U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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Employer Costs for Employee Compensation and the New Industrial and

Occupational Classification Systems

Originally Posted: May 26, 2004

BLS data on Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) will be based on new classifications of industry and

occupation starting with the March 2004 data, to be published in June 2004. The ECEC will use the 2002 North American

Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). The U.S. Office of Management and Budget requires all Federal statistical agencies to change their statistical classification

systems to NAICS and SOC. NAICS is designed to reflect changes in the economy and to achieve comparability with the

statistical systems of Mexico and Canada. The SOC is designed to provide a common occupational classification system

across U.S. statistical agencies. ECEC data by the present classification systems--the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification

System (SIC) and the 1990 Occupational Classification System (OCS)--will no longer be produced. The ECEC is the first 

National Compensation Survey product to make this transition.

The ECEC measures employers' costs per hour worked for total compensation, and costs as a percent of total compensation.

Total compensation consists of wages and salaries and the cost of employee benefits. The data cover all civilian workers,

defined by the National Compensation Survey as those employed in private industry and in State and local government. The

ECEC reflects the current employment composition as of the reference quarter.

NAICS Features In The ECEC

NAICS focuses on how products and services are created, which is different from the SIC system, which focused on what is

produced. NAICS has identified new and emerging industries, especially in services and information. As a result, some

NAICS-based ECEC data series by industry are not strictly comparable with the previously published SIC-based ECEC

series. The NAICS categories that will be shown in the ECEC include the following:

Goods producing industries

Construction

Manufacturing

Service providing industries

Trade, transportation, and utilities

Information

Financial activities

Professional and business services

Education and health services

Leisure and hospitality

Other services

Public administration

SOC Features In The ECEC

The SOC provides more detailed occupations than were available in the OCS. It contains many new occupations, especially

in the service and information fields. SOC-based series are not strictly comparable with the previously published OCS series.

The following are the highest level SOC categories that will be shown in the ECEC:

Management, professional, and related occupations

Management, business, and financial

Professional and related

Sales and office occupations

Sales and related
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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Office and administrative support

Service occupations

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations

Construction and extraction

Installation, maintenance, and repair

Production, transportation, and material moving occupations

Production

Transportation and material moving

In selected instances, ECEC tables will show more detail than shown above. In addition, estimates will be published for

worker and establishment characteristics such as collective bargaining status, metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area, region,

census division, full- and part-time status, and establishment size.

Additional Information

For detailed information on NAICS and SOC see http://www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm and http://www.bls.gov/soc/home.htm. Current ECEC data and technical information can be obtained at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm; data also can be

obtained by sending an email request to ocltinfo@bls.gov, or by calling (202) 691-6199.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Division of Information and Marketing Services, PSB Suite 2850, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE Washington, DC

20212-0001 | www.bls.gov/OPUB | Telephone: 1-202-691-5200 | Contact Us