Benchmarking the Current Employment Statistics survey: perspectives on current research

In the sample-survey world, benchmarking is an alignment of a survey-based estimate with a population value. Aligning estimates to a high-quality control total improves the quality of the set of estimates for both the controlled and correlated characteristics. This article discusses benchmarking in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, from its roots in 1935 to current benchmark procedures. The general practice of CES benchmarking is briefly described and is accompanied by recent quantitative results at national and state levels. Impediments to improvements in the methodology are discussed and illustrated. The article concludes with a brief overview of methods included in recent research and with an outline of future plans.