Employee Benefits technical note

                              TECHNICAL NOTE

  The data in this release are from the National Compensation Survey
(NCS), conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of
Labor.  The statistics in this release represent a transitional step in the
integration of data on employee benefits into the NCS.  Similar to data
from the 1999 survey, this release contains 2000 data on all workers in
private industry.  Expanded data covering detailed provisions of health and
retirement plans, also from the 2000 survey, are forthcoming.

  Prior to 1999, surveys of different sectors of the economy were conducted
in alternating years; medium and large private establishments were studied
during odd years, and small private establishments and State and local
governments during even years.  Separate publications were produced for
each sample.  In the future, all types of establishments will be surveyed
each year, and the data will be produced by numerous characteristics,
including establishment size and sector of the economy.

Definitions of survey terms

  Incidence refers to different methods of computing the number or
percentage of employees that receive a benefit plan or specific benefit
feature.  Access to a benefit is determined on an occupational basis within
an establishment; either all employees or no employees in an occupation in
an establishment have the benefit available to them.  The benefits
published in table 2 refer to employee access.  Participation refers to the
proportion of employees covered by a benefit.  There will be cases where
employees with access to a plan will not participate.  For example, some
employees may decline to participate in a health insurance plan if there is
an employee cost involved.  The benefits published in table 1 refer to
employee participation.  For a listing of selected benefit definitions, see
Glossary of Compensation Terms, U.S Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, August 1998, Report 923, or on the Internet at
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/ebsgloss.htm.

Survey scope

  The 2000 NCS benefits incidence survey obtained data from 1,436 private
industry establishments, representing over 107 million workers; of this
number, nearly 86 million were full-time workers and the remainder--nearly
22 million--were part-time workers.  The NCS uses the establishment's
definition of full- and part-time status.  For purposes of this survey, an
establishment is an economic unit that produces goods or services, a
central administrative office, or an auxiliary unit providing support
services to a company.  For private industries, the establishment is
usually at a single physical location.

Sample design and data collection

  The sample for this survey was selected using a three-stage design. The
first stage involved the selection of areas.  The NCS sample consists of
154 metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan areas that represent the
Nation's 326 metropolitan statistical areas (as defined by the Office of
Management and Budget) and the remaining portions of the 50 States.
Metropolitan areas are either Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) or
Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (CMSAs), as defined by the
Office of Management and Budget, in 1994.  Nonmetropolitan areas are
counties that do not fit the metropolitan area definition.

  In the second stage, the sample of establishments was drawn by first
stratifying the sampling frame by industry and establishment size.  The
number of sample establishments allocated to each stratum is approximately
proportional to the stratum employment.  Each sampled establishment was
selected within a stratum with a probability proportional to its
employment.  Use of this technique means that the larger an establishment's
employment, the greater its chance of selection.  Weights were applied to
each establishment when the data were tabulated so that each establishment
represents similar units (in terms of industry and employment size) in the
economy that were not selected for collection.

  The third stage of sample selection was a probability sample of
occupations within a sampled establishment.  Identification of the
occupations for which data were to be collected was a four-step process:

  1.   Probability-proportional-to-size selection of establishment jobs.
  2.   Classification of jobs into occupations based on the Census of
     Population system.
  3.   Characterization of jobs as full-time versus part-time, union versus
     nonunion, and time versus incentive.
  4.   Determination of the level of work of each job.

  For more detailed information on occupational selection and
classification under the National Compensation Survey, see National
Compensation Survey, Occupational Wages in the United States, 2000, U.S.
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2001, Bulletin
2548.  For an online version, see:
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/sp/ncbl0392.pdf.

  Additional information about the National Compensation Survey may be
obtained by calling (202) 691-6199.  You may also write to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics at: Division of Compensation Data Analysis and Planning, 2
Massachusetts Ave., NE, Room 4175, Washington, DC 20212-0001, or send e-
mail to OCLTINFO@bls.gov.

  The data contained in this summary are available on the Bureau's
Internet site: http://www.bls.gov/ncs.  Users may access benefits data from
previous surveys using a variety of tools available on the same page.

  Material in this summary is in the public domain and, with appropriate
credit, may be reproduced without permission.  This information will be
made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request.  Voice phone:
(202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.