National Association of State Retirement Administrators


Compensation

Wages and Salaries

Wages and salaries for state and local government workers increased by 4.7 percent for the 12-month period ending December 2022, according to data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This rate of growth is the highest ever reported in at least two decades, and over 74 percent higher than the rate of annualized growth reported for the 12-month period ending December 2021.

Wages for private sector workers increased by 5.1 percent for the 12-month period ending December 2022, which marks the sixth consecutive quarter of growth at or above five percent. 
Annualized Quarterly Change in Wage and Salary Costs
for Private and State and Local Government Employees, 2001-2022


Benefits

The cost of state and local government employee benefits increased by 5.0 percent for the 12-month period ending December 2022, according to data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the second consecutive quarter of annualized increase at this level, which marks the highest rate of increase in this metric since the last quarter of 2007. The rate of annualized increase in the cost of benefits for state and local workers has closely matched the rate of increase in the cost of private-sector employee benefits for the last two quarters of 2022.
Annualized Quarterly Change in Benefit Costs
for Private and State and Local Government Employees, 2001-2022
Compiled by NASRA based on data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data is sourced from the BLS Employment Cost Index program, which is a quarterly survey of establishments measuring the change in employer costs for labor, independent of employment shifts. The ECI survey reference period is the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month. 

See more: https://www.bls.gov/ect/