Where your pay context comes from.
Pay Position compares your pay input with published U.S. earnings benchmarks. It provides context for a conversation, rather than a personalized salary valuation or a prediction of what your employer will pay.
Product catalog reviewed: September 23, 2026. The source dates below describe the catalog used by the current product; external data providers may publish newer releases separately.
When we can match your occupation
Career Compass uses national annual wage percentiles from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. The current product catalog uses May 2025 OEWS data.
Job-title matching uses alternate titles from O*NET Database 30.3. The catalog includes 830 detailed occupations; 825 have the complete percentile boundaries used by the product. An occupation can remain matchable even when its wage values are suppressed; the app then uses the labeled fallback.
Your reported pay is compared with the available wage boundaries to estimate your position in that distribution. A compensation scenario applies the requested change and compares the resulting amount with the same benchmark.
Source: BLS OEWS tables
When occupation data isn't a reliable fit
The app uses a clearly labeled age-adjusted national estimate when an occupation comparison is unavailable. This is broader earnings context and is not a job-specific market rate.
The current fallback uses BLS Current Population Survey earnings data for the second quarter of 2026. It scales the national earnings distribution using the ratio between an age-band median and the all-worker median, then annualizes weekly amounts by multiplying by 52.
Sources: BLS age-band medians and BLS national earnings percentiles.
What the estimate doesn't measure
- National data does not establish a local, company-specific or individually negotiated pay rate.
- A job title can cover different responsibilities across employers. Check whether the comparison makes sense for your work.
- The product's experience input helps describe role context. It does not adjust the wage boundaries: OEWS does not publish an experience-segmented wage distribution.
- Published distributions describe groups of workers. They do not evaluate the quality of your work or determine whether your employer should approve your request.
- Data vintages matter. The figures represent their stated reporting periods, not a live feed of current offers.
Use the benchmark alongside your actual responsibilities, contribution and the context of the conversation. A percentile is an estimate, not a verdict on your value.
O*NET attribution
Career Compass uses information from the O*NET database under CC BY 4.0. We selected job-title records, joined them to OEWS occupation codes, normalized whitespace, sorted aliases and packaged a versioned local matcher.
O*NET® is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
Questions about a comparison?
Contact Career Compass if a match or source needs attention. Describe the issue without sending private work evidence or compensation documents through the website form.