January 30, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Compensation costs up 4.0 percent in private industry over the year

Compensation costs in private industry rose 4.0 percent in the year ended December 2003, a gain larger than the more modest increase of 3.2 percent in December 2002.

12-month percent changes in Employment Cost Index, private industry, December 1998 - December 2003
[Chart data—TXT]

The components of compensation continued to show significant differences. For private industry workers, wages and salaries rose 3.0 percent in the year ended December 2003, compared with a gain of 6.4 percent for benefits.

These data are from the BLS Compensation Cost Trends program. For more information, see "Employment Cost Index – December 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-83.

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