Chart 1-17. Increases in employer costs for benefits have
outpaced gains in wages and salaries since 2000
Percent change from previous year
15
12
9
Benefits
6
3
Wages and salaries
0
1980
1982 1984
1986 1988
1990 1992
1994 1996
1998 2000
2002
2004
NOTE: The Employment Cost Index components are for private-sector workers.
SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Chart 1-17. Increases in employer costs for benefits have
outpaced gains in wages and salaries since 2000
• In the private sector, benefit costs rose 4.1 percent for the year ending
December 2005, compared with an increase of 2.5 percent for wages and
salaries.
• The cost of benefits typically has risen at a faster pace than wages; although,
for a period in the late-1990s, growth in the cost of benefits fell below that of
wages.
17