BLS releases Employment Cost Index -SEPTEMBER 2006

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Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 31 Oct 2006 14:32

Total compensation costs for civilian workers increased 1.0 percent from June to September 2006, seasonally adjusted, virtually unchanged from the 0.9 percent gain from March to June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reports.

Benefit costs between June and September rose 1.1 percent, compared with the gain of 0.8 percent from the previous quarter. Wages and salaries increased 0.9 percent during the quarter, unchanged from the gain of the previous quarter.

The Employment Cost Index (ECI), a component of the National Compensation Survey, measures quarterly changes in compensation costs, which include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits for civilian workers (nonfarm private industry and state and local government).

Increases in benefit costs accounted for one-third of the rise in compensation costsfor civilian workers from June to September 2006. Among private industry workers, benefit costs attributed about one-fourth of the compensation gains during the quarter.

Among state and local government workers, benefit costs comprised approximately two-fifths of the compensation cost gains during the June to September quarter. Health insurance costs and defined benefit contributions represented over one-quarter of the gain in compensation costs for state and local government workers from June to September 2006.

Quarterly changes, seasonally adjusted

Compensation costs for the private sector rose 0.9 percent from June to September, after advancing 0.8 percent in the prior quarter. For state and local government workers, compensation costs increased 1.4 percent from June to September, after increasing

1.1 percent for the quarter ended in June.

Wages and salaries of civilian workers increased 0.9 percent during the September quarter, unchanged from the gain of the June quarter. Wages and salaries for private industry workers rose 0.8 percent for the September quarter, compared with an increase of 0.9 percent in the prior quarter. Wages and salaries in state and local government

advanced 1.4 percent during the June to September period, higher than the 0.9 percent gain in the prior quarter.

Benefit costs advanced 1.1 percent for civilian workers in the September quarter, compared with a 0.8 percent gain in the June quarter. Private sector benefit costs rose 1.0 percent for the September quarter, following a 0.7 percent gain in the

previous quarter. Benefit costs for state and local government workers increased 1.5 percent in the September quarter, unchanged from the gain in June.

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