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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Declines Further in June
The NAR Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index fell 3.6% in June...
EMU Output Makes Solid Gain in June
The European Monetary Union posted a 0.7% increase for industrial output in June...
U.S. Producer Prices Fall During July; Core Increase Weakens
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand fell 0.5% during July...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Continue on an Uptrend
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended August 6 rose 14,000 to 262,000...
RICS Survey Points to More U.K. Housing Sector Weakness
The survey of housing market conditions in the U.K. continues to show strength in prices versus weakness...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller October 28, 2005
The employment cost index for private industry workers rose 0.8% last quarter. The increase was up from the 0.6% 2Q gain and equaled Consensus expectations.Year to year, the ECI's gain of 3.0% was the slowest since early 1999.
Benefit costs increased 1.3%, up from the slow 0.8% 2Q gain and it was the quickest this year. Benefit costs in service occupations rose 1.1% (2.8% y/y) and benefit costs in manufacturing rose 1.6% (5.5% y/y).
The y/y gain in the cost of health benefits rose to 6.7% but that remained down from a 7.3% increase last year and a 10.5% gain in 2003.
Wage and salary growth was stable at 0.6% for the third straight quarter. Wages account for roughly 70% of the compensation index.
It's Who You Are and What You Do: Explaining the IT Industry Wage Premium from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is available here.
ECI- Private Industry Workers | 3Q '05 | 2Q '05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compensation | 0.8% | 0.6% | 3.0% | 3.8% | 4.0% | 3.2% |
Wages & Salaries | 0.6% | 0.6% | 2.2% | 2.4% | 3.0% | 2.7% |
Benefit Costs | 1.3% | 0.8% | 4.8% | 6.9% | 6.4% | 4.7% |