June 2002 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 for total compensation increased 4.0 percent for the year ended June 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The Employment Cost Index (ECI), a component of the National Compensation Survey, measures changes in compensation costs, which include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits, for nonfarm private and State and local government workers.

Quarterly changes, seasonally adjusted

On a seasonally adjusted basis, both compensation costs and wages and salaries for civilian workers (nonfarm private industry and State and local government) was 1.0 percent from March to June 2002, following a gain of 0.8 percent in December 2001-March 2002. Benefit costs rose 1.3 percent during the June quarter, following a 1.0 percent gain in the March quarter.

The increase in compensation costs for private industry workers was 1.1 percent during the March-June 2002 period, following an increase of 0.9 percent during the previous 3-month period. The gain in wages and salaries was 1.0 percent in the quarter ended in June; in March, it was 0.9 percent. Benefit costs showed a rise of 1.4 percent during the June quarter, compared with a 1.1 percent gain during the March quarter. The increase in benefit costs was largely due to an increase in employer costs for health insurance. (See tables A and 1.)

Compensation costs, wages and salaries, and benefit costs for State and local government workers all increased 0.8 percent during the March- June 2002 period; in the December 2001-March 2002 period, the increase was 0.7 percent.

Over-the-year changes, not seasonally adjusted

Compensation costs for civilian workers (not seasonally adjusted) increased 4.0 percent for the 12 months ended in June 2002 to 159.9 (June 1989=100). This compares with over-the-year increases of 3.9 percent in June 2001 and 4.4 percent in June 2000. Compensation costs in private industry rose 4.0 percent in the year ended June 2002, compared with increases of 4.0 percent in June 2001 and 4.6 percent in June 2000. In State and local government, compensation costs increased 3.6 percent for the years ended June 2002 and June 2001and 3.5 percent for the year ended June 2000. (See tables B, 2, and 3.)

Nonfarm private industry

In private industry, wages and salaries rose 3.6 percent for the year ended June 2002, after increasing 3.8 percent in the year ended June 2001. (See tables B and 6.) Benefit costs for private industry workers increased 5.1 percent for the year ended in June 2002, compared with an increase of 4.8 percent in June 2001. (See chart A and tables B and 8.)

In private industry, over-the-year compensation cost increases were 4.1 percent for white-collar occupations, 3.9 percent for blue-collar occupations, and 4.0 percent for service occupations. Among the occupational groups, increases in compensation costs ranged from 3.2 percent for professional specialty and technical employees to 4.6 percent for sales workers. (See table 3.)

For the year ended June 2002, the compensation cost increase was 3.6 percent for goods-producing industries, compared with 3.8 percent for the year ended June 2001. The over-the-year increase in compensation for service-producing industries was 4.2 percent, identical to the increase for the year ended June 2001. Among service-producing industries, the 12- month increases ranged from 2.2 percent for business services to 6.7 percent for banking, savings and loan, and other credit agencies. (See table 3.)

Compensation costs for union workers rose 4.5 percent over the year, compared with a 3.9 percent increase for nonunion workers. In service- producing industries, union compensation increased 5.4 percent, greater than the 4.0 percent increase for nonunion workers. In goods-producing industries, the increases for both union and nonunion workers were 3.6 percent. Among the four geographic regions, increases in compensation costs ranged from 3.5 percent in the South to 4.4 percent in the West. (See table 4.)

State and local government

In State and local government, the June 2002 over-the-year increase in wages and salaries was 3.2 percent, compared with a gain of 3.7 percent for June 2001. The 12-month gain in benefit costs for June 2002 was 4.6 percent, significantly higher than the 3.4 percent gain for June 2001. (See tables B, 5, and 8.)

The costs per hour worked of compensation components, based on data from the ECI, were recently published in a separate news release titled "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation - March 2002." The schedule of the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation will change from an annual to a quarterly publication beginning with June 2002 data. Future publications will be issued approximately three months after the month of reference for the survey months of March, June, September, and December.

ECI data are available on the Compensation Cost Trends page at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm. 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 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.

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