March 2011 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.

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.6 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending March 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.4 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) increased 1.1 percent.

Civilian Workers

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 2.0 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2011. A year earlier--in March 2010--the increase was 1.7 percent. Wages and salaries increased 1.6 percent for the current 12-month period; in March 2010 the increase was 1.5 percent. Benefit costs accelerated to 3.0 percent, up from a 2.2-percent increase for the 12-month period ending March 2010.

Private Industry Workers

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.0 percent over the year, compared to the 1.6-percent increase for the previous 12-month period. The wage and salary series increased 1.6 percent for the current 12-month period. The change for the 12-month period ending March 2010 was 1.5 percent. The cost of benefits increased 3.0 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2011, higher than the March 2010 increase of 2.0 percent. While the rate of increase in the overall cost of benefits to employers accelerated over the year, their costs for health benefits decelerated to a 3.4 percent increase for the 12-month period ending March 2011. In March 2010, the 12-month percent change was 4.5 percent.

Among occupational groups, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the 12-month period ending March 2011 were 1.4 percent for natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations; 1.9 percent for service occupations; and 2.1 percent for the remaining three groups--management, professional, and related; sales and office; and production, transportation, and material moving occupations.

Among industry supersectors, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the current 12-month period ranged from 0.6 percent for construction to 2.8 percent for both manufacturing and financial activities.

State and Local Government Workers

Compensation costs for State and local government workers increased 1.8 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2011, compared to the 2.0 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2010. Prior to this quarter, values for this series--which began in June 1982--ranged from 1.7 percent in June 2010 to 9.6 percent in June 1982. Wages and salaries increased 1.2 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2011. A year earlier the increase was 1.6 percent. Prior values for this series, which also began in June 1982, ranged from 1.2 percent in September and December 2010 to 8.5 percent in June 1982. Benefit costs increased 3.3 percent, up from 2.5 percent in March 2010. Prior values for this series, which began in June 1990, ranged from 1.2 percent in December 1997 to 8.3 percent in June 1990.

This release incorporates annual revisions in seasonally adjusted Employment Cost Index (ECI) data for total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefit costs. Seasonally adjusted data for 2006-2010 were revised to reflect updated seasonal factors.

BLS news releases, including the ECI, are available through an e-mail subscription service at: http://www.bls.gov/bls/list.htm.

Some Employment Cost Index estimates from June 2009 through September 2010 were corrected on January 18, 2011. (In some of the seasonally adjusted series, corrections were made to estimates back to June 2005.) For further information, see: www.bls.gov/bls/eci_corrections_111910.htm

PRIVATE INDUSTRY

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

(1) Includes private industry and State and local government. (2) Includes wages and salaries and benefits.