Growth in compensation costs for State and local government workers during the year ended September 2003

State and local government compensation costs increased 3.6 percent for the year ended September 2003, compared to an over-the-year gain of 3.8 percent in September 2002.

[Chart data—TXT]

Although over-the-year compensation gains remained relatively constant for the years ended September 2002 and September 2003, the components of compensation continued to show significant differences.

While increases in wages and salaries slowed, benefit costs accelerated during the year ended September 2003. Wages and salaries rose a modest 2.3 percent for State and local government workers, while benefits increased 6.7 percent for the year ending September 2003.

These data are from the BLS Compensation Cost Trends program. For more information, see "Employment Cost Index – September 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-619.