The National Compensation Survey (NCS) provides comprehensive measures of occupational wages; employment cost trends, and benefit incidence and detailed plan provisions. Detailed occupational earnings are available for metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, broad geographic regions, and on a national basis. The index component of the NCS (ECI) measures changes in labor costs. Average hourly employer cost for employee compensation is presented in the ECEC.

Announcements

HEALTH PLAN PROVISIONS IN STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES, 2011

The National Compensation Survey has released data on health plans in state and local government for 2011. The bulletin provides updated information on health plans provisions for fee-for-service plans and health maintenance organizations, and new data on high-deductible heath plans. This bulletin is available at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/#bulletin_details. Additional benefits data are available on the National Compensation Survey web page at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs . Similar health tables are scheduled to be published in the winter of 2012-2103.

 

For Your Information

Changes in the presentation of the text section of The Employment Cost Index news release were incorporated in the edition published on July 31, 2009. There were no changes to the format and content of the tables. More...

NCS News Releases

Employee Benefits in the United States

July 11, 2012
Medical care benefits were available to 57 percent of private industry workers in establishments with fewer than 100 employees compared to 89 percent of workers in establishments with 500 or more workers in March 2012. More...
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Employment Cost Index (ECI)

July 31, 2012
Wages and salaries rose 0.4 percent and benefit costs rose 0.6 percent for civilian workers, seasonally adjusted, from March to June 2012. Over the year, compensation rose 1.7 percent, wages and salaries 1.7 percent, and benefits 2.1 percent. More...
(HTML) (PDF)

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC)

September 11, 2012
Private industry employers spent an average of $28.80 per hour worked for employee compensation in June 2012. Wages and salaries averaged $20.27 and benefits averaged $8.52, of which retirement and savings plans averaged $1.02 per hour worked. More...
(HTML) (PDF)

Current NCS News Releases

 

NCS Databases

Databases

Database Name Special
Notice
Top
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One
Screen
Multi-
Screen
Tables Text Files
Pay
National Compensation Survey
Special Notice     Multi Screen Data Search Tables Text Files
Pay & Cost of Benefits
Employment Cost Index
Special Notice Top Picks One Screen Data Search Multi Screen Data Search Tables Text Files
Employer Cost for Employee Compensation
  Top Picks One Screen Data Search Multi Screen Data Search Tables Text Files
Benefit Incidence & Provisions
Employee Benefits Survey
  Top Picks One Screen Data Search Multi Screen Data Search   Text Files
National Compensation Survey - Benefits (Beginning with 2010 data)
  Top Picks   Multi Screen Data Search Tables Text Files

 

More Tools

  • Series Report —Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
  • National Compensation Search--allows you to search through all the National Compensation Survey publications that are currently available electronically.

All NCS Databases »

 

NCS Tables

NCS Tables

  • ECI Current-Dollar Historical Listings
  • ECI Constant-Dollar Historical Listings
    • ECI Historical Listings - Continuous Occupational and Industry Series, September 1975 - Present (TXT) (PDF)
    • ECI Standard Errors
    • Corrections to Employment Cost Index data, June 2009 - September 2010
    • UPDATED ECEC Historical Listing, 2004 to present (Quarterly)-Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (TXT) (PDF) -- Quarterly estimates from March 2004 to the present, with sample establishments classified by industry categories based on the new 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system.
    • UPDATED ECEC Supplemental Tables Historical Data, December 2006 - June 2012 (TXT) (PDF)
    • NEW ECEC Supplemental Tables - June 2012 (TXT) (PDF) -- supplemental tables with series for private industry workers by occupational group, establishment size, and bargaining status in 14 detailed industries.
    • UPDATED ECEC Relative Standard Errors (TXT) (PDF)
    • UPDATED ECEC Relative Standard Errors-Supplementary Tables (TXT) (PDF)
    • EBS Standard Errors
    • Retirement Benefit Standard Errors, State and Local Government
    • ECEC Historical Listing, 2002-2003 (Quarterly)—Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (TXT) (PDF) -- Quarterly estimates from March 2002 to December 2003, with sample establishments classified by industry categories based on the 1987 Standard Industry Classification (SIC) system and by occupational classifications according to the 1990 Census of Population.
    • ECEC Historical Listing, 1986-2001 (Annual)—Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (TXT) (PDF) -- Annual estimates from March 1986 to March 2001, with sample establishments classified by industry categories based on the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) system and by occupational classifications according to the Census of Population.
    • Seasonal Factors and Revised Seasonally Adjusted Indexes
    • Chart—Changes in wages and salaries and benefit costs, civilian workers

 

NCS Publications

 

NCS Frequently Asked Questions

 

NCS Special Notice

Status of Locality Pay Surveys (LPS)

With the enactment of the Federal Government's 2011 budget, the Locality Pay Survey (LPS) portion of the National Compensation Survey (NCS) was eliminated. The final set of LPS products are now published which include the National Bulletin, Nine Census Summaries, Occupational Pay Relatives, and the LPS locality wage estimates. These products will not be produced in the future but we would like to develop methodologies, resources permitting, so that similar estimates can be modeled in the future.

To meet the locality pay requirements of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990, data from the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) and NCS programs will be used. The OES program provides wage data by occupation for all localities nationwide. The Employment Cost Index (ECI) program will continue to provide detailed worker characteristics such as work level, union status, and part- or full-time work schedule. Together, these two programs allow the BLS to develop wage data by worker characteristics for many occupations and localities.

Although LPS estimates will no longer be available, all other National Compensation Survey product lines, including the Employment Cost Index (ECI) (see Employment Cost Trends) and NCS Benefits, will continue to be produced. Occupational wage estimates will be still available from the OES program.

Related Links to Other BLS Programs

  • Employment Cost Trends—quarterly indexes measuring change over time in labor costs and quarterly data measuring level of average costs per hour worked.
  • Benefits—comprehensive data on incidence and provisions of selected employee benefit plans.
  • Occupational Employment Statistics—data on employment and wages for over 800 occupations and for about 400 nonfarm industries for the nation, plus occupational data for States and metropolitan areas.
  • Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages —comprehensive employment and wage data by industry and geographic area for workers covered by State Unemployment Insurance laws.
  • Occupational Outlook Handbook—provides data for 250 occupations, by nature of the work, working conditions, employment, job outlook and earnings, related occupations, sources of additional information, and training, other qualifications, and advancement.
  • Collective Bargaining Agreements—data on major work stoppages (lockouts and strikes) and a file of collective bargaining agreements.

Other Useful Links

 

Contact Us

Contacts

The Office of Compensation Levels and Trends, Branch of Survey Information and Publications, will be glad to assist you with questions about any of the components of the National Compensation Survey.

Ways to Contact BLS Directly

Email: Contact us

Telephone: (202) 691-6199 (Monday - Friday, 8:30 A.M. - 4:30 P.M.)

Question-by-FAX: (202) 691-6647

Information and assistance is also available from any BLS regional office.

TDD

Information voice phone: (202) 691-5200 The Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339

Write or Personal Visit

Bureau of Labor Statistics
OCLT/SI&P
2 Massachusetts Ave., N.E. - Suite 4175
Washington, D.C. 20212-0001

Other Ways to Access our Data:

Libraries

Federal Depository Libraries provide free access to government documents. Many of these libraries receive BLS publications. Check with a location near you.

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(202) 512-1800