How is the data used?

The data you provide helps a wide variety of users, including business owners and human resource professionals, budget and contract specialists, jobseekers, researchers and analysts, and policymakers.

Business owners and human resource professionals

BLS data are commonly used as a guide when business owners and human resource professionals choose the provisions for their benefits. In addition, companies may use our data to remain competitive in the labor market.

To attract and retain workers, employers may provide additional benefits. These prospective benefits may be traditional or emerging. Employers can search the benefits data to evaluate benefits that employees are currently being offered nationwide.

For more detailed information:

• The New Health Participation and Access Data from the National Compensation Survey
• Beyond Basic Benefits: Employee Access to Other Types of Benefits, 1979-2008
• A Comparison of Hourly Wage Rates for Full- and Part-Time Workers by Occupation, 2007

Budget and contract specialists

Budget and contract specialists can use the Employment Cost Index (ECI) to estimate budget needs and escalate labor costs in contracts. See our description of How to use the Employment Cost Index for escalation.

Jobseekers

Jobseekers can use the Employment Cost Index (ECI) and the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) to see how compensation compares among different occupational/industry characteristics and across regions in the United States. There are even similar applications of our data in the academic world, for both students and educators alike.

Jobseekers can use Employee Benefits data to see how benefits compare with those of other companies.

For more detailed information:

• Aging Wage Survey Data Using the Employment Cost Index
• Escalation in Employer Costs for Employee Compensation: A Guide for Contracting Parties
• Consumer-Driven Health Care: What Is It, and What Does It Mean for Employees and Employers?
• BLS Program Perspectives

Policymakers

"The Employment Cost Index (ECI) is indispensable to understanding America's economy. It ensures the accuracy of the statistics on employers' compensation costs that we rely on for economic policy making and successful business planning."

 - Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke

"As a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey participant, you help enhance our understanding of the increasingly complex U.S. economy. The more we understand, the better we are able to fulfill our mission and promote the prosperity of American workers, consumers, and businesses."

 - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome H. Powell

Policymakers use pay and benefit data to evaluate, design, and update policy. In the past, BLS benefits data were used to design defined benefit and savings and thrift plans for Federal employees. In the debate over a universal health care system, benefits data on employee premium sharing was considered in formulating proposals. Data on the amount of retirement income from employer plans has helped to frame the debate over Social Security reform. Policymakers used our benefits data when drafting the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

The Federal government as well as State and local governments use NCS products to set their pay increases. The ECI is particularly well suited as a vehicle to adjust wage rates to keep pace with what is paid by other employers for two reasons. First, it is comprehensive in that it includes not only wages and salaries but also employer costs for employee benefits, and covers nearly all employees in the civilian (non-Federal) economy. Second, it measures the "pure" change in labor costs; that is, change unaffected by employment of industries and occupations with different wage and compensation levels.  The Employee Benefits and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) also provide a snapshot of what benefits Americans receive, which help policy-makers make informed decisions.

For more detailed information:

• How to use the ECI for escalation
• Consumer-Driven Health Care: What Is It, and What Does It Mean for Employees and Employers?
• Comparison of Take-up Rates in Employer-Sponsored Medical Care Plans: State and Local Government and Private Industry
• The Employment Cost Index and the Impact on Medicare Reimbursements

Last Modified Date: October 22, 2024