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The Employment Cost Index (not seasonally adjusted) for September 2001 was 155.6 (June 1989=100), an increase of 4.1 percent from September 2000, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The Employment Cost Index (ECI), a component of the Bureau's National Compensation Survey, measures changes in compensation costs, which include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.
The events of September 11 occurred during the reference period for the ECI. The attacks resulted in a tragic loss of lives and significant disruptions in the New York and Washington area economies, as well as disruptions to other businesses outside these directly impacted areas. A review of survey responses was undertaken to evaluate the impact of the situation on the ECI survey cooperation rates by industry and any impact of nonresponse on survey estimates. No unusual effects were found.
Quarterly changes, seasonally adjusted
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the 3-month increase in compensation costs for civilian workers (nonfarm private industry plus State and local government) was 1.0 percent during the June-September 2001 period, following a gain of 0.9 percent in March-June 2001. Wages and salaries increased 0.8 percent during the June-September 2001 period, following a 1.0 percent increase in the previous 3-month period. Benefit costs rose 1.6 percent during the September 2001 quarter, significantly higher than the 1.0 percent gain in the June 2001 quarter.
The 3-month increase in compensation costs for private industry workers was 0.9 percent during the June-September 2001 period, following an increase of 1.0 percent during the previous 3-month period. The gain in wages and salaries was 0.7 percent in the quarter ended in September; in the June quarter, it was 0.9 percent. Benefit costs showed a 3-month rise of 1.4 percent during the September 2001 quarter, exceeding the 0.9 percent gain during the June 2001 quarter. The increase in benefit costs was largely due to increases in employer costs for health insurance. (See tables A and 1.)
Compensation costs for State and local government workers increased 1.4 percent during the June-September 2001 period; in the March-June period, the increase was 1.1 percent. Wages and salaries rose 1.0 percent in the quarter ended in September, following a 1.1 percent increase the previous quarter. Benefit costs rose 2.4 percent during the September quarter, greatly exceeding the 1.1 percent gain in the June quarter. The increase in benefit costs was largely due to increases in employer costs for health insurance and retirement benefits.
Over-the-year changes, not seasonally adjusted
Compensation costs for civilian workers (not seasonally adjusted) increased 4.1 percent for the 12 months ended in September 2001. This compares with over-the-year increases of 4.3 percent in September 2000 and 3.1 percent in September 1999. Compensation costs in private industry rose 4.0 percent in the year ended September 2001, compared with increases of 4.6 percent in September 2000 and 3.1 percent in September 1999. In State and local government, compensation costs increased 4.4 percent for the year ended September 2001; over-the-year increases were 3.3 percent in September 2000 and 2.9 percent in September 1999. (See tables B, 2, and 3.)
Nonfarm private industry
In private industry, wages and salaries rose 3.6 percent for the year ended September 2001, after increasing 4.1 percent in the year ended September 2000. (See tables B and 6.) Benefit costs for private industry workers increased 4.9 percent for the year ended in September 2001, lower than the increase of 6.0 percent in September 2000. (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, 3.8 percent for blue-collar occupations, and 4.1 percent for service occupations. Among the occupational groups, increases in compensation costs ranged from 2.5 percent for sales workers to 4.7 percent for administrative support, including clerical workers. (See table 3.)
For the year ended September 2001, the compensation cost increase was 3.5 percent for goods-producing industries, significantly lower than the 4.8 percent increase for the year ended September 2000. The over-the-year increase in compensation for service-producing industries was 4.2 percent, compared with a 4.5 percent increase for the year ended September 2000. Among service-producing industry divisions, September 2000-to-September 2001 increases ranged from 3.2 percent for retail trade to 6.2 percent for hospitals. (See table 3.)
Compensation costs for nonunion workers rose 4.1 percent over the year, greater than the 3.4 percent increase for union workers. In service- producing industries, nonunion compensation increased 4.2 percent, compared with a 4.1 percent increase for union workers. In goods- producing industries, the increase for nonunion workers was 3.8 percent, greater than the 2.6 percent gain for union workers. Among the four geographic regions, increases in compensation costs ranged from 3.4 percent in the Midwest to 4.5 percent in the West. (See table 4.)
State and local government
In State and local government, the September 2001 over-the-year increase in wages and salaries was 3.9 percent, compared with the gain of 3.5 percent recorded for September 2000. The 12-month gain in benefit costs for September 2001 was 5.6 percent, much higher than the gain of 2.8 percent in September 2000 and the highest yearly increase in nearly a decade. (See tables B, 5, and 8.)
On October 16, BLS launched a completely new look for its website, which required organizational changes to many of the specific universal resource locators (URL). ECI data are now available on the Compensation Cost Trends page at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm. To access data using Anonymous FTP, continue to use the Internet address ftp://ftp.bls.gov.
For technical assistance in using the BLS Internet site, send e-mail to webmaster@bls.gov. For ECI data requests, send e-mail to ocltinfo@bls.gov.
The ECI news release is available through an e-mail subscription service. See the subscription link on http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm or http://www.bls.gov/bls/newsrels.htm.
News releases and other information are available from the BLS fax-on- demand service. To request a document fax, call (202) 691-6325. 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:
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Original release Oct 25, 2001.
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