full account, including the reliability score’s construction and the restatement flags, is on the disclosure and provenance page. Reading a small estimate is on what estimated means.