The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Presented by: Paul LaPorte Office of Economic Analysis & Information, Chicago Purdue University Economics Club February 6, 2017

Agenda General overview of the Bureau (who we are/our mission) Role of the BLS national office in D.C. and the regional offices My job with BLS Chicago Office of Economic Analysis and Information Industrial Price data collection National Compensation Survey data collection Employment opportunities in BLS and the Federal Government   

Who is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)? Principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. A politically independent agency within the U.S. Department of Labor. Part of the Federal statistical system that includes the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the Census Bureau.

What does the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics do? Our mission is to collect, process, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision-making. Impartial-neutral-independent

Yes, you have heard about us… Retail Price Inflation (Consumer Price Index) Payroll Employment U.S. Unemployment Rate Local Area Unemployment Rates Labor Costs Producer Price Index Import/Export Price Indexes Employment Projections Job Openings and Labor Turnover Business Employment Dynamics Workplace Injuries, Illnesses, & Fatalities Consumer Expenditures Union Membership Minimum Wage Workers

Why we do it Provide factual and reliable information, not opinions, for use in decision-making. Provide policy-makers with accurate data. Provide information to researchers. Provide information to job seekers and businesses. Provide information to the media.

How is the Bureau organized? BLS is broadly organized with program and support offices Employment and Unemployment Prices and Living Conditions Compensation and Working Conditions Productivity and Technology Survey Methods Research Technology and Survey Processing Office of Publications Field Operations

How is the Bureau organized? BLS Headquarters are in Washington, D.C.

How is the Bureau organized? There are 6 Regional offices: Atlanta Dallas/Kansas City Boston/New York Philadelphia Chicago San Francisco Plus ‘area offices’ in other metropolitan areas

Work at the BLS: the big picture

Role of the BLS Regional Offices Collect data Businesses Households Work with State Workforce Agencies Federal/State Cooperative Programs Analyze local labor conditions Office of Economic Analysis and Information

Role of the EA&I Offices Make products and services available to regional customers Work with the media Assist data users (phone calls, e-mails) Maintain regional office web sites Actively Support Voluntary Cooperation Educate field staff Promote BLS at conferences and meetings Increase BLS Visibility Conduct educational and outreach programs for professional organizations Develop relationships with other regional federal statistical agencies Primary goals of the regional EA&I offices are: Make Products and services available to regional customers Each office works with the local media in promoting regional and national news releases and data products. All regional news releases and local data products are available on the regional office web sites. The EA&I’s maintain their own regional office web sites Actively Support Voluntary Cooperation EA&I offices typically have field staff from various programs spend some time in the EA&I unit. EA&I has a training module that provides background information on many programs of the Bureau. On-line reading assignments, web navigation, and quizzes are part of the module. EA&I offices exhibit at local conferences. Typically, conferences that are targeted by EA&I are those whose attendees are BLS users and/or current or potential respondents. Conferences hosting safety, human resource, and purchasing managers are targeted. Flyers and pamphlets are also developed by EA&I units to be used at these conferences and by data collectors as well. How to navigate the BLS Web site, Industry specific flyers, and made-to-order flyers are examples of what they create. Increase BLS visibility EA&I offices conduct a number of presentations throughout the country. They are asked to give presentations at national or local chapters of safety, human resource, and purchasing manager conferences; college and career outlook conferences, and media outlets. EA&Is work with other federal agencies like ETA and OSHA in addition to the Federal reserve.

Role of the EA&I Offices Produce High Quality Analytical Products Local and regional news releases Regional reports and MLR articles Collaborate with BLS National Program Offices Work on National Office teams Produce High Quality Analytical Products Local and regional news releases are produced by each regional EA&I office Regional reports and MLR articles are prepared as well. Recent articles include high tech employment and the expanding role of the temporary help service industry Collaborate with BLS national Program Offices EA&I staff are typically on teams composed of regional and national office staff. Teams they have worked on include the latest web redesign, customer information system, and many that were ‘outreach’ related.

Economist positions typically found in BLS Regional Offices Data collection (surveys are voluntary) Consumer Price Index Producer Price Index Import-Export Price Index National Compensation Survey Pay and benefits

Economist positions typically found in BLS Regional Offices Industrial Price NCS National Compensation Survey ECI (Employment Cost Index) EBS (Employee Benefits Survey) ORS (Occupational Requirements Survey)

Collecting Producer Price index and Import/Export Data…

PPI Sampling Sample Universe Frame UI Files Alternative Frame Sources (i.e. chain store guide) Two-Stage Sampling Washington Office - Industry Sample (6 Digit NAICS Code) Identify Profit Maximizing Centers Regional Offices - Revenue Disaggregation Probability Proportional to Size Sampling Employment Revenue

PPI Collection – Field Processes Sample Units Identified and Distributed to the Field 20-25 Industries Per Sample Sample Refinement Plurality of Revenue Classification Correct Sampling Errors and Identify Records Center Contact Respondent Gain Cooperation With Company Officials Personal Visit Disaggregate Revenues to Identify Specific Lines of Products/Services Collect Pricing Data for 4 – 12 Products/Services

PPI Collection – Sample Unit Data Weighting Data First Stage: Employment Alternative Measures (i.e. # of Hotel Rooms, # of Cable Subscribers) Second Stage: 12 Months Gross Sales 2nd Stage of Sampling: Disaggregation to Unique Items (Probability Proportionate to Size) By Industry (Primary vs. Secondary) By Product Type By Customer Type By Quantity Ordered ….By All Price Determining Characteristics

PPI Collection – Disaggregation Example Spring Manufacturing (NAICS 332613) PRODUCT CATEGORY CHECKLIST CODE DEFINITION / EXAMPLE Hot formed steel springs, except wire Checklist A Group 01: 001-006 All types of hot formed steel springs, including leaf springs. Cold formed steel springs, except wire Checklist A Group 01: 007 All types of cold formed steel springs (except wire). Precision mechanical extension- and torsion-type wire springs Checklist B Group 01: 001-002 Any spring which absorbs and stores energy by offering resistance to a pulling force or any spring whose ends are rotated in angular deflection and offers resistance to externally applied torque. Precision mechanical compression-type wire springs Checklist B Group 01: 003-004 Any open-coil helical spring that offers resistance to a compressive force applied axially. Other wire springs, including spring units for box springs, innerspring mattresses, etc. Checklist B Group 01: 005-014 All other wire springs Other (including secondary and/or misc. receipts)   Any secondary products and/or miscellaneous receipts.

PPI Collection – Types of Prices PPI price is the net revenue received by a producer, including discounts and surcharges, excluding taxes and delivery charges, for a specific product or service Service Industries Net Transaction Price For a Specific Level of Service Retail/Wholesale Industries Average Gross Margin of a Product Line Gross Margin on an Individual Product Manufacturing Industries Net Transaction Price Estimated Transaction Price

PPI Price Updates/Reporting Respondents Update Pricing and Product Data Online, Mail, or Fax Update Form Completed Monthly Reported Price is the From the Tuesday Of the Week Containing the 13th in the Current Month Hold ALL Price Determining Characteristics Constant Replace Product if Discontinued/No Longer Offered Sample Continues for 5-7 Years Washington Office Monitors Updates Analyzes For Any Errors/Anomalies Aggregates and Weights Each Quote Quality Adjustments For Any Change in Product/Transaction Terms

IPP/MXP Program Sample universe is provided by US Customs & Border Protection For each trade code, a list of companies and trade volumes are provided Washington office selects companies and trade codes for the sample Field offices identify appropriate records centers and company contacts; confirm trade codes are still in use Use Probability-Proportional-to-Size Disaggregation process to select items to be tracked Gather all price-determining information Repricing requests are sent out second business day each month

Collecting National Compensation Survey Data…

NCS -- Scope Included: Establishments employing 1 or more Private industry, State and local governments Excluded: Federal government, agriculture Self employed, private households So… what’s included in the ECI – what comprises or makes up our sample? Included: just read the slide Excluded: federal govt agencies Self-employed = not an employee of someone else.

NCS collection process Establishments identified Economist sets up appointment (cooperation/voluntary) List of establishment’s jobs obtained Random sample of jobs identified First, ESTABLISHMENTS ARE IDENTIFIED: We don’t collect data from every business establishment in the Chicago area or the United States. First of all, that wouldn’t be feasible from our standpoint and secondly, we don’t need to do that to accurately measure and publish compensation changes in our economy. Rather, we have a group in Washington DC called the Statistical Methods Group – or SMG – as you can see, we like acronyms! – and they sample a selected number of business establishments that represent all industries. Now, we could get into the “math” of specifically how this is done, but for our purposes here today, suffice it to say that we use a statistical methodology that allows BLS to fairly and equitably include all industries that comprise the economy – healthcare, construction, retail, manufacturing, etc. – into our ECI sample so that the data that we publish can be looked at as a statistically valid representation of employers in all industries and types of businesses AND allows us to confidently publish data that is both accurate and credible. Three points I want to make about this: BLS does not pick and choose which companies make up our sample. Now if you’re a major employer with multiple locations across the country, the chances of being included in our sample increase – there are more chances to be selected. But we don’t – and we never have – discriminately chosen which companies are in and which companies are out of this index. It is truly a random sample… Our sample is a robust one. I may look to Paul for confirmation on this, but I believe the current national sample for the ECI is approximately 11,000 establishments. I point this out so you can get a better idea of how large this sample is and how the sheer size of this sample ensures that we are, in fact, capturing and measuring the true economic changes that are occurring on a national and regional level. And in some cases, large metropolitan areas such as Chicago as well. We are not asking for, nor do we want, any personally identifiable information. This is a statistical request only. And we do not list ANYWHERE which companies are in our sample. That’s not what we do. All data that we collect is confidential and protected by law to remain so. That’s an important assurance to the private sector so that they can be confident that providing data to the BLS for the ECI will not identify them as being a participant. ECONOMIST SETS UP APPT: So.. How do we go about collecting this information, this data? It’s not complicated… In most cases, we pick up the phone, make a call, find the appropriate person or persons who can supply the data and make an appointment. Now you notice on the slide there in parentheses that it says “Cooperation/Voluntary”… The NCS program is not a mandatory program that companies are required to participate in. Most do. Most understand the importance of this data, and, on our end, we do everything we can to make this as easy as possible for our data providers. LAST TWO BULLETS: some exclusions: Owner, volunteers, contractors, temp help ees… The larger the company, the more jobs that are selected for the index: 1-49 ees = maximum of 4 jobs 50-249 = maximum of 6 jobs 250+ = max of 8 jobs

Information collected Once the specific job title is identified, we ask for specifics: Full/part-time Union/nonunion Wage Payment Time Incentive Here are some of the basic, specific of info we ask for: read the slide FT / PT union / non-union jobs that have an incentive component (usually commissions). For example, sales jobs that have both a base salary and a commission component attached. It wouldn’t be an accurate – or credible – index if we just collected the base pay for jobs that have both base pay and commissions as part of their earnings. It certainly wouldn’t represent or capture what the index is designed to do. Which is measure the change in labor costs.

Wage data collected Straight-time hourly wage (or converted to) Job classification (legal, health care, sales…) Leveling (Point-factor) Knowledge Complexity Contacts Physical environment Straight-time hourly wage… that’s the main way that you will see data published on our website. But we can collect it in a number of ways: hourly, weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, annual salary… Job classification based on the type of occupation that it is. Could be legal, health care, sales, professional, clerical/administrative, etc… We also have a point factor leveling system. Four factors to be exact. They are KNOWLEDGE, COMPLEXITY, CONTACTS AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT. Maybe one of our best kept secrets. For example, an entry level accountant fresh out of college would be performing their work at probably a different level than, say, a senior accountant that handles the more complex accounting duties and may require, say, 5-7 years experience. So our data separates this SAME occupation into different levels of complexity based on the overall skill level and duties performed. How do we do this? Good old-fashioned interviewing primarily. We may also use a company job description as supplemental info to help us make the correct determination as to where this specific occupation should be placed or “leveled”, but a one-on-one conversation is the main way we accomplish the leveling aspect of the survey. KNOWLEDGE: What’s required to do the job? HS diploma? HS diploma and one year experience? Some sort of vocational training? For some blue collar jobs, maybe an apprenticeship? Associates degree? Bachelors degree? Bachelors degree + 3 yrs experience? COMPLEXITY: what is the job’s scope of responsibilities? What kind of responsibilities does the job entail? How closely are they supervised? How much autonomy does the job have? Does their work affect or impact others? Getting answers to these types of questions from our data providers allows us to make the appropriate choice as to where they should be leveled in our survey. CONTACTS: who does this job contact and what is the nature of those contacts? Extreme examples: receptionist = typically lots of contacts with the public, but nature of contacts is to simply provide information. Let’s compare that with Accounting Manager whose contacts are to coordinate work or advise on collaborative work. Maybe the contacts made by the Accounting Mgr are to solve problems and include contacts with various depts. And then there’s even another level of contacts, usually when you’re talking about protective service positions like police officers. They could be engaged in dealing with folks who may not be working toward a common goal , and they may have to diffuse or attempt to diffuse a volatile situation, etc… Finally, PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT. Does the job sit all day? Do they stand or walk all day? Does the job require them to lift 25-50 lbs. as part of their regular job duties? Does the job require the worker to wear protective gear or be around machinery that could cause injury? Extreme temperatures? Things like that. Any questions about the leveling process?

Benefit data collected -access, usage, participation & rates- Paid leave - vacations, holidays, personal, and sick leave Insurance - life, health, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance Retirement - defined benefit (pensions) and defined contribution Okay, so now let’s switch gears and talk about benefits. And let me be clear right off the bat about what we’re talking about : we’re talking about EMPLOYER-PROVIDED benefits that have an EMPLOYER COST. For example, if a company offers a 401k retirement plan, but the extent of the company’s involvement in this plan is to provide this plan to ees as a vehicle for them to save for retirement. This is NOT a benefit that we’re interested in. Why? Because we’re interested only in those benefits that have an EMPLOYER cost.

Benefit data collected -access, usage, and participation- Legally required benefits - Social Security, federal unemployment insurance, state unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation Supplemental pay - premium pay (overtime, weekend, or holiday pay), shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses.   4: Legally required – self-explanatory. There are a few exceptions, but generally these legally required benefits are… well, legally required. Example of an exception if asked: FUTA = not required for non-profits). 5: these supplemental benefits have an employer cost and are part of the index. Give a simple example of each. Premium pay : a job may earn time-and-a-half for work over 40hrs or receive extra compensation for working a holiday Shift differentials: a job may earn 50Cents more per hour when working 2nd shift or 75 cents more per hour when working 3rd shift Non-production bonus: as the title implies, these are payments not associated with production. For example, a job may earn an end-of-the-year bonus or there may be a safety bonus (for all ees at a company or in a dept that has zero injuries over a certain period of time) or an attendance bonus for ees who go an entire year without calling in sick… these are cost to the employer and they are included in the Employment Cost Index…

Products of the NCS Employment Cost Index (ECI) Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) Employee Benefits Survey (EBS) Let’s dig a little deeper about these data products…

Economist positions typically found in BLS Regional Offices BLS Survey specialists Work in our Federal/State Programs Occupational Employment Statistics Survey Survey of Occupational Injuries/Illnesses Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Local Area Unemployment Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Current Establishment Survey Work with/train state staff Make sure states follow BLS procedures Review work for accuracy

Working for the Federal Government www.usajobs.gov

Career Path www.usajobs.gov

Office of Economic Analysis & Information, Chicago Paul LaPorte Office of Economic Analysis & Information, Chicago www.bls.gov/regions/midwest 312-886-1190 blsinfochicago@bls.gov February 6, 2017