Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	Data Finder	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Benefit Incidence & Provisions
Employee Benefits Survey (1985 to 2006)
National Compensation Survey - Benefits (Beginning with 2010 data)*
*2007 to 2009 benefits data are not available in the National Compensation Survey data base. For data during these years, see the NCS publication archive.

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.
  • Employee Benefits Survey
  • National Compensation Survey - Benefits (Beginning with 2010 data)

• Benefits Search--allows you to search through all the benefits publications that are currently available electronically.

National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2016

September 2016
Bulletin 2785
To print all tables in bulletin, or to print entire bulletin

Tables organized by ownership

Employee benefits data tables: United States, March 2016 (Tab view)

• Civilian (includes private industry and state and local government establishments)
• Private industry (excludes agricultural establishments, private households, and the self-employed)
• State and local government (excludes Federal employees)
• View all by ownership group

Tables organized by benefit

Employee benefits data tables: United States, March 2016 (Tab view)

• Retirement benefits
• Healthcare benefits
• Life, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance benefits
• Paid leave benefits
• Other benefits (Quality of life, financial, health-related, nonproduction bonuses, and unmarried domestic partner)
• Benefit combinations (Medical care and paid leave)
• Establishment data (Retirement and healthcare)
• View all benefits

Overview

Technical note

Glossary

Printing multiple tables or entire bulletin

Appendix table 1 (HTML) (PDF)

Appendix table 2 (HTML) (PDF)

National Compensation Survey: Health and Retirement Plan Provisions in Private Industry in the United States, 2015

April 2016
Bulletin 2784

To print all tables in bulletin: (PDF of Entire 2015 Benefits Bulletin)

Overview

Tables

Health

• Medical care benefits
• High deductible health plans and nonhigh deductible health plans
• Selected medical benefits by type of plan
• Fee-for-service plans
• Health maintenance organizations
• Outpatient prescription drug benefits
• Dental care benefits
• Vision care benefits

Retirement

• Defined benefit plans
• Traditional defined benefit plans
• Defined contribution plans
• Deferred profit-sharing plans
• Money purchase pension plans
• Savings and thrift plans

Printing multiple tables

Glossary

Technical note

Appendix table 1 (TXT) (PDF)

Appendix table 2 (TXT) (PDF)

National Compensation Survey: Health Plan Provisions in State and Local Government in the United States, 2011

March 2012
Bulletin 2772

To print all tables in bulletin: (PDF of Entire 2011 Benefits Bulletin)

Overview

Tables

Health plan provisions

• Medical care benefits
• Fee-for-service plans
• Health maintenance organizations
• Selected benefits by type of plan
• High deductible and non-high deductible health plans
• Mental health care and substance abuse treatment benefits
• Outpatient prescription drug benefits
• Dental care benefits
• Vision care benefits

Printing multiple tables

Glossary

Search all tables for key words

Technical note

Appendix table 1 (TXT) (PDF)

Appendix table 2 (TXT) (PDF)

National Compensation Survey: Retirement Plan Provisions in State and Local Government in the United States, 2016

April 2017
Bulletin 2786

To print all tables in bulletin: (PDF of Entire 2016 Benefits Bulletin)

Overview

Tables

Retirement

• Defined benefit plans
• Traditional defined benefit plans
• Defined contribution plans
• Money purchase pension plans
• Savings and thrift plans

Printing multiple tables

Glossary

Technical note

Appendix table 1 (TXT) (PDF)

Appendix table 2 (TXT) (PDF)

• Standard errors - Latest News Release
• Recent retirement benefits data
• Recent health benefits data
• Unmarried Domestic Partners Benefit Fact Sheet, March 2013 (PDF)
• Handbook of Methods, Chapter 8, National Compensation Measures (PDF)
• Definition of health care benefits terms
• National Compensation Survey: Glossary of Employee Benefit Terms (HTML) (PDF)

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

Frequently Asked Questions

    Affordable Care Act (ACA)

1. How will implementation of the ACA change NCS health care data? Will NCS data collection be any different from pre-ACA?
2. What are grandfathered health care plans and how prevalent are they?
3. Does the BLS have any information on the prevalence of the Essential Health benefits that are mentioned in the ACA?

General employee benefit information

4. What types of benefit data does the BLS provide?
5. For what worker and establishment characteristics are benefit data available?
6. How much has the cost of employer-provided benefits changed in the last 5 years?

Retirement benefits information

7. What are frozen retirement plans and how prevalent are they?
8. How prevalent are cash account (cash balance) pension plans?

Health benefits information

9. What are high deductible health plans and how do they differ from traditional health plans?
10. How much do employees pay for health care?
11. What information does the NCS collect about Flexible Spending Accounts? Does the NCS capture data regarding the details of how an employer reimburses their employees for valid transactions?

All EBS FAQs »

Other BLS Programs

• National Compensation Survey—designed to integrate data from separate BLS compensation surveys—currently provides earnings data by worker characteristics and establishment characteristics and by geographic area.
• Compensation Cost Trends—quarterly indexes measuring change over time in labor costs and quarterly data measuring level of average costs per hour worked.

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 (EBRI)—offers a detailed description of private- and public-sector employee benefit programs as they exist today.
• Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)—provides participant and compliance assistance in the areas of retirement, health and other employee benefits.

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.)

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.