PROVIDENCE – Compensation costs in the Boston-Worcester-Providence combined statistical area increased 3.7% year over year in September, slower than the national growth rate of 4.1% in that time, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released on Thursday.
Wages and salaries, the largest component of compensation costs, rose 4.2% year over year in the Boston-Worcester-Providence area in September. U.S. wages and salaries rose 4.6% year over year.
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In the Northeast region, compensation costs rose 3.7% in that time, including a 4.5% increase in wages and salaries.
Of the 15 CSAs in the report, the Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif., CSA saw the largest rise, with compensation costs rising 5.5% year over year.
The figures come form the BLS’ employment cost index, which is published quarterly.
Compensation costs in the Boston-Worcester-Providence area rose 3.1% year over year at the end of the second quarter and 2.9% at the end of the first quarter. The increase in the third quarter in the area was the highest recorded since the second quarter of 2020, when costs rose 4% year over year.
Nationally, the third quarter compensation increase marked the highest year-over-year increase since at least 2017. U.S. compensation costs had risen 3.1% year over year at the end of the second quarter, the BLS said.
