Compensation costs for private-sector workers in the area encompassing Boston, Worcester and Manchester, N.H rose 4 percent for the year ending December 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That’s a larger gain than in the previous year, when the same costs rose 3.2 percent.
The nation as a whole saw the compensation number rise 2.4 percent. Wages and salaries, the largest component of compensation, rose 4.5 percent for the region and 2.6 percent for the nation.
The BLS data suggests compensation in the region increased dramatically in the last quarter of the year. For the year ended September 2008, compensation increased just 2.5 percent.
