August 01, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Change in wages and salaries in constant dollars, June 2007-June 2008

After adjusting for the changes in the prices of consumer goods and services, wages and salaries for private industry workers decreased 1.8 percent for the 12-month period ended June 2008, compared to a 0.7-percent increase for the 12-month period ended June 2007.

[Chart data—TXT]

In nominal dollars, private industry wages and salaries increased 3.1 percent between June 2007 and June 2008. From June 2006 to June 2007, the increase was 3.3 percent.

State and local government registered a 1.4-percent decrease in wages and salaries in constant dollars between June 2007 and June 2008, compared to an increase of 0.9 percent for the previous year.

In nominal dollars, State and local government wages and salaries increased 3.4 percent for the year ended June 2008. In June 2007, the over-the-year increase was 3.8 percent.

Changes in wages and salaries shown in the chart are computed in terms of December 2005 dollars. The constant-dollar Employment Cost Index (ECI) series are calculated by converting the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) to the same base as the ECI. The ECI for each quarter is then divided by the converted CPI-U for the same reference period.

These data on wages and salaries are from the BLS Compensation Cost Trends program. For more information, see "Employment Cost Index – June 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1048.