Regional News Releases

Subscribe to the BLS News Service — receive the Employment Cost Index and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news releases by e-mail.

ARCHIVED NEWS RELEASES

• ECI Archives - Complete set of ECI news releases from 1976.
• ECEC Archives - Complete set of ECEC news releases from 1986.

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	Data Finder	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Pay & Cost of Benefits
Employment Cost Index
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation

More Tools

• Series Report — already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
• Public data Application Programming Interface (API) — provides access to economic data from all BLS programs. For more information, see the Public Data API information and resources page.
• Compensation Cost Trends Search — allows you to search through all the Employment Cost Index and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation publications that are currently available electronically.

All ECT Databases »

Employment Cost Index

• Current-Dollar Historical Listings
  • NAICS basis (TXT) (PDF) March 2001 - Present
  • SIC basis (TXT) (PDF) September 1975 - December 2005
• Constant-Dollar Historical Listings
  • NAICS basis (TXT) (PDF) March 2001 - Present
  • SIC basis (TXT) (PDF) September 1975 - December 2005
• Continuous Occupational and Industry Series Historical Listings
  • (TXT) (PDF) September 1975 - Present
• Health Benefits Historical Listings
  • (TXT) (PDF) 1982 - 2020
• Standard Errors
• Seasonal Factors and Revised Seasonally Adjusted Indexes
• Corrections to Employment Cost Index data, June 2009 - September 2010

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC)

• Historical Listings
• Civilian Workers (XLSX) 2004 - Present
• Private Industry Workers (XLSX) 2004 - Present
• State and Local Government Workers (XLSX) 2004 - Present
• Compensation Percentile Estimates (XLSX) 2009 - Present
• Metropolitan Areas (XLSX) 2009 - Present

• Discontinued Tables
• Quarterly Historical Listing: NAICS basis (TXT) (PDF) March 2004 - September 2021
• Quarterly Historical Listing: SIC basis (TXT)) (PDF) March 2002 - December 2003
• Annual Historical Listing: SIC basis (TXT) (PDF) March 1986 - March 2001
• Supplemental Tables: NAICS basis (TXT) (PDF) June 2021
• Supplemental Tables: NAICS basis (TXT) (PDF) December 2006 - June 2021

• Relative standard errors

What Is the Employment Cost Index?

How the Employment Cost Index Is Used

Factsheets

General

• Classification systems used by the NCS
• Your compensation companion: a practical guide to BLS data (PDF)
• Supplemental data measuring the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on sick leave plans

ECI

• How to use the Employment Cost Index for escalation
• Measuring Real Change in the ECI: Constant dollar estimates (PDF)
• The Employment Cost Index and the impact on Medicare reimbursements (PDF) | 2020 (PDF) | 2019 (PDF) | 2018 (PDF) | 2017 (PDF) | (2016 PDF) | (2012 PDF) | (2009 PDF) | (2008 PDF)
• Employment Cost Index: Annual seasonal adjustment process
• Technical information about standard errors for Employment Cost Index estimates

ECEC

• ECEC Compensation Percentiles: A tool for assessing employee compensation
• Metropolitan Area Estimates: Providing more geographical data for the cost of compensation
• Relative standard errors for the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation

Articles

General

• Explaining the differential growth rates of the ECI and the ECEC (PDF)
• Effect of benchmarking by industry and size class on National Compensation Survey estimates (PDF)
• Wage estimates by job characteristic: NCS and OES program data (PDF)
• Selected articles on National Compensation Survey methodology

ECI

• Changes affecting the Employment Cost Index: an overview (PDF)
• The Employment Cost Index: what is it? (PDF)
• Introducing 2012 fixed employment weights for the Employment Cost Index

ECEC

• Measuring trends in the structure and levels of Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (PDF)
• The weighting process used in the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation series for the National Compensation Survey (PDF)

Methodology

• National Compensation Measures, Handbook of Methods (PDF)

Past Notices

ECI

• New webpage locations for Employment Cost Index supplemental tables, July 2021
• Corrections to Employment Cost Index data, June 2009 - September 2010
• Changes to the Text Sections of News Releases issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2009
• New ECI news release table structure, by new table numbers, April 2006
• Change is coming to the ECI, 2006

ECEC

• New historical tables for Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, December 2021

All NCS Publications (including benefits, compensation costs, and wages) »

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the ECI and ECEC?
2. What is the NCS?
3. What are some differences between the ECI and the ECEC?
4. How reliable are the measurements for the ECEC and the ECI?
5. How are the data for the ECI and ECEC obtained?
6. How is the NCS sample designed?
7. What is the role of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Federal pay administration process?
8. What types of data are available?
9. How can I get assistance with using the ECI and ECEC?
10. How can I stay up to date with the ECI and ECEC?

All ECT FAQs »

Other BLS Resources

• Benefits—comprehensive data on incidence and provisions of employer-sponsored benefit plans.
• Compensation Research and Program Development Group—carries out research that addresses methodological, conceptual, and technical issues of concern to the National Compensation Survey, Occupational Requirements Survey, and the Workplace Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities Programs.
• Guide for Evaluating Your Firm's Jobs and Pay (PDF)—explains how the Bureau determines the work level of an occupation in the National Compensation Survey.
• Information Guide (PDF)—provides descriptions of the information and data produced by BLS, as well as descriptions of the publications in which they appear.
• Modeled Wage Estimates—annual estimates of average hourly wages for occupations by job characteristics and within geographical location.
• Occupational Requirements Survey—provides job-related information regarding physical demands; environmental conditions; education, training, and experience; as well as cognitive and mental requirements for jobs in the U.S. economy.
• Work Stoppages—monthly and annual data and analysis of major work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers.

Other Useful Links

• Compendium of Federal Datasets Addressing Health Disparities (PDF)—is a free resource of publicly available data relevant to research and programs aiming to reduce health disparities by exploring the relationship between socioeconomic factors and the social determinants of health.
• Employee Benefits Security Administration—provides participant and compliance assistance in the areas of retirement, health and other employee benefits.
• Healthcare.gov Glossary—provides terms and definitions used on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' HealthCare.gov website.
• Health Insurance Definitions (PDF)—provides terms and definitions approved by the Federal Government's Interdepartmental Committee on Employment-based Health Insurance Surveys for use in Federal surveys collecting employer-based health insurance data.
• Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs—responsible for ensuring employers doing business with the federal government comply with the laws and regulations requiring equal employment opportunity.
• Wage and Hour Division—responsible for enforcing federal labor laws including minimum wage and hour standards.

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.

Email: Contact us

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

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

Information voice phone: (202) 691-5200
Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1

Write or Personal Visit

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