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Employment costs up over the year by more than 3 percent in service and sales and office occupations

July 03, 2019

From March 2018 to March 2019, total compensation costs for private industry workers in service occupations increased by 3.4 percent and those for sales and office occupations rose by 3.3 percent. This was the fifth consecutive quarter in which the 12-month increase in compensation costs for these two occupational groups was 3.0 percent or more. Over the same 12-month period, compensation costs for workers in production, transportation and material moving occupations increased 2.9 percent. 

12-month percent change in total compensation for private industry workers, by occupational group
Quarter Management, professional, and related occupations Service occupations Sales and office occupations Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations Production, transportation, and material moving occupations

Mar 2014

1.9% 1.1% 1.8% 1.9% 1.9%

Jun 2014

2.2 1.1 2.1 2.4 2.0

Sep 2014

2.3 1.8 2.3 2.4 2.4

Dec 2014

2.3 1.8 2.4 2.6 2.2

Mar 2015

2.6 2.3 3.4 2.3 2.4

Jun 2015

1.8 2.1 1.9 1.7 2.5

Sep 2015

1.8 1.7 2.1 1.5 2.3

Dec 2015

1.9 1.7 1.6 1.4 2.6

Mar 2016

1.8 2.0 1.4 1.7 2.5

Jun 2016

1.9 2.8 3.1 2.0 2.5

Sep 2016

1.8 3.2 2.5 2.0 2.7

Dec 2016

1.7 3.2 2.3 2.2 2.7

Mar 2017

2.0 3.4 2.4 2.2 2.9

Jun 2017

2.4 2.9 1.7 2.4 2.7

Sep 2017

2.3 2.8 2.5 2.8 3.2

Dec 2017

2.4 2.9 2.6 2.7 3.1

Mar 2018

2.6 3.2 3.0 2.6 3.3

Jun 2018

2.4 3.3 3.5 2.9 3.3

Sep 2018

2.5 3.5 3.5 2.5 2.8

Dec 2018

2.5 3.6 3.8 2.5 2.8

Mar 2019

2.3 3.4 3.3 2.7 2.9

By contrast, 12-month percent changes in total compensation costs have remained at less than 3.0 percent since December 2008 for management, professional and related occupations and since June 2008 for natural resources, construction and maintenance occupations.

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see “Employment Cost Index — March 2019.” We also have more charts on the Employment Cost Index. The five series in the chart reference the high-level aggregation groups, excluding military-specific occupations, as defined by the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification manual.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employment costs up over the year by more than 3 percent in service and sales and office occupations at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/employment-costs-up-over-the-year-by-more-than-3-percent-in-service-and-sales-and-office-occupations.htm (visited November 06, 2024).

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