Benefits October 31, 2008

Total Comp Costs Stay Level for Three Quarters

October 31, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Total compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.7% from June to September 2008, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor reported.
Reported by

A BLS announcement said the showing was the same increase seen in the previous two quarters and that both components of compensation-wages and salaries and benefits- showed the same increases as the previous quarter.

Wages and salaries rose 0.7% and benefits rose 0.6%. Compensation costs for private industry rose 0.6% from June to September 2008, the same as the increase for the prior quarter. In state and local government, the increase was 0.9%, also the same as in the prior quarter.

Wages and salaries for private industry workers increased 0.6% for the June to September 2008 period. For the previous quarter, the increase was 0.7%. In state and local government, the increase was 1%, compared with 0.9% in the prior quarter.

Benefit costs for private industry rose 0.6%, compared to 0.5% in the previous quarter. For state and local government, benefit costs increased 0.7%, less than the 1.1% increase in the previous quarter.

More information is available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/eci.pdf .

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