July 31, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment costs rise 0.8 percent from March to June

Compensation costs for the private sector rose 0.8 percent from March 2006 to June 2006 (seasonally adjusted), after advancing 0.6 percent in the prior quarter.

3-month percent changes in Employment Cost Index, private industry workers, seasonally adjusted, September 2004-June 2006
[Chart data—TXT]

Wages and salaries of private industry workers rose 0.9 percent in the June quarter, compared with an increase of 0.7 percent in the prior quarter.

Private sector benefit costs rose 0.7 percent for the June quarter, following a 0.4-percent gain in the previous quarter.

These data are from the BLS Compensation Cost Trends program. Compensation costs (also known as employment costs) include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits. Data are subject to revision. Learn more in "Employment Cost Index—June 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1277.

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.

Find out more about the story of TED