An official website of the United States government 
	  
	Here is how you know
 Department of Labor Logo  United States Department of Labor
 **The .gov means it's official.**
			 Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information,
			make sure you're on a federal government site.
 **The site is secure.**
			 The
			**https://** ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any
			information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.


U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
 Follow Us
 
 Release Calendar Blog
 Search button
          Search:


Menu

  Search button
          Search:
	
	  Follow Us Follow Us on X, formerly referred to as Twitter| Release Calendar | Blog
    Home
        About BLS
		History	
		Our Leadership
		Budget and Performance		
		Questions and Answers	
		A-Z Index	
		Glossary	
		Careers at BLS	
		BLS Speakers Available
		Errata  				
		Contact BLSOverview of BLS Statistics
		Guide to Programs & Services
		Demographics
		Industries
		Business Costs
		Occupations
		GeographyResources For
		Business Leaders
		Consumers
		Developers
		Economists
		Investors
		Jobseekers
		Media
		Public Policymakers
		Researcher		
		Students & Teachers
		Survey Respondents
    Subjects
        Inflation & Prices
		Consumer Price Index
		Producer Price Indexes
		Import/Export Price Indexes
		Contract Escalation
		Price Index Research
		Pay & Benefits
		Employment Cost Index
		Employer Costs for Employee Compensation
						Wage Data by Occupation
		Earnings by Demographics
		Earnings by Industry
		County Wages  
		Benefits
		Modeled Wage Estimates		
		Compensation Research
		Strikes & Lockouts
		Wage Records from Unemployment Insurance
		Occupational RequirementsUnemployment
		National Unemployment Rate
		State & Local Unemployment Rates
		Unemployment Research
		Employment
		National Employment
		State & Local Employment
		County Employment 
		Worker Characteristics
		American Indian Report
		Employment Projections
		Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey
		Business Response Survey
		Employment by Occupation
		Work Experience Over Time
		Business Employment Dynamics
		Foreign Direct Investment
		Employment Research
		Workplace InjuriesProductivity
		Labor and Total Factor Productivity
		Productivity Research
		Spending & Time Use
		Consumer Expenditures
		How Americans Spend Time			
		International
		International Technical Cooperation
		Import/Export Price Indexes
		Geographic Information
		Northeast (Boston-New York)
		Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia)
		Southeast (Atlanta)
		Midwest (Chicago)
		Southwest (Dallas)
		Mountain-Plains (Kansas City)
		West (San Francisco)
    Data Tools
        Data Retrieval Tools
		BLS Popular Series
		Series Report
		Top Picks, One Screen, Multi-Screen, and Maps
		Data Finder
		Public Data APICharts and Applications
		Charts for Economic News Releases	
		CPI Inflation Calculator	
		Injury and Illness Calculator		
		Pay Measure Comparison
		Demographic Data Sources
		COVID-19 Economic Trends
		Industry Productivity Viewer
		Employment and Wages Data Viewer
		Industry Finder from the Quarterly Census of Employment and WagesCustomized Tables
		U.S. Economy at a Glance
		Regions, States & Areas at a Glance
		Industry at a Glance			
		Text Files
		News Release Tables
		
		More Sources of Data
		Restricted Data Access
		Discontinued Databases
		Questions & Answers
		Special Notices
    Publications
        Latest Publications
		The Economics Daily
		Monthly Labor Review
		Beyond the Numbers
		Spotlight on Statistics
		Reports
		Commissioner's Corner
		Videos
		Career OutlookOccupational Outlook Handbook
		Geographic Profile
		Handbook of Methods
		Research Papers
		Copyright Information
		Contact & Help
		Weekly Update
    Economic Releases
        Latest Releases
		Major Economic Indicators
		Schedules for news Releases
		By Month
		By News Release
		Current Year
		Prior Years
		Archived News ReleasesEmployment & Unemployment
		Monthly
		Quarterly, annual, and other
		Inflation & Prices
		Pay & Benefits & Workplace Injuries
		Productivity & Technology
		Employment Projections
		Regional News Releases
    Classroom
        K-12 Student & Teacher Resources		
        Games & Quizzes
		Student's Desk
		Teacher's Desk
		Questions & Answers
    Beta
        Redesigned News Releases


Overview
                     Concepts
                     Data sourcesCollection periodConfidentiality agreement
                     Design
                     Calculation
                     Presentation
                     History
                     More Info
                 
                 
              
			                   	
                                  
		
		












	
	
	
	
	Methods Home
        About
		Programs
		Glossarysearch
	                 

				 				 				                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 					
				                
	             Handbook of Methods > 
					                      National Compensation Measures

                 Handbook of Methods National Compensation Measures Collections & Data Sources
                     National Compensation Measures: Collections & Data Sources
				  
				   				   
			  
			   				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			   



The National Compensation Survey (NCS) uses Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) field economists to collect compensation data from survey respondents. Field economists employ a variety of collection methods, including personal visits, mail, telephone, and email, after undergoing extensive training. Field economists do not use a paper or online questionnaire to collect these data; instead, they rely on a conversational interview and descriptive documents, such as task lists, to collect cost, coverage, and provision data from respondents. The NCS is a voluntary establishment-based survey. At the initial and subsequent contacts, field economists attempt to gather the following information from respondents:

*Primary business activity of the establishment*. The field economist determines the correct North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry code for the establishment.

*A list of employees or job titles and employee counts.*With an employee list, the field economist uses equal probability sampling to select a sampled job, for which each name on the list has an equal chance of selection. With the job titles and employee counts, the field economist is using probability proportional-to-size sampling, that is, the greater the number of employees in an occupation within the establishment the greater chance the occupation will be selected.

*Number of employees in each sampled job.*The field economist determines the number of employees matching the sampled job based on occupational description.

*Work attributes for the workers in the sampled job.*The field economist determines the worker attributes of the employees: bargaining status, work status, and time- or incentive-based pay.

*Wages and salaries for sampled job.* The field economist collects data on wages and salaries from the payroll records covering the 12⁠th of the reference month.

*Tasks, knowledge required, the controls and complexity, the contacts, and the environmental conditions for the job.* The field economist collects this information to determine the work level of the job.⁠For more information on work levels, see *National Compensation Survey: Guide for Evaluating Your Firm’s Jobs and Pay*.

*The number of typical hours employees work.* The field economist collects data on the usual work schedule of each sampled, matched occupation. This information helps to determine the employee’s hourly, weekly, and annual earnings, as well as the employer’s cost of benefits.

*Availability of employer-sponsored benefits.*The field economists collect and analyze summary plan descriptions of the health and retirement plans offered by the employer.

*Employer cost of benefits provided.*The field economist determines eligible employees’ benefit usage. Field economists calculate the employer cost based on the type of benefit. Employer costs for hours-based (wage-related) benefits, such as paid leave, directly relate to wages and salaries. For hours-based benefits, the field economist collects information on the number of hours or days of the benefit used by workers in sampled jobs. The field economist then multiplies this number by the company contribution or compensation rate and divides by total occupational employment to calculate cost. Where employer contributions are not directly linked to hours and wages, (for example, insurance), for these benefits the field economist collects information for plan participants.

Changes to plan provisions or costs may cause changes in benefit usage. This change in usage, induced usage, is captured by field economists during collection updates, and is separate from the usage figured captured at the time of initiation.Collection period

A BLS field economist contacts the sampled establishment for the initial collection of data for the NCS. From each sampled establishment, the Field economist collects data on wages, the cost of benefits, and the incidence and provisions of benefits. BLS uses these data to produce ECI, ECEC, and estimates on cost, coverage, and provisions of benefits. BLS conducts ECI and ECEC updates over a 6-week period for the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month for the reference periods of March, June, September, and December.

Confidentiality agreement

All data collected in the NCS are subject to the BLS confidentiality requirements that prevent the disclosure of identifying information. Data collected from the NCS are used solely for statistical purposes. BLS has a strict confidentiality policy, which ensures that the survey sample composition, lists of reporters, and names of respondents will be kept confidential. In addition, the policy assures respondents that published figures will not reveal the identity of any specific respondent and will not allow the data of any specific respondent to be identified. Each published estimate is screened to ensure that it meets these confidentiality requirements, see Confidentiality of Data Collected by BLS for Statistical Purposes for additional information.
				    				   
				   				   
                 Last Modified Date: December 15, 2017 Facebook
 Twitter
 LinkedIn


Home
   Subjects
   Data Tools
   Publications
   Economic Releases
   Classroom
   Beta


**U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics**
Division of Information and Marketing Services 
PSB Suite 2850 
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE  
Washington, DC 20212-0001 Telephone:1-202-691-5200 Telecommunications Relay Service:7-1-1 www.bls.gov/OPUB Contact Us
 resources  Inspector General (OIG)
								Budget and Performance	
								Department of Labor Grants									
								No Fear Act
								USA.gov
								Vote.gov
 about the site  Sitemap						
								Freedom of Information Act
								Privacy and Security Statement
								Disclaimers
								Linking and Copyright Info	
								Important Website Notices
								Help and Tutorials
								Babel Notice: accessing language services


Twitter Youtube Email


- Publications
- Handbook of Methods