September 2002 Employment Cost Index

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The Employment Cost Index for total compensation increased 3.7 percent for the year ended September 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

Seasonally adjusted, the 3-month increase in compensation costs for civilian workers (nonfarm private industry and State and local government) rose 0.8 percent from June to September 2002, following a gain of 1.0 percent in March-June 2002. Wages and salaries increased 0.5 percent during the September quarter, after a 1.0 percent gain in the June quarter. Benefit costs rose 1.4 percent during the June-September period, following a 1.3 percent increase in the March-June quarter.

The increase in compensation costs for private industry workers was 0.6 percent during the June-September 2002 period, a smaller gain than the increase of 1.1 percent during the previous 3-month period. The gain in wages and salaries slowed to 0.4 percent in the quarter ended in September; in June, it was 1.0 percent. Benefit costs showed a rise of 1.0 percent during the September quarter, compared with a 1.4 percent gain during the June quarter. (See tables A and 1.)

Compensation costs for State and local government workers increased 1.5 percent during the June-September period, about twice the 0.8 percent gain during the June quarter. Wages and salaries rose 0.9 percent in the quarter ended in September, following a 0.8 percent increase the previous quarter. Benefit costs rose 3.0 percent during the September quarter, significantly higher than the 0.8 percent gain of the prior quarter. The increase in benefit costs was due largely to increases in employer costs for health insurance.

Over-the-year changes, not seasonally adjusted

Compensation costs for civilian workers (not seasonally adjusted) increased 3.7 percent for the 12 months ended in September 2002 to 161.3 (June 1989=100). This compares with over-the-year increases of 4.1 percent in September 2001 and 4.3 percent in September 2000. Compensation costs in private industry rose 3.7 percent in the year ended September 2002, compared with increases of 4.0 percent in September 2001 and 4.6 percent in September 2000. In State and local government, compensation costs increased 3.8 percent for the year ended September 2002; over-the- year increases were 4.4 percent in September 2001 and 3.3 percent in September 2000. (See tables B, 2, and 3.)

Nonfarm private industry

In private industry, wages and salaries rose 3.2 percent for the year ended September 2002, after increasing 3.6 percent in the year ended September 2001. (See tables B and 6.) Benefit costs for private industry workers increased 4.8 percent for the year ended in September 2002, compared with an increase of 4.9 percent in September 2001. (See tables B and 8.)

In private industry, over-the-year compensation cost increases were 3.7 percent for white-collar occupations, 3.5 percent for blue-collar occupations, and 4.2 percent for service occupations. Among the occupational groups, increases in compensation costs ranged from 2.8 percent for professional specialty and technical employees to 4.3 percent for sales workers. (See table 3.)

For the year ended September 2002, the compensation cost increase was 3.6 percent for goods-producing industries, compared with 3.5 percent for the year ended September 2001. The over-the-year increase in compensation for service-producing industries was 3.7 percent, compared with a 4.2 percent increase for the year ended September 2001. Among service- producing industries, the 12-month increases for the year ending September 2002 ranged from 1.2 percent for business services to 5.8 percent for electric, gas, and sanitary services. (See table 3.)

Compensation costs for union workers rose 4.7 percent over the year, compared with a 3.5 percent increase for nonunion workers. In service- producing industries, compensation increased 5.8 percent for union workers and 3.4 percent for nonunion workers. In goods-producing industries, the increase for union workers was 3.7 percent, compared with a 3.6 percent increase for nonunion workers. Among the four geographic regions, increases in compensation costs ranged from 3.4 percent in the Northeast to 3.9 percent in the Midwest and West. (See table 4.)

State and local government

In State and local government, the September 2002 over-the-year increase in wages and salaries was 3.1 percent, lower than the gain of 3.9 percent for September 2001. The 12-month gain in benefit costs for September 2002 was 5.4 percent; in September 2001, the gain was 5.6 percent. (See tables B, 5, and 8.)

The costs per hour worked of compensation components, based on data from the ECI, were published on September 17 in a news release titled "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation-June 2002." Employer Costs for Employee Compensation was changed from an annual to a quarterly publication beginning with the 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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