Remuneration for services performed during a specific period of time. The term invariably carries defining words, e.g. hourly, daily, weekly, annual, average, gross, straight-time hourly earnings. Since a statistical concept is usually involved in the term and its variations, the producers and users of earnings figures have an obligation to define them. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its wage surveys, defines straight- time earnings to exclude premium pay (for overtime and for work on weekends and holidays) and shift differentials. Compensation is a term sometimes used to encompass the entire range of wages and benefits, both current and deferred, which workers receive out of their employment.