December 1997 Employment Cost Index

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) for December 1997 was 135.2 (June 1989=100), an increase of 3.3 percent from December 1996, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The ECI measures changes in compensation costs, which include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.

Quarterly changes, seasonally adjusted

On a seasonally adjusted basis, compensation costs for civilian workers (private industry plus state and local governments) rose 1.0 percent during the September-December 1997 period; for each of the two previous quarters, the increase was 0.8 percent. Wages and salaries increased 1.1 percent during the September-December 1997 period. The increase was 0.9 percent in the June-September 1997 period. Benefit costs increased 0.9 percent in the September-December period; in the June-September quarter, the increase was 0.4 percent.

Mar. June Sep. Dec. Mar. June Sep. Dec. Compensation Component 96 96 96 96 97 97 97 97

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 1.2 percent during the September-December 1997 period, following gains of 0.8 percent in both September and June. Wages and salaries also rose 1.2 percent, after increases of 0.9 percent in the previous three quarters. Benefit costs increased 1.1 percent; in September, the increase was 0.5 percent. (See tables A and 1.)

BLS is evaluating statistical reliability of ECI series. Some series may be discontinued. See page 3.

Compensation costs for state and local government workers increased 0.7 percent during the September-December 1997 period, following gains of 0.5 percent in each of the previous three quarters. Wages and salaries increased 0.8 percent; in the June-September quarter, the increase was 0.7 percent. Benefits increased 0.5 percent; the previous quarterly increase was 0.2 percent. (See table 1.)

Over-the-year changes, not seasonally adjusted

Compensation costs for civilian workers (not seasonally adjusted) were up 3.3 percent for the year ended December 1997. This compares with increases of 2.9 percent in December 1996 and 2.7 percent in December 1995. Compensation costs in private industry rose 3.4 percent in December 1997, about the same as the 3.1 percent in December 1996 but higher than the December 1995 increase of 2.6 percent. In contrast, compensation costs for state and local governments increased 2.3 percent for the year ended in December 1997. The gain for the year ended in December 1996 was 2.6 percent and in December 1995 the increase was 2.9 percent. (See tables B, 2, and 3.)

Private industry In private industry, wages and salaries grew 3.9 percent for the year ended December 1997; up from 2.8 percent in December 1995. The increase for the year ended December 1996 was 3.4 percent. (See tables B and 6.) Benefit costs for private industry workers increased 2.3 percent for the year ended in December 1997, which was about the same as the 2.2 percent increase in December 1995. The increase for the year ended in December 1996 was 2.0 percent. (See chart A and tables B and 8.)

In private industry, over-the-year compensation cost increases were 3.8 percent for white-collar occupations, 2.6 percent for blue-collar occupations, and 4.0 percent for service occupations. Among the occupational groups, increases ranged from 2.2 percent for precision production, craft, and repair occupations to 4.6 percent for executive, administrative, and managerial occupations.

For the year ended December 1997, the 2.4 percent rise in compensation costs in goods-producing industries was lower than the 3.9 percent increase in the service-producing industries. For the year ended December 1996, compensation costs rose 2.8 percent in goods-producing industries and 3.2 percent in service- producing industries. Among industry divisions, over-the-year increases ranged from 2.4 percent in manufacturing to 6.7 percent in finance, insurance, and real estate. (See table 3.)

The over-the-year increases in compensation costs in private industry was 2.1 percent for union workers, lower than the 3.8 percent for nonunion workers. The pattern was similar for service-producing industries where union compensation increased 2.1 percent and nonunion compensation increased 4.2 percent. For goods-producing industries, the increase for union workers was 2.1 percent, and the increase for nonunion workers was 2.6 percent. Compensation in blue-collar occupations increased 2.1 percent for union workers and 2.9 percent for nonunion workers. (See table 4.)

State and local government In state and local government, the December 1997 over-the-year increase in wages and salaries was less than in private industry. The December 1997 over-the-year increase was 2.7 percent; compared with 2.8 percent for December 1996 and 3.2 percent in December 1995. Benefit costs for December 1997 increased 1.3 percent. In December 1996 the increase was 2.2 percent, and, in December 1995 the increase was 2.6 percent.

The release dates for the Employment Cost Index in 1998 have been changed to the last Thursday of the month following the reference month, as follows:

The Bureau is evaluating published ECI series to assure that they meet statistical standards for reliability. Preliminary research has targeted 37 series for elimination from the news release. These series are marked with a footnote in the accompanying tables. Series that fail reliability standards will be removed from the news release beginning in September 1998 and will be available only upon request.

BLS Data Available on the World Wide Web and Fax On Demand ECI data, as well as other data produced by BLS, are now available on the World Wide Web. The ECI home page address is: http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm. The BLS home page address is: http://stats.bls.gov. To access data using GOPHER or Anonymous FTP, use the Internet address: stats.bls.gov. For technical assistance in using the BLS Internet site, send e-mail to: labstat.helpdesk@bls.gov. For ECI data requests, send e-mail to: ocltinfo@bls.gov. News releases and other information are available from the BLS fax-on-demand service. To request a document fax, call 202-606-6325. To request a catalog of available documents, select option 2 at the initial voice prompt. To request data found in this news release, enter the following codes: Text 4110 Tables 1-4 4115 Tables 5-7 4120 Table 8 4125 Explanatory notes 4190