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Employee Benefits

Data Requests

The National Compensation Survey (NCS) is used to produce labor cost changes through the Employment Cost Index (ECI) and the average costs per hour worked through the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC). The NCS also provides estimates on the incidence and provisions of benefits by the percentage of workers with access to and participating in employer-sponsored benefit plans through the Employee Benefits in the United States. The survey covers a broad range of benefits including holidays and vacations, sick leave, health and life insurance, and retirement plans. Benefit plan details of employer-provided health and retirement plan provisions are also available.

The latest data can be accessed from the:

What is data request?

In some circumstances, BLS can provide estimates not available through NCS publications. When requests for unpublished data are received, they are evaluated and processed based on resource availability and the complexity of the request. The NCS is not designed to produce estimates for individual states. All tabulations of data are reviewed for reliability and confidentiality prior to release, which may limit the data provided. The NCS can be used to produce estimates by aggregate occupational and industry groups, census regions and divisions, the fifteen largest combined statistical areas and metropolitan statistical areas, and by various worker characteristics (such as work status, bargaining status, and basis of pay).

How to submit a data request?

submit your SDR
qr code to submit special data request
Click or scan the QR code To submit your Special Data Request

When making a data request, users should provide a detailed explanation of the scope that includes ownership (civilian, private, and state and local government), industry group(s) or industry, occupational group(s) or occupation, worker and establishment characteristics, and reference period. This detailed explanation will expedite the evaluation. Once we receive the request, we will evaluate it and contact you regarding an expected timeframe for tabulation, review, and clearance. All estimates are evaluated to ensure respondent confidentiality and estimate reliability. In cases where the level of detail requested does not meet publication criteria, BLS staff will contact you with possible alternatives including on-site microdata access. Access to restricted microdata requires a well-defined research proposal that will be thoroughly reviewed as explained on the BLS Restricted Data Access page.

Please review the list of fulfilled requests prior to submitting a tabulation data request. Enter “data request” in the subject line and indicate the scope of the request. BLS staff evaluating the request will respond and ask for clarification, if necessary. These tabulations can take anywhere from four to eight weeks to produce, review, and fulfill.

Completed Special Data Requests

Examples of previously fulfilled requests are listed below, in order to demonstrate the level of detail that can be provided outside of the Benefits publications. All data in table on this page are unpublished except by special request. Data requests based on Employment Cost Index (ECI) and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) publications are also available.

To sort these tables by a different column, click on the column header.

National Compensation Survey (NCS)

Date posted Customer type Characteristics Special data request title Geography Data time frame
2018-12 Private Leveling points by occupation Average leveling points for six-digit occupations All U.S. 2018
2021-12 Private Leveling points by occupation Average leveling points for six-digit occupations All U.S. 2021

 

Employee Benefits

Date posted Customer type Characteristics Special data request title Geography Data time frame
2023-10 Private Occupation Percent of civilian workers with access to select benefits by minor occupational group All U.S. March 2022 - 2023
2021-06 Private Industry Access to paid sick leave benefits by industry All U.S. March 2019 - 2020
2021-06 Private Geographic area Access to paid sick leave benefits by geographic area All U.S. March 2019
2019-03 Private Geographic area Percentage of private industry workers with access to leave benefits in the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area All U.S. March 2018
2019-03 Private Geographic area Number of annual paid vacation days by service requirement for private industry workers in the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area All U.S. March 2018
2019-03 Private Geographic area Access and average number of paid days off by length of service for consolidated leave plans for private industry workers in the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area All U.S. March 2018
2019-03 Private Geographic area Access to leave benefits by worker and establishment characteristics for private industry workers in the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area All U.S. March 2018
2019-03 Private State and local government Percentage of state and local government workers in protective service occupations with access to sick leave All U.S. March 2018
2021-09 Private Retirement benefits Retirement Benefits: Access, participation, and take-up rates for workers in elementary and secondary schools All U.S. March 2021
2018-04 Private Disability insurance Percent of civilian workers with access to disability insurance benefit combinations All U.S. March 2017
2021-09 Private Paid sick days Average number of paid sick days by length of service for private industry workers in the Pacific region Pacific region March 2021
2022-04 Private Martin Luther King's birthday holiday Percent of private industry workers with access to paid Martin Luther King's birthday holiday All U.S. 2019-2022
2018-09 Private Paid sick days Percent of private industry workers participating in incentive-based pay and average hourly wage Pacific region March 2015
2023-09 Private Paid vacation and holidays average Average-number-paid-vacation-and-holidays-within-second-quartile-wage-category-(including-without-access).xlsx All U.S. March 2023
2023-09 Private Paid vacation and holidays mean Paid vacation and holidays, including access rates, mean, and median days by length of service in California California March 2023
2023-09 Private Paid vacation and holidays mean Percent of jobs with access to paid family leave in establishments with 500 or more workers in select industry groups All U.S. March 2023
2025-03 Private Retirement benefits Retirement Benefits: Access, participation, and take-up rates for workers in elementary and secondary schools All U.S. March 2024
2025-03 Private Occupations (minor) Percent of workers with access to select benefits by minor occupational group All U.S March 2023

More information

For an explanation of survey design, calculation and weighting methodology, and history of the NCS see the National Compensation Measures in the Handbook of Methods.

Last Modified Date: March 27, 2025