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Compensation costs for private industry workers rose 2.8 percent for year ending March 2018

May 03, 2018

Compensation costs for private industry workers rose 2.8 percent over the 12 months ending March 2018. Wages and salaries, which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs, increased 2.9 percent over that period, while the cost of benefits rose 2.5 percent.

12-month percent changes in employer costs for total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefits, private industry, March 2008–March 2018
Quarter Total compensation Wages and salaries Benefits

Mar 2008

3.2% 3.2% 3.2%

Jun 2008

3.0 3.1 2.6

Sep 2008

2.8 2.9 2.4

Dec 2008

2.4 2.6 2.0

Mar 2009

1.9 2.0 1.6

Jun 2009

1.5 1.6 1.3

Sep 2009

1.2 1.4 1.1

Dec 2009

1.2 1.3 0.9

Mar 2010

1.6 1.5 2.0

Jun 2010

1.9 1.6 2.4

Sep 2010

2.0 1.6 2.8

Dec 2010

2.1 1.8 2.9

Mar 2011

2.0 1.6 3.0

Jun 2011

2.3 1.7 4.0

Sep 2011

2.1 1.7 3.3

Dec 2011

2.2 1.6 3.6

Mar 2012

2.1 1.9 2.8

Jun 2012

1.8 1.8 1.9

Sep 2012

1.9 1.8 2.2

Dec 2012

1.8 1.7 2.0

Mar 2013

1.9 1.7 2.0

Jun 2013

1.9 1.9 1.9

Sep 2013

1.9 1.8 2.0

Dec 2013

2.0 2.1 1.9

Mar 2014

1.7 1.7 1.8

Jun 2014

2.0 1.9 2.4

Sep 2014

2.3 2.3 2.3

Dec 2014

2.3 2.2 2.5

Mar 2015

2.8 2.8 2.6

Jun 2015

1.9 2.2 1.4

Sep 2015

1.9 2.1 1.4

Dec 2015

1.9 2.1 1.3

Mar 2016

1.8 2.0 1.2

Jun 2016

2.4 2.6 1.7

Sep 2016

2.3 2.4 1.8

Dec 2016

2.2 2.3 1.8

Mar 2017

2.3 2.6 1.9

Jun 2017

2.4 2.4 2.2

Sep 2017

2.5 2.6 2.4

Dec 2017

2.6 2.8 2.3

Mar 2018

2.8 2.9 2.5

Note: Data are not seasonally adjusted.

Employer costs for health benefits increased 1.5 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2018.

Among occupational groups, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the 12-month period ending March 2018 ranged from 2.6 percent for both management, professional, and related occupations and natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations to 3.3 percent for production, transportation, and material moving occupations. Among industry supersectors, compensation cost increases for private industry workers ranged from 2.3 percent for education and health services to 3.3 percent for financial activities.

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see “Employment Cost Index—March 2018” (HTML) (PDF) and charts related to the Employment Cost Index news release.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Compensation costs for private industry workers rose 2.8 percent for year ending March 2018 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/compensation-costs-for-private-industry-workers-rose-2-point-8-percent-for-year-ending-march-2018.htm (visited October 13, 2024).

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