Wage adjustments in contracts negotiated in private industry in 1987,(EXCERPT), Monthly Labor Review Online, May 1988

Wage adjustments in contracts negotiated in private industry in 1987

John J. Lacombe II and Fehmida R. Sleemi

Average wage adjustments under major collective bargaining settlements in private industry were somewhat higher in 1987 than the historic lows of 1986. Specified adjustments (the net effect of decisions to increase, decrease, or not change wages) for the 2,049,000 workers under 1987 settlements averaged 2.2 percent the first contract year and 2.1 percent a year over the contract term. (See table 1.) These adjustments were next to the lowest ever registered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 20-year-old series on major contract settlements covering 1,000 workers or more in private industry.¹ This was the sixth consecutive year in which settlements provided record or near-record low adjustments. (See table 2.)

The 2.1-percent average annual wage adjustment specified over the term of 1987 settlements was the same as in the contracts they replaced, which typically had been negotiated in 1984 or 1985. This is the first year since this comparison was introduced in 1981 that settlements did not call for lower adjustments than the contracts they replaced. (See table 2.)

The Bureau also measures compensation (wage and benefit costs) adjustments in settlements covering 5,000 workers or more. In 1987, compensation adjustments average 3.0 percent in the first contract year and 2.6 percent annually over the contract term. (See table 3.) these adjustments also were higher than the record low averages in 1986.

This excerpt is from an article published in the May 1988 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.

Read abstract Download full article in PDF (1,456K)

Footnote

1 The major collective bargaining agreement series for private industry covers 6.3 million workers in bargaining units with at least 1,000 workers. For definition of terms, see "Current Labor Statistics" section of the Monthly Labor Review. Additional tabulations from this series are in the March 1988 issue of the Bureau of Labor Statistics periodical Current Wage Developments, which also contains data from a similar series for state and local government.

Within Monthly Labor Review Online:
Welcome | Current Issue | Index | Subscribe | Archives

Exit Monthly Labor Review Online:
BLS Home | Publications & Research Papers