Employment Cost Index

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) measures the change in the cost of labor, free from the influence of employment shifts among occupations and industries. The total compensation series includes changes in wages and salaries and in employer costs for employee benefits. The ECI calculates indexes of total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefits separately for all civilian workers in the United States, for private industry workers, and for workers in state and local government. The survey covers all occupations in the civilian economy, which includes the total private economy (excluding farms and households), and the public sector (excluding the Federal government).

The sample establishments are classified in industry categories based on the 2007 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Within an establishment, specific job categories are selected to represent broader occupational definitions. Since December 2013, the ECI has used the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) to classify jobs within an establishment. From March 2006 through September 2013, the ECI used the 2000 SOC to classify those jobs.

For private industry workers, data are available for total compensation costs, for wages and salaries alone, and for total benefits alone. Compensation and wage and salary change estimates are available by major occupational and industry groups, as well as by region, census division, and bargaining status. Data back to March 2001 are available for all currently published series. For State and local governments and the civilian economy (State and local governments plus private industry), wage and salary cost change and compensation cost change data are available for major occupational and industry series. The data for all these series are provided from June 1981 to present.

In March 2006, the ECI began classifying industries on the basis of the NAICS rather than the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and classifying occupations on the basis of the SOC rather than the Census of Population and Housing. Because of those changes, some ECI series were discontinued and others were introduced. A number of ECI series were deemed to be continuous. For some of those in private industry, wage and salary cost indexes and changes are available as far back as 1975, and compensation and benefit cost indexes and changes are available as far back as 1980. State and local governments and the civilian economy wage and salary, benefit, and compensation cost indexes and changes are available for major occupational and industry series back to June 1981.

In most cases, indexes, 3-month percent changes, and 12-month percent changes are available. Data are released for the reference months of March, June, September, and December. All indexes have a base period of December 2005=100. All percent changes and indexes are stored with one decimal place. Updates are available about four weeks following the end of the reference month. The continuous historical data are available only in the file on the internet at http://www.bls.gov/web/eci/ecicois.pdf.