US employment cost growth steady in Q1, as expected
Worker compensation growth in the States was steady at the start of 2025, but the rate of salary increases ebbed.
According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, total worker compensation, which includes both salaries and benefits, advanced at a quarterly annualised clip of 0.9%.
That was the same as over the prior three-month stretch and in line with economists' forecasts.
In annual terms the ECI was ahead by 1.2%, in comparison to the 0.8% recorded during the same month one year before.
Wage and salaries growth slowed by two tenths of a percentage point over the first three months of 2025, to reach 0.8%.
In private industry it went from 0.9% to 0.8%, and in state and local government from 1.1% to 0.8%.