August 2, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Compensation costs for State and local government workers rise 3.5 percent

Compensation costs for State and local government workers increased 3.5 percent for the year ended June 2000. Over-the-year increases were 3.0 percent in June 1999 and 2.7 percent in June 1998.

[Chart data—TXT]

The June 2000 over-the-year increase in wages and salaries was 3.7 percent in State and local government, higher than the 3.1-percent increase in June 1999.

Benefit costs for June 2000 increased 3.1 percent from June 1999. Between June 1998 and June 1999, the increase was 2.6 percent.

These data are from the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. Learn more in "Employment Cost Index—June 2000," news release USDL 00-215. The over-the-year changes reported in this article are based on not-seasonally-adjusted data. This release introduces an expanded definition of nonproduction bonuses designed to improve the Employment Cost Index's representation of the compensation packages offered to employees. See "Nonproduction bonus fact sheet" (PDF 14K).