11 code 191 wage record count check
Wage Record Count Check - Code 191
This is the first of five edit codes dealing with the Wage Record Count. Wage record count checking composes over half of wage data editing process. The basic principle involved is the assumption that the wage record count should not show a severe departure above the largest month-to-month employment value found in the Micro File. This is reasonable, since the fluctuation in employment for most firms is not overly radical, and since the wage record count represents the number of employees working during any portion of the quarter.
Preconditions for executing this edit are that the account’s wage record count (WRC) must be numeric and non-zero. The Wage Record Availability Switch must be ‘Y’. The current micro AME for the processed quarter must be at least up to the PK046 level. This threshold is also applied to edits 193, 194, and 195. Under these preliminary requirements, the edit is formulated as:
WRC is the Wage Record Count and PK048 represents the largest percentage by which the WRC can exceed the largest month’s employment on the Micro File. With the default tolerance of 20%, a micro record with employment of 89, 100, and 94, for months 1, 2, and 3, respectively, the maximum is found to be 100 from which the maximum WRC is found to be 100 x (1 + 20/100) = 100 x 1.2 = 120. Thus, the wage record count would not be flagged here unless it had a value of 121 or higher. A value of 120 in the WRC would mean that there had been 120 employees who had worked for this organization at some time during the quarter, but the monthly employment values show that the greatest number of workers on the 12th day of any month was 100. This shows a high turnover rate that is possible but generally rare. The edit message used for Code 191 is “Questionable Wage Record Count.” BLS classification: C.4.9.
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