Compensation costs for private industry workers: March 2011–March 2012

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.1 percent from March 2011 to March 2012, essentially unchanged from the 2.0-percent increase from March 2010 to March 2011.

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Private industry wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 1.9 percent for the current 12-month period; the increase for the 12-month period ending March 2011 was 1.6 percent. The increase in the cost of benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation costs) was 2.8 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2012; the increase from March 2010 to March 2011 was 3.0 percent.

Within the benefits category, employer costs for health benefits increased 3.0 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2012. From March 2010 to March 2011, the increase was 3.4 percent.

Among occupational groups, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the 12-month period ending March 2012 ranged from 1.3 percent for service occupations to 2.6 percent for sales and office occupations.

Among industry supersectors, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the current 12-month period ranged from 1.0 percent for leisure and hospitality to 3.2 percent for information.

These data are from the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "Employment Cost Index—March 2012" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-0772.