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	             Handbook of Methods > 
					                      National Compensation Measures

                 Handbook of Methods National Compensation Measures History
                     National Compensation Measures: History
				  
				   				   
			  
			   				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			   



The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was established in 1884. Throughout its history, it has consistently focused on collecting high-quality data for various aspects of the nation’s economy including the conditions of employee compensation.  Although the focus and scope of the compensation surveys has changed over time (owing to legislative direction, emerging trends, and requests from the data user community), BLS has provided information on employee compensation essentially since the beginning of BLS.  The first BLS study of occupational wages was conducted in 1885.
Historical timeline

Hover over the red dot to see historical information.
1885 – The first BLS study of occupational wages is conducted and published in the "First Annual Report"*, 1886, Industrial Depressions*
1889 –"Fifth Annual Report"*, 1889, Railroad Labor* is published and includes occupational wage statistics for 60 carriers
1905 –"Nineteenth Annual Report"*, 1904, Wages and Hours of Labor* is published and includes the occupational wages by industry results for 1890 through 1903.  Results were published for the next 4 years in the Bureau’s bimonthly bulletin
1908–1912 – Hiatus in the compensation program occurs due to priority of other labor statistics
1909 –"Twenty-third Annual Report,"*1908, Workmen’s Insurance and Benefit Funds in the United States* is published
1911–12 – Condition of employment in the iron and steel industry is published as a Senate document
1912 – Studies of union wage scales and hours of work in various industries are introduced and continued for almost 80 years
1912 – Payroll-based series on Industrial Wages and Hours (in 12 industries) is introduced and conducted until 1933
1920 – Annual wage index is introduced and conducted until 1934
1926 – Common Laborers Entrance Wage Rates survey is introduced and discontinued in the early 1940s
1938–39 – Industry Wage Surveys are conducted in support of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
1943 – Urban wage index is introduced and conducted until 1947
1945 – Industry Wage Survey (IWS) is re-introduced and conducted until 1991
1948 – Community Wage Survey is introduced and conducted until the mid- 1960s
1955 – “Digest of Selected Health and Insurance Plans” and “Digest of Selected Pension Plans” are introduced and conducted until 1979
1959 – Employer Expenditures for Employee Compensation is introduced and conducted until 1977
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
1967 – Service Contract Act Survey (SCA) is introduced and conducted until 1997
1975 – Employment Cost Index (ECI) is introduced
1977 – Level of Benefits Survey (LOB) is introduced, and in 1979, moves into production as the Employee Benefit Survey (EBS)
1979 – Employee Benefits Survey (EBS) is introduced
1986 – Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) is introduced
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/ECEC and EBS into a single survey
2000 – COMP2000 is renamed the National Compensation Survey (NCS)The NCS, introduced in 1996, collects a broad range of compensation data that formerly had been collected under three separate BLS programs. The Employment Cost Index (ECI) measures the change in labor costs over time. The Level of Benefit Survey (LOB) provided detailed information on employee benefits for survey years 1980 through 1998. The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) measures the level of average cost per employee hour worked.  The Occupational Compensation Survey (OCS) program published national and local area wage data for survey years 1991 through 1996.
Data from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey and NCS programs are combined and provided to the President’s Pay Agent to meet the requirements of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (FEPCA). FEPCA established locality pay and the President’s Pay Agent designated locality pay areas based on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) statistical area definitions. The President’s Pay Agent advises the President on the issues of federal pay. It is made up of the Secretary of Labor and the directors of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), for more information see the Annual Report of the President’s Pay Agent.  A combination of NCS and OES data is used by the President’s Pay Agent to recommend adjustments in pay levels (in a report to the Federal Salary Council) of some federal workers.
Until 2011, the NCS published data on employee compensation from a large sample of establishments providing data on 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. Occupational estimates by locality are available through the OES program. This program produces employment and earnings estimates for over 800 occupations. These are available at the national, state, and local area level.
The OES and NCS programs have produced estimates by borrowing from each survey to provide more details on occupational wages. The Modeled Wage Estimates provide annual estimates of average hourly wages for occupations by selected job characteristics and within a geographical location. The job characteristics include bargaining status (union and nonunion), part- and full-time work status, incentive- and time-based pay, and work levels by occupation. For more information see the Modeled Wage Estimates homepage.
Major ECI milestones:

Hover over the red dot to see historical information.
*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 ECI rebased to June 1989
March 2006: ECI introduced number of changes, see *Employment Cost Trends: Change Has Come to the ECI*
1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) replaced with 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
1990 Occupational Classification System Manual (OCSM)  replaced with 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)
ECI is rebased from June 1989 = 100 to December 2005 = 100, see: *Employment Cost Index  publication plans*
Imputation methods were updated, see *Accounting for missing data in the Employment Cost Index*
September 2008: Localities added to ECI, see *BLS introduces new Employment Cost Indexes for 14 metropolitan areas*
December 2013: Fixed employment weights were updated, using 2012 employment counts from the OES survey, see***Introducing 2012 fixed employment weights for the Employment Cost Index,**Monthly Labor Review, August, 2012*Major ECEC milestones:

Hover over the red dot to see historical information.
March 1986: ECEC private industry cost per hour estimates are first published
March 1992: ECEC civilian and state and local government workers cost per hour estimates are first published
March 2002: Quarterly releases of ECEC begin (TXT) (PDF)
March 2004: First estimates based on North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) published, see *Comparing Current and Former Industry and Occupation ECEC Series*
March 2009: Localities added to ECEC, see *BLS Introduces New Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Data for Private Industry Workers in 15 Metropolitan Areas*
September 2016: Benchmarking process updated to include establishment size class, see *The Weighting Process Used in the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Series for the National Compensation Survey* and *Effect of Benchmarking by Industry and Size Class on National Compensation Survey Estimates**Major benefits milestones:*

*Hover over the red dot to see historical information.*
1979: Pilot survey of employer-sponsored benefits in private industry conducted
1979–1997: Development of the Employee Benefit Survey and survey publications summary, see *An overview of the EBS and the NCS*
1987: First benefits publication on state and local government with 50 or more employees
1990: First benefits publication on small establishments in private industry released
2008: Estimates for civilian workers (combined private and state and local government) first published
2009: Improvements to imputation methodology introduced, see *Recent Modification of Imputation Methods for National Compensation Survey Benefits Data*Archives
					 
												
												
						
							                        		                            		
                        		                        		                        		                        		
                        		
                        		
                        		                        		    								                        
                        		                        		                        		                        

                        																													
                        			                        			
                        			                        			                        			                        
                        			                        		                        	                        			
				 
					        			April 04, 2011Last Modified Date: December 15, 2017 Facebook
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