Employment Cost Index National Compensation Survey Health Benefits (1982-2020) www.bls.gov/ect Private industry, 12-month percent change in employer costs, total benefits and health benefits ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This text document will be no longer updated December 2020 was the final update of the ECI Health Benefits text document. The latest update to the series is available in the ECI News Release at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/eci.nr0.htm. Users can also access the health insurance cost series at https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CIU2150000000000A. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Employment Cost Index: 12-month percent changes for private industry employer costs Health benefits Total benefits Year | Mar. Jun. Sep. Dec. || Mar. Jun. Sep. Dec. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ 1982 | 14.7 16.2 18.1 18.3 || 6.9 7.4 7.9 7.1 1983 | 23.5 22.4 21.3 20.4 || 9.2 8.4 7.6 7.5 1984 | 17.6 15.9 13.1 12.5 || 7.3 7.2 6.6 6.5 1985 | 8.5 6.7 6.5 5.2 || 5.5 4.1 4.4 3.5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1986 | 3.9 3.5 3.6 4.1 || 3.2 3.5 3.2 3.4 1987 | 4.7 6.1 5.5 6.3 || 1.7 3.4 3.1 3.3 1988 | 10.5 12.2 13.9 14.7 || 5.9 6.5 6.9 6.9 1989 | 13.6 13.4 13.7 12.8 || 5.5 5.5 5.8 6.2 1990 | 12.2 12.0 11.5 11.3 || 7.1 7.0 6.7 6.7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1991 | 11.5 11.1 10.9 11.2 || 5.7 6.2 6.5 6.2 1992 | 10.3 9.6 9.2 8.6 || 6.3 5.5 5.2 5.2 1993 | 8.1 7.8 7.2 6.9 || 5.6 5.7 5.3 4.9 1994 | 5.7 5.0 4.3 3.9 || 4.5 4.1 4.1 3.7 1995 | 1.6 0.6 -0.1 0.1 || 2.8 2.5 2.0 2.2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1996 | -0.3 0.1 0.7 0.4 || 1.5 1.7 1.8 2.0 1997 | 0.2 0.7 0.8 0.9 || 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.2 1998 | 2.2 2.6 2.2 2.5 || 2.2 2.7 2.5 2.5 1999 | 3.7 4.0 5.0 5.8 || 2.3 2.4 2.9 3.4 2000 | 7.6 8.0 8.5 8.5 || 5.4 5.8 6.0 5.6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2001 | 8.1 8.6 8.7 9.2 || 5.1 4.8 4.9 5.1 2002 | 10.5 11.4 11.2 10.2 || 4.7 5.1 4.9 4.7 2003 | 9.8 10.3 10.1 10.5 || 6.1 6.2 6.5 6.4 2004 | 9.3 8.1 7.3 7.3 || 7.0 7.3 6.8 6.9 2005 | 7.5 6.3 6.7 6.4 || 5.8 4.9 4.8 4.2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2006 | 4.8 5.2 4.9 4.9 || 3.0 2.7 2.8 3.1 2007 | 4.9 4.8 4.8 4.8 || 2.2 2.6 2.4 2.4 2008 | 4.6 4.2 3.9 3.5 || 3.2 2.6 2.4 2.0 2009 | 4.6 4.4 4.6 4.3 || 1.6 1.3 1.1 0.9 2010 | 4.5 5.0 4.8 5.0 || 2.0 2.4 2.8 2.9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2011 | 3.4 3.6 3.4 3.5 || 3.0 4.0 3.3 3.6 2012 | 3.0 2.4 2.3 2.1 || 2.8 1.9 2.2 2.0 2013 | 3.0 2.6 2.7 3.0 || 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.9 2014 | 2.4 2.7 2.6 2.4 || 1.8 2.4 2.3 2.5 2015 | 2.5 2.8 3.0 3.0 || 2.6 1.4 1.4 1.3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 | 3.3 2.8 2.7 2.7 || 1.2 1.7 1.8 1.8 2017 | 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.1 || 1.9 2.2 2.4 2.3 2018 | 1.5 1.6 1.9 1.8 || 2.5 2.8 2.5 2.6 2019 | 1.9 2.3 2.0 2.2 || 2.4 1.8 2.0 1.9 2020 | 1.5 1.9 1.8 1.9 || 1.6 2.0 2.0 2.1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Note The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a quarterly index, the Employment Cost Index (ECI) that includes measures of change in the cost of employee benefits. Data are collected for individual benefits within several benefit categories: paid leave, supplemental pay, insurance benefits, retirement and savings, legally required benefits, and other benefits. The measure of change in the cost of health benefits presented here is the only benefit for which BLS makes separate data available. The 12-month percent change in health benefit costs from the ECI should be used with caution. First, employer nonresponse for the health benefit component is substantial, which may affect the quality of the estimate. Second, there are fewer observations supporting health benefit estimates as compared with total benefit estimates. Finally, in some cases, respondents are able to report only a single cost for a combination of benefits (for example, life insurance and health benefits); in these instances, BLS allocates the cost among the benefits. Users should also be aware that the ECI may understate health insurer increases for a fixed set of plans because employers may reduce their contributions or employees may switch to lower cost health plans where there is an employee contribution. For these reasons, please exercise care in using and interpreting these estimates. For further information see: “Health Insurance Series Now Available from the Employment Cost Index” at: www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/cwc/health-insurance- series-now-available-from-the-employment-cost-index.pdf. National Compensation Survey . www.bls.gov/ect . NCSinfo@bls.gov . 202.691.6199