February 01, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Compensation costs up 3.0 percent in private industry in 2005

Compensation costs in private industry rose 3.0 percent in the year ended December 2005, slowing from a 3.8-percent increase in December 2004.

12-month percent changes in Employment Cost Index, private industry, December 2000 - December 2005
[Chart data—TXT]

The components of compensation showed differences in their rates of change in the 12 months ended in December. While increases in wages and salaries continued at a moderate pace, the increase in benefit costs was somewhat lower than it had been in the past several years.

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.