May 19, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.) Private sector wages rose faster than benefits last yearWages in private industry rose 3.0 percent from $13.47 per hour in March 1998 to $13.87 in March 1999. Over the same period, the employers’ cost of benefits rose 2.2 percent to $5.13. As a result, the share of total compensation accounted for by wages and salaries edged up to 73 percent. The year ending in March 1999 was the fifth in a row in which wages gained as a share of compensation. The portions of compensation that recorded the largest declines as a share of compensation since 1994 were insurance (particularly health insurance) and workers’ compensation programs. These data are a product of the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. Additional information is available from "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, 1986-99," BLS Bulletin 2526. 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. |
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