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Economy in Brief
U.S. Durable Goods Report: Strong Headline, Weaker Details
New orders for durable goods increased 1.2% (3.5% year-on-year) during December following an upwardly-revised 1.0% gain...
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The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported manufacturing conditions weakened considerably in February with its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Decline
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 216,000 in the week ended February 16, down 23,000 from the previous week's...
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by Carol Stone, CBE April 28, 2017
Lifted by outsized rises in several industries, the employment cost index for civilian workers rose 0.8% (2.4% y/y) during Q1'17, compared to just 0.5% in Q4'16. A 0.6% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Wages and salaries also increased 0.8% (2.5% y/y) after a 0.5% rise, and benefits were up 0.7% (2.2% y/y) following a 0.5% gain.
The employment cost index for private industry workers also rose 0.8% (2.3% y/y) following a 0.5% gain. Among industries, the biggest increase came in leisure & hospitality, 1.9% in the quarter (4.3% y/y) after 0.6% the previous period; there were 1.0% quarterly gains in construction (2.5% y/y) after 0.7%, and in trade, transportation & utilities (2.7% y/y), which followed 0.5% in Q4. Professional & business services had a 0.9% (1.6% y/y) increase after just 0.2% in Q4. Manufacturing sector compensation rose 0.5% (2.1% y/y), the same as in Q4; with a like pattern for private sector education & health workers. The industries where worker compensation slowed were information, 0.3% (1.7% y/y), down from 0.5%, and finance, just 0.2% (2.9% y/y) after 0.6%. In the public sector, compensation of state and local government workers rose 0.6% (2.6% y/y), the same as in Q4.
Wages and salaries in private industry rose 0.9% (2.6% y/y). The pattern of strength and weakness among industries was very similar to total compensation; leisure & hospitality wages advanced 1.6% (4.6% y/y), trade, transportation & utilities were up 1.5% (3.1% y/y) and construction sector wages gained 1.1% (2.7% y/y). Professional & business services workers saw a 0.7% raise (1.4% y/y), while manufacturing and education & health both had 0.6% increases (manufacturing 2.6% y/y and education & health, 2.2% y/y). Wages were flat in the information sector (2.0% y/y), and they actually went down 0.2% in finance (2.8% y/y). State and local government workers' wages increased 0.6% (2.2% y/y).
Benefits for private industry workers picked up a bit in Q1'17, growing 0.6% (1.9% y/y) after Q4's 0.4%. The rise in manufacturing workers' benefits increased 0.5% (1.5% y/y) after just 0.2% in Q4. Private service industry benefits firmed noticeably, by 0.8% (2.0% y/y) following just 0.3%. In the public sector, state and local government worker benefits were up 0.8% (3.2% y/y) after Q4's 0.7% increase.
The employment cost index figures are available in Haver's USECON database. Consensus estimates come from the Action Economics survey, carried in Haver's AS1REPNA database.
Civilian Workers (%) | Q1'17 | Q4'16 | Q3'16 | Q1 Y/Y | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compensation | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
Wages & Salaries | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 1.9 |
Benefit Costs | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.5 |
Private Industry Workers (%) | |||||||
Compensation | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
Wages & Salaries | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.0 |
Benefit Costs | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 2.3 |