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Employment Cost Trends
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Employment Cost Index Footnote Page

Footnote A

Dashes indicate data not available.

Footnote B

Includes wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.

Footnote C

Includes workers in the private nonfarm economy except those in private households and workers in the public sector except the federal government.

Footnote D

Includes the following occupations: management, business, and financial; professional and related; sales and related; and office and administrative support.

Footnote E

Includes the following occupations: farming, fishing, and forestry; construction and extraction; installation, maintenance, and repair; production; and transportation and material moving.

Footnote F

The service occupations wages and salaries series is seasonal as of the 2017 revision. The seasonally adjusted series was first published with the 2011 revision and the series continued to be seasonally adjusted until the 2015 revision when it was discontinued for 2015, as no identifiable seasonality was found for this series. Historical data for this series is published beginning with March 2006.

Footnote G

Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.

Footnote H

Includes the following industries: wholesale trade; retail trade; transportation and warehousing; utilities; information; finance and insurance; real estate and rental and leasing; professional, scientific, and technical services; management of companies and enterprises; administrative and support and waste management and remediation services; educational services; health care and social assistance; arts, entertainment, and recreation; accommodation and food services; and other services, except public administration.

Footnote I

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, or choose not to participate, where there is an employee contribution. For these reasons, please exercise care in using and interpreting these estimates.

Footnote J

Constant dollar estimates are produced by taking the current dollar (nominal) compensation costs and adjusting them by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in order to produce real or inflation-adjusted estimates. Constant dollar estimates facilitate analysis by removing changes in consumer prices, such that the estimates are comparable on a same dollar basis. The CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) U.S. City Average All Items is used for the reference period of interest to adjust prior years' costs to current dollar costs.

Footnote K

Includes ambulatory health care services and social assistance, not shown separately.

Footnote M

These areas include Consolidated Statistical Areas (CSAs) and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Beginning with the December 2018 release, area definitions are based on Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 13-01, dated February 28, 2013. Previous area definitions are based on Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 04-03, dated February 18, 2004. For more information on metropolitan area definitions, see www.census.gov/programs-surveys/metro-micro.html.

Footnote N

Includes farming, fishing, and forestry occupations.

Footnote O

Includes elementary and secondary schools; junior colleges; colleges, universities, and professional schools.

Footnote S

Historical data are available beginning with December 2005.

Footnote Q

The index for this series is not strictly comparable to other series.

Footnote Y

Includes the following industries: wholesale trade; retail trade; transportation and warehousing; utilities; information; finance and insurance; real estate and rental and leasing; professional and technical services; management of companies and enterprises; administrative and waste services; educational services; health care and social assistance; arts, entertainment and recreation; accommodation and food services; other services, except public administration; and public administration.

Footnote Z

Series discontinued beginning December 2008.

Footnote 2

ECI series are reviewed annually for seasonality. Seasonal adjustment is discontinued as of March 2010, as no identifiable seasonality was found for this series.

Footnote 3

Some estimates from June 2009 through September 2010 for this series were corrected on January 12, 2011.

Footnote 8

Some estimates from September 2012 to March 2013 for this series were corrected on June 26, 2013. Details on the extent of the corrections are available at www.bls.gov/bls/eci_corrections_043013.htm.

Footnote 9

Some estimates from December 2013 to December 2014 for this series were corrected on April 28, 2015. Details on the extent of the corrections are available at www.bls.gov/bls/errata/eci_errata_07212015.htm.

 

Last Modified Date: January 20, 2022