Employment Cost Index
Definition
An index used to monitor inflation. The Employment Cost Index measures the relative changes in wages, benefits, and bonuses for a specific group of occupations. The reason the ECI is thought to be an indicator of inflation is that as wages increase, the added cost is often passed to consumers shortly thereafter in the form of higher prices (which is inflation). In combination with the productivity report, the ECI can reveal whether the increased cost of labor is justified or not. The ECI is released on the last business day of January, April, July and October at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
Use this term in a sentence
“ You should always try and figure out what the employment cost index will be to make sure you can afford it. ”
“ I consulted with the employment cost index because there were a few questions that I had that could be answered by it. ”
“ Our company must not use the employment cost index because while everything around me is going up my paycheck has not improved. ”
