Washington, DC, July 29--The Labor Department reported that employment costs continued to gain moderately in the second quarter, at a 0.7 percent annual rate that matched the first quarter's pace and indicated that employees were sharing some of the bounty from a growing economy.
The Employment Cost Index is a broad measure of what employers pay in wages and benefits. The second-quarter data showed pay increased 0.6 percent in the April-June period, matching the gain recorded in the January-March quarter.
Analysts said the employment costs figures also were encouraging, since they did not point to hefty wage demands that can foster inflation. Over a 12-month period ending June 30, wages and salaries have grown just 2.4 percent, the smallest advance since the series began in the early 1980s and a fourth straight quarter in which that was the case.
