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TECHNICAL NOTE Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), a product of the National Compensation Survey, provides the average employer cost for wages and salaries as well as benefits per employee hour worked. The ECEC covers the civilian economy, which includes data from both private industry and state and local government. Excluded from private industry are the self-employed, agricultural workers, and private household workers. Federal government workers are excluded from the public sector. All workers are included in the benefit cost estimates including those that do not have plan access or do not participate. Costs are also affected by other factors such as cost sharing between employers and employees, plan features, and plan generosity. For the latest information on the percentage of workers with access to and participating in employer-sponsored benefit plans, including health care and retirement and savings plans, see www.bls.gov/ebs. The “National Compensation Measures” provides additional details on the sample design, calculation methodology, and resources explaining changes over time. (See www.bls.gov/opub/hom/ncs/home.htm.) Additional ECEC estimates, including historical data, are available in the ECEC database query tool at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/data.htm. Sample size: Data for this reference period were collected from a probability sample of approximately 25,300 occupational observations selected from a sample of about 6,200 private industry establishments and approximately 7,800 occupational observations selected from a sample of about 1,400 state and local government establishments that provided data at the initial interview. Measures of reliability: Relative standard errors (RSEs) provide users a tool to ascertain the quality of an estimate to ensure that it is within an acceptable range for their intended purpose. RSEs are available at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/ecec-rse.htm and database query tool at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/data.htm. Comparisons: Compensation cost levels in state and local government should not be directly compared with levels in private industry. Differences between these sectors stem from factors such as variation in work activities and occupational structures. Area definitions: Metropolitan area definitions have been updated based on Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 13-01, dated February 28, 2013. For more information see www.census.gov/programs-surveys/metro-micro.html. Publication focus: Topics of news releases for the upcoming reference periods are as follows: * December 2020—supplemental pay costs in private industry * March 2021—compensation costs by wage percentile, and 15 metropolitan areas in private industry * June 2021—benefits costs in private industry The 2021 ECEC release dates are available at www.bls.gov/schedule/news_release/ecec.htm.