1B - Employment Cost Index (March)MIDWEST INFORMATION OFFICE: Chicago, Ill.
Technical information:(312) 353-1880 BLSInfoChicago@bls.gov www.bls.gov/regions/midwest
Media contact:(312) 353-1138
Changing Compensation Costs in the Minneapolis Metropolitan Area — March
2017
Total compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.9 percent in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-St.
Cloud, Minn.-Wis. metropolitan area for the year ended in March 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that a year earlier,
Minneapolis experienced a gain of 1.9 percent in total compensation costs. Locally, wages and salaries, the
largest component of total compensation costs, rose 2.9 percent over the 12-month period ended March
2017. Nationwide, total compensation costs and wages and salaries rose 2.3 percent and 2.6 percent
respectively, over the same period. (See chart 1 and table 1.)
Minneapolis is 1 of 15 metropolitan areas in the United States, and 1 of 3 areas in the Midwest region of the
country, for which locality compensation cost data are now available. Among these 15 largest areas, over-
the-year percentage increases in total compensation costs ranged from 3.2 percent in Miami-Fort
Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. to 1.6 percent in Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, Texas in March 2017. For
wages and salaries, Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, Wash. registered the largest annual gain (3.6 percent) among
the 15 areas, while wages in Houston registered the smallest annual gain (2.2 percent). (See chart 2.)
For Release: Monday, May 08, 2017 17-481-CHI
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Minneapolis’ annual increase in total compensation costs in March 2017, at 2.9 percent, compared to gains
of 2.9 and 2.5 percent, respectively, in Detroit-Warren-Flint, Mich. and Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City,
Ill.-Ind.-Wis., the two other metropolitan areas in the Midwest. Minneapolis’ 2.9-percent increase in wages
and salaries over this 12-month period compared to advances of 3.5 percent in Detroit and 2.7 percent in
Chicago. (See table 2.)
Locality compensation costs are part of the national Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures
quarterly changes in compensation costs, which include wages, salaries and employer costs for employee
benefits. In addition to the 15 locality estimates provided in this release, ECI data for the nation, 4
geographical regions, and 9 geographical divisions are available. (Geographical definitions for the
metropolitan areas mentioned in this release are included in the Technical Note.)
In addition to the geographic data, a comprehensive national report is available that provides data by
industry, occupational group, and union status, as well as for both private and state and local government
employees. The release is available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm. Current and historical
information from other Bureau programs may be accessed via our regional homepage at www.bls.gov/
regions/midwest.
The Employment Cost Index for June 2017 is scheduled to be released on Friday, July 28, 2017.
Technical Note
The Employment Cost Index (ECI) measures 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.
Wages and salaries are defined as straight-time average hourly earnings 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, work on weekends and
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holidays, and shift differentials. Production bonuses, incentive earnings, commission payments, and cost-of-
living adjustments are included in straight-time earnings, whereas nonproduction bonuses (such as
Christmas or year-end bonuses) are excluded. Also excluded are such items as payments-in-kind, free room
and board, and tips.
Based on available resources and the existing ECI sample, it was determined that estimates would be
published for 15 metropolitan areas. Since the ECI sample sizes by area are directly related to area
employment, the areas with the largest private industry employment as of the year 2000 were selected. For
each of these areas, 12-month percent changes and associated standard errors were computed for the periods
since December 2006.
The metropolitan area definitions of the 15 published localities are listed below.
•Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, Ga.-Ala. Combined Statistical Area (CSA) includes Barrow,
Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette,
Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton,
Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Polk, Rockdale, Spalding, Troup, Upson, and Walton Counties in Georgia;
and Chambers County in Alabama.
•Boston-Worcester-Manchester, Mass.-N.H. CSA includes Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth,
Suffolk, and Worcester Counties in Massachusetts; and Belknap, Hillsborough, Merrimack,
Rockingham, and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire.
•Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. CSA includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy,
Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois; Jasper, Lake, LaPorte,
Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.
•Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas CSA includes Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Henderson,
Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise Counties
in Texas.
•Detroit-Warren-Flint, Mich. CSA includes Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe,
Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.
•Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, Texas CSA includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend,
Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, San Jacinto, Walker, and Waller Counties in
Texas.
•Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif. CSA includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San
Bernardino, and Ventura Counties in California.
•Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes
Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties in Florida.
•Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud, Minn.-Wis. CSA includes Anoka, Benton, Carver, Chisago,
Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin, Isanti, McLeod, Ramsey, Rice, Scott, Sherburne, Stearns, Washington,
and Wright Counties in Minnesota; and Pierce and St. Croix Counties in Wisconsin.
•New York-Newark-Bridgeport, N.Y.-N.J.-Conn.-Pa. CSA includes Bronx, Dutchess, Kings,
Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Ulster, and Westchester
Counties in New York; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris,
Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; Fairfield, Litchfield, and New
Haven Counties in Connecticut; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.
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•Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. CSA includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware,
Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Cumberland,
Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in
Maryland.
•Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. MSA includes Maricopa and Pinal Counties in Arizona.
•San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, Calif. CSA includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San
Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, and Solano Counties in
California.
•Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, Wash. CSA includes Island, King, Kitsap, Mason, Pierce, Snohomish,
and Thurston Counties in Washington.
•Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va. CSA includes the District of
Columbia; Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore; Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Frederick,
Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne's, and St. Mary's Counties in Maryland;
Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, Manassas Park, and Winchester Cities
and Arlington, Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford,
and Warren Counties in Virginia; and Hampshire and Jefferson Counties in West Virginia.
Definitions of the four geographic regions of the country are noted below.
•Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
•South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, the 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.
•West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico,
Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice
phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.
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Table 1. Employment Cost Index for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry
workers, United States, Midwest region, and the Minneapolis area, not seasonally adjusted
Area
Total compensation Wages and salaries
12-month percent changes for period ended-12-month percent changes for period ended-
March June Sep.Dec.March June Sep.Dec.
United States
2013 .................................................... 1.9 1.9 1.9 2.0 1.7 1.9 1.8 2.1
2014 .................................................... 1.7 2.0 2.3 2.3 1.7 1.9 2.3 2.2
2015 .................................................... 2.8 1.9 1.9 1.9 2.8 2.2 2.1 2.1
2016 .................................................... 1.8 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.0 2.6 2.4 2.3
2017 .................................................... 2.3 2.6
Midwest
2013 .................................................... 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.7 1.8
2014 .................................................... 1.7 2.1 2.2 2.1 1.6 2.0 2.0 1.7
2015 .................................................... 2.4 1.6 1.7 1.8 2.0 1.9 2.1 2.3
2016 .................................................... 1.8 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.3 2.7 2.8 2.9
2017 .................................................... 2.8 3.2
Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud
2013 .................................................... 1.4 1.6 1.5 2.0 1.2 1.4 1.1 1.6
2014 .................................................... 1.6 1.8 2.3 2.3 1.4 2.0 2.5 2.6
2015 .................................................... 2.3 2.9 2.4 4.1 2.3 3.2 2.4 4.9
2016 .................................................... 1.9 1.3 2.9 0.7 1.7 1.0 2.8 -0.2
2017 .................................................... 2.9 2.9
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Table 2. Employment Cost Index for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry
workers, United States, geographical regions, and localities, not seasonally adjusted
Area
Total compensation Wages and salaries
12-month percent changes for period ended-12-month percent changes for period ended-
Mar. 2016 Dec. 2016 Mar. 2017 Mar. 2016 Dec. 2016 Mar. 2017
United States ................................................... 1.8 2.2 2.3 2.0 2.3 2.6
Northeast ...................................................... 1.6 2.5 2.3 1.8 2.9 2.2
Boston-Worcester-Manchester................. 2.2 2.3 2.6 2.9 2.9 3.0
New York-Newark-Bridgeport ................... 1.6 2.3 2.9 2.1 3.3 3.2
Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland ................ 1.0 2.2 3.0 1.0 2.4 3.0
South ............................................................ 1.5 1.3 1.6 1.7 1.4 1.8
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville ........... 1.7 3.5 2.8 3.2 4.2 3.0
Dallas-Fort Worth ..................................... 1.6 1.4 2.2 2.5 1.5 2.8
Houston-Baytown-Huntsville .................... 2.3 1.7 1.6 2.1 2.3 2.2
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach . 2.8 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.6 3.1
Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia .. 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.5 2.8 2.8
Midwest ........................................................ 1.8 2.6 2.8 2.3 2.9 3.2
Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City ............ 1.3 2.9 2.5 2.0 3.0 2.7
Detroit-Warren-Flint .................................. 3.3 1.8 2.9 3.5 2.3 3.5
Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud ................ 1.9 0.7 2.9 1.7 -0.2 2.9
West ............................................................. 2.5 2.6 2.9 2.6 2.8 3.2
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside ......... 3.3 2.6 2.5 3.7 3.1 2.7
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale ........................ 2.2 3.0 2.8 1.9 2.8 3.1
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland............ 1.6 2.6 3.0 2.1 2.9 3.3
Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia .......................... 2.9 2.8 2.4 3.5 3.7 3.6