These definitions are used for the purposes of Total Compensation Survey. Definitions originated from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the State of California's Employment Development Department, or the California Department of Human Resources. Information on survey methodology, data sources, and calculation is available in the
Data and Methodology for the Survey. To view the survey report, compensation and workforce data, please visit the
2023 Total Compensation Report and
Dashboards.
Annual Hours Worked -The Bureau calculates Annual Hours Worked as follows: add annual scheduled hours plus any overtime hours worked during the year, then subtract all vacation, holiday, and personal leave hours accrued as well as sick leave hours used during the year.
Annual Leave - Annual Leave is a consolidated leave plan. Consolidated leave plans provide a single amount of time off for workers to use for a number of purposes, such as vacation, illness, and personal business. Upon separation or retirement, state employees are compensated for any unused hours.
Annual Scheduled Hours -This is the total number of hours in a year that workers are scheduled to work. Most full-time workers are scheduled to work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, which equates to 2,080 annual scheduled hours.
Bargaining Unit (BU) - A group of employees working in similar classifications or occupations represented by a union for bargaining purposes.
Base Pay or Base Salary - Wages paid for work performed during a unit of time, such as monthly. Base salary does not include overtime or incentive pay.
Benefits - Nonwage compensation provided to employees by their employer. Benefits include but not limit to: paid leave (vacations, holidays, sick leave); supplementary pay (premium pay for overtime and work on holidays and weekends, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses); retirement (defined benefit and defined contribution plans); insurance (life insurance, health benefits, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance); and legally required benefits (Social Security and Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance taxes, and workers’ compensation).
Bureau -The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is part of the Department of Labor and is the principal fact-finding agency for the federal government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics.
Disability Insurance - Disability insurance pays part of a worker's wages if he or she has to stop working because of a non-work-related illness or injury.
Employee Benefit Incidence and Provisions - The Bureau produces this report, which displays the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer provided benefit plans (such as retirement, health care, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability insurance, and paid leave benefits).
ECEC - The Bureau produces the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) report, which shows employer costs per hour worked for wages and individual benefits. Cost data are presented in both dollar amounts and as percentages of compensation.
ECI - The Bureau produces the Employment Cost Index (ECI), which is a measure of the change in the cost of labor. The series measures changes in compensation costs (wages and salaries and costs for employee benefits).
EDD - The Employment Development Department (EDD) administers the state's payroll tax program and offers a variety of services to Californians under the Job Service, Unemployment Insurance (UI), State Disability Insurance (SDI), Workforce Investment, and Labor Market Information programs.
Employee Merit Award Program - There are four merit awards given to qualifying state employees in California. 1) Employee Suggestion Program (ESP) – Employees formally submit their ideas to reduce or eliminate state expenditures or improve the safety or the operation of the state. 2) Medal of Valor (MOV) – The highest honor California bestows upon its public servants. 3) Superior Accomplishment Award (SAA) – Departments may award employees for job performance resulting in exceptional contribution to improving state government. 4) The 25 Year/Retirement Service Award – Employees with 25 years of state service and retiring employees with 25 years or more of state service may receive a memento.
Flex Elect - The State of California's Flex Elect program offers two types of employee benefits: pre-tax reimbursement accounts for out-of-pocket medical and dependent care expenses, and cash-in-lieu of state-sponsored health and/or dental benefits for employees who have other qualifying group health coverage or other dental coverage.
Insurance - This includes the employer contribution for life insurance, health insurance or consolidated benefits (CoBen), dental insurance, vision insurance, short-term disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, and administrative fees paid by the state for each plan.
Informal Time Off (ITO) - For State of California employees, in 2023, the Governor granted employees four hours of paid Informal Time Off (ITO) leave to use on either Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve. ITO was calculated as a Holiday Bonus.
Legally Required Benefits - Legally required benefits include the employer's costs for Social Security, Medicare, Federal and State unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation. Most peace officers, firefighters, and safety employees do not participate in Social Security.
Life Insurance - Lump-sum payment to a designated beneficiary or beneficiaries of a deceased employee.
Longevity Pay - Lump-sum payment paid to employees on the basis of their length of service.
Long-Term Disability Insurance - A benefit plan that provides a monthly benefit to eligible employees who, because of a non-work-related illness or injury, are unable to work for an extended period. Most participants have a waiting period of 3 to 6 months, or until sick leave or short-term disability benefits end, before long-term disability benefits begin. Long-term disability benefits generally continue until retirement or a specified age, or for a period that varies with the employee’s age at the time of the disability.
Market Average - To calculate the “Market Average," CalHR multiplied the Bureau's estimated number of workers in an occupation for an employer group by its total compensation. Totals for the three employer groups were then summed, then divided by the total number of employees for all three groups to find the Market Average.
Mean - Mathematical average of a set of numbers, calculated by adding the numbers and dividing the total by the number of numbers summed.
Median - The median is the middle number in an ordered list consisting of an odd number of numbers; the average of the two middle numbers in an ordered list consisting of an even number of numbers.
NCS - The National Compensation Survey is a detailed compensation survey conducted by the Bureau. The NCS produces three separate reports: the Employment Cost Index (ECI), the Employee Benefit Incidence and Provisions, and the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC).
Occupation - Category of jobs that are similar with respect to the work performed and the skills possessed by workers.
OEWS - The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Survey is an annual labor market survey of private sector, local, state and federal government wages. The survey is conducted jointly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and State Workforce Agencies, such as the California Employment Development Department.
OPEB - Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) are benefits other than pensions received in retirement. OPEB generally takes the form of health insurance and dental, vision, prescription, or other healthcare benefits provided to eligible retirees, including, in some cases, their beneficiaries. It may also include some types of life insurance, legal services, and other benefits.
OPM - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) serves as the federal government's chief human resources agency and personnel policy manager, directing human resources policy; administering retirement, healthcare, and insurance programs; and providing oversight of merit-based and inclusive hiring into the federal government's civil service.
Overtime Pay - Payment over and above the employee's regular pay for working in excess of a specified number of hours per day or per week.
Paid Leave - Leave from work (or pay in lieu of time off) provided on an annual basis and normally taken in blocks of days or weeks by an employee. Vacation, sick and holiday paid leave are the most common.
Private Sector - The private sector is comprised of for-profit and not-for-profit businesses and organizations. By contrast, the public sector is made up of government employers.
Retirement Plans - Includes defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution retirement plans.
Related Excluded - Employees in classifications that do not have collective bargaining rights under the Ralph C. Dills Act, but whose job duties are related to rank-and-file employees in a bargaining unit. These employees are generally designated managerial, confidential, exempt, or supervisory.
Shift Differential - Payment over and above an employee's regular pay for working a nonstandard shift, typically evenings, nights, and weekends.
Sick Leave -Employer-paid time off offered to employees to compensate for time away from work while sick or injured.
Short-Term Disability Insurance - A benefit plan that provides full, partial, or a combination of full and partial pay, to employees who are unable to work because of a non-work related accident or illness. Short-term disability benefits vary with the amount of pre-disability earnings, length of service with the establishment, or length of disability..
SOC - Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system is a list of defined occupations maintained by the federal government's Office of Management and Budget. It has been adopted by federal statistical agencies to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data. The 2018 SOC system contains 867 detailed occupations.
State Classification - A defined state job. The State of California maintains definitions and salaries for approximately 2,800 civil service classifications.
Supplemental Pay - Supplemental pay includes overtime and premium pay for work in addition to the regular work schedule (such as weekends and holidays), shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses (such as referral bonuses and lump-sum payments provided in lieu of wage increases).
Turnover Rate -The turnover rate is calculated by dividing the count of all voluntary and involuntary separations, and retirements for the year by the annual average number of employees.
Unemployment Insurance - A joint federal-state program, established in 1935 under the Social Security Act, under which state administered funds obtained through payroll taxes provide payments to eligible unemployed persons.
Vacancy Rate - The vacancy rate is the average vacancy rate for the calendar year. To calculate the vacancy rate, full-time equivalent vacant positions are divided by established full‐time equivalent positions. (Employees hired into blanket positions are not included. Blanket positions are intended to be used for temporary, seasonal, or intermittent workload.)
Vacation Leave - Time off from work normally taken in days or weeks that provide employees with a rest or break from work. The amount of time-off may vary based on an employee's length-of-service with the employer or it may be a fixed number of days or weeks.
Value of Paid Leave - Vacation, annual leave, holiday, and other employer paid leave hours accrued (and assumed used) are added to sick leave hours used during the year. This number is multiplied by an hourly rate for paid leave to find the annual cost to the employer.
Voluntary Separation Rate - The voluntary separation rate is calculated by dividing the count of all voluntary separations (not including retirements) for the year by the annual average number of employees.
