U.S. compensation costs rise 0.8% as wage growth eases
The quarterly labor-cost report separates wages from benefits, with annual compensation growth steady at 3.4%.
U.S. compensation costs rose 0.8% in the third quarter, a little slower than the previous quarter's 0.9% increase, according to Friday's Bureau of Labor Statistics release. Reuters also reported the 0.8% gain and said it matched economists' expectations.
For civilian workers, wages and salaries increased 0.7% over the quarter while benefit costs rose 0.9%. Total compensation was 3.4% higher than a year earlier. The annual wage increase was 3.1%, and benefits rose 3.9%. Those figures are supported by the BLS release and InvestingLive's account.
Quarterly and annual figures answer different questions
The quarterly changes are seasonally adjusted; the annual changes quoted here are not. A 0.8% quarterly rise is not the same as a 0.8% annual rise, and neither should be substituted for the other.
The report measures labor costs, not the price of a household shopping basket. BLS reported that inflation-adjusted private-industry wages and salaries fell 0.6% over the year. That is a different measure from the increase in nominal pay.
The release provides a labor-cost input for the inflation debate, not a promise about the Federal Reserve's next decision. For the pre-release context, see today's Toast & Tickers.
Chicago's survey is a separate release
The Chicago Business Barometer fell to 55.3 in October from 58.8 in September, according to MNI's release bulletin, corroborated by Seeking Alpha and Investing.com. The index remained above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction, indicating slower expansion rather than an outright contraction in the survey.
This regional business survey is separate from the nationwide labor-cost report. The two releases describe different parts of the economy and should not be treated as interchangeable measures.
