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EMPLOYMENT COST INDEX – DECEMBER 2009
Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month
period ending December 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Both components of
compensation—wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation) and benefits
(which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation)—increased the same amount, 0.5 percent.
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
Dec-07 M ar-08 Jun-08 Sep-08 Dec-08 M ar-09 Jun-09 Sep-09 Dec-09
Percent change
Chart 2. Employment Cost Index, 12-month percent
change, not seasonally adjusted, private industry
workers, wages and salaries, Dec. 2007-Dec. 2009
Percent change
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Dec-07 M ar-08 Jun-08 Sep-08 Dec-08 M ar-09 Jun-09 Sep-09 Dec-09
Chart 1. Employment Cost Index, 3-month percent
change, seasonally adjusted, civilian workers,
compensation, Dec. 2007-Dec. 2009
Civilian Worker Data
Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 1.5 percent for the 12-month period ending
December 2009. This was smaller than the 2.6 percent increase for the 12-month period ending in
December 2008. Wages and salaries also increased 1.5 percent for the current 12-month period,
slowing from a 2.7 percent increase for the 12-month period ending in December 2008. Benefit costs
rose 1.5 percent, compared with a 2.2 percent increase for the 12-month period ending December 2008.
Private Industry Worker Data
Compensation costs increased 1.2 percent, the same as last quarter’s 12-month percent increase. These
are the smallest percent changes published since the series began in 1979. The wage and salary series
increased 1.4 percent for the current 12-month period, the same as the September 2009 12-month
percent increase. These