July 10, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment costs by occupation in March

Average compensation costs in private industry were $26.43 per hour for white-collar occupations in March 2002, significantly higher than the $20.15 recorded for blue-collar occupations and the $10.95 for service occupations.

Employer costs per hour worked for employee compensation by occupational group, private industry, March 2002
[Chart data—TXT]

Benefits, however, accounted for a greater proportion of compensation costs for blue-collar occupations (30.5 percent) than for white-collar (26.3 percent) and service occupations (23.1 percent). 

These data are a product of the BLS Employment Cost Trends program.  Additional information is available from "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 2002," news release USDL 02-346.

Note: The publication schedule for the "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation" news release will change this year.  Future publications will be issued on a quarterly basis, with data collected for the pay period including the 12th day of the survey months of March, June, September, and December.  Publications will be issued approximately three months after the month of reference.  Data will be available on a quarterly basis beginning with June 2002 data.