May 02, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Benefit and wage costs in private industry in March 2005

Compensation costs for the private sector rose 0.6 percent from December 2004 to March 2005, seasonally adjusted, after advancing 0.8 percent in the prior quarter.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among private industry workers, benefit costs contributed approximately 60 percent of compensation gains during the March 2005 quarter. Private sector benefit costs rose 1.1 percent in this quarter, moderating from the 1.6-percent gain in the previous quarter.

Wages and salaries for private industry workers rose 0.6 percent from December 2004 to March 2005, compared with a 0.4-percent gain during the prior period.

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. For more information, see "Employment Cost Index – March 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-734.