February 02, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Compensation costs in State and local government

Compensation cost gains for State and local government workers were the same in the September to December quarter as in the prior quarter—1.1 percent.

3-month percent changes in Employment Cost Index for State and local government, March 2004 - December 2005
[Chart data—TXT]

Benefit costs for State and local government workers increased 1.5 percent in the December quarter, compared with a 1.7 percent gain in the prior quarter.

Wages and salaries in State and local government advanced 0.9 percent during the September to December 2005 period, following an increase of 0.7 percent in the prior quarter.

These data are from the BLS Compensation Cost Trends program. For more information, see "Employment Cost Index – December 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-157.

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