12-month private industry compensation costs, March 2010–March 2011

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.0 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2011, compared to the 1.6-percent increase for the 12-month period ending March 2010.

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Among industry supersectors, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the current 12-month period ranged from 0.6 percent for construction to 2.8 percent for both manufacturing and financial activities.

Among occupational groups, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the 12-month period ending March 2011 were 1.4 percent for natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations; 1.9 percent for service occupations; and 2.1 percent for the remaining three groups—management, professional, and related; sales and office; and production, transportation, and material moving occupations.

These data are from the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "Employment Cost Index — March 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-0586. Compensation costs (also known as employment costs) include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.