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.

Employment Cost Index

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) measures the change in the hourly labor cost to employers over time. The ECI uses a fixed “basket” of labor to produce a pure cost change, free from the effects of workers moving between occupations and industries and includes both the cost of wages and salaries and the cost of benefits.


Charts

read more »

Latest Numbers

RSS
EMPLOYMENT COST INDEX (ECI) News Release
TOTAL COMPENSATION: 3-month % change (SA)

Civilian workers 0.9% in 2nd Qtr of 2024 Historical Data

Private industry workers 0.9% in 2nd Qtr of 2024 Historical Data

State and local government workers 1.2% in 2nd Qtr of 2024 Historical Data

TOTAL COMPENSATION: 12-month % change (NSA)

Civilian workers 4.1% in 2nd Qtr of 2024 Historical Data

Private industry workers 3.9% in 2nd Qtr of 2024 Historical Data

State and local government workers 4.9% in 2nd Qtr of 2024 Historical Data

read more »

Videos

How the Employment Cost Index Is Used?

The Employment Cost Index, or ECI, measures changes in the cost of employees to employers over time. In the private sector, business owners and human resources professionals can use the ECI to make decisions about pay adjustments to help them stay competitive. In the public sector, the Federal Reserve and others use the ECI to gauge the health of the labor market, adjust contracts, and research the labor market. read more »

News Releases

Compensation costs up 0.9% Mar 2024 to Jun 2024 and up 4.1% over the year ending Jun 2024

07/31/2024

Compensation costs increased 0.9 percent for civilian workers, seasonally adjusted, from March 2024 to June 2024. Over the year, total compensation rose 4.1 percent, wages and salaries rose 4.2 percent, and benefit costs rose 3.8 percent.
HTML | PDF | RSS | Charts

read more »

Next Release

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) for September 2024 is scheduled to be released on October 31, 2024 at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time.

Publications

Spotlight on Statistics

Spotlight on Statistics article image

Keeping America Moving: Characteristics of the Transportation and Warehousing Industry

National Transportation Week, created in 1962 and celebrated from May 12–18 this year, recognizes those who build and operate our Nation’s transportation systems. Observance of the week sprung from National Defense Transportation Day which dates to 1957, a year after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act leading to the creation of the interstate highway system. read more »

The Economics Daily

The Economics Daily article image

Compensation costs up 4.2 percent from March 2023 to March 2024

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 4.2 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2024, compared with an increase of 4.8 percent for the year ending March 2023. Civilian workers include all private industry workers plus all state and local government workers. Total compensation costs are the sum of wages and salaries plus benefits costs. read more »

Monthly Labor Review

Monthly Labor Review article image

Seasonality in the Employment Cost Index

This article examines the effect of seasonal adjustment on Employment Cost Index quarterly estimates. read more »