June 1998 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), not seasonally adjusted, for June 1998 was 137.4 (June 1989=100), an increase of 3.5 percent from June 1997, 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 0.9 percent during the March - June 1998 period. Since September 1991, the three-month increases in compensation costs have ranged from 0.6 percent to 1.0 percent. Wages and salaries increased 0.9 percent during the March - June 1998 period. The increase was 0.8 percent in the December 1997 - March 1998 period. Benefit costs increased 0.8 percent in the March 1998 - June 1998 period, up from 0.4 percent in the December 1997 - March 1998 period.

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 0.9 percent during the March - June 1998 period; in March, the increase was 0.7 percent. Wages and salaries rose 1.0 percent in June 1998; in March, the increase was 0.8 percent. Benefit costs increased 0.8 percent in June; the increase was 0.3 percent in March. (See tables A and 1.)

Compensation costs for state and local government workers increased 0.7 percent during the March - June 1998 period, following a gain of 0.8 percent in the March period. Wages and salaries increased 0.7 percent in June, the same as in the March period. Benefits increased 0.7 percent in the June quarter; in the previous quarter, the increase was 0.8 percent. (See tables A and 1.)

Over-the-year changes, not seasonally adjusted

Compensation costs for civilian workers (not seasonally adjusted) were up 3.5 percent for the year ended June 1998. This compares with increases of 2.8 percent in June 1997 and 2.9 percent in June 1996. Compensation costs in private industry rose 3.5 percent in June 1998, up from 2.9 percent in both June 1997 and June 1996. Compensation costs for state and local governments increased 2.7 percent for the year ended in June 1998. The gain for the year ended in June 1997 was 2.4 percent, and, in June 1996, the increase was 2.6 percent. (See tables B, 2, and 3.)

Private industry

In private industry, wages and salaries rose 4.0 percent for the year ended June 1998. Wages and salaries increased 3.3 percent in June 1997. (See tables B and 6.) Benefit costs for private industry workers increased 2.6 percent for the year ended in June 1998, compared with 2.0 percent in June 1997. The over-the-year increase in June 1998 was due, in part, to increases in employer costs for Social Security, paid leave benefits, and health benefits. (See chart A and tables B and 8.)

In private industry, over-the-year compensation cost increases were 4.0 percent for white-collar occupations, 2.7 percent for blue-collar occupations, and 3.9 percent for service occupations. Among the occupational groups, increases ranged from 2.4 percent for transportation and material moving occupations to 5.0 percent for sales occupations. (See table 3.)

Private industry compensation costs increased more rapidly in service- producing industries (4.0 percent) than in goods-producing industries (2.6 percent) for the year ended June 1998. Compensation costs had risen 3.0 percent in service-producing industries and 2.6 percent in goods-producing industries in the prior year. Among industry divisions, June 1997-to-June 1998 increases ranged from 2.5 percent in manufacturing to 7.0 percent in finance, insurance, and real estate. (See table 3.)

The 3.8 percent over-the-year increase in compensation costs for nonunion workers in private industry outpaced the 2.7 percent increase for union workers. The pattern was similar for service-producing industries where nonunion compensation increased 4.2 percent and union compensation increased 2.9 percent. For goods-producing industries, the increase for nonunion workers was 2.8 percent and for union workers was 2.4 percent. Compensation in blue-collar occupations increased 2.7 percent for nonunion workers and 2.6 percent for union workers. (See table 4.)

State and local government

In state and local governments, the June 1998 over-the-year increase in wages and salaries was less than in private industry. The June 1998 over-the-year increase was 3.0 percent; in June 1997, the increase was 2.7 percent. Benefit costs for June 1998 increased 2.1 percent over-the-year. In June 1997, the increase was 1.7 percent. (See tables B, 5, and 8.)

The Bureau is evaluating published ECI series to ensure 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.

ECI data, as well as other data produced by BLS, are 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 Anonymous FTP, use the Internet address: ftp://ftp.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