An official website of the United States government
19-1403-CHI
Wednesday, August 07, 2019
Total compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.3 percent in the Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI, metropolitan area for the year ended June 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that a year earlier, Chicago experienced a gain of 3.1 percent in total compensation costs. Locally, wages and salaries, the largest component of total compensation costs, rose 2.4 percent over the 12-month period ended June 2019. Nationwide, total compensation costs and wages and salaries increased 2.6 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively, over the same period. (See chart 1 and table 1.)
Chicago is 1 of 15 metropolitan areas in the United States, and 1 of 3 areas in the Midwest region of the country, for which locality compensation cost data are now available. Among these 15 largest areas, over-the-year percentage changes in total compensation costs ranged from 3.9 percent in New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA, to -0.4 percent in Seattle-Tacoma, WA, in June 2019. For wages and salaries, Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA, registered the largest annual gain (4.3 percent) among the 15 areas, while wages in Houston-The Woodlands, TX, registered the smallest annual gain (1.5 percent). (See chart 2.)
Chicago’s annual increase in total compensation costs in June 2019, at 2.3 percent, compared to gains of 3.0 and 2.7 percent, respectively, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI, and Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI, the two other metropolitan areas in the Midwest. Chicago’s 2.4-percent increase in wages and salaries over this 12-month period compared to advances of 2.8 percent in both Minneapolis and Detroit. (See table 2.)
Locality compensation costs are part of the national Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures quarterly changes in compensation costs, which include wages, salaries and employer costs for employee benefits. In addition to the 15 locality estimates provided in this release, ECI data for the nation, 4 geographical regions, and 9 geographical divisions are available. (Geographical definitions for the metropolitan areas mentioned in this release are included in the Technical Note.)
In addition to the geographic data, a comprehensive national report is available that provides data by industry, occupational group, and union status, as well as for both private and state and local government employees. The release is available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm. Current and historical information from other Bureau programs may be accessed via our regional homepage at www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/.
The Employment Cost Index for September 2019 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 31, 2019.
The Employment Cost Index (ECI) measures the change in the cost of labor, free from the influence of employment shifts among occupations and industries. The compensation series includes changes in wages and salaries and employer costs for employee benefits.
Wages and salaries are defined as straight-time average hourly earnings or, for workers not paid on an hourly basis, straight-time earnings divided by the corresponding hours. Straight-time wage and salary rates are total earnings before payroll deductions, excluding premium pay for overtime, work on weekends and holidays, and shift differentials. Production bonuses, incentive earnings, commission payments, and cost-of-living adjustments are included in straight-time earnings, whereas nonproduction bonuses (such as Christmas or year-end bonuses) are excluded. Also excluded are such items as payments-in-kind, free room and board, and tips.
Based on available resources and the existing ECI sample, it was determined that estimates would be published for 15 metropolitan areas. Since the ECI sample sizes by area are directly related to area employment, the areas with the largest private industry employment as of the year 2000 were selected. For each of these areas, 12-month percent changes and associated standard errors were computed for the periods since December 2006.
The metropolitan area definitions of the 15 published localities are listed below.
Definitions of the four geographic regions of the country are noted below.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.
Area | Total compensation | Wages and salaries | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12-month percent changes for period ended- | 12-month percent changes for period ended- | |||||||
March | June | Sep. | Dec. | March | June | Sep. | Dec. | |
United States | ||||||||
2015 | 2.8 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
2016 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.3 |
2017 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.8 |
2018 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.1 |
2019 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||||
Midwest | ||||||||
2015 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.3 |
2016 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
2017 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
2018 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
2019 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.0 | ||||
Chicago-Naperville | ||||||||
2015 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
2016 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 3.0 |
2017 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 2.6 |
2018 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.0 |
2019 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.4 |
Area | Total compensation | Wages and salaries | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12-month percent changes for period ended- | 12-month percent changes for period ended- | |||||
Jun. 2018 | Mar. 2019 | Jun. 2019 | Jun. 2018 | Mar. 2019 | Jun. 2019 | |
United States | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
Northeast | 2.7 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.7 |
Boston-Worcester-Providence | 1.7 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 3.0 |
New York-Newark | 3.0 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
Philadelphia-Reading-Camden | 3.0 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
South | 2.7 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
Dallas-Fort Worth | 2.1 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 2.9 | 2.7 |
Houston-The Woodlands | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie | 2.7 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 1.7 |
Washington-Baltimore-Arlington | 3.1 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 3.5 | 2.4 | 2.1 |
Midwest | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 3.0 |
Chicago-Naperville | 3.1 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 2.4 |
Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor | 3.0 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 1.8 | 2.8 |
Minneapolis-St. Paul | 3.2 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 2.2 | 2.8 |
West | 3.6 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
Los Angeles-Long Beach | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 3.8 |
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland | 4.0 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 3.3 | 3.0 |
Seattle-Tacoma | 7.8 | -0.2 | -0.4 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
Last Modified Date: Wednesday, August 07, 2019