Employment compensation picked up slightly last quarter, but high unemployment dragged down the y/y change to its lowest on record. (The series dates back to 1980). The total employment cost index for private industry workers rose 0.5% during 3Q following gains of 0.2% during the prior two quarters. The latest rise about matched Consensus expectations.

Improved wage and salary growth provided most of the "oomph" to last quarter's gain with a 0.5% rise. However, here again, the y/y gain of 1.3% was a new record low. In the factory sector wages rose just 1.2% y/y but in the education & health care sectors wages rose a still-modest 1.8%. In the goods producing sector wage growth fell to just 1.2% and in education & health services they rose 1.8%.

Total benefit costs in private sector increased just 0.3% and the 1.0% y/y gain was a record low. What y/y strength there was was led by a 2.3% gain in production, transportation & materials handling industries and a 1.6% rise in services occupations. The cost of health benefits showed a stable 4.7% rise in the latest 12 months. · The employment cost index figures are available in Haver's USECON database.

Financial Intermediaries and Monetary Economics from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York can be found here.