Employment Cost Index--December 1995 — 1996-02-13

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) increased 0.6 percent before seasonal adjustment in the 3 months ended in December 1995, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The December 1995 ECI level of 127.4 (June 1989=100) was 2.9 percent higher than the index in December 1994. The ECI measures changes in compensation costs, including wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the ECI rose 0.9 percent in the September-December 1995 period, compared with a 0.6 percent gain in the June-September 1995 period. The acceleration was due to benefits. Wages and salaries rose 0.7 percent, the same as in the June-September period, and in line with increases over the past 3 years. Benefit costs, in contrast, rose 1.3 percent, the largest gain since March 1993. A reversal in the trend of declining increases in health insurance costs, as well as gains in nonproduction bonuses, contributed to the faster rate of benefit-cost increase.