Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Private compensation costs down 2.8 percent in constant dollars for year ending September 2022

November 03, 2022

Employer costs for total compensation in private industry rose 5.2 percent from September 2021 to September 2022. That compares with an increase of 4.1 percent from September 2020 to September 2021. Wages and salaries increased 5.2 percent and the cost of benefits increased 5.0 percent for the 12-month period ending in September 2022.

12-month percent change in current and constant dollars for total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefits costs in private industry, March 2012–September 2022
Month Total compensation, current dollars Total compensation, constant dollars Wages and salaries, current dollars Wages and salaries, constant dollars Benefits, current dollars Benefits, constant dollars

Mar 2012

2.1% -0.5% 1.9% -0.8% 2.8% 0.2%

Jun 2012

1.8 0.2 1.8 0.2 1.9 0.3

Sep 2012

1.9 0.0 1.8 -0.1 2.2 0.2

Dec 2012

1.8 0.1 1.7 0.1 2.0 0.3

Mar 2013

1.9 0.4 1.7 0.3 2.0 0.5

Jun 2013

1.9 0.1 1.9 0.1 1.9 0.1

Sep 2013

1.9 0.7 1.8 0.6 2.0 0.8

Dec 2013

2.0 0.5 2.1 0.5 1.9 0.5

Mar 2014

1.7 0.2 1.7 0.2 1.8 0.3

Jun 2014

2.0 0.0 1.9 -0.1 2.4 0.3

Sep 2014

2.3 0.6 2.3 0.6 2.3 0.7

Dec 2014

2.3 1.5 2.2 1.4 2.5 1.7

Mar 2015

2.8 2.7 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.7

Jun 2015

1.9 1.8 2.2 2.0 1.4 1.3

Sep 2015

1.9 1.9 2.1 2.1 1.4 1.4

Dec 2015

1.9 1.2 2.1 1.4 1.3 0.6

Mar 2016

1.8 1.0 2.0 1.2 1.2 0.3

Jun 2016

2.4 1.4 2.6 1.6 1.7 0.7

Sep 2016

2.3 0.8 2.4 1.0 1.8 0.3

Dec 2016

2.2 0.1 2.3 0.3 1.8 -0.4

Mar 2017

2.3 0.0 2.6 0.1 1.9 -0.5

Jun 2017

2.4 0.7 2.4 0.7 2.2 0.5

Sep 2017

2.5 0.3 2.6 0.4 2.4 0.2

Dec 2017

2.6 0.5 2.8 0.6 2.3 0.3

Mar 2018

2.8 0.4 2.9 0.6 2.5 0.2

Jun 2018

2.9 0.0 2.9 0.1 2.8 0.0

Sep 2018

2.9 0.6 3.1 0.8 2.5 0.1

Dec 2018

3.0 1.1 3.1 1.2 2.6 0.6

Mar 2019

2.8 0.9 3.0 1.1 2.4 0.4

Jun 2019

2.6 1.0 3.0 1.3 1.8 0.2

Sep 2019

2.7 1.0 3.0 1.2 2.0 0.3

Dec 2019

2.7 0.4 3.0 0.7 1.9 -0.3

Mar 2020

2.8 1.3 3.3 1.7 1.6 0.2

Jun 2020

2.7 2.0 2.9 2.3 2.0 1.3

Sep 2020

2.4 1.0 2.7 1.2 2.0 0.6

Dec 2020

2.6 1.2 2.8 1.5 2.1 0.8

Mar 2021

2.8 0.2 3.0 0.4 2.5 -0.2

Jun 2021

3.1 -2.2 3.5 -1.8 2.0 -3.1

Sep 2021

4.1 -1.3 4.6 -0.7 2.6 -2.6

Dec 2021

4.4 -2.5 5.0 -1.9 2.9 -3.8

Mar 2022

4.8 -3.5 5.0 -3.3 4.1 -4.0

Jun 2022

5.5 -3.3 5.7 -3.1 5.3 -3.5

Sep 2022

5.2 -2.8 5.2 -2.7 5.0 -3.0

After adjusting for consumer price inflation, constant-dollar total compensation declined 2.8 percent in the private sector from September 2021 to September 2022. During that period, constant-dollar wages and salaries declined 2.7 percent and constant-dollar benefit costs declined 3.0 percent in the private sector.

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see “Employment Cost Index — September 2022.” We also have more charts on the Employment Cost Index.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Private compensation costs down 2.8 percent in constant dollars for year ending September 2022 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/private-compensation-costs-down-2-8-percent-in-constant-dollars-for-year-ending-september-2022.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle