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.

Announcement

    SELECTED MEDICAL BENEFITS SURVEY

    The National Compensation Survey has released data on 12 additional medical benefits not previously published in its recent survey of benefit provisions. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 directs the Secretary of Labor to conduct a survey of employer-sponsored health plans to determine the benefits typically covered by employers, and to report the results of the survey to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This study was conducted to supplement the medical benefit provisions regularly published as part of the National Compensation Survey’s employee benefits program.

    The full version of the report is available at www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/selmedbensreport.pdf. Links to this report and other recent health benefits data are available on the National Compensation Survey web page, www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/smb_health.htm. The 12 additional medical benefits come from the same sample that yielded data for NCS: Health and Retirement Plan Provisions in Private Industry in the United States, 2009, at www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/detailedprovisions/2009/ebbl0045.pdf.

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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...

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NCS News Releases

Employee Benefits in the United States

July 27, 2010
Retirement benefits were available to 74 percent of all full-time workers in private industry in March 2010 while 39 percent of part-time workers had such access. Access to medical care and paid sick leave were provided to 86 and 74 percent of full-time private industry workers versus 24 and 26 percent of part-time workers, respectively. More...
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Employment Cost Index (ECI)

April 29, 2011
Civilian workers compensation rose 0.6%, wages and salaries rose 0.4%, and benefit costs rose 1.1%, seasonally adjusted, from December 2010 to March 2011. Over the year, compensation rose 2.0%, wages and salaries 1.6%, and benefits 3.0%. More...
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Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC)

March 09, 2011
Private industry employers spent an average of $27.75 per hour worked for employee compensation in December 2010. Private industry costs averaged $1.89 per hour worked for paid leave benefits and $2.28 for legally required benefits. More...
(HTML) (PDF)

Current NCS News Releases

  • Employment Cost Index (ECI) (HTML) (PDF)
    • ECI Archives - Complete set of ECI news releases from 1976.
  • Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (HTML) (PDF)
  • Employee Benefits in State and Local Government, September 2007 (HTML) (PDF)
  • Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2010 (TXT) (PDF)
  • Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2008 (TXT) (PDF)
  • Occupational Pay Comparisons Among Metropolitan Areas (HTML) (PDF)
  • Subscribe to the BLS News Service—receive the Employment Cost Index news release and other major economic indicators by e-mail.
  • NCS Regional News Releases
  • ECI Regional News Releases

 

NCS Databases

Databases

Database Name Special
Notice		 Top
Picks		 One
Screen		 Multi-
Screen		 Tables Text Files
Tutorials:
For help, try these tutorials. 		  Top Picks Tutorial One Screen Data Search Tutorial Multi Screen Data Search Tutorial    
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

 

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 »

 

Featured NCS Tables

NCS Publications

Wages

Employment Cost Trends

Benefits

Other Documents

 

NCS Frequently Asked Questions

People Are Asking...

  1. How prevalent are cash account (cash balance) pension plans?
  2. Are more workers covered by indemnity plans or HMOs?
  3. Can employees typically choose how their 401(k) funds are invested, and how often can those funds be invested in company stock?
  4. What is a floor-offset plan?
  5. How can I get NCS wage data?
  6. What benefits data do you have?
  7. Do you have data on compensation costs or employment cost trends?
  8. What kinds of collective bargaining agreements are maintained?

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What are the plans for the Locality Pay Surveys (LPS)?
  2. What is the NCS?
  3. What are the differences between NCS occupational wage data and the Bureau's Occupation Employment Statistics Survey (OES) wage data?
  4. How are occupations chosen and why?
  5. How can you compare areas with differing mixtures of jobs?
  6. Will data be available for the entire U.S.? What about regional data?
  7. How can an employer use NCS data to set pay?
  8. What areas do you survey?

All NCS FAQs »

 

NCS Special Notice

Occupational Pay Relative news releases and supplemental area-to-area comparison tables for 2004-08 data were found to contain errors in identifying statistical significance (currently denoted by an asterisk) for areas significantly different at the 10 percent level of significance.  Pay relative estimates were not impacted.  National news releases and tables were reissued with all notations for statistical significance removed.

The specific national news releases affected were:

  • Occupational Pay Comparisons Among Metropolitan Areas, 2008 (July 24, 2009)
  • Occupational Pay Comparisons Among Metropolitan Areas, 2007 (July 25, 2008)
  • Occupational Pay Comparisons Among Metropolitan Areas, 2006 (September 26, 2007)
  • Occupational Pay Relatives, 2005 (September 28, 2006)
  • Occupational Pay Relatives, 2004 (December 28, 2005)

Regional news releases for this time period were also affected, but are not being revised or reissued.  However, tables have been revised and are available.

For the reissued area-to-area pay comparison tables, see the BLS website at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/payrel.htm.

NCS Related Links

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
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Washington, D.C. 20212-0001

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