What types of nonproduction bonuses are available to workers?

The National Compensation Survey (NCS) program publishes nonproduction bonuses, which are cash payments made to employees that are not directly related by any formula to individual employee productivity. The Employment Cost Index (ECI) includes nonproduction bonuses in total benefits, the Employer Cost for Employee Compensation (ECEC) provides the dollar amount for nonproduction bonuses per hour worked and the NCS Benefits produces data on the percent of access to nonproduction bonuses. The Pay Measure Comparison allows for comparison across the 12 BLS surveys or programs that provide information on pay and benefits.

Access to nonproduction bonuses includes the following bonus types: employee incentive awards (such as hiring, referral, and retention bonuses), performance-based awards (cash profit sharing, end-of-year, holiday, and management incentive bonuses), recognition awards (attendance, employee recognitions, longevity, safety, and suggestion bonuses), union related (contract signing and lump sum bonuses), and other bonuses (in lieu of benefit payments and birthday and retirement bonuses).

In March 2026, 51 percent of private industry and 40 percent of state and local government workers had access to nonproduction bonuses. fifteen percent of private industry workers and 2 percent of state and local government workers had access to end-of-year bonuses. Four percent of private industry and 22 percent of state and local government workers had access to payment in lieu of benefit bonuses. Three percent of private industry and 9 percent of state and local government had access to longevity bonuses. (See chart 1.)

Seventy-two percent of workers in the financial activities industry and 27 percent of workers in the leisure and hospitality industry had access to nonproduction bonuses. Chart 2 illustrates the percent of workers with access to nonproduction bonuses among private industries in March 2026.

Estimates from the Employer Cost for Employee Compensation (ECEC) and Employee Benefits in the United States can be combined to approximate the employer costs for workers with access to nonproduction bonuses. For more information on utilizing both Benefits and ECEC data, see the Benefit Costs Concepts and Limitations of the ECEC Measurement. From March 2026 in the ECEC, private industry workers were paid $1.37 per hour of work for nonproduction bonuses, which accounted for 2.9 percent of their total compensation. By dividing the hourly cost by 51 percent of private industry workers with access to nonproduction bonuses, an employer cost of $2.69 per hour worked can be estimated for private industry workers who have access to nonproduction bonuses. (See chart 3.)

Thirty-seven percent of workers in service occupations and 61 percent of management, professional and related occupations had access to nonproduction bonuses. (See chart 4.)

Among different types of nonproduction bonuses, 6 percent of all private industry workers had access to cash profit-sharing bonuses. Among occupational groups, 8 percent of production, transportation, and material moving and 2 percent of service occupations had access to cash profit-sharing bonuses. Fifteen percent of all workers, 6 percent of service and 21 percent of management, professional and related occupations had access to end-of-year bonuses. Ten percent of all workers, 6 percent of management, professional and related and 14 percent of production, transportation, and material moving had access to holiday bonuses. Ten percent of all workers, 8 percent of natural resources, construction, and maintenance and 12 percent of management, professional and related occupations had access to referral bonuses. Other nonproduction bonuses are payments made to employees for a designated occasion or based on a specified circumstance, such as a birthday bonus or final year’s pay for providing one year’s irrevocable notice of retirement. (See chart 5.)

More information

Estimates on the cost, coverage, and provisions of employer–sponsored benefit plans from 2010 to the present are available through the XLSX dataset and public database. Benefit estimates are not a time series and users are advised to consider changes in survey design, survey scope, estimation methods, weighting, and sample rotation when analyzing the data. Join the BLS Mailing Lists to receive notification of the latest data releases.

The glossary of employee benefit terms provides definitions for plans, provisions, coverage, and related terms. The Employee Benefits Handbook of Methods provides information on the survey design, calculations, weighting, and imputation methods used to produce compensation estimates. The calculation section includes information on the measures of reliability available for each estimate. Additional information on Employee Benefits can be found in the EBS Publications, Monthly Labor Review, and the questions and answers page.

Last Modified Date: September 25, 2026