Employers submit quarterly wage reports for all employees to the Employment Development Department (EDD) as part of the state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) program. See 2024 California Employer's Guide (PDF) for more details.
In California, "employers include sole proprietors, partnerships, corporations, nonprofit organizations, charitable organizations, foundations, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, public entities (including state and federal agencies), schools, associations and trusts, estates, joint ventures, and Indian Tribes." (CA EDD 2023 CALIFORNIA EMPLOYER’S GUIDE, p. 7)
"Wages are all compensation for an employee’s personal services, whether paid by check, cash, electronic debit, or the reasonable cash value of noncash payments, such as meals and lodging. The method of payment, whether by private agreement, consent, or mandate, does not change the taxability of wages paid to employees. Payments are considered wages even if the employee is a casual worker, a day or contract laborer, part-time or temporary worker, or paid by the day, hour, or any other method or measurement. Supplemental payments, including bonuses, overtime pay, sales awards, commissions, and vacation pay are also considered wages.” (CA EDD 2023 CALIFORNIA EMPLOYER’S GUIDE, p. 11)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that UI-covered employment represents approximately 95% of wage and salary civilian jobs in the United States. This includes private, state and local, and federal government employment. Jobs not covered by UI include some agricultural jobs, railroad employment, and self-employment. UI data does not cover informal work or “off the books” employment. In addition, individuals who move out of state, work across state borders, or are incarcerated will not appear in the state UI data. As such the data likely underestimate employment and earnings within the study population. The absence of earnings cannot be interpreted as an adverse outcome. Individuals may be working in jobs not covered by the CA UI system or they may be enrolled in training programs or at postsecondary institutions.
CCWIP EDD_FC derived file includes wage data from 1993 forward for all children age 16 and older with a record of an out-of-home foster care placement in the Child Welfare Services / Case Management System (CWS/CMS) since January 1, 1998.
CCWIP staff send a file of unique client identifiers for clients meeting the wage match criteria on a bi-annual basis (April & October). CDSS submits these as part of the Agency quarterly Base Wage File Match. Return files include a sum of quarterly wages for each client. Only quarters with earnings of at least $50.00 per employer are included. Earnings greater than $16,000.00 per quarter per employer are reported as $16,000.00.
CCWIP staff merge this data with previous extracts to create a longitudinal file of wage records for each client. Additional data cleaning is performed during this merge. Specifically: