Highlights
Third-quarter wages popped higher compared to the second quarter but not at all compared to the year-ago quarter in what are mild results for the employment cost index. The employment cost index, a measure of total compensation, rose 0.4 percent quarter-to-quarter, the same rate of increase as in the second quarter and 1 tenth less than the 0.5 percent gain that was expected. What pressure there is is in the wages & salaries component which rose 0.5 percent vs. two consecutive quarters at 0.2 percent. The benefit component lagged wages, at a gain of 0.3 percent, mild but still a 1 tenth increase from the prior two quarters.

Year-on-year comparisons are the lowest in the 27-year history of the series. Total compensation is up only 1.5 percent, down sharply from 1.8 percent in the second quarter, with wages & salaries up 1.5 percent and benefits, which historically have been a center of concern for policy makers, up 1.6 percent. But private industry, a reading that excludes government employees, shows much less year-on-year pressure with total compensation up 1.2 percent and the benefits component up only 1.1 percent. The cost of labor is not yet a concern for policy makers who instead are focused on the critical need to boost the labor market.

2009 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/30 4/30 7/31 10/30 Released For: Q4:08 Q1:09 Q2:09 Q3:09