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Compensation costs increase across occupational groups in 2015

February 04, 2016

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 2.0 percent for the 12-month period ending in December 2015. Wages and salaries increased 2.1 percent and benefit costs increased 1.7 percent. Wages and salaries make up about 70 percent of compensation costs, while benefits make up the remaining 30 percent.  

Percent change in compensation costs by occupational group for civilian workers, not seasonally adjusted, December 2014 to December 2015
Occupational group Total compensation Wages and salaries Benefits

Management, professional, and related

2.0% 2.1% 0.9%

Sales and office

1.7 1.9 1.3

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance

1.5 1.8 0.6

Production, transportation, and material moving

2.6 2.4 2.7

Service occupations

1.9 1.7 1.7

Among occupational groups, compensation costs increased the most for production, transportation, and material moving occupations, rising 2.6 percent for the year ending in December 2015. This change was the result of a 2.7-percent increase in benefits costs and a 2.4-percent increase in costs for wages and salaries. Compensation costs for natural resource, construction, and maintenance occupations increased 1.5 percent over the year, as costs for benefits in this group rose 0.6 percent.
 

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "Employment Cost Index—December 2015" (HTML) (PDF).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Compensation costs increase across occupational groups in 2015 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/compensation-costs-increase-across-occupational-groups-in-2015.htm (visited November 01, 2024).

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