Q3 Employment Cost Index up 0.8% from June to September 2007
Q3 Employment Cost Index up 0.8%, marginally less than the expected 0.9% on a quarterly basis. Wages and Benefit costs were both up 0.8% in the June through September period. On an annual basis, Compensation rose 3.3%, unchanged from last quarter’s reading. Wages rose 3.3% on an annual basis, nearly unchanged from the Q2 reading of 3.4%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, benefit costs fell from 1.3% to .8%. Service worker wages and salaries increased the most at 1.5% versus no increase in wages in the Production, Transportation and Material moving industry. State and Local Government wages increased on par with Management, Professional and related jobs at 0.7%. The smaller than expected increase suggests inflationary pressures, via compensation, are at bay.