National Compensation Survey - Benefits (NB)
nb.txt

Section Listing

1.  Survey definition
2.  Download files listed in the survey directory
3.  Series file, data file, and mapping file definitions and relationships
4.  Series file format and field definitions
5.  Data file format and field definitions
6.  Mapping file formats and field definitions
7.  Data element dictionary

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Section 1: Survey definition 
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Survey Description: The National Compensation Survey provides comprehensive 
measures of compensation cost trends and the coverage, costs, and provisions
of employer-sponsored benefits in the United States. Estimates include 
incidence and key provisions of employer-sponsored benefits for civilian 
workers, private industry workers, as well as state and local government 
workers by worker and establishment characteristics. Detailed health and 
retirement provisions are also published. 

The survey covers occupations in the civilian economy, which includes the 
total private economy (excluding farms and households), and the public sector
(excluding the federal government). Statistics are published for the private
and public sectors separately, and the data are combined in a measure for the
civilian economy.

For more information about the sample size, see the technical note section of
the Employee Benefits in the United States news release
www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.nr0.htm. The sampled establishments are 
classified in industry categories based on the North American Industrial 
Classification System (NAICS). Within an establishment, specific jobs are 
selected and are classified according to the Standard Occupational 
Classification (SOC) system.

Summary Data Available: Data for National Benefits (NB) begin with March 2010. 

Benefits published include:
Retirement benefits 
	Defined benefit plans
	Defined contribution plans
Healthcare benefits
	Medical care 
		Share of premiums paid by employer and employee
		Monthly employee contributions for single and family coverage
	Dental plans
	Vision plans
	Outpatient prescription drug coverage
Insurance benefits
	Life
	Short-term disability
	Long-term disability 
Leave benefits 
	Sick leave 
	Vacation leave 
	Family leave (paid and unpaid)
Other benefits 
	Financial benefits
	Child care
	Wellness

Frequency of Observations: 
• Employee benefits in the United States are published annually for the March
  reference month.  
• Health and retirement provisions are published annually for the prior 
  reference year. 

Data Characteristics: 
• Access, participation, and take-up rates presented as the percent of 
  workers 
• Percent of establishments offering benefits 
• Share of premiums (in percent) paid by employers and employees
• Dollar amounts for medical premiums
• Dollar amounts for weekly and monthly insurance benefits

Data from the discontinued Employee Benefits Survey (EB) are also available 
in the database www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/data.htm. For more information, see 
https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/eb/eb.txt

Detailed information on survey concepts, coverage, and methods can be found 
in the BLS Handbook of Methods, "National Compensation Measures," 
www.bls.gov/opub/hom/ncs/home.htm.

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Section 2: Download files listed in the survey directory
===============================================================================

The following benefits files are on the BLS internet site at 
https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/nb:
	
File Name		Contents				File Type
nb.series		- all series and their beginning        series file
			  and end dates			
nb.aspect		- all available standard errors		data file 
nb.contacts		- contact information 			N/A
nb.data.1.Alldata	- all available estimates		data file
nb.datatype		- datatype codes 		    	mapping file
nb.estimate		- estimate identification codes    	mapping file
nb.footnote		- footnote codes 		    	mapping file
nb.industry		- industry codes 		    	mapping file
nb.occupation		- occupation codes 		    	mapping file
nb.ownership		- ownership (sector) codes 	    	mapping file
nb.provision		- description of coverage,          	mapping file
			  features, or limits of benefit 
			  plans
nb.seasonal		- seasonal codes 		    	mapping file
nb.subcell		- job characteristic codes 	    	mapping file
nb.survey		- survey codes 			    	mapping file
nb.txt			- general information in this           N/A
			  document			    	

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Section 3: Series file, data files, and mapping files definitions and 
relationships
===============================================================================

The series file contains a unique series identification code for each 
published series and columns of associated codes defining the code segments.
Additionally, the series file also contains the following series-level 
information:

a) the period and year corresponding to the first data observation 
b) the period and year corresponding to the most recent data observation

The following set of files are provided:

a) a series file (only one series file per survey)
b) data files
c) mapping files

The data files contain the series ids, reference period, measures of 
reliability, and estimates. 

The mapping files are definition files that contain explanatory text 
descriptions which correspond to each of the various codes used to define 
each series identification code.

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Section 4: Series file format and field definitions
===============================================================================

The following represents the file format used to define the nb.series file. 
Note that the field numbers are for reference only; they do not exist in the 
database. Data elements are separated by tabs. The first record of each file 
contains the column headers for the data elements stored in each field. Each 
record ends with a new line character. 

File Name: nb.series
Field #/Data Element		Length	    	Value(Example)		

1. series_id			23		NBU10000000000000028007

2. seasonal			1		U	

3. ownership_code	 	1		1		

4. estimate_code		2	      	00	

5. industry_code	 	6		000000

6. ocupational_code	 	6		000000

7. subcell_code	 		2		00

8. datatype_code	 	2		28

9. provision_code	 	3		007

10. survey_code	 		2		IP

11. footnote_codes	 	1		1

12. begin_year	 		4		2010

13. begin_period	 	3		A01

14. end_year	 		4		2019

15. end_period	 		3		A01


The series_id (NBU20530000000000033030) can be broken out into:

Code					Value
survey abbreviation		=	NB
seasonal(code)			=	U
ownership_code			=	2
estimate_code			=	05
industry_code			=	3000
occupation_code			=	000000
subcell_code			=	00
datatype_code			=	33
provision_code			=	030

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Section 5: Data file formats and field definitions
===============================================================================

The following represents the file format used to define each data file. Note 
that the field numbers are for reference only; they do not exist in the 
database. Data files are in ASCII text format. Data elements are separated by 
tabs. The first record of each file contains the column headers for the data 
elements stored in each field. Each record ends with a new line character. 

The nb.data file is partitioned into two separate files:  
 
	1. nb.data.1.AllData	- All estimates
	2. nb.aspect		- All available standard errors

File Name: nb.data.1.Alldata
Field #/Data Element		Length	    	Value (Example)		

1. series_id			23		NBU20530000000000033030

2. year				4		2010	

3. period	 		3		A01		

4. value			varies	      	95.00	

5. footnote_codes	 	1		1

File Name: nb.aspect
Field #/Data Element		Length	    	Value(Example)		

1. series_id			23		NBU20000003139000028022

2. year				4		2015	

3. period	 		3		A01	

4. aspect_type			1		E	

5. value			varies	      	2.00	

6. footnote_codes	 	1		1

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Section 6: Mapping file formats and field definitions
===============================================================================

The following represents the file format used to define each mapping file. Note 
that the field numbers are for reference only; they do not exist in the 
database. Mapping files are in ASCII text format. Data elements are separated 
by tabs. The first record of each file contains the column headers for the 
data elements stored in each field. Each record ends with a new line character. 
	
File Name: nb.datatype
Field #/Data Element		Length		Value (Example)
1. datatype_code		2		20
2. datatype_text		100		Percent participation
3. display_level		1		0
4. selectable			1		T
5. sort_sequence		2		20

File Name: nb.estimate
Field #/Data Element		Length		Value (Example)
1. estimate_code		2		12
2. estimate_text		100		Nonproduction bonuses
3. display_level		1		3
4. selectable			1		T
5. sort_sequence		2		12

File Name: nb.footnote
Field #/Data Element		Length		Value (Example)
1. footnote_code		2		1
2. footnote_text		100		Less than 0.5

File Name: nb.industry
Field #/Data Element		Length		Value (Example)
1. industry_code		6		000000
2. industry_text		100		All workers
3. display_level		1		0
4. selectable			1		T
5. sort_sequence		2		1

File Name: nb.occupation
Field #/Data Element		Length		Value (Example)
1. occupation_code		6		000000
2. occupation_text		100		All workers
3. display_level		1		0
4. selectable			1		T
5. sort_sequence		2		1

File Name: nb.ownership
Field #/Data Element		Length		Value (Example)
1. ownership_code		1		1
2. ownership_text		100		Civilian workers
3. display_level		1		0
4. selectable			1		T
5. sort_sequence		2		1

File Name: nb.provision
Field #/Data Element		Length		Value (Example)
1. provision_code		3		073
2. provision_text		100		Access to paid holidays					
3. display_level		1		1
4. selectable			1		T
5. sort_sequence		2		2

File Name: nb.seasonal
Field #/Data Element		Length		Value (Example)		
1. seasonal_code		1		U		
2. seasonal_text		30		Not seasonally adjusted 
							
File Name: nb.subcell
Field #/Data Element      	Length      	Value (Example)
1. subcell_code      		2           	25
2. subcell_text      		100         	Full time
3. display_level		1		2
4. selectable			1		T
5. sort_sequence		2		31

File Name: nb.survey
Field #/Data Element      	Length      	Value (Example)
1. survey_code      		2           	DP
2. survey_text      		100         	Detailed provision benefits 							
3. display_level		1		0
4. selectable			1		T
5. sort_sequence		2		1

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Section 7: Data element dictionary
===============================================================================

Benefits (NB) database elements

Data Element       Length       Value (Example) Description

aspect_type        1            E               Identifies the type 
                                                additional data provided for
                                                the series id (Example: E
                                                represents standard error)                                               

begin_period       3            A01             Data are published annually 
						and begin_period are
						designated as A01

begin_year         4            2010            Identifies first year for 
                                                which data are available for 
                                                a given series

datatype_code      2            28              Identifies measurement type 
						    
datatype_text	   100	        Mean		Describes the datatype code
						
display_level	   2	        1		Establishes the element 
						hierarchy 

end_period         3            A01             Data are published annually 
						and end_period are designated
						as A01

end_year           4            2019            Identifies last year for 
                                                which data are available for 
                                                a given series

estimate_code      2            12              Identifies the type and unit 
                                                of measure for the estimate                                                     

estimate_text      100          Nonproduction   Describes the estimate code
				bonuses         
						    
footnote_code      10           1               Identifies footnotes for the
                                                series or observations
                                                    
footnote_text      200          Less than 0.5   Describes the footnote code
						

industry_code      6            000000          Identifies the industry
                                                sector for the estimate, as 
                                                classified by the North  
                                                American Industry                                                 
                                                Classification System (NAICS)
                                                    
industry_text      100          All industries  Describes the industry code 
						    
occupation_code    6            313900          Identifies the occupational
                                                group, or family of jobs, for
                                                the estimate as classified                                                              
                                                by the Standard Occupational 
                                                Classification (SOC) system
                                                    
occupation_text    100          Service         Describes the occupation code 
				occupations		           
                             
ownership_code     1            1               Identifies the economic sector 
						represented
						 
ownership_text     100          Civilian        Describes the ownership code
				workers		

period             3            A01             Identifies period for the
						data

provision_code	   3            073             Identifies the benefit 
						provision code

provision_text	   100	        Access to paid  Describes the benefit limit,
				holiday		provision, or plan feature 
				
seasonal_code      1            U               Seasonality indicator code 
						    
seasonal_text      30           Not seasonally  Describes the seasonal code
			        adjusted	

selectable	   2 	        T		Identifies whether variables
						are selectable						    		      		

series_id          23           NBU22000001529  Unique code identifying the 
			        000020S10	specific series                  

sort_sequence 	   5	        45		Denotes the order in which 
						variables are displayed   	    		

subcell_code       2            28              Job characteristic code 
						identifying worker and  
						establishment attributes

subcell_text       100          Full time       Describes the job 
						characteristic code

survey_code	   2	        DP		Identifies whether series
					  	is included as part of  
					  	health and retirement plan
					  	detailed provisions (DP) or 
					  	Employee benefits in the 
					  	U.S. (IP) 
					  	    
survey_text	   100	        Detailed 	Describes the survey code
				provisions	         

value              12           63.00           Value of the estimate or
						standard error for 
						corresponding series id

year               4            2017            Identifies year of
						observation