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      http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm       THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2001
                                     
                                     
                    EMPLOYMENT COST INDEX-DECEMBER 2000
                                     
     The Employment Cost Index (not seasonally adjusted) for December 2000
 was 150.6 (June 1989=100), an increase of 4.1 percent from December 1999,
 the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
 The Employment Cost Index (ECI) measures changes in compensation costs,
 which include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.
     
 Quarterly changes, seasonally adjusted
     
     On a seasonally adjusted basis, the 3-month increase in compensation
 costs for civilian workers (nonfarm private industry plus State and local
 government) was 0.8 percent during the September-December 2000 period,
 following a gain of 0.9 percent in June-September 2000.  Wages and
 salaries increased 0.7 percent during the September-December period,
 following a 0.8 percent increase in the previous 3-month period.  Benefit
 costs rose 0.8 percent during the December quarter, following a 1.0
 percent increase in the September quarter.
     
 Table A.  3-month percent changes in Employment Cost Index, seasonally
 adjusted
                          Mar.  June  Sep.  Dec.  Mar.  June   Sep.  Dec.
 Compensation Component   1999  1999  1999  1999  2000  2000   2000  2000
         Civilian workers                                                                                                                                                                                        
 Compensation costs       0.5    1.1   0.8   1.0   1.4   1.0    0.9   0.8
   Wages and salaries     0.5    1.2   0.9   0.9   1.1   1.0    0.8   0.7
   Benefit costs          0.3    1.0   0.8   1.2   2.0   1.1    1.0   0.8
         Private industry                                                                                                                                                                                        
 Compensation costs       0.4    1.1   0.9   1.0   1.5   1.1    1.0   0.7
   Wages and salaries     0.4    1.2   0.9   0.9   1.2   1.0    0.9   0.7
   Benefit costs          0.3    1.0   1.0   1.1   2.3   1.2    1.1   0.9
         State and local government                                                                                                                                                                              
 Compensation costs       0.6    0.9   0.8   1.1   0.8   0.8    0.6   0.8
   Wages and salaries     0.7    0.9   0.9   1.0   0.9   0.8    0.8   0.8
   Benefit costs          0.5    0.6   0.4   1.2   1.0   0.5    0.1   0.8
     
     The 3-month increase in compensation costs for private industry
 workers was 0.7 percent during the September-December 2000 period.  The
 gain in wages and salaries was 0.7 percent in the quarter ended in
 December; in the September quarter, it was 0.9 percent.  Benefit costs
 showed a 3-month rise of 0.9 percent during the December quarter, compared
 with a 1.1 percent gain during the September quarter.  (See tables A and
 1.)

     Compensation costs for State and local government workers increased
 0.8 percent during the September-December 2000 period; in the September
 period, the increase was 0.6 percent.  Wages and salaries rose 0.8 percent
 in the quarter ended in December, the same increase as the previous two
 quarters.  Benefit costs rose 0.8 percent in the December quarter,
 compared with 0.1 percent in the September quarter.
     
 Over-the-year changes, not seasonally adjusted
     
     Compensation costs for civilian workers (not seasonally adjusted)
 increased 4.1 percent for the 12 months ended in December 2000.  This
 compares with smaller over-the-year increases of 3.4 percent in both
 December 1999 and December 1998.  Compensation costs in private industry
 rose 4.4 percent in the year ended December 2000, compared with increases
 of 3.4 percent in December 1999 and 3.5 percent in December 1998.  In
 State and local government, compensation costs increased 3.0 percent for
 the year ended December 2000; over-the-year increases were 3.4 percent in
 December 1999 and 3.0 percent in December 1998.  (See tables B, 2, and 3.)
     
     Nonfarm private industry
     
     In private industry, wages and salaries rose 3.9 percent for the year
 ended December 2000, after increasing 3.5 percent in the year ended
 December 1999.  (See tables B and 6.)  Benefit costs for private industry
 workers increased 5.6 percent for the year ended in December 2000, a
 significant increase from 3.4 percent in December 1999.  (See chart A and
 tables B and 8.)
     
     In private industry, over-the-year compensation cost increases were
 4.6 percent for white-collar occupations, 4.2 percent for blue-collar
 occupations, and 3.9 percent for service occupations.  Among the
 occupational groups, increases in compensation costs ranged from 3.8
 percent for machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors to 4.9 percent
 for administrative support, including clerical occupations. (See table 3.)
     
 Table B. 12-month percent changes in Employment Cost Index, not seasonally
 adjusted
                         Dec.  Dec.  Dec.  Dec.  Dec.  Dec.
 Compensation Component  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000
         Civilian workers
 Compensation costs      2.7    2.9   3.3   3.4   3.4   4.1
   Wages and salaries    2.9    3.3   3.8   3.7   3.5   3.8
   Benefit costs         2.3    2.0   2.1   2.6   3.3   4.9
         Private industry
 Compensation costs      2.6    3.1   3.4   3.5   3.4   4.4
   Wages and salaries    2.8    3.4   3.9   3.9   3.5   3.9
   Benefit costs         2.2    2.0   2.3   2.4   3.4   5.6
         State and local government
 Compensation costs      2.9    2.6   2.3   3.0   3.4   3.0
   Wages and salaries    3.2    2.8   2.7   3.1   3.6   3.3
   Benefit costs         2.6    2.2   1.3   3.0   2.8   2.4
     
     For the year ended December 2000, the compensation cost increase was
 4.4 percent for both goods-producing and service-producing industries,
 compared with 3.4 percent increases for both industries for the year ended
 December 1999.  Among service-producing industry divisions, December 1999-
 to-December 2000 increases ranged from 3.2 percent in transportation to
 6.4 percent in insurance.  (See table 3.)
     
     Compensation costs for nonunion workers rose 4.4 percent over the
 year, compared with 4.0 percent for union workers.  In service-producing
 industries, nonunion compensation increased 4.5 percent, compared with a
 3.5 percent increase for union workers.  In contrast, in goods-producing
 industries, the increase for union workers was 4.6 percent, compared with
 a 4.3 percent gain for nonunion workers.  Compensation in blue-collar
 occupations rose 4.4 percent for union workers and 4.1 percent for
 nonunion workers.  (See table 4.)
     
     State and local government
     
     In State and local government, the December 2000 over-the-year
 increase in wages and salaries was 3.3 percent, compared with a 3.6
 percent increase recorded for December 1999.  The 12-month gain in benefit
 costs for December 2000 was 2.4 percent; in December 1999, the gain was
 2.8 percent.  (See tables 5 and 8.)
 __________________________________________________________________________


                                  NOTES:
     
     The new seasonal factors for 2001, along with revised seasonally
 adjusted indexes for the past five years, will be available Tuesday, April
 24, 2001.  The ECI for March 2001 is scheduled to be released Thursday,
 April 26, 2001, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).
     
     ECI data are available on the ECI home page
 (http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm).  To access data using Anonymous FTP,
 use the Internet address (ftp://ftp.bls.gov).
     
     For technical assistance in using the BLS Internet site, send e-mail
 to (labstat.helpdesk@bls.gov).  For ECI data requests, send e-mail to
 (ocltinfo@bls.gov).
     
     The ECI news release is available through an e-mail subscription
 service.  See the subscription link on (http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm)
 or (http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm).
     
     News releases and other information are available from the BLS fax-on-
 demand service.  To request a document fax, call (202) 691-6325.  To
 request a catalog of available documents, select option 2 at the initial
 voice prompt.  To request data found in this news release, enter the
 following codes:
     
     Text               4110
     Tables 1-4         4115
     Tables 5-7         4120
     Table 8            4125
     Explanatory notes  4190
 __________________________________________________________________________



Table 1.  Employment Cost Index for total compensation(1), wages and salaries, and benefit costs by industry and occupational
group

(Seasonally adjusted data)
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                             
                                               Indexes (June                Percent changes for 3-months ended-              
                                                 1989=100)                                                                   
       Industry and occupational group                                                                                       
                                                                                                                             
                                                Sep.    Dec.    Mar.    Jun.    Sep.    Dec.    Mar.    Jun.    Sep.    Dec. 
                                                2000    2000    1999    1999    1999    1999    2000    2000    2000    2000 
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                             
             TOTAL COMPENSATION                                                                                              
                                                                                                                             
Civilian workers.............................  149.2   150.4     0.5     1.1     0.8     1.0     1.4     1.0     0.9     0.8 
 State and local government..................  147.4   148.6      .6      .9      .8     1.1      .8      .8      .6      .8 
 Private industry............................  149.7   150.8      .4     1.1      .9     1.0     1.5     1.1     1.0      .7 
                                                                                                                             
                  Industry                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                             
   Goods producing(2)........................  148.0   148.8      .8      .6      .9     1.1     1.6     1.2     1.0      .5 
     Construction(3).........................  144.8   147.0      .9      .7      .7     1.0     1.4     1.3     1.3     1.5 
     Manufacturing...........................  148.7   149.2      .7      .7      .9     1.1     1.6     1.0      .9      .3 
       Durables..............................  149.4   150.0      .6      .7      .9     1.1     1.9     1.2      .7      .4 
       Nondurables...........................  147.6   147.9      .7      .7      .9     1.0     1.2      .9     1.1      .2 
                                                                                                                             
   Service producing(4)......................  150.5   151.8      .3     1.3      .9     1.0     1.4     1.1     1.0      .9 
     Transportation and public utilities.....  147.3   148.4      .1     1.0      .5      .5     1.0     1.4     1.0      .7 
     Wholesale trade(3)......................  152.1   154.5     -.1     1.2     1.2     1.6     1.0     1.1      .3     1.6 
     Retail trade............................  145.8   147.0      .8     1.4      .5     1.1     1.6      .8      .8      .8 
     Finance, insurance, and real                                                                                            
      estate(3)(5)...........................  155.2   155.7     -.7     3.0     1.2      .5     2.5      .7     1.4      .3 
     Services................................  152.8   154.0      .6      .8      .9     1.0     1.3     1.3     1.0      .8 
                                                                                                                             
   Nonmanufacturing..........................  149.8   151.2      .4     1.1      .8     1.0     1.5     1.1      .9      .9 
                                                                                                                             
             Occupational group                                                                                              
                                                                                                                             
   White collar..............................  152.5   153.6      .3     1.3      .9     1.0     1.6     1.3      .9      .7 
   Blue collar...............................  145.4   146.5      .7      .8      .9      .9     1.5      .9     1.0      .8 
   Service...................................  146.2   147.8     1.0      .8      .3     1.1      .8     1.1      .8     1.1 
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                             
             WAGES AND SALARIES                                                                                              
                                                                                                                             
Civilian workers.............................  146.7   147.8      .5     1.2      .9      .9     1.1     1.0      .8      .7 
 State and local government..................  146.7   147.9      .7      .9      .9     1.0      .9      .8      .8      .8 
 Private industry............................  146.7   147.8      .4     1.2      .9      .9     1.2     1.0      .9      .7 
                                                                                                                             
                  Industry                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                             
   Goods producing(2)(5).....................  144.3   145.2      .8      .7      .9      .9     1.1     1.2      .9      .6 
     Construction(3).........................  139.1   141.0     1.1      .5      .8      .9     1.8     1.1      .9     1.4 
     Manufacturing(5)........................  145.7   146.5      .8      .8      .9      .9     1.0     1.0      .9      .5 
       Durables(5)...........................  146.1   147.3      .7      .9      .9     1.0      .8     1.2     1.0      .8 
       Nondurables...........................  145.1   145.5     0.7     0.7     0.8     0.9     1.1     1.0     0.8     0.3 
                                                                                                                             
   Service producing(4)......................  147.8   148.9      .3     1.4      .9      .9     1.2     1.0      .9      .7 
     Transportation and public utilities.....  141.2   142.3      .1     1.3      .3      .4      .4     1.3      .7      .8 
     Wholesale trade(3)......................  149.5   151.3     -.1     1.1     1.3     1.5      .9     1.3      .0     1.2 
     Retail trade............................  144.5   145.5     1.0     1.2      .4      .9     1.7      .7      .8      .7 
     Finance, insurance, and real                                                                                            
      estate(3)(5)...........................  151.7   151.7    -1.9     3.8     1.5      .5     2.4      .5     1.5      .0 
     Services................................  150.6   151.7      .9      .8      .8     1.0     1.0     1.3      .9      .7 
                                                                                                                             
   Nonmanufacturing..........................  146.8   148.0      .3     1.4      .8      .9     1.2     1.2      .8      .8 
WAGES AND SALARIES-Continued                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                             
             Occupational group                                                                                              
                                                                                                                             
   White collar..............................  149.6   150.6     0.4     1.2     0.9     1.0     1.3     1.1     0.9     0.7 
   Blue collar(5)............................  141.9   142.8      .8     1.0      .9      .7     1.0     1.0     1.0      .6 
   Service...................................  143.5   144.9     1.0      .8      .1     1.2     1.0     1.1      .7     1.0 
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                             
                BENEFIT COSTS                                                                                                
                                                                                                                             
Civilian workers.............................  155.5   156.8      .3     1.0      .8     1.2     2.0     1.1     1.0      .8 
 State and local government..................  148.9   150.1      .5      .6      .4     1.2     1.0      .5      .1      .8 
 Private industry............................  157.0   158.4      .3     1.0     1.0     1.1     2.3     1.2     1.1      .9 
                                                                                                                             
                  Industry                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                             
   Goods producing(2)........................  155.7   156.3      .7      .6      .8     1.4     2.7     1.2     1.0      .4 
     Manufacturing...........................  155.0   154.8      .6      .6     1.0     1.4     3.0     1.0      .8     -.1 
                                                                                                                             
   Service producing(4)......................  157.8   159.6      .1     1.3      .9     1.1     2.0     1.4     1.2     1.1 
                                                                                                                             
   Nonmanufacturing..........................  158.0   159.7      .3     1.2      .9      .9     2.2     1.4     1.2     1.1 
                                                                                                                             
             Occupational group                                                                                              
                                                                                                                             
   White collar..............................  160.4   161.5      .3     1.0     1.1     1.0     2.5     1.4     1.2      .7 
   Blue collar...............................  153.0   154.0      .7      .7      .8     1.0     2.9      .8     1.0      .7 
   Service...................................  154.3   156.6      .8      .9      .5     1.2      .4     1.3     1.1     1.5 

  1 Includes wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.
  2 Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.
  3 Average standard errors (SE) for the unadjusted series upon which this series is based exceeded 0.3 percent for 3-month
changes and 0.6 percent for 12-month changes for the five years ending December 1996. To assist users in ascertaining the
reliability of the series, SEs for estimates in this news release (excluding seasonally adjusted series) will be available on
the Internet site (http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm).  All series will continue to be published until further notice.
  4 Includes transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real
estate; and service industries.
  5 No identifiable seasonality was found for this series.



Table 2.  Employment Cost Index for total compensation(1) for civilian and State and local government workers by industry
and occupational group

(Not seasonally adjusted data)
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
                                                   Indexes (June 1989=100)               Percent changes for-             
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
         Industry and occupational group                                       3 months ended-         12 months ended-   
                                                     Dec.    Sep.    Dec.                                                 
                                                     1999    2000    2000                                                 
                                                                             Dec.    Sep.    Dec.    Dec.    Sep.    Dec. 
                                                                             1999    2000    2000    1999    2000    2000 
                                                                                                                          
Civilian workers..................................  144.6   149.5   150.6     0.9     1.0     0.7     3.4     4.3     4.1 
    Excluding sales occupations...................  144.5   149.4   150.5      .9     1.2      .7     3.6     4.3     4.2 
                                                                                                                          
                     Industry                                                                                             
                                                                                                                          
  Goods producing(2)..............................  142.5   148.0   148.8      .9     1.0      .5     3.3     4.8     4.4 
    Manufacturing.................................  143.6   148.7   149.3     1.1      .8      .4     3.4     4.6     4.0 
  Service producing(3)............................  145.3   150.1   151.1      .9     1.1      .7     3.5     4.2     4.0 
    Services......................................  146.5   151.2   152.4     1.0     1.3      .8     3.4     4.2     4.0 
      Health services.............................  144.3   149.0   150.7     1.1     1.0     1.1     3.7     4.4     4.4 
        Hospitals.................................  145.0   149.5   151.3     1.1     1.2     1.2     3.4     4.3     4.3 
      Educational services........................  145.8   149.7   150.6      .8     2.0      .6     3.4     3.5     3.3 
    Public administration(4)......................  144.4   146.9   148.3     1.4      .5     1.0     3.2     3.2     2.7 
                                                                                                                          
  Nonmanufacturing................................  144.7   149.6   150.7      .9     1.1      .7     3.4     4.3     4.1 
                                                                                                                          
                Occupational group                                                                                        
                                                                                                                          
  White collar....................................  146.3   151.5   152.5      .9     1.1      .7     3.5     4.5     4.2 
      Excluding sales.............................  146.4   151.5   152.6      .9     1.1      .7     3.7     4.4     4.2 
    Professional specialty and technical..........  145.3   150.0   151.3     1.0     1.1      .9     3.0     4.2     4.1 
    Executive, administrative, and managerial.....  148.6   153.7   154.6      .9     1.2      .6     4.8     4.3     4.0 
    Administrative support, including clerical....  146.1   151.8   152.8     1.0     1.1      .7     3.4     4.9     4.6 
  Blue collar.....................................  140.6   145.6   146.5      .8     1.0      .6     3.3     4.4     4.2 
  Service.........................................  144.8   148.5   150.0     1.2     1.0     1.0     3.4     3.8     3.6 
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
State and local government........................  144.6   147.8   148.9     1.0     1.3      .7     3.4     3.3     3.0 
                                                                                                                          
                     Industry                                                                                             
                                                                                                                          
    Services......................................  144.5   148.0   148.9      .9     1.7      .6     3.4     3.4     3.0 
        Excluding schools(5)......................  143.8   147.6   148.8      .8     1.2      .8     3.6     3.5     3.5 
      Health services.............................  145.8   150.0   151.6     1.1     1.4     1.1     3.6     4.0     4.0 
        Hospitals.................................  146.3   150.7   152.0     1.0     1.5      .9     3.6     4.1     3.9 
      Educational services........................  144.4   147.9   148.7      .9     1.9      .5     3.4     3.4     3.0 
        Schools...................................  144.7   148.2   149.0      .8     1.9      .5     3.4     3.3     3.0 
          Elementary and secondary................  144.1   147.3   148.1      .8     1.8      .5     3.4     3.1     2.8 
          Colleges and universities...............  146.5   150.5   151.7     1.2     2.0      .8     3.5     3.9     3.5 
    Public administration(4)......................  144.4   146.9   148.3     1.4      .5     1.0     3.2     3.2     2.7 
                                                                                                                          
                Occupational group                                                                                        
                                                                                                                          
  White collar....................................  144.0   147.3   148.3     1.0     1.4     0.7     3.4     3.3     3.0 
    Professional specialty and technical..........  143.2   146.6   147.4      .8     1.5      .5     3.4     3.2     2.9 
    Executive, administrative, and managerial.....  146.1   149.2   150.7     1.1     1.4     1.0     3.2     3.3     3.1 
    Administrative support, including clerical....  145.0   148.3   149.4     1.4     1.2      .7     3.4     3.7     3.0 
  Blue collar.....................................  142.5   145.9   147.2     1.1     1.2      .9     3.4     3.5     3.3 
  Service.........................................  148.6   151.5   152.9     1.3     1.2      .9     3.6     3.3     2.9 

  1 Includes wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.
  2 Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.
  3 Includes transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real
estate; service industries; and public administration.
  4 Includes executive, legislative, judicial, administrative, and regulatory activities of State and local governments,
SICs 91 through 96.
  5 Average standard errors (SE) for the series exceed 0.3 percent for 3-month changes and 0.6 percent for 12-month
changes for the five years ending December 1996. To assist users in ascertaining the reliability of the series, SEs for
estimates in this news release (excluding seasonally adjusted series) will be available on the Internet site
(http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm).  All series will continue to be published until further notice.



Table 3.  Employment Cost Index for total compensation(1) for private industry workers, by industry and occupational group

(Not seasonally adjusted data)
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
                                                   Indexes (June 1989=100)               Percent changes for-             
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
         Industry and occupational group                                       3 months ended-         12 months ended-   
                                                     Dec.    Sep.    Dec.                                                 
                                                     1999    2000    2000                                                 
                                                                             Dec.    Sep.    Dec.    Dec.    Sep.    Dec. 
                                                                             1999    2000    2000    1999    2000    2000 
                                                                                                                          
Private industry workers..........................  144.6   149.9   150.9     0.9     0.9     0.7     3.4     4.6     4.4 
    Excluding sales occupations...................  144.5   149.8   150.9      .9     1.1      .7     3.7     4.6     4.4 
                                                                                                                          
                     Industry                                                                                             
                                                                                                                          
  Goods producing(2)..............................  142.5   147.9   148.8     1.0      .9      .6     3.4     4.8     4.4 
      Excluding sales.............................  141.8   147.2   148.2      .9      .9      .7     3.3     4.8     4.5 
    White collar..................................  145.5   151.3   151.9     1.1      .8      .4     3.7     5.1     4.4 
      Excluding sales.............................  143.9   149.6   150.5     1.0      .8      .6     3.7     5.0     4.6 
    Blue collar...................................  140.7   145.8   146.8      .9     1.0      .7     3.2     4.6     4.3 
                                                                                                                          
    Construction(3)...............................  138.7   145.1   146.7      .6     1.3     1.1     3.3     5.2     5.8 
                                                                                                                          
    Manufacturing.................................  143.6   148.7   149.3     1.1      .8      .4     3.4     4.6     4.0 
      White collar................................  145.8   151.4   151.5     1.0      .8      .1     3.8     4.9     3.9 
        Excluding sales...........................  143.8   149.3   149.7      .9      .7      .3     3.7     4.8     4.1 
      Blue collar.................................  142.1   146.7   147.8     1.1      .8      .7     3.2     4.4     4.0 
      Durables....................................  144.0   149.4   150.1     1.2      .7      .5     3.4     5.0     4.2 
        Aircraft manufacturing (SIC 3721).........  146.9   156.0   155.3     2.2     1.1     -.4     4.5     8.6     5.7 
          White collar............................  141.7   151.8   151.2     1.4      .7     -.4     3.1     8.6     6.7 
          Blue collar.............................  154.4   161.4   160.4     3.6     1.8     -.6     6.9     8.3     3.9 
      Nondurables.................................  142.8   147.5   147.7      .9     1.0      .1     3.3     4.2     3.4 
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
  Service producing(4)............................  145.3   150.6   151.7      .8     1.0      .7     3.4     4.5     4.4 
      Excluding sales.............................  145.9   151.1   152.2      .9     1.1      .7     3.8     4.5     4.3 
    White collar..................................  147.0   152.6   153.7      .8     1.1      .7     3.4     4.7     4.6 
      Excluding sales.............................  148.3   153.9   155.1      .9     1.2      .8     3.9     4.7     4.6 
    Blue collar...................................  139.8   144.5   145.3      .5     1.0      .6     3.7     3.9     3.9 
    Service.......................................  142.4   146.3   147.9     1.1      .8     1.1     3.3     3.9     3.9 
                                                                                                                          
    Transportation and public utilities...........  142.3   147.4   148.3      .4     1.2      .6     2.2     3.9     4.2 
      Transportation(3)...........................  139.5   142.8   143.9      .6      .7      .8     1.6     3.0     3.2 
      Public utilities............................  146.1   153.5   154.1      .3     1.7      .4     3.0     5.4     5.5 
        Communications............................  146.0   153.9   154.7     -.1     2.0      .5     3.0     5.3     6.0 
        Electric, gas, and sanitary services......  146.1   152.9   153.4      .7     1.3      .3     2.8     5.4     5.0 
                                                                                                                          
    Wholesale and retail trade....................  143.5   148.3   149.4      .9      .7      .7     3.8     4.3     4.1 
        Excluding sales...........................  144.3   149.6   150.6     1.1     1.0      .7     4.0     4.8     4.4 
      Wholesale trade(3)..........................  148.5   152.1   154.4     1.5      .2     1.5     4.0     4.0     4.0 
        Excluding sales...........................  147.4   152.7   154.9     1.1     1.1     1.4     4.4     4.7     5.1 
      Retail trade................................  140.7   146.2   146.6      .5     1.0      .3     3.8     4.4     4.2 
        General merchandise stores(3).............  138.3   142.2   144.4      .8      .9     1.5     3.2     3.6     4.4 
        Food stores(3)............................  138.1   143.4   144.5     0.8     0.6     0.8     4.1     4.7     4.6 
                                                                                                                          
    Finance, insurance, and real estate(3)........  148.3   155.2   155.7      .5     1.4      .3     4.1     5.1     5.0 
        Excluding sales...........................  151.6   157.4   158.4      .4     1.2      .6     5.8     4.2     4.5 
      Banking, savings and loan, and other credit                                                                         
       agencies(3)................................  159.8   165.8   166.5      .3     1.0      .4     8.9     4.1     4.2 
      Insurance(3)................................  145.8   154.8   155.2      .9     2.3      .3     2.9     7.1     6.4 
        Excluding sales...........................  147.0   152.2   153.1      .5     1.1      .6     3.2     4.1     4.1 
                                                                                                                          
    Services......................................  147.6   152.9   154.1     1.0     1.1      .8     3.4     4.7     4.4 
      Business services(3)........................  151.9   157.5   158.4      .8      .8      .6     4.1     4.5     4.3 
      Health services.............................  144.2   149.0   150.6     1.1     1.0     1.1     3.7     4.5     4.4 
        Hospitals.................................  144.6   149.2   151.1     1.1     1.2     1.3     3.4     4.3     4.5 
        Nursing homes.............................    -       -       -       1.1     1.7     1.5     4.2     5.7     6.1 
      Educational services........................  153.0   158.8   159.9      .5     2.5      .7     3.6     4.3     4.5 
        Colleges and universities.................  153.3   158.6   159.2      .5     2.0      .4     3.2     3.9     3.8 
Industry-Continued                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                          
  Nonmanufacturing industries.....................  144.5   150.0   151.1     0.8     1.1     0.7     3.4     4.6     4.6 
    White collar..................................  146.9   152.6   153.7      .9     1.1      .7     3.5     4.8     4.6 
      Excluding sales.............................  148.1   153.8   155.1      .9     1.2      .8     3.8     4.8     4.7 
    Blue collar...................................  138.7   143.9   144.8      .5     1.1      .6     3.5     4.3     4.4 
    Service.......................................  142.3   146.3   147.8     1.1      .8     1.0     3.3     4.0     3.9 
                                                                                                                          
                Occupational group                                                                                        
                                                                                                                          
  White collar....................................  146.9   152.6   153.6      .9     1.0      .7     3.5     4.8     4.6 
      Excluding sales.............................  147.3   152.9   154.1      .9     1.1      .8     3.8     4.7     4.6 
    Professional specialty and technical..........  146.7   152.2   153.7     1.0     1.0     1.0     2.9     4.8     4.8 
    Executive, administrative, and managerial.....  149.1   154.4   155.3      .9     1.1      .6     5.1     4.5     4.2 
    Sales(3)......................................  145.3   151.2   151.4      .8      .6      .1     1.9     4.9     4.2 
    Administrative support, including                                                                                     
     clerical.....................................  146.2   152.3   153.4      .8     1.1      .7     3.4     5.0     4.9 
                                                                                                                          
  Blue collar.....................................  140.5   145.5   146.4      .8     1.0      .6     3.3     4.4     4.2 
    Precision production, craft, and repair.......  140.6   145.8   146.7      .7     1.2      .6     3.3     4.4     4.3 
    Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors.  141.4   146.0   146.8     1.1      .7      .5     3.4     4.4     3.8 
    Transportation and material moving............  135.2   139.9   141.1      .6      .9      .9     3.4     4.1     4.4 
    Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and                                                                            
     laborers.....................................  144.4   149.4   150.4      .8      .9      .7     3.7     4.3     4.2 
                                                                                                                          
  Service.........................................  142.6   146.6   148.1     1.1      .8     1.0     3.3     4.0     3.9 
                                                                                                                          
  Production and nonsupervisory occupations(5)....  143.1   148.4   149.5      .8     1.0      .7     2.9     4.6     4.5 

  1 Includes wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.
  2 Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.
  3 Average standard errors (SE) for the series exceed 0.3 percent for 3-month changes and 0.6 percent for 12-month
changes for the five years ending December 1996. To assist users in ascertaining the reliability of the series, SEs for
estimates in this news release (excluding seasonally adjusted series) will be available on the Internet site
(http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm).  All series will continue to be published until further notice.
  4 Includes transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real
estate; and service industries.
  5 This series has the same industry and occupational coverage as the Hourly Earnings Index, which was discontinued in
January 1989.

  NOTE:  Dashes indicate data not available.



Table 4.  Employment Cost Index for total compensation(1) for private industry workers, by bargaining status, region,
and area

(Not seasonally adjusted data)
                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
                                                 Indexes (June 1989=100)               Percent changes for-             
                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
      Bargaining status, region, and area                                    3 months ended-         12 months ended-   
                                                   Dec.    Sep.    Dec.                                                 
                                                   1999    2000    2000                                                 
                                                                           Dec.    Sep.    Dec.    Dec.    Sep.    Dec. 
                                                                           1999    2000    2000    1999    2000    2000 
                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
               Bargaining status                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
Union...........................................  141.2   146.1   146.9     0.7     1.2     0.5     2.7     4.2     4.0 
    Blue-collar occupations.....................  138.9   144.3   145.0      .8     1.3      .5     2.7     4.7     4.4 
                                                                                                                        
  Goods-producing industries(2).................  140.8   146.8   147.3     1.1     1.4      .3     3.2     5.5     4.6 
  Service-producing industries(3)...............  141.4   145.2   146.4      .3      .9      .8     2.1     3.0     3.5 
                                                                                                                        
  Manufacturing.................................  141.0   147.1   147.4     1.4     1.2      .2     3.0     5.8     4.5 
    Blue-collar occupations.....................  140.4   146.5   147.0     1.4     1.2      .3     2.9     5.8     4.7 
  Nonmanufacturing..............................  140.8   145.0   146.2      .4     1.1      .8     2.5     3.3     3.8 
                                                                                                                        
Nonunion........................................  145.2   150.6   151.6     1.0     1.0      .7     3.6     4.7     4.4 
    Blue-collar occupations.....................  141.4   146.1   147.2      .8      .8      .8     3.7     4.1     4.1 
                                                                                                                        
  Goods-producing industries(2).................  143.1   148.4   149.3      .9      .8      .6     3.5     4.7     4.3 
  Service-producing industries(3)...............  145.7   151.2   152.3      .9     1.1      .7     3.6     4.7     4.5 
                                                                                                                        
  Manufacturing.................................  144.4   149.2   149.9     1.0      .7      .5     3.5     4.3     3.8 
    Blue-collar occupations.....................  142.9   146.7   148.0      .9      .6      .9     3.3     3.6     3.6 
  Nonmanufacturing..............................  145.1   150.7   151.8      .9     1.1      .7     3.6     4.8     4.6 
                                                                                                                        
                   Region(4)                                                                                            
                                                                                                                        
Northeast.......................................  144.3   149.3   150.3      .8     1.2      .7     3.4     4.3     4.2 
South...........................................  143.0   147.6   148.6      .8      .6      .7     3.5     4.1     3.9 
Midwest.........................................  146.3   152.2   153.3      .9     1.0      .7     3.5     5.0     4.8 
West............................................  144.7   150.8   151.8     1.0     1.3      .7     3.4     5.2     4.9 
                                                                                                                        
                      Area                                                                                              
                                                                                                                        
Metropolitan....................................  144.7   150.1   151.0     1.0     1.0      .6     3.5     4.7     4.4 
Other...........................................  143.6   148.8   150.3      .3      .7     1.0     3.0     4.0     4.7 

  1 Includes wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.
  2 Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.
  3 Includes transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and
real estate; and service industries.
  4 The regional coverage is as follows: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North
Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; and West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

  NOTE:  The indexes for these series are not strictly comparable to those for the aggregate, occupation, and industry
series.



Table 5.  Employment Cost Index for wages and salaries for civilian and State and local government workers, by industry
and occupational group

(Not seasonally adjusted data)
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
                                                   Indexes (June 1989=100)               Percent changes for-             
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
         Industry and occupational group                                       3 months ended-         12 months ended-   
                                                     Dec.    Sep.    Dec.                                                 
                                                     1999    2000    2000                                                 
                                                                             Dec.    Sep.    Dec.    Dec.    Sep.    Dec. 
                                                                             1999    2000    2000    1999    2000    2000 
                                                                                                                          
Civilian workers..................................  142.5   147.0   147.9     0.8     1.1     0.6     3.5     4.0     3.8 
    Excluding sales occupations...................  142.3   146.7   147.7      .9     1.2      .7     3.6     4.0     3.8 
                                                                                                                          
                     Industry                                                                                             
                                                                                                                          
  Goods producing(1)..............................  139.7   144.3   145.3      .8      .9      .7     3.3     4.1     4.0 
    Manufacturing.................................  141.5   145.7   146.5      .9      .9      .5     3.4     3.9     3.5 
  Service producing(2)............................  143.5   148.0   148.9      .8     1.2      .6     3.5     4.0     3.8 
    Services......................................  145.5   149.9   151.0     1.0     1.4      .7     3.6     4.0     3.8 
      Health services.............................  142.5   146.7   148.3     1.1     1.0     1.1     3.6     4.1     4.1 
        Hospitals.................................  141.6   145.6   147.3     1.1     1.3     1.2     3.3     3.9     4.0 
      Educational services........................  144.7   148.9   149.6      .7     2.3      .5     3.4     3.6     3.4 
    Public administration(3)......................  141.5   144.6   146.1     1.4     1.2     1.0     4.1     3.7     3.3 
                                                                                                                          
  Nonmanufacturing................................  142.6   147.2   148.1      .8     1.2      .6     3.5     4.0     3.9 
                                                                                                                          
                Occupational group                                                                                        
                                                                                                                          
  White collar....................................  144.6   149.2   150.2      .9     1.1      .7     3.5     4.1     3.9 
      Excluding sales.............................  144.8   149.3   150.4      .9     1.2      .7     3.8     4.0     3.9 
    Professional specialty and technical..........  144.0   148.3   149.6     1.0     1.3      .9     3.3     4.0     3.9 
    Executive, administrative, and managerial.....  147.2   151.6   152.4      .9     1.1      .5     4.9     3.9     3.5 
    Administrative support, including clerical....  143.5   148.5   149.6      .8     1.1      .7     3.5     4.4     4.3 
  Blue collar.....................................  137.9   142.0   142.9      .7     1.0      .6     3.5     3.6     3.6 
  Service.........................................  141.7   145.7   147.1     1.1     1.2     1.0     3.4     4.0     3.8 
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
State and local government........................  143.5   147.2   148.3      .9     1.7      .7     3.6     3.5     3.3 
                                                                                                                          
                     Industry                                                                                             
                                                                                                                          
    Services......................................  144.0   147.9   148.7      .8     2.1      .5     3.4     3.5     3.3 
        Excluding schools(4)......................  143.2   146.7   147.9      .8     1.3      .8     3.6     3.2     3.3 
      Health services.............................  144.2   147.7   149.3     1.0     1.4     1.1     3.6     3.4     3.5 
        Hospitals.................................  144.1   147.7   149.2      .9     1.4     1.0     3.6     3.4     3.5 
      Educational services........................  144.0   148.0   148.7      .8     2.2      .5     3.4     3.6     3.3 
        Schools...................................  144.2   148.1   148.9      .8     2.2      .5     3.4     3.5     3.3 
          Elementary and secondary................  144.1   147.9   148.5      .7     2.3      .4     3.4     3.4     3.1 
          Colleges and universities...............  144.4   148.3   149.5     1.3     1.9      .8     3.4     4.0     3.5 
    Public administration(3)......................  141.5   144.6   146.1     1.4     1.2     1.0     4.1     3.7     3.3 
                                                                                                                          
                Occupational group                                                                                        
                                                                                                                          
  White collar....................................  143.4   147.1   148.0     0.9     1.8     0.6     3.5     3.5     3.2 
    Professional specialty and technical..........  143.6   147.4   148.2      .8     1.9      .5     3.5     3.4     3.2 
    Executive, administrative, and managerial.....  144.3   147.3   148.8     1.1     1.5     1.0     3.6     3.2     3.1 
    Administrative support, including clerical....  141.7   145.0   146.2     1.5     1.4      .8     3.8     3.9     3.2 
  Blue collar.....................................  140.7   143.9   145.1      .9     1.3      .8     3.5     3.2     3.1 
  Service.........................................  145.7   149.6   151.2     1.1     2.0     1.1     4.1     3.8     3.8 

  1 Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.
  2 Includes transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real
estate; service industries; and public administration.
  3 Includes executive, legislative, judicial, administrative, and regulatory activities of State and local governments,
SICs 91 through 96.
  4 Average standard errors (SE) for the series exceed 0.3 percent for 3-month changes and 0.6 percent for 12-month
changes for the five years ending December 1996. To assist users in ascertaining the reliability of the series, SEs for
estimates in this news release (excluding seasonally adjusted series) will be available on the Internet site
(http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm).  All series will continue to be published until further notice.



Table 6.  Employment Cost Index for wages and salaries for private industry workers by industry and occupational group

(Not seasonally adjusted data)
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
                                                   Indexes (June 1989=100)               Percent changes for-             
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
         Industry and occupational group                                       3 months ended-         12 months ended-   
                                                     Dec.    Sep.    Dec.                                                 
                                                     1999    2000    2000                                                 
                                                                             Dec.    Sep.    Dec.    Dec.    Sep.    Dec. 
                                                                             1999    2000    2000    1999    2000    2000 
                                                                                                                          
Private industry workers..........................  142.2   146.8   147.7     0.9     1.0     0.6     3.5     4.1     3.9 
    Excluding sales occupations...................  142.0   146.5   147.6      .9     1.0      .8     3.7     4.0     3.9 
                                                                                                                          
                     Industry                                                                                             
                                                                                                                          
  Goods producing(1)..............................  139.7   144.3   145.2      .9      .9      .6     3.3     4.2     3.9 
      Excluding sales.............................  138.9   143.4   144.6      .8      .9      .8     3.3     4.1     4.1 
    White collar..................................  143.0   147.9   148.7      .9      .7      .5     3.5     4.4     4.0 
      Excluding sales.............................  141.3   146.0   147.2      .9      .8      .8     3.6     4.2     4.2 
    Blue collar...................................  137.6   142.0   143.1      .7     1.1      .8     3.2     4.0     4.0 
                                                                                                                          
    Construction(2)...............................  133.6   139.4   140.7      .5     1.0      .9     3.3     4.8     5.3 
                                                                                                                          
    Manufacturing.................................  141.5   145.7   146.5      .9      .9      .5     3.4     3.9     3.5 
      White collar................................  144.0   148.7   149.2      .9      .7      .3     3.6     4.2     3.6 
        Excluding sales...........................  142.0   146.6   147.5      .9      .7      .6     3.6     4.1     3.9 
      Blue collar.................................  139.7   143.4   144.6      .9     1.0      .8     3.3     3.6     3.5 
      Durables....................................  141.8   146.1   147.3     1.0     1.0      .8     3.6     4.1     3.9 
        Aircraft manufacturing (SIC 3721).........  143.6   150.0   151.6      .6      .9     1.1     3.8     5.1     5.6 
          White collar............................  139.1   146.0   146.2      .6      .6      .1     3.4     5.6     5.1 
          Blue collar.............................  149.9   155.1   159.3      .7     2.0     2.7     4.7     4.2     6.3 
      Nondurables.................................  140.9   145.0   145.4      .9      .8      .3     3.0     3.8     3.2 
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
  Service producing(3)............................  143.3   147.9   148.9      .8     1.0      .7     3.5     4.1     3.9 
      Excluding sales.............................  143.8   148.3   149.4      .8     1.0      .7     3.8     4.0     3.9 
    White collar..................................  145.0   150.0   150.9      .8     1.0      .6     3.5     4.3     4.1 
      Excluding sales.............................  146.4   151.2   152.3      .9     1.1      .7     4.1     4.2     4.0 
    Blue collar...................................  137.8   141.6   142.2      .6      .9      .4     3.7     3.4     3.2 
    Service.......................................  139.6   143.5   144.8     1.2      .7      .9     3.3     4.0     3.7 
                                                                                                                          
    Transportation and public utilities...........  137.9   141.3   142.3      .3      .9      .7     2.1     2.8     3.2 
      Transportation(2)...........................  134.9   137.4   138.6      .4      .9      .9     1.5     2.2     2.7 
      Public utilities............................  141.8   146.4   147.1      .2     1.0      .5     2.9     3.5     3.7 
        Communications............................  142.2   146.7   147.4      .2     1.2      .5     3.0     3.4     3.7 
        Electric, gas, and sanitary services......  141.3   145.9   146.6      .3      .8      .5     2.8     3.5     3.8 
                                                                                                                          
    Wholesale and retail trade....................  142.0   146.4   147.4      .9      .6      .7     3.6     4.1     3.8 
        Excluding sales...........................  143.3   148.2   149.0     1.1     1.0      .5     3.7     4.5     4.0 
      Wholesale trade(2)..........................  146.5   149.6   151.6     1.5      .1     1.3     3.7     3.7     3.5 
        Excluding sales...........................  146.4   151.3   153.2     1.1     1.1     1.3     4.0     4.5     4.6 
      Retail trade................................  139.6   144.8   145.2      .5      .9      .3     3.6     4.2     4.0 
        General merchandise stores(2).............  136.7   139.7   142.2      .8      .9     1.8     2.8     3.0     4.0 
        Food stores(2)............................  134.9   140.2   141.6     0.7     0.5     1.0     3.4     4.7     5.0 
                                                                                                                          
    Finance, insurance, and real estate(2)........  145.2   151.7   151.7      .5     1.5      .0     3.9     5.0     4.5 
        Excluding sales...........................  148.0   153.3   154.1      .3     1.2      .5     6.0     3.9     4.1 
      Banking, savings and loan, and other credit                                                                         
       agencies(2)................................  159.6   165.0   165.7      .3     1.0      .4    10.5     3.6     3.8 
      Insurance(2)................................  141.5   150.7   150.8      .9     2.8      .1     2.2     7.5     6.6 
        Excluding sales...........................  141.6   145.7   146.5      .5     1.1      .5     2.7     3.4     3.5 
                                                                                                                          
    Services......................................  146.0   150.6   151.8     1.0     1.0      .8     3.7     4.2     4.0 
      Business services(2)........................  149.8   155.3   156.0      .9      .8      .5     4.0     4.6     4.1 
      Health services.............................  142.2   146.6   148.1     1.1      .9     1.0     3.5     4.3     4.1 
        Hospitals.................................  140.9   144.9   146.8     1.1     1.1     1.3     3.2     4.0     4.2 
        Nursing homes.............................    -       -       -       1.1     1.7     1.2     4.4     5.7     5.8 
      Educational services........................  148.2   153.4   154.3      .5     2.5      .6     3.3     4.0     4.1 
        Colleges and universities.................  147.9   152.5   152.9      .5     2.1      .3     3.0     3.6     3.4 
Industry-Continued                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                          
  Nonmanufacturing industries.....................  142.1   146.9   147.9     0.8     1.0     0.7     3.4     4.2     4.1 
    White collar..................................  144.7   149.6   150.6      .8      .9      .7     3.5     4.3     4.1 
      Excluding sales.............................  145.9   150.7   151.9      .9     1.1      .8     4.0     4.2     4.1 
    Blue collar...................................  135.8   140.3   140.9      .5     1.0      .4     3.6     3.8     3.8 
    Service.......................................  139.5   143.4   144.7     1.2      .7      .9     3.3     4.0     3.7 
                                                                                                                          
                Occupational group                                                                                        
                                                                                                                          
  White collar....................................  144.8   149.7   150.6      .9      .9      .6     3.5     4.3     4.0 
      Excluding sales.............................  145.2   149.9   151.1      .9      .9      .8     3.9     4.2     4.1 
    Professional specialty and technical..........  144.1   148.6   150.2     1.1      .9     1.1     3.1     4.2     4.2 
    Executive, administrative, and managerial.....  147.6   152.3   153.0      .8     1.1      .5     5.1     4.0     3.7 
    Sales(2)......................................  143.3   149.0   148.7      .8      .7     -.2     1.4     4.9     3.8 
    Administrative support, including                                                                                     
     clerical.....................................  143.8   149.1   150.1      .8     1.1      .7     3.5     4.5     4.4 
                                                                                                                          
  Blue collar.....................................  137.7   141.9   142.8      .7     1.0      .6     3.4     3.7     3.7 
    Precision production, craft, and repair.......  137.5   142.0   142.8      .6     1.0      .6     3.4     3.9     3.9 
    Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors.  139.5   142.9   143.7      .9      .9      .6     3.4     3.3     3.0 
    Transportation and material moving............  132.7   136.5   137.6      .6     1.0      .8     3.8     3.5     3.7 
    Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and                                                                            
     laborers.....................................  140.4   145.0   146.2      .7     1.0      .8     3.4     4.0     4.1 
                                                                                                                          
  Service.........................................  139.6   143.5   144.9     1.2      .7     1.0     3.2     4.0     3.8 
                                                                                                                          
  Production and nonsupervisory occupations(4)....  140.4   145.0   146.0      .8      .9      .7     2.9     4.1     4.0 

  1 Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.
  2 Average standard errors (SE) for the series exceed 0.3 percent for 3-month changes and 0.6 percent for 12-month
changes for the five years ending December 1996. To assist users in ascertaining the reliability of the series, SEs for
estimates in this news release (excluding seasonally adjusted series) will be available on the Internet site
(http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm).  All series will continue to be published until further notice.
  3 Includes transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real
estate; and service industries.
  4 This series has the same industry and occupational coverage as the Hourly Earnings Index, which was discontinued in
January 1989.
  
  NOTE:  Dashes indicate data not available.



Table 7.  Employment Cost Index for wages and salaries for private industry workers by bargaining status, region, and
area

(Not seasonally adjusted data)
                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
                                                 Indexes (June 1989=100)               Percent changes for-             
                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
      Bargaining status, region, and area                                    3 months ended-         12 months ended-   
                                                   Dec.    Sep.    Dec.                                                 
                                                   1999    2000    2000                                                 
                                                                           Dec.    Sep.    Dec.    Dec.    Sep.    Dec. 
                                                                           1999    2000    2000    1999    2000    2000 
                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
               Bargaining status                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
Union...........................................  136.5   140.0   141.2     0.6     1.1     0.9     2.6     3.2     3.4 
    Blue-collar occupations.....................  134.5   138.2   139.2      .7     1.2      .7     3.0     3.4     3.5 
                                                                                                                        
  Goods-producing industries(1).................  136.1   140.2   141.3      .9     1.3      .8     3.3     3.9     3.8 
  Service-producing industries(2)...............  137.2   140.1   141.5      .3      .9     1.0     1.8     2.4     3.1 
                                                                                                                        
  Manufacturing.................................  137.5   141.4   142.6     1.3     1.2      .8     3.4     4.1     3.7 
    Blue-collar occupations.....................  136.8   140.4   141.7     1.3     1.2      .9     3.3     3.9     3.6 
  Nonmanufacturing..............................  135.9   139.2   140.4      .2     1.0      .9     2.1     2.7     3.3 
                                                                                                                        
Nonunion........................................  143.3   148.1   149.0      .9     1.0      .6     3.6     4.3     4.0 
    Blue-collar occupations.....................  139.7   144.1   144.9      .7      .8      .6     3.6     3.9     3.7 
                                                                                                                        
  Goods-producing industries(1).................  141.1   145.8   146.8      .8      .8      .7     3.4     4.1     4.0 
  Service-producing industries(2)...............  143.9   148.7   149.6      .9     1.0      .6     3.7     4.3     4.0 
                                                                                                                        
  Manufacturing.................................  142.9   147.2   148.0      .8      .8      .5     3.4     3.9     3.6 
    Blue-collar occupations.....................  141.6   145.4   146.6      .8      .8      .8     3.2     3.5     3.5 
  Nonmanufacturing..............................  143.0   148.0   148.9      .8     1.0      .6     3.6     4.4     4.1 
                                                                                                                        
                   Region(3)                                                                                            
                                                                                                                        
Northeast.......................................  140.9   145.3   146.0      .7     1.1      .5     3.3     3.9     3.6 
South...........................................  141.5   145.3   146.3      .9      .5      .7     3.5     3.6     3.4 
Midwest.........................................  143.6   148.6   149.6      .8     1.0      .7     4.1     4.4     4.2 
West............................................  142.6   148.2   149.2      .9     1.3      .7     3.0     4.9     4.6 
                                                                                                                        
                      Area                                                                                              
                                                                                                                        
Metropolitan....................................  142.5   147.1   148.0      .9     1.0      .6     3.5     4.2     3.9 
Other...........................................  140.2   144.7   146.0      .3      .7      .9     3.1     3.5     4.1 

  1 Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.
  2 Includes transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and
real estate; and service industries.
  3 The regional coverage is as follows: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia, and West Virginia; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North
Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; and West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

  NOTE:  The indexes for these series are not strictly comparable to those for the aggregate, occupation, and industry
series.



Table 8.  Employment Cost Index for benefits for civilian, State and local government, and private industry workers by
industry, occupational group, and bargaining status

(Not seasonally adjusted data)
                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
                                                 Indexes (June 1989=100)               Percent changes for-             
                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
       Industry, occupational group, and                                     3 months ended-         12 months ended-   
               bargaining status                   Dec.    Sep.    Dec.                                                 
                                                   1999    2000    2000                                                 
                                                                           Dec.    Sep.    Dec.    Dec.    Sep.    Dec. 
                                                                           1999    2000    2000    1999    2000    2000 
                                                                                                                        
Civilian workers................................  149.5   155.8   156.9     1.1     1.0     0.7     3.3     5.3     4.9 
 State and local government.....................  146.7   149.0   150.2     1.2      .3      .8     2.8     2.8     2.4 
 Private industry...............................  150.2   157.5   158.6     1.1     1.2      .7     3.4     6.0     5.6 
                                                                                                                        
                    Industry                                                                                            
                                                                                                                        
   Goods producing(1)...........................  148.2   155.7   156.2     1.3     1.0      .3     3.4     6.4     5.4 
   Service producing(2).........................  150.7   157.9   159.4      .9     1.2      .9     3.4     5.7     5.8 
                                                                                                                        
   Manufacturing................................  147.8   154.9   154.8     1.4      .6     -.1     3.4     6.3     4.7 
     Aircraft manufacturing (SIC 3721)..........  153.9   168.7   163.1     5.7     1.3    -3.3     5.9    15.9     6.0 
       White collar(3)..........................  147.6   165.4   162.8     3.3     1.1    -1.6     2.6    15.7    10.3 
       Blue collar..............................  163.0   173.3   162.7     9.0     1.6    -6.1    11.2    15.9     -.2 
   Nonmanufacturing.............................  150.7   158.1   159.7      .9     1.3     1.0     3.4     5.8     6.0 
                                                                                                                        
               Occupational group                                                                                       
                                                                                                                        
   White collar.................................  152.5   160.4   161.5     1.0     1.2      .7     3.5     6.2     5.9 
   Blue collar..................................  146.2   153.1   154.1     1.0     1.0      .7     3.2     5.7     5.4 
   Service(3)...................................  149.9   154.4   156.4     1.0     1.1     1.3     3.5     4.0     4.3 
                                                                                                                        
               Bargaining status                                                                                        
                                                                                                                        
   Union........................................  149.7   157.4   157.5      .9     1.2      .1     2.8     6.1     5.2 
   Nonunion.....................................  150.0   157.3   158.6     1.0     1.2      .8     3.5     5.9     5.7 

  1 Includes mining, construction, and manufacturing.
  2 Includes transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and
real estate; and service industries.
  3 Average standard errors (SE) for the series exceed 0.3 percent for 3-month changes and 0.6 percent for 12-month
changes for the five years ending December 1996. To assist users in ascertaining the reliability of the series, SEs for
estimates in this news release (excluding seasonally adjusted series) will be available on the Internet site
(http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm).  All series will continue to be published until further notice.


                             EXPLANATORY NOTES
     
     The Employment Cost Index (ECI) is a measure of the change in the cost
 of labor, free from the influence of employment shifts among occupations
 and industries.  The compensation series includes changes in wages and
 salaries and employer costs for employee benefits.  The wage and salary
 series and the benefit cost series provide the change for the two
 components of compensation.
     
     Wages and salaries are defined as the hourly straight-time wage rate
 or, for workers not paid on an hourly basis, straight-time earnings
 divided by the corresponding hours.  Straight-time wage and salary rates
 are total earnings before payroll deductions, excluding premium pay for
 overtime and for work on weekends and holidays, shift differentials, and
 nonproduction bonuses such as lump-sum payments provided in lieu of wage
 increases.  Production bonuses, incentive earnings, commission payments,
 and cost-of-living adjustments are included in straight-time wage and
 salary rates.
     
     Benefits covered by the ECI are:  Paid leave--vacations, holidays,
 sick leave, and other leave; supplemental pay--premium pay for work in
 addition to the regular work schedule (such as overtime, weekends, and
 holidays), shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses (such as lump-
 sum payments provided in lieu of wage increases and referral bonuses);
 insurance benefits--life, health, short-term disability, and long-term
 disability; retirement and savings benefits--defined benefit and defined
 contribution plans; legally required benefits--social security, Federal
 and State unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation; and other
 benefits--severance pay and supplemental unemployment plans.
     
     The ECI provides data for the civilian economy, which includes the
 total private nonfarm economy excluding households and the public sector
 excluding the Federal government.  The private industry series and the
 State and local government series provide data for the two sectors
 separately.
     
     Data for this quarter were collected from a probability sample of
 approximately 31,900 occupational observations within about 7,500 sample
 establishments in private industry and approximately 3,900 occupations
 within about 800 sample establishments in State and local governments.
 Data are collected for the pay period including the 12th day of the survey
 months of March, June, September, and December.
     
     The sampled establishments are classified by industry categories based
on the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), as defined by the
U.S. Office of Management and Budget.  Details on the sample design are
included in the bulletin, Employment Cost Indexes, 1975-99, (Bulletin
2532).  Within an establishment, specific job categories are selected and
classified into about 500 occupational classifications according to the
1990 Census of Population.  Individual occupations are combined into
broader occupational groups.  Fixed employment weights are used each
quarter to calculate the most aggregate series - civilian, private, and
State and local government.  These fixed weights are also used to derive
all of the industry and occupation series indexes.  Since March 1995, 1990
employment counts, primarily from the Bureau's Occupational Employment
Statistics survey, have been used.  For more information on these topics,
see the articles, "Introducing New Weights for the Employment Cost Index,"
in the June 1985 issue of the Monthly Labor Review and "Introducing 1990
Weights for the Employment Cost Index" in the June 1995 issue of
Compensation and Working Conditions.
     
     For the series based on bargaining status, region, and area size,
 employment data are not available.  The employment weights are reallocated
 within these series each quarter based on the current ECI sample.  The
 indexes for these series, consequently, are not strictly comparable to
 those for the aggregate, industry, and occupation series.  A fuller
 explanation of the calculation of index numbers appears in an article,
 "Estimation Procedures for the Employment Cost Index," in the May 1982
 issue of the Monthly Labor Review.  Beginning with the March 1990 ECI
 release, indexes were rebased to June 1989=100.  A description of the
 rebasing is included in the article "Employment Cost Index Rebased to June
 1989," in the April 1990 issue of the Monthly Labor Review.
     
     Beginning with the December 1990 ECI release, seasonally adjusted data
 are available for selected ECI series.  Seasonal adjustment removes the
 effects of events that follow a more or less regular pattern each year.
 These adjustments make nonseasonal patterns easier to identify.  For more
 information on the methodology used to seasonally adjust ECI series, see
 the bulletin, Employment Cost Indexes, 1975-99, (Bulletin 2532).  The
 seasonal adjustment factors are recalculated once a year.  The March
 release contains data reflecting the newly updated seasonal adjustment
 factors.  The historical data for the last five years are then revised
 based on the newly estimated factors.  The new seasonal factors for 2001, and
 revised seasonally adjusted indexes for the past five years, will be
 available Tuesday, April 24, 2001 on the Internet site
 (http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm) or upon request.  The factors are also
 published in the summer issue of Compensation and Working Conditions.
     
     The ECI sample is rotated over approximately five years; this makes it
 more representative and reduces respondent burden.  The sample is replaced
 on a cross-area, cross-industry basis and is being integrated with the
 Bureau's National Compensation Survey (NCS).  Integrated samples result in
 an increase in the number of private industry establishments and
 occupations in the survey.  The NCS-ECI private sample will be completely
 integrated in 2001.
     
     Because the ECI is a sample survey, it is subject to sampling errors.
 Sampling errors are differences that occur between the results computed
 from a sample of observations and those computed from all observations in
 the population.  The estimates derived from different samples selected
 using the same sample design may differ from each other.  A measure of the
 variation among these differing estimates is the standard error.  It can
 be used to measure the precision with which an estimate from a particular
 sample approximates the expected result of all possible samples.  The
 chances are about 68 out of 100 that an estimate from the survey differs
 from a complete population figure by less than the standard error.  The
 chances are about 90 out of 100 that this difference would be less than
 1.6 times the standard error.  The statements of comparisons appearing in
 this publication are significant at a 1.6 standard error level or better,
 unless otherwise indicated.  This means that for differences cited, the
 estimated difference is greater than 1.6 times the standard error of the
 difference.
     
     Because standard errors vary from quarter to quarter, the ECI uses a
 five-year moving average of standard errors to evaluate published series.
 Currently, in the higher level aggregate series, the standard errors for 3-
 month changes are generally 0.1 percent or less; for 12-month changes,
 standard errors are generally 0.25 percent or less.  Currently, in the
 lower level series, standard errors are generally 0.3 percent or less for
 3-month changes and 0.6 percent or less for 12-month changes.  Series
 found to have a higher average standard error for the five years ending
 December 1996 are footnoted in the tables.  The five-year moving average
 of standard errors for all estimates (excluding seasonally adjusted
 series) will be available on the Internet site
 (http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm) shortly after publication of the news
 release.
     
     When comparing data by bargaining status, it is important to note that
 differences may be due to factors other than bargaining status, such as
 occupational and industry mix.  For example, union occupations tend to be
 concentrated in blue-collar occupations within manufacturing industries.
 Thus, differences between blue-collar and white-collar pay or differences
 in manufacturing versus nonmanufacturing industries could explain such
 differences.
     
     More detailed information on the ECI is available in several sources.
 These include an annual bulletin--Employment Cost Indexes, 1975-99,
 (Bulletin 2532), a chapter, "National Compensation Measures," in the BLS
 Handbook of Methods (Bulletin 2490), and several articles published in the
 Monthly Labor Review and Compensation and Working Conditions.  The annual
 bulletin is available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S.
 Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, or Bureau of Labor
 Statistics, Publications Sales Center, P.O. Box 2145, Chicago, Illinois
 60690, (312) 353-1880.  Reprints of the articles and other descriptive
 pieces are available upon request by calling (202) 691-6199 or sending e-
 mail to (ocltinfo@bls.gov).  Current and historical data are available at
 the web site:  (http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm).
     
     The costs per hour worked of compensation components, based on March
 data from the ECI, are published in a separate news release titled
 "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation - March 2000," and in a
 bulletin, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, 1986-99, (Bulletin
 2526).  The cost levels are calculated with current employment weights,
 rather than the fixed 1990 weights used in computing the ECI.  Therefore,
 year-to-year changes in the cost levels usually differ from those in the
 ECI.
     
     Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
 individuals upon request.  Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay
 Service Number: 1-800-877-8339.