Employment Cost Trends

Employment Cost Index (ECI)

April 27, 2012
Wages and salaries and benefit costs for civilian workers rose 0.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, from December 2011 to March 2012. Over the year, compensation rose 1.9 percent, wages and salaries 1.7 percent, and benefits 2.7 percent. More...
(HTML) (PDF)

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC)

March 14, 2012
Private industry employers spent an average of $28.57 per hour worked for employee compensation in December 2011. Private industry costs averaged $1.97 per hour worked for paid leave benefits and $2.33 for legally required benefits. More...
(HTML) (PDF)

Current ECT 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)
• ECEC Archives - Complete set of ECEC news releases from 1986.
• Subscribe to the BLS News Service— receive the Employment Cost Index news release by e-mail
• ECI Regional News Releases

Databases

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

More Tools

• Series Report —Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.

• Flat files (FTP)—For those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.
  • Employment Cost Index (ECI)
    • NAICS basis
  • Employer Cost for Employee Compensation (ECEC)
    • 2004 forward (NAICS basis)
• 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 »

• ECI Current-Dollar Historical Listings
• UPDATED NAICS basis (TXT) (PDF)
• SIC basis (TXT) (PDF)
• ECI Constant-Dollar Historical Listings
• UPDATED NAICS basis (TXT) (PDF)
• SIC basis (TXT) (PDF)

• UPDATED ECI Historical Listings - Continuous Occupational and Industry Series, September 1975 - Present (TXT) (PDF)
• UPDATED ECI Health Insurance, private industry (PDF)
• UPDATED ECI Standard Errors
• Corrections to Employment Cost Index data, June 2009 – September 2010
• 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.
• ECEC Supplemental Tables Historical Data, December 2006 – December 2011 (TXT) (PDF)
• ECEC Relative Standard Errors (TXT) (PDF)
• ECEC Relative Standard Errors -- Supplementary Tables (TXT) (PDF)
• ECEC Supplemental Tables December 2011 (TXT) (PDF)- supplemental tables with series for private industry workers by occupational group, establishment size, and bargaining status in 14 detailed industries.
• 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.
• NEW Seasonal Factors and Revised Seasonally Adjusted Indexes
• Chart—Changes in wages and salaries and benefit costs, civilian workers

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) is increasingly being used by business organizations as an escalator to adjust long-term sales and purchasing contracts, and to adjust wage rates in collective bargaining agreements. A web page explaining how to use the ECI for escalating contracts is available.

• Employment Cost Indexes, 1975-99 (PDF 567K)
• Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, 1986-99 (PDF 719K)
• The Employment Cost Index and the Impact on Medicare Reimbursements (PDF)
• Related Articles
• Handbook of Methods, Chapter 8, National Compensation Measures (PDF)
• Compensation and Working Condition (CWC) Online
• Monthly Labor Review (MLR) Online
• Archives

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

People Are Asking...

1. Is the ECI adjusted for inflation?
2. What is the Employment Cost index for individual occupations in the U.S.?
3. How can I get annualized ECI data?
4. What's the average raise?

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I calculate the percent change between two time periods?
2. What impact can incentive paid workers have on the ECI?
3. Once I have identified the series I want to use, how should I reference it to make sure it will not be confused with another series?
4. Where can I get wage determinations data?
5. Where can I obtain information on minimum wage and overtime laws and regulations?
6. Where can I find Employment Cost Index (wages & salaries and benefits) historical data?
7. How often are the ECI and ECEC published?
8. Does BLS interpret or forecast data on ECI and ECEC?
9. Is there a survey which shows compensation and benefits as a part of compensation?
10. Do you have breakdowns of the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by state?
11. Does the Employment Cost Index include stock options?

All ECT FAQs »

Related Links to Other BLS Programs

• National Compensation Survey—provides comprehensive measures of occupational earnings; compensation cost trends; and benefit incidence and detail plan provisions.
• Wages—provides data on occupational wages for localities, broad geographic regions, and the nation..
• Benefits—comprehensive data on incidence and provisions of selected employee benefit plans.
• Consumer Price Indexes—provides monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services.
• Producer Price Indexes—provides monthly data on changes in the selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services.
• 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.
• 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.

Other Useful Links

• Wage and Hour Division (WHD)—responsible for enforcing federal labor laws including minimum wage and hour standards.
• Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)—responsible for ensuring employers doing business with the federal government comply with the laws and regulations requiring equal employment opportunity.
• Employee Benefit Research Institute—offers a detailed description of private- and public-sector employee benefit programs as they exist today.

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.)

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

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

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

Write or Personal Visit

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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