Wages And Salaries — 1994-04-26

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) increased 0.9 percent before seasonal adjustment in the 3 months ended March 1994, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The March 1994 level of 121.3 (June 1989=100) was 3.2 percent higher than in March 1993. The ECI measures changes in compensation costs, including wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits. On a seasonally adjusted basis, ECI compensation costs rose 0.7 percent in the December 1993-March 1994 period, about the same as the 0.8 percent increase in September-December 1993. These cost increases have, however, declined fairly steadily since December 1992. ECI wages and salaries also rose 0.7 percent in December 1993-March 1994, the same as in the September-December 1993 period. Benefit cost increases in December 1993-March 1994 were about the same as in the preceding period (0.9 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively). (See Table A.) Seasonally adjusted Unadjusted Compensation 3-months ended 12-months component 1992 1993 1994 ended June Sep. Dec. Mar.