January 31, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Compensation costs up 3.4 percent in 1999

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 3.4 percent for the year ended December 1999. This compares with over-the-year increases of 3.4 percent in December 1998 and 3.3 percent in December 1997.

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Wages and salaries for civilian workers rose by 3.5 percent from December 1998 to December 1999. This followed over-the-year rises of 3.7 percent in December 1998 and 3.8 percent in December 1997.

Benefit costs were up 3.3 percent in the 12 months ended December 1999. This compares with over-the-year increases in benefit costs of 2.6 percent in December 1998 and 2.1 percent in December 1997.

These data are from the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. Learn more in "Employment Cost Index—December 1999," news release USDL 00-27. The over-the-year changes reported in this article are based on not-seasonally-adjusted data. Also, the data in this article are for nonfarm private industry and State and local government; employees who work on farms, in private households, or for the Federal Government are not included.