U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Exhibiting at 2011 HR Southwest Conference

DALLAS, Tx — October 19, 2011 — The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will be among the exhibitors at the 2011 HR Southwest Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. The exhibit will be held October 31 — November 1, 2011 at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Staff will be on hand in Booth 322 to explain the data that BLS produces and demonstrate how that data can be used by Human Resource professionals.

Most of the data to be featured come from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) and the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. The NCS produces data on employment cost trends and the incidence, provisions, and cost of employer provided benefits. The OES provides data on employment and occupational wages. Additional data, especially for the state of Texas will also be available. All BLS data are free of charge and available online.

As part of the exhibit, BLS staff will show users how to access data online from the BLS website. Survey respondents—those invaluable Human Resource professionals that provide the data for BLS surveys—are also encouraged to stop by the booth to discuss the importance and process of reporting data to BLS.

Stanley Suchman, BLS Regional Commissioner, noted: “Better decisions are made with better information. The Bureau of Labor Statistics depends upon HR professionals to provide us with data and our nation’s firms rely upon the Bureau for critical business information.”

All visitors to the booth will receive a copy of “Zooming in on Compensation Data — A guide to BLS data for Human Resources Professionals”. Those not attending the conference can request a copy of this booklet by sending an email request to HRGuide {at} bls {dot} gov.

About the Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Its mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision-making. As an independent statistical agency, BLS serves its diverse user communities by providing products and services that are objective, timely, accurate, and relevant.

About the BLS Southwest Information Office

The BLS Southwest Information Office, located in Dallas, TX, is one of eight regional BLS information offices throughout the United States. It provides services to the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. BLS staff from this office are available to assist data users in finding and understanding the data they need. The Information Office may be contacted via email, telephone, or in person.

Other BLS regional information offices are located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

About the National Compensation Survey

The National Compensation Survey is an on-going comprehensive employer-based survey of approximately 14,500 establishments conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. NCS is an umbrella program that produces data on several topics including benefits, wages, and compensation cost trends. One of its outputs—the Employment Cost Index (ECI) — is a principal federal economic indicator. The ECI measures the percent change in the cost of wages and benefits. Another output is the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC). The ECEC provides costs for wages and individual benefits on a cost per hour worked basis. In addition to the reports and websites mentioned in this release, the Compensation and Working Conditions Online Journal contains short articles on various compensation topics including health and retirement benefits. Another publication, Program Perspectives, focuses on one benefit topic per issue.

About the Occupational Employment Statistics Program

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program is an on-going, comprehensive employer-based survey of approximately 1.2 million establishments collected over a 3-year period. The OES survey is a Federal-State cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS provides the procedures and technical support, draws the sample, and produces the survey materials, while the SWAs collect the data. OES provides employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations by State, Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Area, as well as by detailed industry and ownership (private industry, local government, state government, and federal government) at the National level.

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