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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Employee Benefits > Publications > Factsheets

Introducing New Excel Tables for Employee Benefits

Beginning with the March 2022 Employee Benefits in the United States release on September 22, 2022, information previously published through PDF format are now included in the Excel spreadsheets.

Where can I find the estimates?

Estimates and publications are available on the Benefits publications page. Estimates for prior years are also available through the public query tools and historical Excel dataset (XLSX).

What's the difference between the PDF and Excel files?

Each publication contains a ZIP file that includes two Excel files: summary and all-data files. The 'summary' file presents all the available provisions, which shows the relationships of those provisions for the all worker level. Estimates are laid out by the type of benefits categorized in each tab. The 'all-data' file contains all published estimates, which are available by industry, occupational group, average wage category, work and bargaining status, and geographic areas by ownership. Each provision of interest can be matched using the 'provision code.' The Excel format allows easier comparison of estimates and standard errors as they are next to each other as opposed to separate tables for estimates and standard errors in the PDF format. Furthermore, Excel allows users to format, filter, and otherwise work with the estimates which is not possible in the PDF format.

How can I interpret the tables?

All estimates shown in the 'summary' tables are based on the set of workers specified in the statement on any subsets indicated by footnotes. For example, the statement may indicate that "All workers = 100 percent" or "All workers with paid sick leave = 100 percent." For additional information on plan details or concepts, see the Glossary of Employee Benefits Terms.

For what worker and establishment characteristics are benefit data available?

Information is provided by ownership which includes workers in civilian, private industry, and state and local government. Worker characteristics include broad occupational groups, full-time and part-time employment, union and nonunion, and average wage categories. Establishment characteristics include major industry groups, establishment size, and geographic location. The table below provides information on the use of the classification systems and availability of estimates. More information on industry group, occupation group, and geographic areas can be found through the Classification systems used by the NCS page. The Concepts section in the Handbook Methods: National Compensation Measures provides definitions for workers and establishment characteristics, including geographic areas.

Subgroup	Characteristics	Civilian workers	Private industry workers	State and local government workers
0	All workers	✔	✔	✔
1	Occupational group
2	Management, professional, and related	✔	✔	✔
3	Management, business, and financial	✔	✔	-
3	Professional and related	✔	✔	✔
4	Teachers	✔	-	✔
5	Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers	✔	-	✔
4	Registered nurses	✔	-	-
2	Service	✔	✔	✔
3	Protective service	✔	✔	✔
2	Sales and office	✔	✔	✔
3	Sales and related	✔	✔	-
3	Office and administrative support	✔	✔	✔
2	Natural resources, construction, and maintenance	✔	✔	✔
3	Construction, extraction, farming, fishing, and forestry	✔	✔	-
3	Installation, maintenance, and repair	✔	✔	-
2	Production, transportation, and material moving	✔	✔	✔
3	Production	✔	✔	-
3	Transportation and material moving	✔	✔	-
1	Work status
2	Full-time	✔	✔	✔
2	Part-time	✔	✔	✔
1	Bargaining status
2	Union	✔	✔	✔
2	Nonunion	✔	✔	✔
1	Average wage category
2	Lowest 25 percent	✔	✔	✔
3	Lowest 10 percent	✔	✔	✔
2	Second 25 percent	✔	✔	✔
2	Third 25 percent	✔	✔	✔
2	Highest 25 percent	✔	✔	✔
3	Highest 10 percent	✔	✔	✔
1	Industry group
2	Goods-producing industries	✔	✔	-
3	Construction	-	✔	-
3	Manufacturing	-	✔	-
2	Service-providing industries	✔	✔	✔
3	Trade, transportation, and utilities	-	✔	-
4	Wholesale trade	-	✔	-
4	Retail trade	-	✔	-
4	Transportation and warehousing	-	✔	-
4	Utilities	-	✔	-
3	Information	-	✔	-
3	Financial activities	-	✔	-
4	Finance and insurance	-	✔	-
5	Credit intermediation and related activities	-	✔	-
5	Insurance carriers and related activities	-	✔	-
4	Real estate and rental and leasing	-	✔	-
3	Professional and business services	-	✔	-
4	Professional and technical services	-	✔	-
4	Administrative and waste services	-	✔	-
3	Education and health services	✔	✔	✔
4	Educational services	✔	✔	✔
5	Elementary and secondary schools	✔	-	✔
5	Junior colleges, colleges, and universities	✔	✔	✔
4	Health care and social assistance	✔	✔	✔
5	Hospitals	✔	-	✔
3	Leisure and hospitality	-	✔	-
4	Accommodation and food services	-	✔	-
3	Public administration	✔	-	✔
3	Other services	-	✔	-
1	Establishment size
2	1 to 99 workers	✔	✔	✔
3	1 to 49 workers	✔	✔	✔
3	50 to 99 workers	✔	✔	✔
2	100 workers or more	✔	✔	✔
3	100 to 499 workers	✔	✔	✔
3	500 workers or more	✔	✔	✔
1	Public sector
2	State government	-	-	✔
2	Local government	-	-	✔
1	Census area
2	Northeast	✔	✔	✔
3	New England	✔	✔	✔
3	Middle Atlantic	✔	✔	✔
2	South	✔	✔	✔
3	South Atlantic	✔	✔	✔
3	East South Central	✔	✔	✔
3	West South Central	✔	✔	✔
2	Midwest	✔	✔	✔
3	East North Central	✔	✔	✔
3	West North Central	✔	✔	✔
2	West	✔	✔	✔
3	Mountain	✔	✔	✔
3	Pacific	✔	✔	✔

Can I compare private and public sector data?

Employee benefits in state and local government should not be directly compared to private industry. Differences between these sectors stem from factors such as variation in work activities and occupational structures. Manufacturing and sales, for example, make up a large part of private industry work activities but are rare in state and local government.

Where does the BLS provide the total number of workers or establishments?

Each publication contains two appendix tables. Appendix table 1 contains the estimated number of the establishments in the sampling frame and appendix table 2 contains the estimated number of workers represented in the survey, for all workers and occupational groups.

The number of workers represented in the survey can be combined with some estimates to approximate the number of workers with a certain set of provisions. For example, in March 2021 there were 114,522,100 private industry workers represented by the survey and 44 percent of private industry workers were estimated to have access to paid personal and sick leave. By multiplying the two data points (114,522,100 * 0.44), it can be estimated that approximately 50,389,724 private industry workers had access to paid personal and sick leave.

Last Modified Date: September 21, 2023