Current labor statistics

Monthly Labor Review, Oct, 2003

Covered employer contributions for old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI), health insurance, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, and private pension and welfare funds are not reported as wages. Employee contributions for the same purposes, however, as well as money withheld for income taxes, union dues, and so forth, are reported even though they are deducted from the worker's gross pay.

Wages of covered Federal workers represent the gross amount of all payrolls for all pay periods ending within the quarter. This includes cash allowances, the cash equivalent of any type of remuneration, severance pay, withholding taxes, and retirement deductions. Federal employee remuneration generally covers the same types of services as for workers in private industry.

Average annual wages per employee for any given industry are computed by dividing total annual wages by annual average employment. A further division by 52 yields average weekly wages per employee. Annual pay data only approximate annual earnings because an individual may not be employed by the same employer all year or may work for more than one employer at a time.

Average weekly or annual pay is affected by the ratio of full-time to part-time workers as well as the number of individuals in high-paying and low-paying occupations. When average pay levels between States and industries are compared, these factors should be taken into consideration. For example, industries characterized by high proportions of part-time workers will show average wage levels appreciably less than the weekly pay levels of regular full-time employees in these industries. The opposite effect characterizes industries with low proportions of part-time workers, or industries that typically schedule heavy weekend and overtime work. Average wage data also may be influenced by work stoppages, labor turnover rates, retroactive payments, seasonal factors, bonus payments, and so on.

Notes on the data

Beginning with the release of data for 2001, publications presenting data from the Covered Employment and Wages (CEW) program have switched to the 2002 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) as the basis for the assignment and tabulation of economic data by industry. NAICS is the product of a cooperative effort on the part of the statistical agencies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Due to difference in NAICS and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) structures, industry data for 2001 is not comparable to the SIC-based data for earlier years.

Effective January 2001, the CEW program began assigning Indian Tribal Councils and related establishments to local government ownership. This BLS action was in response to a change in Federal law dealing with the way Indian Tribes are treated under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act. This law requires federally recognized Indian Tribes to be treated similarly to State and local governments. In the past the CEW program coded Indian Tribal Councils and related establishments in the private sector. As a result of the new law, CEW data reflects significant shifts in employment and wages between the private sector and local government from 2000 to 2001. Data also reflect industry changes. Those accounts previously assigned to civic and social organizations were assigned to tribal governments. There were no required industry changes for related establishments owned by these Tribal Councils. These tribal business establishments continued to be coded according to the economic activity of that entity.