Updated: 29-Oct-21 09:45 ET

Q3 Employment Cost Index

Updated: 29-Oct-21 09:45 ET

Highlights

• The Q3 Employment Cost Index was up 1.3% (Briefing.com consensus +0.8%) following a 0.7% increase in the second quarter.
• Wages and salaries, which account for about 70% of compensation costs, increased 1.5%, while benefit costs, which make up the remainder of compensation costs, increased 0.9%.

Key Factors

• Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 3.7% for the 12-month period ending in September 2021 versus 2.4% in September 2020. Wages and salaries increased 4.2% versus 2.5% for September 2020. Benefit costs increased 2.5% for the 12-month period ending in September 2021 versus 2.3% for September 2020.
• Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 4.1% for the 12-month period ending in September 2021 versus 2.4% for September 2020. Wages and salaries increased 4.6% versus 2.7% for September 2020. Benefit costs increased 2.6% for the 12-month period ending in September 2021 versus 2.0% for September 2020.
• Compensation costs for state and local government workers increased 2.3% from the 12-month period ending in September 2021 versus 2.3% for September 2020. Wages and salaries increased 2.4% versus 1.8% for September 2020. Benefit costs increased 2.1% for the 12-month period ending in September 2021 versus 3.2% for September 2020.

Big Picture

• The key takeaway from the report is that wages and salaries for workers were up from the same period a year ago, yet those gains have increasingly been subsumed by inflation, evidenced by the 5.3% increase in the PCE Price Index seen in the advance Q3 GDP report.

Category	Q3	Q2	Q1	Q4	Q3
Quarterly Changes
Total ECI	1.3%	0.7%	0.9%	0.7%	0.5%
Wages and Salaries	1.5%	0.9%	1.0%	0.8%	0.5%
Benefits	0.9%	0.4%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%
Year/Year Changes
Total ECI	3.7%	2.9%	2.6%	2.5%	2.4%
Wages and Salaries	4.2%	3.2%	2.7%	2.6%	2.5%
Benefits	2.5%	2.2%	2.5%	2.3%	2.3%