Handbook of Methods > Employment Cost Index

Handbook of Methods Employment Cost Index History

Employment Cost Index: History

The National Compensation Survey (NCS), introduced in 1996 as COMP2000, collects a broad range of compensation data that was formerly collected under three separate U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) programs. Until 2011, the NCS published employee compensation data for about 800 detailed occupations in more than 150 local areas. With the enactment of the 2011 U.S. federal budget, the Locality Pay Survey (LPS) portion of the NCS was eliminated.

From its inception as an independent survey in 1975, the Employment Cost Index (ECI) has continued to expand and evolve gradually over time as a part of the NCS. The improvements to the ECI and the NCS over the years have included updating samples and weights, expanding coverage, and enhancing methodologies. For a timeline of changes to the occupational and industry classification systems, see “Reweighting and Recoding in the ECI.”

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Major ECI milestones

1938–39: Industry Wage Surveys are conducted in support of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
1945: Industry Wage Survey (IWS) is reintroduced and conducted until 1991.
1960: National Survey of Professional, Administrative, Technical, and Clerical Pay (PATC) is introduced and conducted until 1991.
Mid-1960s: Area Wage Survey (AWS) is introduced and conducted until 1991. It is a direct ancestor of NCS.
1975: Employment Cost Index (ECI) is introduced.
June 1976: ECI private industry wages and salaries are first published.
June 1981: Total compensation and benefits are added to the ECI along with estimates for civilian workers and state and local governments. See “The Employment Cost Index in 1980: a first look at total compensation.”
March 1990: ECI is rebased. See “Employment Cost Index rebased to June 1989.”
1991: Occupational Compensation Survey (OCS) is introduced merging the AWS, IWS, and PATC into a single survey and conducted until 1997.
1996: COMP2000 is introduced merging the OCS, ECI/Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), and Employee Benefits Survey (EBS) into a single survey.
2000: COMP2000 is renamed the National Compensation Survey (NCS).
December 2002: Private industry health insurance series are added to ECI. See “Health Insurance Series Now Available from the Employment Cost Index.”
March 2006: ECI introduced several changes. See “Changes affecting the Employment Cost Index: an overview.”
- 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) is replaced with 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
- 1990 Occupational Classification System Manual (OCSM) is replaced with 2000 Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC).
- ECI is rebased from June 1989 = 100 to December 2005 = 100. See “Employment Cost Index publication plans.”
- Imputation methods are updated. See “Accounting for missing data in the Employment Cost Index.”
September 2008: Estimates for sampled areas are added to ECI. See “BLS Introduces New Employment Cost Indexes for 14 Metropolitan Areas.”
December 2013: Fixed employment weights are updated using 2012 employment estimates from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program. See “Introducing 2012 fixed employment weights for the Employment Cost Index.”
December 2021: NCS maintained an additional (fourth) private industry sample in estimation to offset increased nonresponse.
December 2022: Fixed employment weights are updated using 2021 employment estimates from OEWS. See “Introducing 2021 fixed employment weights and 2018 SOC codes for the Employment Cost Index.”
September 2023: An additional (fourth) private industry sample used to offset increased nonresponse is no longer used in estimation.

Handbook of Methods Employment Cost Index History

Employment Cost Index: History

Major ECI milestones

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