Employment Cost Index-March 2004 — 2004-04-29

Total compensation costs for civilian workers increased 1.1 percent from December 2003 to March 2004, seasonally adjusted, rising from the 0.8 percent gain from September to December 2003, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Benefit costs jumped 2.4 percent, continuing to strongly outpace the gain for wages and salaries of 0.6 percent. The Employment Cost Index (ECI), a component of the National Compensation Survey, measures quarterly changes in compensation costs, which include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits for nonfarm private and State and local government workers. Although benefits contribute only 30 percent to total compensation costs, two-thirds of the increase in compensation costs was attributable to rises in benefit costs during the December 2003 to March 2004 period. Among private industry workers, benefit costs accounted for 67 percent of compensation gains during the quarter, with defined benefit retirement costs accounting for nearly half of the rise in benefit costs.