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Handbook of Methods National Compensation Measures More Info

National Compensation Measures: More Info

Additional information on the National Compensation Survey (NCS) is available on the NCS website: www.bls.gov/ncs.

NCS estimates are available on the BLS website:

• Time series data from the NCS database:  www.bls.gov/ncs/#data
• Latest news releases: www.bls.gov/ncs/#news

For a listing of frequently asked questions, see www.bls.gov/ncs/#faq.

For more information on definitions of additional benefit concepts, see the National Compensation Survey: Glossary of Employee Benefit Terms.

Selected articles on National Compensation Survey methodology are referenced below.

Benchmarking (post-stratification):

• "Changes in calculations for the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Data," March 2007

Estimation:

• "BLS introduces New Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Data for Private Industry Workers in 15 Metropolitan Areas," September 2009
• "BLS introduces new Employment Cost Indexes for 14 metropolitan areas," September 2008  
• "The Employment Cost Index: What is it?" September 2001
• Technical Note "Estimation procedures for the Employment Cost Index"
• "Measuring Trends in the Structure and Levels of Employer Costs for Employee Compensation," 1997

Imputation:

• "An evaluation of alternative imputation methods"
• "Alternative imputation models for wage related data collected from establishment surveys"
• "Recent modification of imputation methods for National Compensation Survey benefits data," August 2009

Reliability:

• "Analyzing year-to-year changes in Employer Costs for Employee Compensation"
• "BLS Resumes Estimation of Sample Errors for Benefits Measures," May 2008
• "Application of Fay’s Method for Variance Estimation in the National Compensation Survey Benefits Products," October 2008

Reweighting:

• "Introducing 2012 weights for the Employment Cost Index," Monthly Labor Review August 2016
• "Introducing 2002 weights for the Employment Cost Index," April 2006
• "Introducing new weights for the Employment Cost Index," June 1985  

Sample design:

• "State and local government sample design for the National Compensation Survey," October 2012  
• "Update on the evaluation of sample design issues in the National Compensation Survey," August 2011
• "Evaluating sample design issues in the National Compensation Survey," October 2010

Seasonal adjustment:

• "Changes in the publication of seasonally adjusted Employment Cost Index series," March 2013
• "Transitional Employment Cost Indexes for seasonal adjustment," April 2008
• "Seasonal adjustment in the ECI and the conversion to NAICS and SOC," April 2006

The Office of Compensation Levels and Trends, Branch of Survey Information and Publications, will be glad to assist you with questions about the NCS.

Email: Contact us

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