WASHINGTON — The third quarter employment cost index was up 0.4%, with wages and salaries growing 0.3% and benefits increasing 0.7%, about as expected, suggesting the structure of labor costs did not change much.
Civilian compensation is running 1.9% higher over the year, the same pace as last year at this time, indicating little change in the overall outlook for the labor market. The rate of gain is about in line with rising consumer prices.
Private benefits were corrected in the June report to be higher. Health benefits since have been rising at a faster pace and were reported at a 2.7% increase over the year in Q3.
Overall compensation is rising fastest in finance and for management jobs. State and local government, leisure and other services are lagging.
The Q3 gain in private management jobs' wages was 1.1%, almost four times the average wage gain. A further breakdown suggests the bulk of this stemmed from insurance jobs, suggesting Obamacare has allowed managers to benefit from altered rate structures.
ECI data were collected later than usual and processed with a lag, but otherwise were not affected by the government closing in October. This suggests the 0.4% gain Q3 ECI was a clean reading.
For the Q4 release, there will be new occupation weights in the ECI.
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