February 06, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.) Smaller rise in benefit costs for State and local government workers at end of 2001Benefit costs for State and local government workers rose 0.6 percent during the December 2001 quarter, dropping sharply from the 2.4- percent gain in the September quarter. The slower increase in benefit costs was largely due to smaller increases in employer costs for health insurance and retirement benefits. Wages and salaries for State and local government employees rose 0.5 percent in the quarter ended in December, following a 1.0 percent increase the previous quarter. These data are from the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. The 3-month changes in this article are seasonally adjusted, while the 12-months changes are not seasonally adjusted. Learn more in "Employment Cost Index—December 2001," news release USDL 02-46. Happy 10th Birthday, TED!The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far. |
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