December 2013 Employment Cost Index — 2014-01-31

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending December 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.6 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) increased 0.6 percent. Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 2.0 percent for the 12-month period ending December 2013, essentially unchanged from the December 2012 increase of 1.9 percent. Wages and salaries increased 1.9 percent for the current 12-month period. In December 2012 the increase was 1.7 percent. Benefit costs increased 2.2 percent for the 12-month period ending December 2013. In December 2012 the increase was 2.4 percent. Beginning with this release, Employment Cost Index measures are based on 2012 fixed employment counts, rather than 2002 counts. For additional information, see the Technical Note on page 4. Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.0 percent over the year.