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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Employee Benefits > Publications > Factsheets

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 Modeled Wage Estimates (MWE) doesn’t include nonproduction bonuses, 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.⁽¹⁾ Access to nonproduction bonuses includes the following bonus types: cash profit sharing, employee recognition, end-of-year, holiday, payment in lieu of benefits, longevity, referral, hiring, retention, management incentive, attendance, safety, suggestion, contract signing, lump sum and other (such as birthday and retirement bonuses).

In March 2024, 48 percent of private industry and 37 percent of state and local government workers had access to nonproduction bonuses. Twelve percent of private industry workers and 2 percent of state and local government workers had access to end-of-year bonuses. Five percent of private industry and 21 percent of state and local government workers had access to payment in lieu of benefit bonuses. Two percent of private industry and 8 percent of state and local government had access to longevity bonuses. (See chart 1.)

Table 1. Percent of workers with access to nonproduction bonuses by ownership, March 2024
Nonproduction bonuses	Private industry	State and local government
All nonproduction bonuses	48%	37%
End-of-year bonus	12%	2%
Longevity bonus	2%	8%
Payment in lieu of benefits bonus	5%	21%
Employee incentive awards	11%	2%
Hiring bonus	3%	1%
Performance-based awards	28%	3%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Among the private industry in March 2024, 48 percent of all workers had access to nonproduction bonuses. Seventy-one percent of workers in the financial activities industry and 30 percent of workers in the leisure and hospitality industry had access to nonproduction bonuses. Chart 2 illustrates the percent of nonproduction access for workers among private industries in March 2024.

Table 2. Percent of private industry workers with access to nonproduction bonuses by industry group, March 2024
Industry	Access
Information	74%
Financial activities	71%
Manufacturing	65%
Professional and business services	53%
All industries	48%
Construction	48%
Education and health services	43%
Trade, transportation, and utilities	43%
Leisure and hospitality	30%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Estimates from the Employer Cost for Employee Compensation (ECEC) and NCS Benefits can be combined to approximate the employer costs for workers with access to nonproduction production bonuses.⁽²⁾ From March 2024 in the ECEC, private industry workers were paid $1.26 per hour of work for nonproduction bonuses, which accounted for 2.9 percent of their total compensation. By dividing the hourly cost by 48 percent of private industry workers with access to nonproduction bonuses, an employer cost of $2.63 per hour worked can be estimated for private industry workers who have access to nonproduction bonuses. (See chart 3.)

Table 3. Estimated employer costs for workers with access to nonproduction bonuses by industry group, private industry workers, March 2024
Industry	Cost
Leisure and hospitality	$0.47
Trade, transportation, and utilities	$1.35
Education and health services	$1.72
Manufacturing	$2.35
All industries	$2.62
Construction	$2.75
Professional and business services	$4.70
Information	$4.85
Financial activities	$4.90
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Forty-eight percent of all private industry workers had access to nonproduction bonuses. Thirty-five percent of workers in service occupations and 57 percent of management, professional and related occupations had access to nonproduction bonuses. (See chart 4.)

Table 4. Percent of private industry workers with access to nonproduction bonuses by occupational group, March 2024
Occupational group	Access
Service	35%
Sales and office	47%
Production, transportation, and material moving	47%
All workers	48%
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance	50%
Management, professional and related	57%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Among different types of nonproduction bonuses, 8 percent of all private industry workers had access to cash profit-sharing bonuses. Among occupational groups, 9 percent of sales and office and 2 percent of service occupations had access to cash profit-sharing bonuses. Twelve percent of all workers, 6 percent of service and 19 percent of management, professional and related occupations had access to end-of-year bonuses. Seven percent of all workers, 4 percent of management, professional and related and 14 percent of natural resources, construction, and maintenance had access to holiday bonuses. Nine percent of all workers, 11 percent of service occupations and 7 percent of production, transportation and material moving occupations had access to referral bonuses.⁽³⁾ (See chart 5.)

Table 5. Percent of private industry workers with access to nonproduction bonuses by occupational group, March 2024
Occupational group	Cash profit-sharing bonus	End-of-year bonus	Holiday bonus	Referral bonus
All workers	8%	12%	7%	9%
Management, professional and related	8%	19%	4%	10%
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance	7%	14%	14%	6%
Production, transportation, and material moving	12%	9%	8%	7%
Sales and office	9%	12%	8%	8%
Service	2%	6%	8%	11%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

More information

Estimates on the cost, coverage, and provisions of employer–sponsored benefit plans from 2010 to the present are available through the Excel 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 National Compensation Measures 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.

END NOTES

⁽¹⁾ The Pay Measure Comparison allows for comparison across the 12 BLS surveys or programs that provide information on pay and benefits.

⁽²⁾ For more information on utilizing both Benefits and ECEC data, see the Benefit Costs Concepts and Limitations of the ECEC Measurement.

⁽³⁾ 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.

Last Modified Date: September 19, 2024