Each record on The Work Number database describes an applicant’s employment tenure, also sometimes including income information. If someone has held several jobs, there may be records of employment with multiple employers, including current and previous employers.

A verifier is a person or organization that needs to verify a borrower or applicant’s employment or income information. Only credentialed verifiers with a permissible purpose under the FCRA are allowed to access the income and employment information on The Work Number database.

Hundreds of thousands of verifiers from a wide range of industries use The Work Number.

The information on The Work Number database is provided by more than 700,000 employers who rely on Equifax Verification Services to fulfill income and employment verifications on behalf of their employees. These verifications are used to provide consumers with access to the credit and services they deserve.

Equifax Verification Services helps organizations verify applicant income and employment information. The employment and income records on The Work Number database are provided by thousands of small, medium, and large employers nationwide and are updated each payroll cycle. The Work Number database can be accessed through system-to-system integration, via batch processes or by logging into our website. The employment and income information is updated by employers each pay cycle.  

The Work Number is a database that organizations can use to verify employment and income information. The Work Number is the largest central repository of payroll information in the United States, with over 700,000 employers including small, medium, and Fortune 500 companies contributing payroll records.

Equifax receives new information directly from its employers' payroll systems on a per-pay-period basis. Our employers send us information in a specified file format at specified time intervals. That information is instantly loaded into Equifax’s employment and income database, The Work Number.