December 2012 Employment Cost Index — 2013-01-31

(Note: Employment Cost Index data for September 2012, December 2012, and March 2013 contained errors in several series and have been corrected in the public database and historical listings available on the BLS website. This news release will not be corrected. The primary errors are in benefits data for private industry. Some additional series were also corrected. For further information see www.bls.gov/bls/eci_corrections_043013.htm.) Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending December 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.3 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) increased 0.6 percent. Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 1.9 percent for the 12-month period ending December 2012, essentially unchanged from the December 2011 increase of 2.0 percent. Wages and salaries increased 1.7 percent for the current 12-month period. In December 2011 the increase was 1.4 percent.